Once upon a time 2.20
Apr. 29th, 2013 10:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which Regina is the queen of self sabotage in all the time lines and the show continues to make me happy regarding Snow White. Also, Jane E. lampshades a certain trope which makes me hope the show won't go there.
To start with the end, as soon as Owen said "something better than magic: science", I squeed because that means my speculation re: Tamara's plan being to use science to deal with magic and the relevance this puts on all the Frankenstein episodes and Victor's arguments with Rumple on the subject is increasingly likely. It's always nice to be right. :)
Also: Hook conning Regina into putting the anti magic bracelet on restored something of his efficient double dealing con man cred. Which was needed, what with him having been foiled (and duped by Cora) (and chained up by Emma) repeatedly. Whether or not he intended to actually help her before she double crossed him is irrelevant; Hook always being on the side he considers likely to win (unless that side is Rumplestilskin's, of course) is character consistency. Though of course it's underlining Regina's ability to screw up every chance she gets to genuinely change by her own inability to acknwoledge other people's right to exist and have their own emotions as also emphasized in the opening scene with Henry and in the flashbacks.
Before I talk about the flashbacks, though, which were my favourite things about the episode, on to the Emma portion of the present day plot. Like I said, Jane Espenson is lampshading the "Evil fiancée = reunion of exes" trope by letting Henry cheerfully declare it (which makes character sense for Henry) and Emma reject it. Which gives me some hope we're not heading for Tamara as Laureen Reed, Mark II, and an Emma and Neal kiss over her dead body after all, though Tamara as a villain is a given at this point. (Though this show is wonderful with introducing villains and then making you feel for them, no matter how many villainous things they do. Well, except for King George. ) (But King George is Charles Widmore, so.) Henry being thrilled at the idea of going to Fairy Tale Land (again: he would!) only deepens Emma's unease with the whole idea, which is such a good character touch because Emma, much as she enjoyed the bonding time with Snow, spent most of her stint in FTL being disturbed and uneasy and wanting to go back - and not "just" because of Henry. Which is part of why this show makes me buy into its emotional reality. Because to a child, the idea of going to a magical place is irresitable. Emma, who is an adult, noticed the mundane things like, as she mentions to Granny in the ep after she returned, having to hunt and skin your own food, being on the run all the time, having to fight monsters with means you're not trained to, and generally being without any of the every day things you're used to from Our World, and no, it's not fun.
I also loved the mother and daughter moment between Emma and Snow (that includes another Jane E. lampshading, this time of the fact Emma's "superpower" to know when she's lied to has been shown to fail a couple of times on this show), with Snow point blank predicting what Henry's reaction will be if he hears about Emma's Tamara suspicion. Which is as good a place as any to declare, in case I haven't already, I really love Snow as a character, in both past and present, and that she's my favourite Snow White of them all. Not least because she's people smart like that. And just smart in general. (I've said it before, I'll say it again: Snow is far more like Cora than Regina is, and also more like Cora than what we know of Eva, only a light side version of Cora.)
And so, to the heart (for me) of the episode, the flashbacks. When they started, I wondered what the point was going to be, because didn't we get enough of Regina's past attempts to kill Snow White in the last season? And surely Regina hearing that the peasants consider her evil isn't worth an entire flashback section? But then Snow showed up in her Robin Hood guise (btw, that she later mentions "a friend from another forest" taught her to shoot when Regina points out as a princess, she never learned how to to do that probably makes it a given Robin did it) to save enchanted!Regina, and all at once I was thrilled and sat up and couldn't wait for more. As I mentioned in my review of Welcome to Storybrooke, it's an irony that of the three children who had impact on Regina (and she on them), Henry, Owen and Snow White, the one whom Regina chose to hate, Snow, is also the one who loved her most, saw her clearest, and tried the hardest to help her. But so far, we've seen all the attempts, notably the one with Regina's near execution stopped by Snow White, uniformly rejected. The one shown in this story, however, proceeds along somewhat more complicated lines. Because Regina is genuinely shaken by hearing herself declared an inspiration to Snow, to hear that Snow still loves her. And for the first time, we get an indication that Regina when choosing to hate Snow instead of hating Cora for Daniel's death didn't eradicate all affection she had for the girl as much as she buried it. Because I don't think she's faking it when asking whether Snow would take "her" back as family if she offered.
