Once Upon a Time: Episodes 12 - 22

[ravenya03]

So, I’ve completed the second half of Once Upon a Time season three; what I suppose will eventually be known as the Oz arc (just as the first half of this season was the Neverland arc). And ... I didn’t hate it. I guess. That’s about all the emotion I can muster up over this. This attitude no doubt comes from the fact that a) I’m not that invested, and b) I watched it all in one hit, thus removing the weekly dose of expectation/anticipation/speculation.

There was some good stuff, there was some bad stuff, but mostly there was a lot of mediocre stuff.



The overarching plot delved into L. Frank Baum’s Oz books for its inspiration, though not without a hefty dose of Wicked: The Musical as well. Turns out that after Snow White, Regina, Charming and other assorted Storybrooke denizens returned to the Enchanted Forest, it was to find that the Wicked Witch of the West had taken over. And what do you know? Turns out that Zelena (not Elphaba) is Regina’s half-sister. I’m not entirely sure why they went down this path - not only is Regina completely disinterested in being a sister, not only does it involve warping Cora’s backstory to an incoherent degree, but the familial connection seems completely unnecessary. Seriously, why go there? The family tree on this show is already convoluted enough, and all Zelena had to be in order to get the exact same story was a second protégée of Rumplestiltskin that he cast aside in favour of Regina. Seriously. That’s all.

As such, Zelena was both an effective villain as well as a wasted one.

Effective because Rebecca Mader had plenty of panache, and managed to come across as a threat even when she was forced to recite exposition or shout the usual villain clichés. I remember the actress from Lost, and she had a pretty epic bitchface back then which she continued to use to great effect here. And there were plenty of other things I liked about the portrayal of this character. I liked her outfits. I liked her green colour scheme. I liked that in her disguise as a midwife she was channelling a sort-of chirpy Mary Poppins. I liked how she brought Regina a basket of green apples to contrast the usual red. I liked the literal use of being “green with envy” to explain her skin tone.

And most of all, I liked what they did with the iconic components of The Wizard of Oz: making a brain, a heart and courage the necessary ingredients to a spell. That was a neat idea, particularly in the way she gathered the ingredients from various other characters: Charming’s courage, Regina’s heart and Rumplestiltskin’s brain, qualities that were also reflected in the sisterhood of fairies in Oz.

But then we get to her motivation.

It’s not that jealousy isn’t a viable option for a villain. Heck, Iago IS this vice and he’s one of the greatest villains of all time. But Once Upon a Time isn’t Shakespeare. And Zelena’s jealousy of Regina falls flat simply because she’s been retconned into a storyline that doesn’t have room for her. Apparently Cora was going to marry Leopold while she was pregnant with Zelena? And Leopold knew this when he married her daughter years later? What on earth...?

And Zelena is (of course) the millionth character whose evil can be traced back to Daddy Issues. Sigh. I actually like this show’s mantra that evil is not born, but made, but I’d like them to take that sentiment and apply it to people who make increasingly bad choices, not those who react badly to extraneous circumstances beyond their control.

So though I enjoyed Zelena, I wasn’t particularly interested or invested in her. Her jealousy of Regina and Dorothy seemed weird and petty, and her plan to travel back in time and change the past was lifted straight out of Once Upon a Time in Wonderland.

It also didn’t help that her motivation and identity was revealed in an Exposition Dump to Regina (and the audience) long before the other characters caught on (thanks to the missing year). So for much of the episodes, the viewers are well aware of what the characters are not, a situation that pretty much obliterates the suspense and mystery.

So now we come to the rest of the cast. I actually think this second half of the season did pretty well with the Charming family - though their relationship with Regina continues to baffle me. I liked that there was more focus on Charming and Emma as father/daughter. I liked that there is on-going regret that Charming and Snow missed Emma’s childhood. I liked that Snow and Regina had several scenes together in which they get to communicate and help each other. I liked that Emma finally accepted that her home is with them.

But when it comes to Regina, the morality of the show is still hopelessly skewered, and I’m honestly not sure if the writers even understand what they’re doing. Sometimes they seem self-aware; other times they’re completely oblivious. I mean, these are people that describe attempted murder as “extenuating circumstances”.

