Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25926288-20171007005904/@comment-31619992-20171008164027

GothicNarcissus wrote:


 * Okay, I get they deliberately shot out to the Pilot and a lot of other S1 moments (wishing well and all), but rather than some legit nostalgia veil on a reboot, it felt like watching much of the same story over again, except it wasn't novel anymore and the mythology behind it is confusing to the point of frustration.


 * I've got problems with Weaver, namely: why give Robert Carlyle basically the same character as Mr. Gold (except less posh) when the writers already messed that one up pretty badly? At least Roni is a nice departure from Regina and brings in some fresh air.


 * Cinderella / Jacinda. Oh my god, where do I even begin. Dania Ramirez's acting just didn't sell me the character at all. Also, seriously, why Cinderella? Why? I mean, Cinderella is any writer's nightmare in the world of DIY online """feminism""", she's boud to be problematic. It's clear that much of her writing in this episode was a prevention / direct response to the "Cinderella is a bad rapresentation of women" argument, but having a gal punch a stranger in the face, attempt murder and wield a sword doesn't make her a strong female character. They did a much better job at deconstructing the Princess Classic archetype with Snow White in S1 because they took their time to do that, so it didn't feel that much on the nose. Jeez.


 * Victoria fell flat on her face – and that's definitely a bad sign because one thing Once has always excelled at was compelling villains. One casual murder here, one casual murder there, and she just seems to have a grudge against Cinderella because the fairy tale says so. Yes, we learned about Regina's true motive towards the end of S1, but it was crystal clear she had deeper layers; Victoria didn't give me that same vibe. Also, I liked the office scene better when it was still called The Devil Wears Prada. She came across as a discount Miranda Priestly desperately trying to be S1 Regina and that's bad. Drizella / Ivy seems to have more character, I'm betting on her.


 * You know what Hyperion Heights is missing? The whole "sleepy town in the middle of nowhere, barely even on the map, sorta out of time, where no one ever comes or goes due to miles and miles of forests" vibe, which was what made Storybrooke iconic and, in the beginning, even slightly creepy. Where's the creeps in just a disarrayed district in Seattle? What's stopping people from just crossing the street and living their lives outside in the mundane, beside Henry's bad timing? It doesn't feel nearly as menacing.


 * Also, what's up with Victoria's plan? Why scatter the residents and bring in outsiders? How does that even jam with the Curse's mechanics in the first place?


 * And finally, we come to the worst part of all: the storytelling doesn't make much sense. Back in S1, the Curse mechanics were crystal clear and the true mystery was finding out the true motive behind it (both on Rumple's and Regina's part). Here you can see the motives coming from a mile away, while mechanics are as confusing as they can get – why a real big city in the LWM rather than a made up town? Why some Storybrooke residents are there and others are not? Why are they the same age as they were before if the Curse was cast when Henry was already an adult? That doesn't make any sense even taking into account the "adultered" versions of the Curse we saw during the past seasons.

You deserve a clap. This is good. This is so good *cries of joy of being understood*.
 * And above all, what's the deal with the multiple Cinderellas, stepsisters, Lady Tremains, Alices and so on? See, the mystery in the Pilot was acceptable because they were building the mythos from scratch, so the gradual discovery was bearable because we were totally in the dark. Here we have a bunch of elements that don't jam with six seasons of established mythos and came literally out of nowhere: what's up with that? Different retellings of the stories, that I can buy… but them actually being different characters to whom similar things happen… that takes away the whole "real people in magic situations" the show was built upon. It's just frustrating.


 * About the pilot copy-paste, it was totally rushed. Lucy's first scene, for example, she just started talking and throwing plot to Henry instead of show it.


 * Because Robert wants to be the bad guy and they don't know how to write other stuff for him. What was the point of the drowning we saw? Just a flat character's cheap cliche, like lady Tremaine's murders.


 * Cinderella/ Jacinda is a total Mary Sue... A latina Mary Sue. Another cliche that made you laugh. Her story in the episode was totally... Well... I don't know how to say it. They have been talking about "a badass girl" and she spent the whole episode crying (and acting like a Mary Sue). And at the ball, when things got bad, what did she do?

"Henry..." she moaned, asking for help.

Also, I didn't see any "love" between she and Henry (btw, what the hell was he doing, asking a woman if she's single mother? A woman he doesn't know! (Roll eyes). The "love story" was so rushed that they seemed just h-o-r-n-y and not in love.


 * Nothing to add about lady Tremaine. You're totally right. Kudos... Just that her speech "power can be taken, but fear lust for ever...". Mmm... I don't know, Mrs. Tremaine, but fear isn't eternal. Fear dies when "the evil" is absent for a while or when you overpass it (like when you learn how to ride a bike). And, I'm not wrong, how you provoque fear in HH? By being powerfull, isn't it?


 * The point is that they've been saying in the interviews that "whoever" casted the curse, lady Tremaine and Drizella studied the past curses and improved a new one. Ok. Now let me laugh about that "improved new curse". How many days they had been cursed? Henry, who has fake memories, remember that his family lies in a cementery. He goes to that cementery and finds out that it doesn't exist. Clap, lady Tremaine or "whoever". Regina's curse, Regina's not improve curse dominated a realm for 28 years. This would be lucky if stands for 28 days. And Lucy, who's awake (who knows why... BTW, the scenes in 6x21/22 are not canon anymore), has told him everything...