Once upon a Time 3.11
Dec. 16th, 2013 12:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which the show tries to make the three months hiatus as hard on us as possible. Oh, and spoiler warning for the spin-off show, Once upon a time in Wonderland, and for American Gods by Neil Gaiman in this review.
Nitpicks out of the way first, because otherwise I loved the episode: Neal's actor in his non-reactions in the very dramatic goings on re: his father came across as very stoned. (Especially standing right next to Emilie de Ravin sobbing her heart out.) And speaking of Neal, since Baelfire did not get transported to our world via the curse in the first place, there was technically no reason why he shouldn't have gone with Emma and Henry, but I can easily handwave that because otherwise it would have destroyed the Emma-Henry-Regina symmetry, and would have looked like the show was pushing the nuclear family at the expense of the unconventional one. And single mothers.
On to the good stuff: Felix died as expected, but his heart did the trick, and I'm freely prepared it worked better than my own assumption because Pan as the epitome of selfishness would have been inconsistent if suddenly revealing parental love after all, especially contrasted to Regina and Rumplestilskin, both villains whose capacity for emotion by now has been joined by the ability to to put their loved ones (not their possessiveness or need to win) first and both of whom face their greatest fears in this episode. (Exactly what Pan has been avoiding all his life at everyone else's expense.)
(Flippant sidenote: just when Pan is now ready to challenge Anthony Cooper from Lost for the top spot at the Who's Your Worst Daddy? poll, competition within his own universe arose in the form of the Sultan over in Once upon a Time in Wonderland. Pan, of course, points out that he didn't end up in a cage for ages but was triumphant for centuries before getting stabbed. The Sultan counters that how they ended up is not the point, their respective fathering is, and that his drowning kid!Jaffar with his own hands and throwing him out with the trash after previously having made kid!Jaffar serve his legitimate half brother trumps Pan's original trading in Rumple for youthful immortality in Neverland. Pan is not pleased at this upstaging and is currently working on a "Whose son subsequently became the more effective villain anyway?" poll.)
(Less flippant side note: for those of us keeping score re: biological parents versus adopted parents, this episode directly contrasts a horrible biological parent (Pan) about to doom everyone with Regina as the adopted parent whose love for her child (which Pan says makes her weak) has brought out the best in her, enabling her to save everyone.)
Incidentally, the way young Jared Gilmore delivers "be flattered" to Felix in his last outing as Pan before the bodies get switched again justifies this whole body switch gambit.
Tink being confident again, using the pixie dust to capture and destroy the Shadow and regaining full Fairy status was expected, but still satisfying to watch. (No opinion on the Blue Fairy's resurrection.) Speaking of fairies: "we need the wand of the previously not mentioned Black Fairy, apparantly the Darth Vader of Fairies" looks like a set up to me. Just like the frequent mentions of Rumple's father from late s2 onwards prepared for the reveal of Pan's identity. By which I mean: I think the Black Fairy will be our next antagonist and will get introduced in the second half of the season. Alas, she can't be the fairy responsible for Sleeping Beauty, since the show went with the Disney version and made that person not a fairy but the late Maleficent. As long as she won't turn out to be Rumple's mother (because too much is too much, show!), I look forward to meeting her anyway.
Now for the two big ones: I thought Rumplestilskin would cut his hand of, which would have obvious thematic resonances, but stabbing Pan and himself with his Dark One dagger (courtesy of his shadow) is not only more dramatic but also, of course, exactly the fate he's been avoiding and had not that long ago been ready to kill to avert for. Mind you, much like there was no technical need for Neal to remain with the Storybrookians as opposed to join Henry and Emma later, but an emotional one, I'm not clear on the rationale of it having to be this particular dagger to kill Pan and while Rumple had to die at the same time, though I think if you give me more time I can come up with something. (Pan gained his original power by giving up Rumplestilkin; Rumple gained his own power, as ever Dark One, via stabbing his predecessor with the dagger; the effect of the dagger used in a suicidal manner would cancel out anyone else becoming the next Dark One?) But there was a thematic need, and it confirms again to me there are some Neil Gaiman readers in the writing staff, because this is how Laura kills Loki in American Gods - by stabbing him and herself with the same instrument, making it thus impossible for him to get away. Pan reverting to his original body at the end seems to indicate this really is the end of the character, and while he's been a really good antagonist, I can see the point. It's not like he can top his previous schemes in emotional devastation, unlike R & R, he's not redeemable, and showing up just to murmur "curses, foiled again!" would ruin his effectiveness. They can always bring Robbie Kay back for a flashback to previous times if they want to.
