Once Upon a Time - We Are Both Review
Here is my long review of the episode after some reflection and a rewatch. Only spoilers for this episode - nothing for any future episodes.
This week is the second installment of Regina's backstory and it takes place shortly after Stable Boy - somewhere between her first dress fitting and the wedding. From what we saw in Stable Boy it seemed as though Regina was resigned to marrying Leopold. Cora had crushed her love's heart to dust and was clearly willing to stop at nothing to make sure the marriage occurred. Without this episode one would think that Regina was well and truly cowed and didn't regain her agency until much later. But this episode makes it clear that Regina NEVER gave up trying to get away or at least to make her own decisions. We know she does end up marrying Leopold but now we also that she made an affirmative choice to marry him and to stay with him. She could have left and did not. What we don't know yet (but I'm sure will find out) is why she did this. Just for revenge? Because it turned out to be as good a place as any to be while learning magic? Or some other reason?
Whatever those reasons are we do know that Rumpel is involved in it somehow. She was a desperate soul and called him into her life - a place he had been planning to be for a long time. Or at least hoped to be since even he could never be certain what is someone's heart This episode makes it clear that Cora was the Miller's Daughter (as mentioned in Stable Boy) and that Regina was the baby he had been promised. He got as far as holding her in his arms (when she was more portable *g*) before Cora managed to get out of that deal. But he kept tabs on her and waited until the time was right to get right back where he belonged. It is interesting that it seems he was expecting Cora to produce a more grasping and evil child - which I suppose makes sense considering what we know of Cora - but Regina at this point is good and gentle and doesn't want power, or the death of her enemies, or the death of her friends (hee - Cora must have always been a piece of work); she only wants freedom. The problem with using magic to get that freedom is that it always has a price and the price of this magic was a desire for more.
Now, I've read some theories and speculation that Rumpel knew right from the start that Regina would be the one to cast the curse and that's why he was involved in her life, right down to messing with Cora so that she would be abusive to Regina. That he planned it all and she never had any choice in the matter. And I don't quite buy that. As far as I can tell he spent a very long time gathering his curse ingredients. How would he know how hard it is to bottle True Love if he hadn't tried many times before? I think it's the same for finding a curse caster. The way I see it, he had various possibilities and he watched each of them, testing them, and seeing if they would work but he wouldn't know who would be the right one from the start. From my perspective Rumpel waited for Regina to call him and would have moved on if she never did. It was her choice. And then he saw power in Regina and tested her with the mirror to see what she would do. That was also her choice. A third choice was whether she was willing to learn magic from him, while yet another choice was whether she allowed it to turn her into her mother. Yes, he pushed and manipulated and tempted but he didn't force. He always allows a choice in his deals even if the other person feels they have none. And in Regina's case she clearly had the choice between leaving forever and being free or learning magic. She wasn't even backed into a corner for that choice. Cora was gone, Leopold was weak would not be able to hold her back, and there was nothing stopping her from finding her own way in life.
Her choices were constrained, as are most people's, but she still made decisions to put her on her path. I actually see many parallels between Rumpel and Regina. Both are desperate souls who choose to take magical solutions to their problems and those solutions involved taking magical power into themselves. And both of them wanted to do GOOD things and limited things. Rumpel wanted to end the war and bring the children home while Regina simply wanted to be free to live her life instead of her mother's life. Each planned to give up magic after but both instead ended up wanting/needing more power. We even have the parallels of losing loved ones through portals and of wanting redemption this season.
And I can't wait for more Regina as apprentice scenes! I love their twisted relationship.
• Poor Sneezy! I guess someone had to check. And the dwarves are the Royal Guard. I don't remember that being mentioned before.
• Huh, August. A living puppet? I didn't see any indication that he was turning back to flesh when his eyes blinked so I'm thinking he gained control of the rest of himself while still wood. I hope he switches back soon. *shudders* I don't like living puppets!
• Pyramus and Thisbee - two names on the lost persons board. Are they the two characters from Roman mythology perhaps? It's too bad I couldn't read any other names since it would interesting seeing who else is in town.
• I will not listen to a childcare lectures from a man who put his daughter in a box and shipped her to Maine. Hee. I love how she says it like she didn't have anything to do with it and like the worst part of it is that she was sent to MAINE of all places.
• Are the nuns still nuns or can they, you know, date? Don't say it's me asking. Oh, Dr. Whale getting your memories back didn't change you at all! Did he already try every single (or not so single) non-nun in Storybrooke? And I love that this is his BIG PROBLEM that he needs to bother Charming about.
• I love Red as the main Charming/Snow lieutenant. It's good to see her with her mojo back and not as flighty, low self esteem Ruby.