But of course Regina's biggest problem, in past and present alike, is that while she's capable of emotion for a select few, she's utterly incapable of empathy with strangers, or even acknwoledging their right to live. Note that the last flashback scene with Snow is a parallel to the opening scene with Henry, where the fact Henry reacts appalled at the prospect of everyone else in Storybrooke dying bewilders her, ditto that "but we'll be together, and I love you" is no counter argument to Henry. The sight of all the dead villagers and the effect it has on Snow versus Regina's "but what about what you said of her saving you" is the exact emotional parallel here. Regina (like, um, a great deal of not just her fans but fans of many a villainous and morally ambiguous character in many a fandom) equals the idea of love with not just forgiveness but the person loving her not even minding what she does to others. Which, if you think about it, makes sense given that her father loved her that way. Henry Senior wasn't thrilled about what she did, but he never did anything about it. (And Cora of course wanted Regina more ruthless to begin with.) See, this is yet another reason for me to be as into the show as I am: because it points out that "X just needs a hug" and the idea of love (either giving or receiving) as somehow equalling redemption is nonsense. Not just via Regina's storyline. (See also last week and Rumplestilskin's reaction when Lacey is turned on by his violence.) As long as Regina refuses to admit her responsibility for all the lives she's taken and constantly blames anyone but herself, as long as she just doesn't get why Henry and Snow may have loved her (and child!Owen at least liked her) but weren't and aren't prepared to swallow her abuse and desctruction of everyone else and that this doesn't gain more of their affection but kills what they have, she will never get anything but more misery.
In conclusion: I am so glad I decided to wait with the Snow and Regina story I want to write, because this episode's flashbacks were really needed for it. Am still waiting for the season to conclude before writing it, because the material becomes ever richer. It's such an intense and key relationship for the show, and my only explanation as to why it never got any or much fanfic is that it's not sexual (nor seen that way by fandom).
To start with the end, as soon as Owen said "something better than magic: science", I squeed because that means my speculation re: Tamara's plan being to use science to deal with magic and the relevance this puts on all the Frankenstein episodes and Victor's arguments with Rumple on the subject is increasingly likely. It's always nice to be right. :)
Also: Hook conning Regina into putting the anti magic bracelet on restored something of his efficient double dealing con man cred. Which was needed, what with him having been foiled (and duped by Cora) (and chained up by Emma) repeatedly. Whether or not he intended to actually help her before she double crossed him is irrelevant; Hook always being on the side he considers likely to win (unless that side is Rumplestilskin's, of course) is character consistency. Though of course it's underlining Regina's ability to screw up every chance she gets to genuinely change by her own inability to acknwoledge other people's right to exist and have their own emotions as also emphasized in the opening scene with Henry and in the flashbacks.
Before I talk about the flashbacks, though, which were my favourite things about the episode, on to the Emma portion of the present day plot. Like I said, Jane Espenson is lampshading the "Evil fiancée = reunion of exes" trope by letting Henry cheerfully declare it (which makes character sense for Henry) and Emma reject it. Which gives me some hope we're not heading for Tamara as Laureen Reed, Mark II, and an Emma and Neal kiss over her dead body after all, though Tamara as a villain is a given at this point. (Though this show is wonderful with introducing villains and then making you feel for them, no matter how many villainous things they do. Well, except for King George. ) (But King George is Charles Widmore, so.) Henry being thrilled at the idea of going to Fairy Tale Land (again: he would!) only deepens Emma's unease with the whole idea, which is such a good character touch because Emma, much as she enjoyed the bonding time with Snow, spent most of her stint in FTL being disturbed and uneasy and wanting to go back - and not "just" because of Henry. Which is part of why this show makes me buy into its emotional reality. Because to a child, the idea of going to a magical place is irresitable. Emma, who is an adult, noticed the mundane things like, as she mentions to Granny in the ep after she returned, having to hunt and skin your own food, being on the run all the time, having to fight monsters with means you're not trained to, and generally being without any of the every day things you're used to from Our World, and no, it's not fun.