But I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that Regina’s self-centredness and tendency to give up if she doesn’t get immediate validation are deliberate character flaws. It’s consistent and it makes her moments of unselfishness and self-awareness all the more special.   I liked the scene in which Zelena gets to call out Regina on her inability to pursue happiness, favouring instead to wallow about in misery in her luxurious home - sometimes it takes a villain to honestly point out your flaws. And I enjoyed finally getting some decent interaction between Snow and Regina in which they tentatively begin to build a bridge, though they’re still rather prickly and suspicious of each other at first. And I liked that Regina was the one to break the curse this time around, by kissing Henry on the forehead.

So maybe it’s not the “villains” that I have a problem with, but the way in which the writers have our heroes interact with them. In this universe, redemption doesn’t lie with villains acknowledging their past misdeeds, apologizing for them, and attempting to make amends - it’s based on victims forgiving their abusers. The likes of Regina, Rumplestiltskin and Hook are considered “redeemed” when they win the forgiveness and/or affection of the people they’ve wronged. And the problem is, by dint of being the good guys, the Charmings are held to such a high moral standard that THEY become the villains if they DON’T offer sympathy and support to the people who rob them of their children, constantly threaten their well-being, and generally put them through hell.

I find it stunning that Snow has the fortitude to reach out to Regina while she’s grieving for Henry and actually listen to her complain about how hard it is to be without her child when Emma’s entire life was defined by Regina’s decision to destroy Snow’s family. I’m astounded that Emma can say: “I thought our family were the good guys” when they hear that Princess Ava exposed Cora as a liar to her fiancé about being pregnant with another man’s baby (the implication being that letting Leopold believe that Zelena was his own child would have been the better option?) I’m bewildered that Emma can so easily shrug off witnessing her mother’s (presumed) death by burning at Regina’s hands and actually apologise to HER that she’s broken up Regina/Robin by saving an innocent woman’s life - a woman whose life was endangered by Regina.

I mean, these writers do know that Regina holding a life-long grudge toward a child for spilling a secret to a highly manipulative woman is beyond stupid, right? And that she’s being sublimely hypocritical when she snarls “actions have consequences!” at Emma when it was HER actions that put Marian in that dungeon cell in the first place, right?

Because I honestly don’t think they do. And sure, I can feel sorry for Regina that her chance at happiness with Robin has been taken away. But to immediately round on Emma, blame her for saving a woman’s life that SHE endangered, once again bring up the Snow White fiasco, and generally act pissy that a woman has been reunited with her husband and young son is just beyond the pale.

I don’t understand how children and teenagers exposing lies and manipulation is on par with vengeful mass murder. I hate that there’s no such thing as righteous anger on this show and that good guys aren’t allowed to make mistakes or demonstrate rage that things they love have been taken from them. Redemption doesn’t seem to be about villains being redeemed as it is good guys inviting them into the fold because that’s what heroes are meant to do.

I’m not against Regina finding redemption, not at all. I just wish it was handled more organically, and that it didn’t come at the cost of everyone else’s integrity and common sense.

And that’s not even getting into Rumplestiltskin. I’m not up to trying to unpack any of his storyline, I’ll only say that I’m not remotely surprised that he’d trick Belle into thinking that she had his dagger whilst quietly secreting the real one elsewhere before marrying her. Enjoy your project Belle. You’re not the first woman who believes you were special enough to change a man’s very nature, and you sure as hell won’t be the last. What do you guys talk about anyway?

Among the other characters there wasn’t a heck of a lot happening, but I was fine with that. This show works best when it remembers that it is Emma’s fairytale at its core, and focuses on the key cast of characters: Charming, Snow, Rumplestiltskin and Regina. (And Henry, I guess).

But there were some nice little cameos here and there. Red of course was the best part - I honestly started flailing when she popped up out of nowhere in the Enchanted Forest. The old ironies still abound since she was brought back in order to do very little (which is precisely the reason why Meghan Ory left in the first place), and it was a little jarring to suddenly see her there when she’s been absent for so long (albeit “off-screen” absent, not “put on a bus” absent).

I was astonished to see Kathryn again, but rather disappointed that there was no real updates on her in Storybrooke (did she reunite with Frederick?), as well as Marco, Tinkerbell, the Blue Fairy, Archie, Granny, Arial, Doctor Whale, Smee - heck, even Maurice.

