Once Upon A Time

Plus a few other fairy tales. Each with varying degrees of awareness.

The story has always been that "Hook lost his hand in a fight with a crocodile." It shames me to say that it took ~58 minutes to figure out that bit...

On a side-note, I disapprove of the whole "episode in Storybrooke, with flashbacks, and a ~30 second teaser in FTL at the end" and "episode in FTL, with flashbacks, and regular updates on Storybrooke" system.

While I can accept any episode that gives me more Rumpelstiltskin, on the whole I'd prefer some regular updates on Emma, Snow, Aurora, and Mulan...

Guess it was only to establish that Regina and Rumple will find themselves in trouble soon.

Is this the first episode where Emma doesn't show up?

Yes. I think it's also the first episode without Snow/Mary Margaret, too.

But yeah, so far it is the weakest episode this season.

Was interesting to see Rumple do Regina's family trademark heart extracting power thing.

Maybe my knowledge of what are fairy tales is bad, but with the inclusion of Mulan this show is now more "Disney Movies: Crossover AU Edition with feminism!" than modern fairy tales together.

I'm glad to read I'm not the only one immediately thinking of Narnia when they keep calling that thing a wardrobe.

So, according to the preview, Dr. Whale is Frankstein? Aww, I thought he was going to be the Moby Dick guy because of his name. Wait, neither are fairy tales...

That's funny, cause everyone kept focusing on the Whale part as the significant name and ignored the "Dr." part.

Maybe he is the whale too! Heck, if Rumple can be Rumple, the beast and the crocodile then...

It's because I don't consider Frankstein to be a fairy tale, so I never thought he could be that. Of course, textisn't either but it more 'tale' like than the first. i thought he might be Bluebeard too since he's always after women.

Again the problem is that my definiton of fairy tales is different than that of the producers.

In other news, I've seen an interesting theory on tumblr: Bael is Peter PanThe only problem with this is that I think he was supposed to have gone to a land without magic, so that goes down the drain.

Your problem is that it never was "Disney Movies: Crossover AU Edition with feminism!"... The show has always been just a standard crossover of every storybook character. Anyone who has ever been written down is considered fair game.

The only issue with who will actually be on the show seems to be more about getting the licensing. Everyone used thus far is in public domain.

Holy shit. Once Upon a Time is 3 for 3. You have not struck out.

Calling Rumple a crocodile holeeee sheet, I did not see that parallel coming.

This is EXACTLY what I wanted in a show. New characters being introduced, and trying to figure out who they are, and then it all making sense omg.

I said that right now it looks more like that , because most of the characters we have been seeing are from Disney movies. Mulan isn't a "storybook character' but a legendary figure from China, and I think she was written in a poem. So are we now going to see legends from all over the world? Probably not. Of course, based on the preview for the next episode, it looks like we'll finally deviate from this.

Most of the characters we're seeing are from Grimm Fairy-tales that Disney re-popularized... They are all considered public domain. As for the storybook character bit with Mulan, it's a matter of semantics. Technically Lancelot is involved in a poem like Mulan.

And, yes. My bet is that we will probably see stories from all over the world... Granted, it'll mostly be those that are popular in America, but anything is fair game. As said, the only issues are with licensing. It should be said that Mary Poppins, Robin Hood, Oz, Tom Sawyer and Achilles are on the short list of characters that the producers are interested in adding...

Surely it won't be too hard to get licenses to Robin Hood and Mary Poppins? I mean, doesn't Disney have a license for those?

On another note, I like what they're trying to do with Rumpel and Regina: I just hope they don't screw up their redemption.

So, maybe Cora was in Neverland and not Wonderland? Or perhaps she went to Neverland in order to escape from Wonderland.

According to Smee, he was standing next to Hook when the the Curse hit, but while he was taken to Storybrooke, Hook clearly wasn't.