• Gold is NOT happy about being stuck. He had all his maps (all of the northeast US so he must have some idea of Bae's location - perhaps the curse was designed to hit within a certain numbers of years and miles from Bae) and his bags packed so he and Belle could get out of town and now he can't go anywhere. I wonder if this was the price for the magic potion. All magic has a price and maybe without the potion he could have left town.
• Knowing that he was planning to leave town within ~72 hours of the curse being broken I wonder why he used the potion at all! The magic seems to be constrained to stay within Storybrooke so I don't know how it would have helped him in Baltimore or wherever he went. Also, it makes me wonder if at least some of his actions in the premiere were of a man who didn't expect to see any of these people ever again. No need to be subtle if you're leaving town tomorrow!
• Is anyone else bothered by Rumpel's new boots? I can understand them wanting to change his costume into one that is easier to get on and off. However, I miss the slim fitting boots from last season! These boots are too slouchy and they don't look nearly as badass. Why couldn't they make a boot that looks like the old ones but zips up? *grumps*
• Charming may have done the fighting while Snow did the talking but he can give a good and inspirational speech when he needs to! Very inspiring and charming. :)
• Oh, and where were all these people going? The Blue Fairy was leaving town? Geppetto without Pinocchio? That makes no sense on the face of it but it makes even LESS sense when you think about it. Each person who crossed the border was going to forget all about FTL and all about Regina the Evil Queen and immediately remember that they lived in Storybrooke, had businesses and jobs in Storybrooke, had friends/family in Storybrooke, and would have turned right around to go back, completely oblivious to the danger. Just like Sneezy!
• Regina not burning the Book was clearly not a good sign for her redemption. However, willingly giving up Henry and wanting to be redeemed are good signs. I would happier if she gave the Book to Charming as well. There are time when you NEED magic to defend yourself so getting rid of the book entirely may be a bad plan but keeping your drug of choice nearby is definitely a bad plan.
• I am SO not impressed with Mulan this episode. Yeah, two unconscious women who fell through a portal with a wraith must automatically be the enemy so we must drag them around and throw them in the pit. I get that we are supposed to see post apocalyptic FTL as a hard and bad place but I don't sympathize with Mulan so far.
• Cora! When did she leave Wonderland? Maybe the curse pulled her out and then left her in FTL since Regina certainly would not want her in Storybrooke. Being reunited with mommy would NOT be a happy ending.
This entry was originally posted here and has
comments. Comment here or there.
This week is the second installment of Regina's backstory and it takes place shortly after Stable Boy - somewhere between her first dress fitting and the wedding. From what we saw in Stable Boy it seemed as though Regina was resigned to marrying Leopold. Cora had crushed her love's heart to dust and was clearly willing to stop at nothing to make sure the marriage occurred. Without this episode one would think that Regina was well and truly cowed and didn't regain her agency until much later. But this episode makes it clear that Regina NEVER gave up trying to get away or at least to make her own decisions. We know she does end up marrying Leopold but now we also that she made an affirmative choice to marry him and to stay with him. She could have left and did not. What we don't know yet (but I'm sure will find out) is why she did this. Just for revenge? Because it turned out to be as good a place as any to be while learning magic? Or some other reason?
Whatever those reasons are we do know that Rumpel is involved in it somehow. She was a desperate soul and called him into her life - a place he had been planning to be for a long time. Or at least hoped to be since even he could never be certain what is someone's heart This episode makes it clear that Cora was the Miller's Daughter (as mentioned in Stable Boy) and that Regina was the baby he had been promised. He got as far as holding her in his arms (when she was more portable *g*) before Cora managed to get out of that deal. But he kept tabs on her and waited until the time was right to get right back where he belonged. It is interesting that it seems he was expecting Cora to produce a more grasping and evil child - which I suppose makes sense considering what we know of Cora - but Regina at this point is good and gentle and doesn't want power, or the death of her enemies, or the death of her friends (hee - Cora must have always been a piece of work); she only wants freedom. The problem with using magic to get that freedom is that it always has a price and the price of this magic was a desire for more.
Now, I've read some theories and speculation that Rumpel knew right from the start that Regina would be the one to cast the curse and that's why he was involved in her life, right down to messing with Cora so that she would be abusive to Regina. That he planned it all and she never had any choice in the matter. And I don't quite buy that. As far as I can tell he spent a very long time gathering his curse ingredients. How would he know how hard it is to bottle True Love if he hadn't tried many times before? I think it's the same for finding a curse caster. The way I see it, he had various possibilities and he watched each of them, testing them, and seeing if they would work but he wouldn't know who would be the right one from the start. From my perspective Rumpel waited for Regina to call him and would have moved on if she never did. It was her choice. And then he saw power in Regina and tested her with the mirror to see what she would do. That was also her choice. A third choice was whether she was willing to learn magic from him, while yet another choice was whether she allowed it to turn her into her mother. Yes, he pushed and manipulated and tempted but he didn't force. He always allows a choice in his deals even if the other person feels they have none. And in Regina's case she clearly had the choice between leaving forever and being free or learning magic. She wasn't even backed into a corner for that choice. Cora was gone, Leopold was weak would not be able to hold her back, and there was nothing stopping her from finding her own way in life.