Among the new characters Rapunzel would have to be the standout, though unfortunately it was because she ended up being something of a disappointment. I was so looking forward to her, and the actress was stunning, but her story arc made little sense. Her brother died so she exiled herself to a tower? And she was being guarded by a manifestation of her own fear? And then she ... just got over it? Gah, her fairytale deserved so much better than this! Especially after all the usual crap went down over her not being white.

***

Okay, let’s get to the shipping malarkey. I’m not involved with the OUaT fandom, but I’ve heard that the shipping wars are pretty fraught. Which is reason enough to stay well out of it. But bits and pieces trickle out, and it was fairly obvious to me that Neal was not a popular character - specifically not as a love interest to Emma.

For the record, I wasn’t overly fond of Neal. I didn’t dislike him, but I thought the actor was a bad match for Dylan Schmid’s Baelfire, especially on a show that usually does such an amazing job of matching young actors with their older counterparts. But I didn’t hate the guy. Far from it. He was a decent guy who cared about other people, made tough decisions, and didn’t complain or wangst about the consequences of those decisions. There was nothing there to hate.

Yet from what I saw of the rest of fandom, the vitriol directed at him was taken to a surprising level. We’re talking full-on Ron the Death Eater syndrome here, wherein Neal sending Emma to jail (in dodgy but not entirely unforgiveable circumstances) is considered a more heinous crime than shooting Belle in the back or ripping out Graham’s heart. You see, depending on who you ship with Emma, standards of morality can be shifted in all sorts of fun directions. Like magic!

(See also: Severus Snape and James Potter. Guess which one gets more shit. Guess which one actually DID more shit. Not literally).

My point is this. Fandom’s favoured ships are Regina/Emma or Emma/Hook. Fandom was vocally negative toward Neal because of this. And nothing will convince me that Kitsis and Horowitz weren’t listening. Which lead directly to the decision to kill him off. I honestly believe this. You don’t have to. But I do.

Because the exact same thing happened with Tamara and Greg. The writers heard that the fandom hated them, and they killed them off accordingly. Of course, in that case it wasn’t that big a deal. Those characters DID suck. But that didn’t change the sinking feeling in my stomach when their deaths actually occurred, because I knew it meant that if fandom gets loud enough, the writers will lose faith in their storytelling abilities and simply cave under fan pressure.

I know that Tamara/Greg were not part of a good plot. Perhaps it was a good idea to get rid of them. But the braver (better?) thing for the writers to have done would have been to stick to their guns, improve the writing, flesh out the characters, and carry on with the story that THEY envisioned. Killing them both was the easy way out.

And more than anything else, this makes me consider dropping the show. If Kitsis/Horowitz don’t have faith in their own story, then how am I supposed to? If they’re just going to kill off characters and short-change storylines because fandom kicks up a fuss over shipping, then why should I care about anything? And Neal wasn’t Tamara/Greg. He was BAELFIRE. He was the whole reason that this entire story exists in the first place! EVERYTHING that’s happened on this show can be traced back to Rumplestiltskin’s relationship with his son and his desperate need to get him back again. He didn’t just exist as a side in the shipping wars, but had familial relationships to Rumple, Henry, and heck - even Belle! - as well. To get rid of the lynchpin that was Baelfire is very bizarre.

Honestly, I know that fandom revolves around shipping, but I’m beginning to think that it destroys decent storytelling. Viewers get so passionate over their favourite couple hooking up and writers get so twitchy about giving them what they want that everything else is just thrown by the wayside in favour of “canonizing” (oh how I hate this term and everything it stands for) a couple as quickly as possible.

It’s why I quit Grey’s Anatomy, when it became clear that every character was being paired up with every other character on a rota basis just to sate the multitude of shippers out there.

Look, I can understand why people get so emotional over ships. To ship something is to voyeuristically enjoy a relationship without the risk or commitment. You get the butterflies and the thrills and the anticipation without the inconvenience or the (real-life) heartache.  For the record, my big ship in this fandom is Aurora/Mulan, and I feel really disappointed that it’s probably not going to happen. As in really disappointed. Where was Mulan anyway? Didn’t she sign up with the Merry Men? Shouldn’t she have been with them?

