Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25926288-20150504001750/@comment-5106672-20150504034516

Okay, the only problem with this episode is it's most likely going to be overshadowed by the hype for the finale.

With this said, I loved everything about it.


 * The show's writing might seem a bit inconsistent at first glance. It opened in Season One with full-rounded characters who became real people with real problems (as Emma said), then it had those real people dealing with magical sheningans for two seasons, then it tried to squeeze itself into the heroes and villains formula... but not really. Ursula is a textbook case, she was labelled a villain but deep down was a quite nice person. I think the whole heroes and villains point was just in Mr. Gold's mind to begin with. His, Regina's and the Charmings', but mostli his. We met Ursula, we met sociopath Cruella, then Maleficent, Lily, Emma about to swing both ways, Snow and Charming being good but messing up, but each and all of them had their motives and did their choices, sometimes good, sometimes bad. The fact that the book Mr. Gold wanted the author to write is called "Heroes and Villains" shows how he's still in Regina-in-denial phase: he sticks to labels because he's too much of a coward to take full responsibility for what he's done: he needs a black and white moral to blame.


 * Regina, on the other hand, has been the perfect example of what makes a villain: circumstances pushed, but ultimately it was her who caused the greatest deal of her own unhappiness. The barrening potion was a perfect symbol of how much her own choices affected her negatively, much more so than what her mother or Rumple threw on her way. She has finally come to this realisation and is breaking the circle: she realised she does not need an author to do it for her, she has the power to change her life. She already did when she was able to use light magic, but needed to go through her separation with Robin to fully understand it. And she also realised her own happiness needs love and support, but is chiefly found within herself. I'm so fucking proud of her character growth! So proud! She sent one of the strongest messages in the whole show.


 * Now, of course she had her relapse gloating over Gold's condition and actively taking advantage of that, but that's one of her usual relapses which I love to hate – and was before the big epiphany anyway. She really masters her grey area, such as going after the ink no matter what but trying to be clever and minimise the collateral damage as much as she can. I hope she has learned that such things end up blowing in her face at last and it's not always the time to be heroic in villainous ways.


 * I would have hoped for more scary dragon bitch Maleficent flashbacks in order to see also her character grow from the sorceress who cursed Briar Rose to the wise retired villain we met in S1 and has returned now. But the writers got to write a very relatable, heartwarming character just with her present self, so kudos to that. I like to think I was sniffing because I'm still recovering from the cold, not because all of her scenes made me emotional.


 * Emma came to her sense at last. Where "at last" is a bit of an overstatement, since it's only natural it took her those two-three-maximum-four days to elaborate what her parents did (let's just remember the timeline is extremely compact within the show, it was over a month for us only), so she actually got over that in a reasonable time. But she's a really good characters: has her dark moments, her heroic moments, but she's ultimately just a human being, a person, and this episode showed it perfectly.


 * The flashback was… I don't know. I too hoped to see Henry Sr.'s kindapping, but I'll assume Cora took him on her way out. I just don't understand what her plan was to begin with. It makes as little sense as that to stop Anastasia from going back to Will: the hell is she getting out of that? I think Regina was half right to be suspicious and I'm not buying for a second Cora actually wanted for her daughter to only be happy – otherwise she wouldn't have brought an imposter. But it was a good way to show us the big epiphany Regina was going to have: she is her own worst enemy. It also explains her obsession with adopting children whether they like it or not.


 * Sorry the capslock but I WANT TO KNOW WHO THE SEVERE NURSE IS. I NEED TO. Actually, that's a quirk I have since S1 when we were supposed to find out who was who back in FTL, but I don't think I'll ever be over it. She's only doing her job, but she's so shady with it! I want more!

Okay, now back to the hype.