As for Rumplestilskin himself: dead or only Mostly Dead (tm Miracle Max)? This would actually be a good ending for his storyline (he's reconciled with his son, in a stable relationship with Belle, and while I don't think he regrets what he did to countless people over the centuries all that much, he does choose to die in a manner that ensures they won't be subjected to the very state he once helped create for them against. But I'm 99% sure the show won't let go of Robert Carlyle, so my current speculation is: they'll tease his state of existence out for a while and then show he's alive somewhere... but without his powers, no longer the Dark One. The somewhere he's alive won't be FTL, though, but our world, and Emma will have to find him before being able to go there.
Regina, though, wins at most heartrendering, no pun intended, act of redemption. This is also the pay off to her declaration in Neverland that having Henry made all her previous acts worth it (and thus she doesn't regret them), not to mention to her original act of casting the curse to begin with, and how she did it. One reason why I didn't want her to die at the end of s2 was that dying to save someone you love is by now the most overused short cut to redemption, and Regina had only just started accepting responsibility for her own actions. But this half of a season showed Regina growing and continuing to own her deeds (while not yet regretting most of them), and starting to show empathy again for people other than Henry (Tinkerbell, and who'd have thought it, Rumple). She and Emma really were co-parents working together this season, both using the term "our son", and learning from each other. All of which made it believable, if still amazing to watch, for Regina here to be sacrifial not in the "dying for" sense but in the even more difficult way that meant giving up Henry (and even Henry's memories of her) as the price for not just preventing the curse from being cast a second time but destroying it once and for all - and then having to live with this loss.
As opposed to Rumple, though, who is protected by Robert Carlyle-ness but not necessarily storytelling necessity, I don't think Regina's story should end here. For starters, I really want to see her and Snow interacting with each other, especially now that they've both had to give up their children (again) and now that their old roles of Evil Queen and opposing princess are gone. I also want Regina to interact with FTL characters she wronged (Graham is dead, but there are plenty of others to choose from), and more of the friendship between her and Tinkerbell, but honestly, more scenes with her and Snow are what I want most of all.
Teasing tag scene: and thus the show finally solves its Jared-Gilmore-is-growing-problem with a one year time jump, and also cracks me up because of course Hook would try the True Love's Kiss method to awake Emma's real memories (and of course she'd have none of it - he really should have consulted her parents on why this just doesn't work in the case of magical amnesia). As mentioned earlier, my guess is that the trouble in FTL, the danger for Emma's family he mentioned, will be caused by the Black Fairy as the next villain. Additional speculation: Regina will see Henry again with him remembering her, but not for a good long while (possibly the s3 season finale, very last scene?), because seriously, all that emotion in this episode and then instant restitution would be cheap.
Nitpicks out of the way first, because otherwise I loved the episode: Neal's actor in his non-reactions in the very dramatic goings on re: his father came across as very stoned. (Especially standing right next to Emilie de Ravin sobbing her heart out.) And speaking of Neal, since Baelfire did not get transported to our world via the curse in the first place, there was technically no reason why he shouldn't have gone with Emma and Henry, but I can easily handwave that because otherwise it would have destroyed the Emma-Henry-Regina symmetry, and would have looked like the show was pushing the nuclear family at the expense of the unconventional one. And single mothers.
On to the good stuff: Felix died as expected, but his heart did the trick, and I'm freely prepared it worked better than my own assumption because Pan as the epitome of selfishness would have been inconsistent if suddenly revealing parental love after all, especially contrasted to Regina and Rumplestilskin, both villains whose capacity for emotion by now has been joined by the ability to to put their loved ones (not their possessiveness or need to win) first and both of whom face their greatest fears in this episode. (Exactly what Pan has been avoiding all his life at everyone else's expense.)
