Once Upon a Time: In the Name of the Brother & Revenge: Collusion

[butterfly]

Once Upon a Time

I loved this episode. The Snowings (Charmings? Snows? Whatever it is we call them) are perf and wonderful. I really enjoyed how "omgwtfbbq" Belle is about Rumple when she can't remember their history. And I loved getting Frankenstein's show-specific backstory! I love that it really is b&w in his universe and that it wasn't a one-time thing -- Rumple being that vivid splash of red and yellow was so evocative.

And now I'm going to c/p something that I wrote on tumblr:

Rumple walked away from a dying man because there was no profit in it for him. That pretty much sums up everything we need to know about him right now. It would have cost Rumple nothing to save that man’s life. But he didn’t care — he couldn’t think of any plus side in it for him, so he wasn’t interested.

Regina flirted with the idea of doing the right thing — she knows what the right thing to do is and even clearly stated it (including that the people she’d hurt in the past had every reason to believe that she was back to her old tricks!) — but a car ride with her mother appears to have been enough for her to decide that the easy way is still better than the right way. This is the woman who, in season one, was sexually-abusing and ultimately murdered a man (Graham/the Woodsman). This is a woman who blamed an eight year-old girl for ruining her life and has made it her life’s goal to do everything in her power to hurt and kill that girl. She lied to Henry and tried to make him think he was going crazy. She stole an entire town’s worth of people from their homes and deliberately put them in a world that was intended to be an eternal punishment (and killed her father in order to do it). She used to send little children into a witch’s cottage to be eaten, in the hopes that one day a set of them would be able to get her what she needed out of it.

Snow learned her lesson. After Regina betrayed her and betrayed her again, Snow learned not to trust her anymore. That is the lesson that Regina appears to be refusing to learn when it comes to Cora. Regina knew what the right thing to do was. She knew. So, if she is going along with Cora and it isn’t an elaborate double-cross of some kind, then there are no excuses for Regina. Because she knew what the right thing to do was. I can feel bad for Regina’s misery without excusing her actions.

And Hook is creepy and hyper-sexualizes nearly every interaction he has with a woman, even when he’s trying to hurt or kill her. I’m thrilled that everyone on the show treats him like a creep, because he is one. Being attractive does not make him less of a creep.

I was talking to 12_12_12 about the show's villains earlier and how the key thing for me is always keeping in mind that characters who have been hurt by someone are not going to be able to shake things off the way that people who haven't been hurt by that person might be. In the case of OUaT, Emma and Henry were not targeted by Regina in the way that the rest of the townspeople were (Regina did gaslight Henry, but he's also now the person she's trying hardest to make things up to and her crimes against him were of much shorter duration than her crimes against everyone else). This means that it's easier for the two of them to forgive her and to excuse her actions. Snow was Regina's main target and she's hated Snow since the girl was eight years old. Even when Snow tried to give Regina chances to let go of her hate, Regina rejected them -- even now, Regina still hates her. Regina also shows a persistent contempt for the townspeople that is unlikely to endear her to any of them anytime soon.

Here, Regina has a chance to do things differently. The test of being a good person doesn't come when everyone is supporting you and encouraging you and is on your side -- the test is what you do when you think you're alone.

Revenge
Is it wrong that I'm so excited that, once again, the only people Emily and Nolan can truly trust and rely on is each other?

Things I'm loving about Revenge:

1) Emily & Nolan!! ♥

2) Maybe Padma being a spy means that Nolan and Marco will have some kind of moment together in the present-day. Perhaps one that includes kissing? I'm liking the Padma/Nolan storyline and was even before it was revealed that she was spying but Marco is gorgeous and I totally have a crush.

3) Fauxmanda's storyline with Jack (and now it's been wrapped back into the main Grayson storyline, so I'm enjoying that even more).

4) Daniel still being head-over-heels for Emily. I totally ship Daniel/his-unrequited-adoration-of-Emily.

5) How the Graysons manage to get in each other's ways with all their scheming.

6) Revenge!