Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-6175354-20130930170041/@comment-23906605-20131002004507

TNOandXadric wrote: My sympathy for Regina and my disgust for Snow come not from their past actions, but their present attitudes.

Yes, Snow said "good will always win" and what did Regina say? "Get off your high horse and stop assuming I'm evil"? No. She said "we'll see about that". Regina seems not only to recognize she is evil, she seems to actually enjoy and appreciate the title. I don't think she's a sociopath because of that, though. And neither is Snow.

That dialog you provided is a little out a context. I'm pretty sure I distinctively remember that scene. MM was having an affair with a married David. She wasn't actually agreeing to Sidney's idea of breaking the law to get something you want. She was trying to justify her actions to herself. Actions she felt conflicted about. And that's normal human reaction.

Snow did notice her daughter was upset. That's why she went over to talk to her. But like I said, she wasn't understanding everything completely until Emma lashed out at her and Charming. Which I think yes, was long overdue but also a little bit harsh. Emma totally had the right to get things off her chest, but the way she said some of those things was, in my opinion, uncalled for (much like she did with Regina at the end of the episode*). I get that the whole "let us share our wisdom with you" was a silly thing to say considering they have almost the exact same experience when it comes to being a parent. But her tone when she said Snow and Charming were "trying" to be parents felt offensive to me, although I do understand her rage. Isn't it also understandable that Snow treats Emma like a child sometimes? And I honestly believe she doesn't do that intentionally most of the times. It might be patronizing, but let's face it, were it not for the curse, Snow was always meant to be Emma's "patron" and it hurts her that she didn't have the chance. I don't think Snow made that wisdom remark with the intention of souding condescending. She just wants the chance to be a mother, although she has little idea of how to be one.

* - I don't think Emma was implying Regina isn't Henry's mother. I think she was just trying to reassure herself that although she might not have wanted him as a baby, she definitely wants him now. But, like I said, her tone was offensive and most people I talked to got the idea the she was saying "He is my son, not yours, back off".

And Snow did say something like "we can do better than this" during that speech she gave trying to convince Emma not to let Regina die trying to save Storybrooke, remember? She admitted killing Cora was wrong, even stating that what she did was the easy way out and that she shouldn't have gone down that path.

I do realize people  do not instantly get out of relationships that are unhealthy. I never said anything about David leaving her. I mentioned things like support and displays of affection. About the arrow, I don't think it was about the fact that Charming saved her from permanently turning into a dark person. She liked being dark then. She wanted revenge, she didn't care about being good. From where she was standing, she wasn't in a "life threatening" situation, therefore she didn't care about being saved. And how could she love Charming for who he was if she didn't even remember him? That's what Rumple said to Grumpy. The way I see it, what got her to love him again was seeing that Charming would risk his own life to show how much he loved her even thought she didn't even care.

I do have to agree with one thing you said, though. Regina and Snow are different in a way that one embraces her dark side while the other tries her best to keep it as far away as she can. And I'll even go as far as to borrow what Snow said to Emma in the last episode and rephrase it a little bit. I think Snow tries to hide whatever darkness she feels inside her because the moment  she lets herself believe that she might be turning into a bad person is the moment she actually becomes one. We all saw that happen to Regina.