But I still value storytelling over ships, and I like to believe that any writer is going to put story first and ships second (or third, or fourth). I didn’t ship Emma/Neal, and I can see why some people would be against the two of them as a couple. In a show that embraces unorthodox families and which has in turn been embraced by the LGBT movement, the sudden inclusion of a heteronormative nuclear family understandably raised some hackles. But Emma/Hook and Emma/Regina make even less sense to me, the former because I hate the “bad boy redeems himself for the love of a good woman” narrative and the latter because Regina is the cause of all Emma’s childhood suffering, which in turn sabotages any understanding I might have of Regina/Emma as a legitimate couple.*

* Admittedly I’m speaking with straight privilege here, and I don’t want to ridicule or dismiss the validity of this ship. Let’s just say it doesn’t work for me and leave it at that. But I wanted to acknowledge that it is a big deal for a lot of people for reasons that go beyond mere “shipping”.

So to sum up, I’m certain that Neal was killed off because the Regina/Emma and Emma/Hook shippers were getting loud. And though there’s nothing wrong with shipping, I don’t really want to watch a show in which the whims of the shippers override the nature of storytelling. It happened with Tamara/Greg which was forgivable (since they did suck), but now it’s happened to an integral character who was likeable and important, and who was given considerable build-up over the past three seasons. If storylines are going to be built around keeping shippers happy instead of writers telling the story they want to tell to the best of their ability, then I’m not interested.

And if all that wasn’t enough to convince me, the Frozen stinger was the last straw. There may as well have been a neon sign flashing “Gimmick! Gimmick! Gimmick!” over her head. Because Frozen is so big right now, Elsa’s appearance felt utterly contrived and inorganic. She’s there because the film is popular, not because the writers have any idea what to do with her. And to top it off, I still haven’t even seen it yet.

Miscellaneous (also known as nit-picking and pointing out vague details)

It amused me that every time those flying monkeys showed up, someone would yell “take cover!” only for no one to actually do so, even though they were always surrounded by trees and/or buildings.

I recognised Christopher Gorham as Walsh. Haven’t seen him since his Popular days, but I was caught off-guard by both reveals: first that he was a flying monkey, and second that he was the Wizard of Oz. I’m a little embarrassed that I didn’t catch either one, but hey - when this show manages to surprise me, I have to give it credit.

Emma’s truth-telling superpower continues to be completely arbitrary.

After all that drama about Henry and Emma losing their memories and creating a new life for themselves in New York, they ultimately reclaimed their awareness pretty darn easily. A potion? True love’s kiss? Granted, it would have been beyond redundant to have them spend an entire half-season reliving the scenario of season one, but it still felt very easy.

At this point there are so many meetings between so many characters in various lands and timelines that I was getting dizzy at the array of greetings that were taking place. Belle and Robin know each other? And Robin has meet Neal before? But not Regina? So they have to reintroduce themselves in Storybrooke? Oy...

Confession: I’ve never actually seen Wicked, so there’s a good chance that I missed most of the references. But coincidentally enough, I’m right in the middle of organising a trip to Sydney to see it with my friend, so stay tuned! Right now all I know is that it involves the Witches of the East and West at some sort of boarding school? And they dislike each other at first but then become quasi-friends? And there’s a song called Defying Gravity. Here ends my knowledge.

I actually liked that Henry had become more of a gamer than a reader. It’s a pity that there wasn’t some sort of subplot involving the town trying to coax him back to reading.

Grumpy as the town-crier that Regina/Emma uses to pass on false information to draw out Zelena? Perfect.

Zelena was pretty dumb to introduce herself by name to Charming/Snow. Memory loss aside, it would have taken only a casual namedrop to Regina and the jig would have been up. Also baffling was that after the Charming clan establish that they’re dealing with the Wicked Witch of the West, no one even suggests that they try throwing water over her. I mean, c’mon - that’s one of the most iconic scenes in movie history! And it never occurred to them to try it?

I was really excited when Belle and Neal find out about the vault that apparently holds the origins of the very first Dark One. This concept has always interested me, with power being passed from one desperate soul to another only if their predecessor is killed by the dagger. This type of recurring pattern begs the question: “how did it all start?” So naturally we learn absolutely nothing about it. Still, I liked their use of the Balancing Death’s Books deal, a requisite trope in these types of situations.

