Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25517595-20150330011154/@comment-4975807-20150331051944

Wow, I'm pretty late to this discussion. XD I did not read through every single reply, so forgive me if I'm repeating some sentiments that have already been expressed.

Let's see...

This episode kind of blew my mind at how selfish Snow White and Prince Charming were. I cringed at Snow's rationalization that Maleficent's child would probably turn out evil since its mother is evil too. And I do believe  the word "vessel" that the Apprentice used pushed that even further and made them very far removed from the fact the egg contained a living, breathing soul. They were very cold about it by thinking the egg wasn't an actual child, and only when the egg hatched, they realized the gravity of their mistake in dooming a life. Very interesting that Snow's vision of Emma was so different from Charming's... I think it's very telling and could mean Snow always did have more potential for darkness than Charming, even though she has always (up until that point) chosen to be good. I enjoyed seeing Maleficent's vulnerability as she begged Snow and Charming for mercy. It shows how precious the child was to her, although I did find her line delivery when she tried to blast them as they escaped the cavern to be a bit off. I've only watched the full episode once in total, so maybe my intial impressions will change after I watch it a couple more times....

The reveal about how Ursula and Cruella ended up in the LWM was brilliant. I loved it. Now let's see some flashbacks when they first got there. I have conjured an imaginary scene in my head in which Ursula, in her green attire + cape + headdress, gets mistaken for a cosplayer in NYC, lol.

It was in present time Storybrooke that I found Mary Margaret to be more redeemable when she actually considered everything that would be destroyed if she and David burned the door illustration. Finally.

Great to see Ursula again. I'm still sad that Ursula in present day has already left the gang, but I'm happy she got her happy ending. Loved the little tidbit about Cinderella giving the unicorn mobile to Snow White. For timeline wise, does anyone have a guess about whether that took place before or after Cinderella lost Thomas in "The Price of Gold"? It seems like it could be either, particularly since there's no mention of Thomas.

Unsure about Mr. Gold and what he said to Belle. I don't get it, to be honest. "I'll come back for you if I can?" ???? I perceived the scene to be pretty neutral. I wasn't getting a sense of whether his intentions about wanting to "change things quickly" were bad or good. His words were so vague I completely didn't get what he was talking about. Perhaps it has a purpose in a later episode...

The flashback reveal of the Author being meddlesome and manipulative was nicely done. I found it funny that while the Apprentice was going on and on about how corrupt and unfit he is for the job of Author, Gorin was just sitting there (with his back turned, too) continuing to write in the book with the magic quill almost as if he didn't care. The curtain drop he did at the end was unexpected for me (it actually made me flinch, lol). Of all things, I wasn't even thinking of the prospect that he'd actually run, but I like the way he did it. And then when Emma ran after him, the way the scene transitioned from her inside the hallway to the town streets almost made me think the Author had done something to manipulate her as a means to confuse her.

Concerning what the Apprentice said about the Author forcing him to cast the spell on the child (Lily), it's certainly puzzling. What it looked like to me is that the Apprentice simply offered Snow and Charming a deal that they could accept or decline. It didn't appear anything was coerced, except that Gorin had deliberately directed the couple towards the Apprentice's cottage. I keep thinking about Gorin and how it looked as he was writing in the book with the magic quill, though. What if whatever he is writing is what people are forced to do? For example, he simply used verbal persuasion to convince Snow and Charming it would be safer to go to a cottage temporarily for shelter, but once they were there, could it be that he began writing in the book and controlling their movements and making them say/ask ____? Kind of like, whatever is recorded in the book, it happens in real life.