Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-4839682-20130723082014/@comment-22525977-20130926044432

Back on the topic of Swan Queen and why I sort-of ship it:

I started watching season one again today because it's been a while, and the scene towards the end of the pilot after Emma brings Henry back for the second time really jumped out to me. Because before that, we saw Emma telling Henry how good he has it with a mom who loves and wants what's best for him versus what happened to her, which is her parents abandoning her and then having a crappy time of it in the foster system. And then immediately afterwards, she opens up with Regina, telling this very personal story about how she has no one and she's gotten so desperate she's wishing over birthday candles to not be alone on her birthday—and then Henry showed up.

It's a really remarkable display of vulnerability from someone who previously had been portrayed as very stoic when she was with other people, her previous moments of fragility having been restricted to when she's alone, and I think it's a really great illustration of the potential for a ship to happen; Emma is demonstrating a surprising willingness to share and connect with both Henry and Regina, which of course is the first step for any relationship regardless of whether it's platonic/romantic/queerplatonic.

Of course, Regina takes this as a threat instead and completely overreacts (which, let's be honest, is totally understandable since every other person she's loved has been forcibly taken from her and she's going through a rough patch with Henry right now), but I think this is really the scene that got me thinking shippily about them when I was watching the first time around. I love watching characters who are emotionally guarded learn to let down their walls one by one, and this scene carries suggestions that that is a possibility.