I liked that Neal/Hook got a moment together that recalled their time together as a child on the Jolly Roger, but I had to roll my eyes when Hook said that “a woman” got between them. Who exactly are you referring to Hook? Neal’s mother or the mother of Neal’s child?

Why did the good guys continue to attack (and apparently kill) the flying monkeys AFTER they learnt they were transformed people? Seriously, some of those monkeys were definitely killed.

I have a genuine question that arose from the circumstances of Neal’s death. What do you find more appealing: a man that would give up the woman he loves for the greater good, or a man who would sacrifice everything for the woman he loves? I’m sure that most women would immediately choose the latter, but seriously - just think about that question for a few minutes. Which one is the better choice?

Zelena quietly names the time and place for Regina to meet her for a duel, and then loudly invites everyone else to attend - even though there’s no way they could have possibly heard the first bit of this conversation.

I think I caught most of the Wizard of Oz references, but I was actually quite impressed that they used silver slippers instead of ruby ones. In Frank Baum’s original story, it was indeed silver slippers - the famous movie changed them to ruby in order to make the most of Technicolour.

I laughed out loud when Belle said that “I have self-respect.” Still, I give her credit for being the only one in this damn town to remember that Regina had her locked up in a dungeon for years on end, and that Hook once tried to murder her. Of course, the requirements of the plot mean that we only get about two seconds to dwell on this before Belle is forced to get over it.

I’m not a shipper, but I did think there was a nice Hook/Emma moment at the séance table: when he’s visibly disappointed that she has to take his hook and not his hand.

Much like the origin story of the Dark One, my interest was piqued when they started looking for the Once Upon a Time book and its mysterious appearance in Snow’s closet. A part of me feels that it is best left a mystery (I fanwank that any curse HAS to have a built-in escape clause) but if they ever do decide to delve more into where exactly this book came from - particularly who wrote it - then I’d tune in.

I liked that Charming and Snow were able to pass through the door to meet Glinda and Regina couldn’t because she wasn’t “pure of heart”. Thanks for reminding the audience that they ARE in fact better people by dint of not being mass-murderers. In saying that, I did like Regina’s kindness in dividing Snow White’s heart so that Charming could live.

So everyone in Storybrooke lost their memories because Regina, Snow and Charming performed the curse in an open-aired hall instead of a locked chamber, giving Zelena ample opportunity to fly in and tamper with the potion.

Is it just me, or does anyone else get worried about the ankles of all these women clomping about in high-heels? Seriously, they’re enormous and they’re everywhere! Even Dorothy had them!

Despite his rather gross manipulation of Belle, I’m not entirely sorry that Rumplestiltskin hasn’t been reformed. In fact, I rather enjoyed him tampering with the security footage and huffily stating: “I won’t ask for an apology.”

Finally, the whole time-travelling escapade was reasonably fun, even if is a) had nothing whatsoever to do with the Zelena arc, and b) was entirely ripped off of Back to the Future (complete with shout-out). Yet it was almost worth it to see Emma’s face when she realizes she’s watching her parents’ first meeting. And calling herself Princess Leia. And getting to be the hero of her own story for a change.

But in conclusion, I think I’m ready to close the book on Once Upon a Time. I enjoyed the first season, and I did episode-by-episode reviews of season two before realizing the time commitment wasn’t worth the material. That led to me reviewing season three in sections, but now I think it’s time to leave things here. I’m not angry or bitter, just ready to spend time on other things. For the record, the show’s main crimes are a complete lack of psychological/emotional realism (such as Emma having no long-term reaction to seeing Regina burn her mother) the truly screwy moral framework (words can’t express how tired I am of hearing Snow/Emma apologise to Regina) and the writers’ obvious weakness in bowing to fandom’s demands.

I feel that it’s lost some of its original premise, of taking the old fairytales and giving them a cool subversive twist (Snow as a bandit, Red as the wolf, the modern-day setting) and is now more interested in taking what’s popular (Wicked, Frozen) and inserting it into the narrative for the sake of ratings.

I may be coaxed back if Aurora/Mulan interact again or if people start raving about the new direction the show has taken, but I have no strong interest in Elsa or anything else that this finale promised.

So long, show! It’s been fun.