(Flippant sidenote: just when Pan is now ready to challenge Anthony Cooper from Lost for the top spot at the Who's Your Worst Daddy? poll, competition within his own universe arose in the form of the Sultan over in Once upon a Time in Wonderland. Pan, of course, points out that he didn't end up in a cage for ages but was triumphant for centuries before getting stabbed. The Sultan counters that how they ended up is not the point, their respective fathering is, and that his drowning kid!Jaffar with his own hands and throwing him out with the trash after previously having made kid!Jaffar serve his legitimate half brother trumps Pan's original trading in Rumple for youthful immortality in Neverland. Pan is not pleased at this upstaging and is currently working on a "Whose son subsequently became the more effective villain anyway?" poll.)
(Less flippant side note: for those of us keeping score re: biological parents versus adopted parents, this episode directly contrasts a horrible biological parent (Pan) about to doom everyone with Regina as the adopted parent whose love for her child (which Pan says makes her weak) has brought out the best in her, enabling her to save everyone.)
Incidentally, the way young Jared Gilmore delivers "be flattered" to Felix in his last outing as Pan before the bodies get switched again justifies this whole body switch gambit.
Tink being confident again, using the pixie dust to capture and destroy the Shadow and regaining full Fairy status was expected, but still satisfying to watch. (No opinion on the Blue Fairy's resurrection.) Speaking of fairies: "we need the wand of the previously not mentioned Black Fairy, apparantly the Darth Vader of Fairies" looks like a set up to me. Just like the frequent mentions of Rumple's father from late s2 onwards prepared for the reveal of Pan's identity. By which I mean: I think the Black Fairy will be our next antagonist and will get introduced in the second half of the season. Alas, she can't be the fairy responsible for Sleeping Beauty, since the show went with the Disney version and made that person not a fairy but the late Maleficent. As long as she won't turn out to be Rumple's mother (because too much is too much, show!), I look forward to meeting her anyway.
Now for the two big ones: I thought Rumplestilskin would cut his hand of, which would have obvious thematic resonances, but stabbing Pan and himself with his Dark One dagger (courtesy of his shadow) is not only more dramatic but also, of course, exactly the fate he's been avoiding and had not that long ago been ready to kill to avert for. Mind you, much like there was no technical need for Neal to remain with the Storybrookians as opposed to join Henry and Emma later, but an emotional one, I'm not clear on the rationale of it having to be this particular dagger to kill Pan and while Rumple had to die at the same time, though I think if you give me more time I can come up with something. (Pan gained his original power by giving up Rumplestilkin; Rumple gained his own power, as ever Dark One, via stabbing his predecessor with the dagger; the effect of the dagger used in a suicidal manner would cancel out anyone else becoming the next Dark One?) But there was a thematic need, and it confirms again to me there are some Neil Gaiman readers in the writing staff, because this is how Laura kills Loki in American Gods - by stabbing him and herself with the same instrument, making it thus impossible for him to get away. Pan reverting to his original body at the end seems to indicate this really is the end of the character, and while he's been a really good antagonist, I can see the point. It's not like he can top his previous schemes in emotional devastation, unlike R & R, he's not redeemable, and showing up just to murmur "curses, foiled again!" would ruin his effectiveness. They can always bring Robbie Kay back for a flashback to previous times if they want to.
As for Rumplestilskin himself: dead or only Mostly Dead (tm Miracle Max)? This would actually be a good ending for his storyline (he's reconciled with his son, in a stable relationship with Belle, and while I don't think he regrets what he did to countless people over the centuries all that much, he does choose to die in a manner that ensures they won't be subjected to the very state he once helped create for them against. But I'm 99% sure the show won't let go of Robert Carlyle, so my current speculation is: they'll tease his state of existence out for a while and then show he's alive somewhere... but without his powers, no longer the Dark One. The somewhere he's alive won't be FTL, though, but our world, and Emma will have to find him before being able to go there.
