Once Upon A Time 3.09
Dec. 2nd, 2013 11:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which the flashbacks answer some long standing questions and the present day plot closes one chapter and opens another.
First of all, while in the last episode I guessed the Pan = Rumplestilskin's Father twist before it was revealed but not before the episode itself ('twas the crowing on the beach that settled it for me), this time I guessed the cliffhanger but was wrong about the method. To wit, I thought Regina took the wrong heart (after all, Peter Pan while having Henry's must have had two) and that Henry calling her "mother" was meant as a hint to the audience (since Henry usually calls her Mom). But no, the switch took place later via shadow involving trickery. (BTW, I wonder whether the script originally didn't let it happen via the hearts, as I first thought, and then the writers were concerned the audience wouldn't get how it had been done and thus let Pan do it in a more obvious fashion.) Either way: excellllllent, she says evilly. I mean, I had assumed they would defeat but not kill Pan mid season so he could follow them to Storybrooke in some fashion (because that's exactly what happened with Cora last season); I had not thought, until this episode, that he'd do that by taking over Henry's body, though thematically it is perfect. Both because it continues the theme of Peter Pan as the ultimate perversion of the adult desire to be a child again at the expense of actual children, and because it is psychologically twisted and fitting for this clan: as Henry, he gets to be loved by just about everyone, and hey, even Rumplestilskin might come around again now. (And should Rumple figure out the truth instead, he can't attack "Henry" without everyone else assuming the worst and siding with the boy.) Since twist evil plans are what makes a a good villain, this is great. Err, not for poor Henry, obviously. Also I'm worried because the young actor playing Peter Pan has done such a great job, and much as I think the part of fandom which has it in not only for Henry but the kid who plays him has been massively unfair, I'm not sure said kid can be as good as the previous Pan.
Well, for now he plays Pan playing Henry, so maybe that's easier. Then again, not really. Never mind the glorious Tatiana Maslany and what she does with clones pretending to be each other in Orphan Black, I'm remembering the Buffy/Faith switch mid season of BTVS, and Faith-pretending-to-be-Buffy was a wonderful bit of acting since SMG had to play her on the one hand convincing enough Buffy that the Scoobies didn't look stupid for not noticing, but otoh discernably Faith to the audience, and the episode in question featred a key character turning point for Faith. This is really challenging stuff for adult actors, but a child?
Back to the the beginning, though. Flashback wise, this was a Regina episode, showing us at last how she came to adopt Henry, which among other things ended the long standing speculation of how Rumple-as-Gold managed to get the kid for her when before the Curse broke he couldn't leave Storybrooke and no outsiders entered it by settling the mechanics; Regina, who of course was not affected by the Curse, was the one doing the fetching and carrying of the baby from and to Boston. Though these physicals were the least of it (and yes, I'm how Gold has good contacts with the outside world anyway); the episode rightly put the emphasis on Regina's emotional development throughout the adoption process. We see her come to love the baby while still being her screwed up self; of course Regina's first solution to crying babies would be to think there's something wrong which can be fixed bymagic medicine rather than by every day patience. Which she is capable of, just as she's capable of loving the baby no matter what instead of expecting it to provide instant happiness, and risking the possibility that he could indirectly mean the end of all her power (dare we say "be her unravelling?") by putting him first; otoh she still applies the easy fix solutions to emotional problems if she can when giving herself the worry free drink. And of course people not Henry still don't count.
In the present, it's a bit more complicated. Regina freeing herself from the tree because having Henry in her life means no regrets for the past is both a powerful moment and a signifier that she still has a long road to go - but she also shows friendship and sympathy for Tinkerbell in their scene together (and Tink definitely isn't Henry), and while it was a blnk and you've missed it moment, she did try to save Snow from the trap. Also, the very first flashback reminds us again that Regina killed her father (whom she loved most at that point) for power and revenge, and lest we forget, she did it via ripping out his heart; the symbolism of restoring his heart to the son whom she named after that father is obvious. But Regina is in an between stage, and her need to protect her son by making any further heart removal impossible backfires and indirectly contributes to the identity switch that takes place. There some parallels/contrasts going on to both Pan and Rumplestilskin; unlike them, Regina has never abandoned her child, but she sacrificed one of her parents for power, and (not deliberately) killed the other one...by giving her a heart. When Pan talks to the three mothers, Regina, Emma and Snow to taunt them, he says he'll never lose his son again (what with having him in a box), which is only a more extreme form of what Regina at various points tried to do to Henry in order to keep him, until her better self won through, and what Rumplestilskin after becoming the Dark One originally tried with Baelfire. Speaking of whom: Rumple here finally gets the forgiving hug he's dreamed of for centuries, and the assurance he's not like his father. Because this is Rumplestilskin, it figures that he then in the intention of saving his grandson and trapping his father ends up involuntarily trapping his grandson and giving his father free reign instead. Other things may be his fault, but life has it really in for him at times.
Incidentally, the Rumple and Regina scene after she cast the Curse and he asks her how it felt to kill her father works with my headcanon of Rumplestilskin having designed the Curse specifically so Regina would have to kill the man who was her father instead of himself, because until Cora's death, he never got over that (and did take it out on Regina). It also reminded me that this season makes me want to write a story about Regina's relationship with Rumplestilskin from her own point of view. (My other stories featuring Regina are always from someone else's, who is also the main character.)