Theoretically Cora could have been anywhere, when the Curse hit... The question isn't really how she escaped Wonderland(assuming that's where she was), but why and how the curse allowed certain characters to remain behind as opposed to others...

x11 He was the one who taught them their magic after all so it makes sense.

I did focus on the Dr. part but I was thinking more Dr. Jekyll than Frankenstein

Awesome episode. I'm on the edge of wishing Belle's father has succeeded in sending her out of Storybrook, because a guy who murdered his last wife for leaving him is not someone who you want to get involved with under any circumstances whatsoever, ever. Run away, Belle...

Well to be fair she kind of deserved it. Running away with a pirate, abandoning her son and husband and not having the ovaries to even tell them is worse in my book.

edited 22nd Oct '12 10:42:38 AM by LMage

I disagree. I think she deserved something for what she did to Bael, but death was too much. Personally, if I was Rumpel, I would have waited until she was sleeping at night and then used my powers to magic away everyone else to the other side of the world. Let her wake up and wonder why the person she loved left, wonder if it's her fault, if they are alright etc aka what Bael must have felt.

It's interesting to compare his treatment of Belle and his wife: he thought Belle has betrayed his trust to work with Regina and all he did was kick her out. His wife bretrayed him to go pirating? Muder her! though she also hurt Bael so...

I can't wait to see Rumpel having to explain to Belle why Hook is after her for his revenge (because I think he'll do that).

Actually, one thing I found strange this episode was how Belle's father didn't think it important to say "you can't be with him, he's dangerous! He almost beat me to death!"

edited 22nd Oct '12 11:36:37 AM by Fabelyn

Well depending on how much Moe knew about Regina's deception, it's kind of hard to blame Rumple for that bit.

And with all the value this show places on family, particularly since we just got off an episode about how important and strong a Mother's love is, I think we're supposed to interpret Milah's just up and leaving like that as a Moral Even Horizon-ish act. Murder? Curses? Fates worse then death? All redeemable, knowing and willingly abandoning your child for selfish reasons? No. The villains are bad, sometimes really bad, but you can't say that any of them ever just abaonded their loved ones without a good reason and an incredible deal of regret. Milah took off without warning, didn't even bother to say goodbye or offer an explanation, when her crippled self-admitted coward husband worked up the courage to come and try and save her she couldn't even be bothered to come above deck and face him herself with the truth. Then years latter she didn't even once ask after her son when she ran into her husband again, clearly unstable and insane on magic and very much son-less. I mean, seriously woman, I'm surprised there was a heart there for Rumple to pull out, yeash.

...No. There are lots of people in unhappy marriages, and choosing to leave them doesn't make them deserve death. Add on the stresses of being married to a man she can't respect, and living in a sexist society where it's necessary for her to be married - piracy offers freedom and dignity she's not getting at home, as it did Anne Bonney and Mary Read. It's not cool for her to just leave Bae, but magical evil Rumplestiltskin didn't just come out of nowhere. That bitterness and perversity must have been lingering inside him for a long time in order to come out with such virulence once he had power. Becoming the Dark One didn't just magically turn him evil - all those things were already in him. We don't know how they might have demonstrated themselves before, but Milah needed the publicity to stand up to Rumple. Otherwise, I don't think she would've exposed herself to public disgrace like that. TL;DR: it may have taken as much courage as she possessed just to get up and walk away from a situation that made her miserable.

If I were Rumple, I'd have killed Hook and let her live with the agony of knowing someone she loved was gone.

Cora was planning to use her daughter to extend her power.

edited 22nd Oct '12 12:27:52 PM by Maridee

I think it's the "I never loved you" in front of all the people that send Rumple over the edge.

edited 22nd Oct '12 12:38:43 PM by ZheToralf

In less analytical news, I think I heard the fandom's collective orgasm when Hook appeared on screen. I already expected it from the promo reactions, but sheeeeeeeeeesh.

He was very pretty. In a mad, bad, and dangerous to know kind of way.