Her choices were constrained, as are most people's, but she still made decisions to put her on her path. I actually see many parallels between Rumpel and Regina. Both are desperate souls who choose to take magical solutions to their problems and those solutions involved taking magical power into themselves. And both of them wanted to do GOOD things and limited things. Rumpel wanted to end the war and bring the children home while Regina simply wanted to be free to live her life instead of her mother's life. Each planned to give up magic after but both instead ended up wanting/needing more power. We even have the parallels of losing loved ones through portals and of wanting redemption this season.
And I can't wait for more Regina as apprentice scenes! I love their twisted relationship.
• Poor Sneezy! I guess someone had to check. And the dwarves are the Royal Guard. I don't remember that being mentioned before.
• Huh, August. A living puppet? I didn't see any indication that he was turning back to flesh when his eyes blinked so I'm thinking he gained control of the rest of himself while still wood. I hope he switches back soon. *shudders* I don't like living puppets!
• Pyramus and Thisbee - two names on the lost persons board. Are they the two characters from Roman mythology perhaps? It's too bad I couldn't read any other names since it would interesting seeing who else is in town.
• I will not listen to a childcare lectures from a man who put his daughter in a box and shipped her to Maine. Hee. I love how she says it like she didn't have anything to do with it and like the worst part of it is that she was sent to MAINE of all places.
• Are the nuns still nuns or can they, you know, date? Don't say it's me asking. Oh, Dr. Whale getting your memories back didn't change you at all! Did he already try every single (or not so single) non-nun in Storybrooke? And I love that this is his BIG PROBLEM that he needs to bother Charming about.
• I love Red as the main Charming/Snow lieutenant. It's good to see her with her mojo back and not as flighty, low self esteem Ruby.
• Gold is NOT happy about being stuck. He had all his maps (all of the northeast US so he must have some idea of Bae's location - perhaps the curse was designed to hit within a certain numbers of years and miles from Bae) and his bags packed so he and Belle could get out of town and now he can't go anywhere. I wonder if this was the price for the magic potion. All magic has a price and maybe without the potion he could have left town.
• Knowing that he was planning to leave town within ~72 hours of the curse being broken I wonder why he used the potion at all! The magic seems to be constrained to stay within Storybrooke so I don't know how it would have helped him in Baltimore or wherever he went. Also, it makes me wonder if at least some of his actions in the premiere were of a man who didn't expect to see any of these people ever again. No need to be subtle if you're leaving town tomorrow!
• Is anyone else bothered by Rumpel's new boots? I can understand them wanting to change his costume into one that is easier to get on and off. However, I miss the slim fitting boots from last season! These boots are too slouchy and they don't look nearly as badass. Why couldn't they make a boot that looks like the old ones but zips up? *grumps*
• Charming may have done the fighting while Snow did the talking but he can give a good and inspirational speech when he needs to! Very inspiring and charming. :)
• Oh, and where were all these people going? The Blue Fairy was leaving town? Geppetto without Pinocchio? That makes no sense on the face of it but it makes even LESS sense when you think about it. Each person who crossed the border was going to forget all about FTL and all about Regina the Evil Queen and immediately remember that they lived in Storybrooke, had businesses and jobs in Storybrooke, had friends/family in Storybrooke, and would have turned right around to go back, completely oblivious to the danger. Just like Sneezy!
• Regina not burning the Book was clearly not a good sign for her redemption. However, willingly giving up Henry and wanting to be redeemed are good signs. I would happier if she gave the Book to Charming as well. There are time when you NEED magic to defend yourself so getting rid of the book entirely may be a bad plan but keeping your drug of choice nearby is definitely a bad plan.
• I am SO not impressed with Mulan this episode. Yeah, two unconscious women who fell through a portal with a wraith must automatically be the enemy so we must drag them around and throw them in the pit. I get that we are supposed to see post apocalyptic FTL as a hard and bad place but I don't sympathize with Mulan so far.
• Cora! When did she leave Wonderland? Maybe the curse pulled her out and then left her in FTL since Regina certainly would not want her in Storybrooke. Being reunited with mommy would NOT be a happy ending.
This entry was originally posted here and has
comments. Comment here or there.