So: back to Storybrooke, with Pan-as-Henry. Quite what he intends to do there, I have no idea. Though presumably it's not "growing up raised by Regina and Emma and Neal, with Rumple and the Charmings sharing grandparent duties"...
First of all, while in the last episode I guessed the Pan = Rumplestilskin's Father twist before it was revealed but not before the episode itself ('twas the crowing on the beach that settled it for me), this time I guessed the cliffhanger but was wrong about the method. To wit, I thought Regina took the wrong heart (after all, Peter Pan while having Henry's must have had two) and that Henry calling her "mother" was meant as a hint to the audience (since Henry usually calls her Mom). But no, the switch took place later via shadow involving trickery. (BTW, I wonder whether the script originally didn't let it happen via the hearts, as I first thought, and then the writers were concerned the audience wouldn't get how it had been done and thus let Pan do it in a more obvious fashion.) Either way: excellllllent, she says evilly. I mean, I had assumed they would defeat but not kill Pan mid season so he could follow them to Storybrooke in some fashion (because that's exactly what happened with Cora last season); I had not thought, until this episode, that he'd do that by taking over Henry's body, though thematically it is perfect. Both because it continues the theme of Peter Pan as the ultimate perversion of the adult desire to be a child again at the expense of actual children, and because it is psychologically twisted and fitting for this clan: as Henry, he gets to be loved by just about everyone, and hey, even Rumplestilskin might come around again now. (And should Rumple figure out the truth instead, he can't attack "Henry" without everyone else assuming the worst and siding with the boy.) Since twist evil plans are what makes a a good villain, this is great. Err, not for poor Henry, obviously. Also I'm worried because the young actor playing Peter Pan has done such a great job, and much as I think the part of fandom which has it in not only for Henry but the kid who plays him has been massively unfair, I'm not sure said kid can be as good as the previous Pan.
Well, for now he plays Pan playing Henry, so maybe that's easier. Then again, not really. Never mind the glorious Tatiana Maslany and what she does with clones pretending to be each other in Orphan Black, I'm remembering the Buffy/Faith switch mid season of BTVS, and Faith-pretending-to-be-Buffy was a wonderful bit of acting since SMG had to play her on the one hand convincing enough Buffy that the Scoobies didn't look stupid for not noticing, but otoh discernably Faith to the audience, and the episode in question featred a key character turning point for Faith. This is really challenging stuff for adult actors, but a child?
Back to the the beginning, though. Flashback wise, this was a Regina episode, showing us at last how she came to adopt Henry, which among other things ended the long standing speculation of how Rumple-as-Gold managed to get the kid for her when before the Curse broke he couldn't leave Storybrooke and no outsiders entered it by settling the mechanics; Regina, who of course was not affected by the Curse, was the one doing the fetching and carrying of the baby from and to Boston. Though these physicals were the least of it (and yes, I'm how Gold has good contacts with the outside world anyway); the episode rightly put the emphasis on Regina's emotional development throughout the adoption process. We see her come to love the baby while still being her screwed up self; of course Regina's first solution to crying babies would be to think there's something wrong which can be fixed by
In the present, it's a bit more complicated. Regina freeing herself from the tree because having Henry in her life means no regrets for the past is both a powerful moment and a signifier that she still has a long road to go - but she also shows friendship and sympathy for Tinkerbell in their scene together (and Tink definitely isn't Henry), and while it was a blnk and you've missed it moment, she did try to save Snow from the trap. Also, the very first flashback reminds us again that Regina killed her father (whom she loved most at that point) for power and revenge, and lest we forget, she did it via ripping out his heart; the symbolism of restoring his heart to the son whom she named after that father is obvious. But Regina is in an between stage, and her need to protect her son by making any further heart removal impossible backfires and indirectly contributes to the identity switch that takes place. There some parallels/contrasts going on to both Pan and Rumplestilskin; unlike them, Regina has never abandoned her child, but she sacrificed one of her parents for power, and (not deliberately) killed the other one...by giving her a heart. When Pan talks to the three mothers, Regina, Emma and Snow to taunt them, he says he'll never lose his son again (what with having him in a box), which is only a more extreme form of what Regina at various points tried to do to Henry in order to keep him, until her better self won through, and what Rumplestilskin after becoming the Dark One originally tried with Baelfire. Speaking of whom: Rumple here finally gets the forgiving hug he's dreamed of for centuries, and the assurance he's not like his father. Because this is Rumplestilskin, it figures that he then in the intention of saving his grandson and trapping his father ends up involuntarily trapping his grandson and giving his father free reign instead. Other things may be his fault, but life has it really in for him at times.
Incidentally, the Rumple and Regina scene after she cast the Curse and he asks her how it felt to kill her father works with my headcanon of Rumplestilskin having designed the Curse specifically so Regina would have to kill the man who was her father instead of himself, because until Cora's death, he never got over that (and did take it out on Regina). It also reminded me that this season makes me want to write a story about Regina's relationship with Rumplestilskin from her own point of view. (My other stories featuring Regina are always from someone else's, who is also the main character.)
So: back to Storybrooke, with Pan-as-Henry. Quite what he intends to do there, I have no idea. Though presumably it's not "growing up raised by Regina and Emma and Neal, with Rumple and the Charmings sharing grandparent duties"...