Regina, though, wins at most heartrendering, no pun intended, act of redemption. This is also the pay off to her declaration in Neverland that having Henry made all her previous acts worth it (and thus she doesn't regret them), not to mention to her original act of casting the curse to begin with, and how she did it. One reason why I didn't want her to die at the end of s2 was that dying to save someone you love is by now the most overused short cut to redemption, and Regina had only just started accepting responsibility for her own actions. But this half of a season showed Regina growing and continuing to own her deeds (while not yet regretting most of them), and starting to show empathy again for people other than Henry (Tinkerbell, and who'd have thought it, Rumple). She and Emma really were co-parents working together this season, both using the term "our son", and learning from each other. All of which made it believable, if still amazing to watch, for Regina here to be sacrifial not in the "dying for" sense but in the even more difficult way that meant giving up Henry (and even Henry's memories of her) as the price for not just preventing the curse from being cast a second time but destroying it once and for all - and then having to live with this loss.
As opposed to Rumple, though, who is protected by Robert Carlyle-ness but not necessarily storytelling necessity, I don't think Regina's story should end here. For starters, I really want to see her and Snow interacting with each other, especially now that they've both had to give up their children (again) and now that their old roles of Evil Queen and opposing princess are gone. I also want Regina to interact with FTL characters she wronged (Graham is dead, but there are plenty of others to choose from), and more of the friendship between her and Tinkerbell, but honestly, more scenes with her and Snow are what I want most of all.
Teasing tag scene: and thus the show finally solves its Jared-Gilmore-is-growing-problem with a one year time jump, and also cracks me up because of course Hook would try the True Love's Kiss method to awake Emma's real memories (and of course she'd have none of it - he really should have consulted her parents on why this just doesn't work in the case of magical amnesia). As mentioned earlier, my guess is that the trouble in FTL, the danger for Emma's family he mentioned, will be caused by the Black Fairy as the next villain. Additional speculation: Regina will see Henry again with him remembering her, but not for a good long while (possibly the s3 season finale, very last scene?), because seriously, all that emotion in this episode and then instant restitution would be cheap.
no subject
Date: 2013-12-16 12:07 pm (UTC)Oh my God, that was so creepy!
I haven't sorted out everything that I think is going on but I appreciate the show's fearlessness vis a vis status quo changes and (while I'm a little disappointed we didn't get to see a tiny bit of cursed-by-Pan Storybrooke a la BtVS "Superstar", hopefully fanfic will compensate for that) I'm interested in what they do next.
no subject
Date: 2013-12-16 06:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-16 06:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-17 12:32 am (UTC)Hear, hear! I spent all of S1 convinced they'd never break the curse, I never thought Snow would kill Cora, etc etc. Good on them.
no subject
Date: 2013-12-16 02:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-16 06:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-16 04:35 pm (UTC)Agreed. In that scene, all I heard was Pan. So very creepy.
I'll be fascinated to see where the show goes from here. On the one hand, Rumple's arc seems to have come to a conclusion, but I can't imagine the network letting Robert Carlyle go even if he wanted leave. (They may not have a magic-proof cell, but they do have contracts and lawyers and a big truck with money inside. Which is how Fox kept Hugh Laurie in the USA for eight whole seasons of House.)
I share your desire for more Regina and Snow! And I'll be fascinated to see what she does once back in the Enchanted Forrest, since Evil Queen is no longer her chosen profession. She finally earned that 'you're not a villain, you're my mom.' Awwww.
no subject
Date: 2013-12-16 06:39 pm (UTC)Yes, short of him having a heart attack, I can't see the network letting Robert Carlyle go, either. Presumably his continued existence will be explained by the Dark One using the dagger against himself causing some magical short circuit, but where they go with the character, I honestly have no idea.
no subject
Date: 2013-12-17 05:41 pm (UTC)I'm wondering if Rumple will show up alive but without his magic - Neal and Belle would be delighted, but they could easily do a storyline about him not dealing very well with being powerless.
no subject
Date: 2013-12-17 12:38 am (UTC)I'm sure you're right about Robert Carlyle, but I really wish that Rumple would be truly and permanently dead. A lot of this is that Rumple/Belle gives me the wiggins, but also it would be a nice ending for a character who's arc has honestly felt a bit dragged out to me.
my guess is that the trouble in FTL, the danger for Emma's family he mentioned, will be caused by the Black Fairy as the next villain.
Ooh, good guess.
no subject
Date: 2013-12-17 11:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-17 01:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-17 11:26 am (UTC)