Once Upon A Time

She probably can. Because magic.

In all seriousness, the name Cora comes from "cor" which is Latin for "heart."

Ah.

Another thing - "magic has a price." Some pretty big Arc Words there.

What's the price for everytime Regina, or somebody else has hurled a fireball at somebody? I shouldn't take this so literally, but it's been bugging me, because pretty much every magical device, artifact, or scheme in this show quickly invokes these words.

Maybe her heart gets a little darker.

Or maybe it's their youth. I dunno.

The price for minor stuff like that can be as simple as "it takes energy to do that, so you'll get tired if you're doing it a lot." It's the more complicated stuff where the prices start becoming tough choices.

That's probably a compensation for the bigger magic taking more energy than a human actually has. There's really not much sense doing the bigger magic for personal gain if it's going to kill you, after all.

I've been wondering, am I the only one who wants Emma to stay the dark one for more than one season?

It'll depend on how they use her in this season. We're starting to see a real plan forming that plays her off as becoming a game master of sorts.

I'd wonder if she'd be the Dark One for more than a half season. The last several arcs have only been halves.

Going back, it was the Queens of Darkness, then Ingrid, then Zelena, then Pan, then those antimagic guys, then Cora, and just about all of the first season was Regina and Gold.

Wasn't most of Season 2 given over to Cora? I feel like the anti-magic people (besides actually being Pan's stooges) only came in near the very end of the season.

It's really with Season 3 that they've been doing half-season arcs.

Probably. I forget the actual number of episodes.

The Neverland arc was probably my least favorite. They spent too much time wandering through the jungle and then Pan turns out to be Rumple's father in a bizarre roundabout way.

My favorite was probably the first season. Storybrooke was still new and everything was set up for that exact plot.

Now people keep disappearing and they just have to use who they got.

Season 1 is probably the show at its strongest. I kind of miss Storybrooke as a more or less normal town (as far as the vast majority of people are aware).

Next-best after Season 1 is the current arc, including the Season 4 finale. Season 4 as a whole I didn't enjoy that much, but the finale was excellent, and this season has built on that.

And then I'd say it's the Pan arc. I think it benefitted from being more self-contained, it's where some of the more interesting character development happens (Hook, Rumple, Regina), and it's pretty much the only arc after Season 1 that really seemed to understand what to do with Henry.

Actually I think season 2 is the best. In season 1 the storybrooke plot just drags on to long for my taste.

edited 24th Oct '15 2:28:39 PM by ZheToralf

I like the Neverland arc the best personally. Peter Pan was excellently written IMO.

Well, Merlin is setting off alarm bells for me...for some reason. He seems only a little less sketchy than Arthur, but it just be how the actor plays it. Something just doesn't feel right about it.

I wonder who his True Love is. I'm still betting on Maleficent and the "You destroyed her" not being literal, but rather about corrupting her with Dark Magic.

Loving Merida though. She's much better integrated than Elsa and Anna (as much as I loved them), and I like her spunk with Rumple. Need to see more of her.

edited 25th Oct '15 6:05:46 PM by Sisi

I kinda imagined it's Morgan Le Fay.

Holy shit Emma!

And I figure there's got to be at least one or two eps left before we find out what really happened. Knowing they freed Merlin makes things more interesting. Where is he, and who was he talking about when he was confronting the Dark One.

Well they may have given it away by calling episode 7 Nimue

Also the winter finale is called Swan Song, which doesn't sound like it has a happy ending.

So Emma rips Violet's heart out to break Henry's and use his tear to free Merlin, but she still comes out dark so it didn't even matter.

And Merlin mentions something about Emma being "free", but I guess that didn't work either?

It's very roundabout. Emma kept doing dark things so she wouldn't stay dark, and kept hurting the people she loves so she wouldn't hurt them. XD

Oh, villains and their justifications...

What was the better option though??? Should they have otherwise killed someone to get the tear? Its not NICE but I don't think there's a nice way to get what they need.

TBH, I really was thinking that they could unfreeze Snow and Charming, fake Emma's death, and get the tear from them. That would've felt more powerful to me. Henry sobbing over some girl friendzoning him after knowing her for a day or two was... really kind of pathetic to me.

BTW, was anyone else really confused when they showed Henry's Date with Violet in Granny's? I thought we'd gone back to the Storybrooke Plot and it took me awhile to realize that we were still in Camalot. I was also REALLY confused by Snow and Charming suddenly free of the Dust's curse. Off screen even. That could have been an interesting plotline to really pit Emma and Regina against her parents and they just magically (harharhar) resolve it without a second thought?

And, lol, why did Arthur just leave Merlin and the others??? He just walks off like 'You win this time! I'll get you next time!' and it felt... underwhelming.

edited 26th Oct '15 3:51:39 PM by InkDagger

Tweenagers are kind of pathetic. They're really sensitive like that.

As for Arthur, he can't kill Merlin, and Merlin is a powerful sorcerer, so he'd probably have to run off in disgrace even if it WASN'T the end of the episode.

At which point, why didn't Emma and Regina and Merlin just kick their asses then and there??? If they can win the fight, problem solved and we can get back to saving Emma.

Well, yes, Tweenagers can be really pathetic. But... Compared to Regina's heartbreak which we have FOUR SEASONS OF CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT detailing her emotionally getting over all of that bullshit... Henry's being friendzoned really amounts to jack shit in comparison and isn't very dramatic at all. I liked Regina's not working because she's mostly healed from that event, but Henry's wasn't significant enough that I can buy it. This definition of 'Twue Wuv' is a bit flimsy.

Also, I laughed for a solid ten mins when they tried to say Henry is 13. L. O. L. I don't buy it for a second. Wasn't he 13 back in Season 1???

EDIT:

I know they haven't done so since Season 2, but wasn't Charming trying to train Henry with a sword? This episode feels like its supposed to be the first time Henry picks up a sword. But he picked up a (admittedly, wooden) sword and was fighting with his dad 3 seasons ago. It would have been nice to have some continuity nod that his dad had been trying to teach him and etc instead of falling back on 'I'm a writer' when that's... kind of bs since his writing ability is informed more than anything.

I also laughed when Henry picks up the sword and it hits the ground because its too heavy... which is then followed by Henry swinging it around like nothing until he needed to fall into the fence.

edited 26th Oct '15 4:55:01 PM by InkDagger

he was 11 back in s1

So... 3/4 of a year per Season? Idk. I can't do math right now. But there is no way that I buy Henry being 13. Sorry. His actor is... I think he's 16? He's the same height as Violet's father!

I know it seems odd to harp on but... His actor went through puberty all last season. This show isn't known for perfect continuity so I don't think anyone would have been bothered by Henry just age jumping to 16 or something.

His actor is 15 and a half now, which means he must have been pretty much just about 15 when this was filmed, right?

edited 27th Oct '15 2:33:17 AM by ZheToralf

The age of kids/teenagers in live action shows that last even this long tends to get screwy but 13 for him is definitely a stretch - just make the time between seasons retroactively ambiguous to age him up to match the actor.

I had been wondering how old Henry was.

Jared had gotten really tall and his voice so deep, I doubted he could be younger than 14.