I also loved the mother and daughter moment between Emma and Snow (that includes another Jane E. lampshading, this time of the fact Emma's "superpower" to know when she's lied to has been shown to fail a couple of times on this show), with Snow point blank predicting what Henry's reaction will be if he hears about Emma's Tamara suspicion. Which is as good a place as any to declare, in case I haven't already, I really love Snow as a character, in both past and present, and that she's my favourite Snow White of them all. Not least because she's people smart like that. And just smart in general. (I've said it before, I'll say it again: Snow is far more like Cora than Regina is, and also more like Cora than what we know of Eva, only a light side version of Cora.)
And so, to the heart (for me) of the episode, the flashbacks. When they started, I wondered what the point was going to be, because didn't we get enough of Regina's past attempts to kill Snow White in the last season? And surely Regina hearing that the peasants consider her evil isn't worth an entire flashback section? But then Snow showed up in her Robin Hood guise (btw, that she later mentions "a friend from another forest" taught her to shoot when Regina points out as a princess, she never learned how to to do that probably makes it a given Robin did it) to save enchanted!Regina, and all at once I was thrilled and sat up and couldn't wait for more. As I mentioned in my review of Welcome to Storybrooke, it's an irony that of the three children who had impact on Regina (and she on them), Henry, Owen and Snow White, the one whom Regina chose to hate, Snow, is also the one who loved her most, saw her clearest, and tried the hardest to help her. But so far, we've seen all the attempts, notably the one with Regina's near execution stopped by Snow White, uniformly rejected. The one shown in this story, however, proceeds along somewhat more complicated lines. Because Regina is genuinely shaken by hearing herself declared an inspiration to Snow, to hear that Snow still loves her. And for the first time, we get an indication that Regina when choosing to hate Snow instead of hating Cora for Daniel's death didn't eradicate all affection she had for the girl as much as she buried it. Because I don't think she's faking it when asking whether Snow would take "her" back as family if she offered.
But of course Regina's biggest problem, in past and present alike, is that while she's capable of emotion for a select few, she's utterly incapable of empathy with strangers, or even acknwoledging their right to live. Note that the last flashback scene with Snow is a parallel to the opening scene with Henry, where the fact Henry reacts appalled at the prospect of everyone else in Storybrooke dying bewilders her, ditto that "but we'll be together, and I love you" is no counter argument to Henry. The sight of all the dead villagers and the effect it has on Snow versus Regina's "but what about what you said of her saving you" is the exact emotional parallel here. Regina (like, um, a great deal of not just her fans but fans of many a villainous and morally ambiguous character in many a fandom) equals the idea of love with not just forgiveness but the person loving her not even minding what she does to others. Which, if you think about it, makes sense given that her father loved her that way. Henry Senior wasn't thrilled about what she did, but he never did anything about it. (And Cora of course wanted Regina more ruthless to begin with.) See, this is yet another reason for me to be as into the show as I am: because it points out that "X just needs a hug" and the idea of love (either giving or receiving) as somehow equalling redemption is nonsense. Not just via Regina's storyline. (See also last week and Rumplestilskin's reaction when Lacey is turned on by his violence.) As long as Regina refuses to admit her responsibility for all the lives she's taken and constantly blames anyone but herself, as long as she just doesn't get why Henry and Snow may have loved her (and child!Owen at least liked her) but weren't and aren't prepared to swallow her abuse and desctruction of everyone else and that this doesn't gain more of their affection but kills what they have, she will never get anything but more misery.
In conclusion: I am so glad I decided to wait with the Snow and Regina story I want to write, because this episode's flashbacks were really needed for it. Am still waiting for the season to conclude before writing it, because the material becomes ever richer. It's such an intense and key relationship for the show, and my only explanation as to why it never got any or much fanfic is that it's not sexual (nor seen that way by fandom).
