I don't mind how little Henry there has been this half-season, because there's always been a reasonable explanation for his absence. Someone's always been babysitting him and keeping him away from all the magic and danger (well, until Charming thought letting a 12-year old drive was a "safe" way to pass the time). All of his usual babysitters were at Regina's this week, and no one mentioned anything about him, which is pretty unusual.
I was super disappointed that Hook didn't tell Emma about his cursed lips. They were alone together at Granny's which would have been the perfect time. I get the feeling that Zelena going after Henry (potentially while he's by himself) next week will be a direct result of him not kissing Emma, and since he didn't warn her of the witch's plan, Henry's the one who will suffer the consequences.
I was really curious to see what they would do with Snow's black heart, but I get the feeling the writers completely forgot about it. They have a habit of introducing too many really interesting plot components, and only a few of them wind up getting any kind of screen time or depth. It's kind of unfortunate.
I tried to post this as one comment, but LJ wouldn't let me because it was too long! XD So here's part 2:
I think you're absolutely right about the show's definition of love - that sacrificial love is seen as the best form of love and passion is relegated to evil characters. We have a few references to the passionate aspects of Snow and Charming's love, but they really are more life partners than passionate lovers. We really haven't had any passion displayed on screen between them (there was one time that Emma and Henry caught them in bed, but nothing was seen and it was set up to be an embarrassing moment for everyone). For the most part, their passion is talked about but never seen. Their kisses have been emotional and full of love, but not the kind of passion we saw in Rumple's kisses with Cora or Zelena (going for the shoulder and neck respectively). The other thing about the Rumple and Zelena kiss that bugged me was how much she was moaning in a sexualized way in response to him. The whole scene was a parody of a truly passionate and intimate relationship (and it was a little too much for a "family show" either way); what would be a passionate embrace between two lovers is used as a device of coercion, and even though Zelena didn't command him with the dagger, she's put him in a position where he has no other options but to whore himself to her. If the genders of the characters were reversed, I think a lot more people would be upset by the sexual power dynamics in the scene.
I'm not convinced the scene was really necessary. On the one hand, it's good to see Rumple trying to take matters into his own hands; on the other hand, we as the audience know he was doomed to fail (too many episodes left for him to get his free will back). Why show it at all?
Now that we've seen passionate kissing, though, and the writers have established they're willing to put something a little racy on the screen, I wish we could have something like that with one of the True Love couples. Show the audience that passion is an important part of True Love, as much as sacrifice, friendship, and partnership. I think the balance of the different forms of love is what should define True Love.
I'd love to see something more passionate between our established True Love characters (kissing other than on the mouth would be a good start). I think it's a really old idea rooted in a lot religions that sex and sexuality should only be used for procreation, which is why we see so little of it from the True Love characters and so much promiscuity with the villains. I wouldn't mind some sweet life partner/domestic scenes between the True Loves, too, but we're not really getting much of that either - a little with Snow and Charming, but not with Rumple and Belle, since they constantly are being separated. Characters are established as being True Loves and the audience is largely left to fill in the blanks of what that actually means.
I was also mildly annoyed by the oft-repeated implication that the first time of sex leads to pregnancy. The first time a character has sex in a movie or tv show, they always wind up preggers, but in real life it can take a lot more tries. Sure, you can get pregnant the first time, but it's not as likely as tv shows and movies would have you believe.
I'm not sure that True Love's Kiss is off the table with Regina and Robin. It might be, but since Regina didn't have her heart at the time, that could explain why nothing happened. The pixie dust identified them as soul mates (not True Love), which could explain why Regina still has feelings for him without her heart (she feels things with her very soul, as Snow said to her). True Love could develop between them - one thing I have liked about the depiction of love on Once is that you have to know a person in order to love them. True Love's kiss didn't work for Snow and Charming when Snow had her memory of him removed; maybe it doesn't work for Regina and Robin since her heart has been removed. So I think there could be True Love's kiss later on for them once they know each other better and Regina gets her heart back.
I was super disappointed that Hook didn't tell Emma about his cursed lips. They were alone together at Granny's which would have been the perfect time. I get the feeling that Zelena going after Henry (potentially while he's by himself) next week will be a direct result of him not kissing Emma, and since he didn't warn her of the witch's plan, Henry's the one who will suffer the consequences.
I was really curious to see what they would do with Snow's black heart, but I get the feeling the writers completely forgot about it. They have a habit of introducing too many really interesting plot components, and only a few of them wind up getting any kind of screen time or depth. It's kind of unfortunate.
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I think you're absolutely right about the show's definition of love - that sacrificial love is seen as the best form of love and passion is relegated to evil characters. We have a few references to the passionate aspects of Snow and Charming's love, but they really are more life partners than passionate lovers. We really haven't had any passion displayed on screen between them (there was one time that Emma and Henry caught them in bed, but nothing was seen and it was set up to be an embarrassing moment for everyone). For the most part, their passion is talked about but never seen. Their kisses have been emotional and full of love, but not the kind of passion we saw in Rumple's kisses with Cora or Zelena (going for the shoulder and neck respectively). The other thing about the Rumple and Zelena kiss that bugged me was how much she was moaning in a sexualized way in response to him. The whole scene was a parody of a truly passionate and intimate relationship (and it was a little too much for a "family show" either way); what would be a passionate embrace between two lovers is used as a device of coercion, and even though Zelena didn't command him with the dagger, she's put him in a position where he has no other options but to whore himself to her. If the genders of the characters were reversed, I think a lot more people would be upset by the sexual power dynamics in the scene.
I'm not convinced the scene was really necessary. On the one hand, it's good to see Rumple trying to take matters into his own hands; on the other hand, we as the audience know he was doomed to fail (too many episodes left for him to get his free will back). Why show it at all?
Now that we've seen passionate kissing, though, and the writers have established they're willing to put something a little racy on the screen, I wish we could have something like that with one of the True Love couples. Show the audience that passion is an important part of True Love, as much as sacrifice, friendship, and partnership. I think the balance of the different forms of love is what should define True Love.
I'd love to see something more passionate between our established True Love characters (kissing other than on the mouth would be a good start). I think it's a really old idea rooted in a lot religions that sex and sexuality should only be used for procreation, which is why we see so little of it from the True Love characters and so much promiscuity with the villains. I wouldn't mind some sweet life partner/domestic scenes between the True Loves, too, but we're not really getting much of that either - a little with Snow and Charming, but not with Rumple and Belle, since they constantly are being separated. Characters are established as being True Loves and the audience is largely left to fill in the blanks of what that actually means.
I was also mildly annoyed by the oft-repeated implication that the first time of sex leads to pregnancy. The first time a character has sex in a movie or tv show, they always wind up preggers, but in real life it can take a lot more tries. Sure, you can get pregnant the first time, but it's not as likely as tv shows and movies would have you believe.
I'm not sure that True Love's Kiss is off the table with Regina and Robin. It might be, but since Regina didn't have her heart at the time, that could explain why nothing happened. The pixie dust identified them as soul mates (not True Love), which could explain why Regina still has feelings for him without her heart (she feels things with her very soul, as Snow said to her). True Love could develop between them - one thing I have liked about the depiction of love on Once is that you have to know a person in order to love them. True Love's kiss didn't work for Snow and Charming when Snow had her memory of him removed; maybe it doesn't work for Regina and Robin since her heart has been removed. So I think there could be True Love's kiss later on for them once they know each other better and Regina gets her heart back.
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