Chapter 16: In Which Eva is Rude for No Particularly Good Reason, as She Was Presumably Having an Adequate Day

Oh, my. This WILL be a controversial one, and I love that so much. I'm not going to take much of a stance in this review/recap, but I'm already discussing Snow's decision on Facebook with some friends. If you need a break from debating over the ethical decisions of fictional characters, buy yourself fifteen minutes or so by reading my review/recap of ABC's great show, "Once Upon a Time", episode 2x16: "The Miller's Daughter."

What Happened

The Fairytale Land (past)

• A young woman who looks as stressed as I felt during the midterms of my junior year arrives at her father's mill. He's lazy and she's annoyed, so she has no choice but to do the work herself and bring some bags of flour to the palace. 
• At the palace, Princess Eva (Snow's mother!) trips the young woman, causing her to spill flour and snap at Eva. Princess Eva is being escorted by a Prince Henry and his father, the king. The king's a total jerk to the young miller's daughter, making her kneel to Eva and apologize for something that she didn't even do. We find out that the miller's daughter's name... is Cora! 

• Cut to a party, but not just any party...a certain kind of party that a certain Andrew Lloyd Webber is fond of...a certain ball...

• That's right, Cora is sneaking in to a masquerade ball, just like the kind everyone dreams their prom will be themed after! Cora, looking stunning as ever in a wondrous shade of crimson, dances and flirts with the prince. It turns out this is a ball for the prince to be sold to whichever princess can offer the highest bid (apparently even medieval fantasty lands can have recessions). After Cora gives us the first use of the word "whoring" in the show's history, she trades partners and winds up with the king.
• The nasty king recognizes her as the miller's daughter. He plans to throw her out, since obviously she can't bid on the prince when she's poor herself. On a spur of the moment (and rather silly, but let's not get too judgy, I'm sure we've all said something dumb before when we've been flustered) decision, Cora proclaims she can spin straw into gold.
• If you haven't been ignoring Western Europe's medieval shenanigans for the last seven hundred years or so, you'll know what happens next. Cora winds up in a tower, locked with a roomful of straw that needs to be gold by the time the king hits his snooze button. Enter Rumpelstiltskin!!!
• He tells Cora that her name isn't very pretty and "sounds like something breaking," but he eventually agrees to teach her to spin straw into gold in exchange for her firstborn child.

"Sounds like EQUALISTS breaking!"

• We then are treated to a rather sensual (and well-made) scene where Rumpelstiltskin teaches Cora that magic is all about emotion. She needs to tap into her anger and think about what she wants...While Rumpelstiltskin gives her a massage, Cora spins gold.
• Cora proves herself to the King and gets to marry Prince Henry. We flash-forward to the night before her wedding. She and Rumpelstiltskin canoodle a bit, and Cora promises that any children she has by Rumpelstiltskin (ONLY by him) will belong to the deal-maker.
• After a conversation with the King that began with Cora intending to kill him and ended with Cora taking her own heart out ( having been told that love is weakness) Cora tells Rumpelstiltskin that she cannot run off with him. That's right, everyone...someone dumped Rump.



You Guys:

• I'm sorry, I couldn't resist, you guys...I was having too much PUN!

You Guys, Part II:

• Okay, now I'm done.
• Baby Regina gets a really fun "Lion King" moment when Cora lifts her up dramatically and everyone at court kneels to her.







Storybrooke (now)

• Henry obnoxiously grins while he drives the boat back to town. Within, Emma tells a pained Rumpelstiltskin that they're "family now," so she won't let him die. I cannot tell you how much my mom and I shuddered as we watched this scene. It felt like I was watching a giant spider crawl across the screen...
• Meanwhile, Cora and Regina are listening to Snow and David talk on the phone using a wire tap. (I wonder how many conversation's Regina's heard... ) Cora pushes the wire tap to the ground with more nonchalant than the first Chalant of Non herself, annoyed at the silly "Enchanted Box."
• Before Regina can start explaining that possessed mirrors are no longer the preferred method of talking to your friends, Cora proclaims she needs to kill Rumpelstiltskin with the dagger before he dies of the poison from Hook's hook, or else she won't become the Dark One.
• The Manhattan team arrives back in town. They all squeeze into Rumpelstiltskin's store, where he helps Emma make defenses with invisible chalk.

          and a protection spell

        
        that's also fueled by her emotions. Regina and Cora promptly bust through the spell, and while the fight
        begins, Snow slips out to go on a secret mission: she must get Cora's heart, use the candle from last
        episode (which Mr. Gold gave to her) on it, and then somehow put the heart back into Cora.

• While Snow whispers the name and gives the heart to Regina, who has teleported away from the fight briefly (Snow tells her that if Cora finally has a heart again, she will be capable of feeling love for her daughter), Rumpelstiltskin calls the amnesiac Belle and tells her that he loves her. "You find goodness in others, and when it's not there...you create it." That line was beautiful, I'll grudgingly admit. 

Rumbelle Fans Everywhere:

The people supporting her are the Captain Swan, Swan Thief, and Wooden Swan fans coming together in a rare moment of camaraderie. 

• Cora manages to make her way to Rumpelstiltskin after poofing Neil and Emma into the woods. (Swan Thief fans probably had a field day with that little set-up. I can see the fanfics now... "A Walk in the Woods: The Miller's Daughter Epilogue.") 
• She tells him that the reason she took out her heart was because Rumpelstiltskin was Cora's only weakness- the only man she ever loved. Just then, Regina bursts in and shoves the heart into Cora. Cora loves her daughter for one brief moment before collapsing and dying on the ground. 
• Snow bursts in, and Regina gives her a death glare of death and deceasement and termination and skulls-and-crossbones.

What I Thought

   This was the first time in a long time that I realized my heart was beating faster because of what was happening onscreen. I'm guessing most of us narrowed the character marked for death to either Gold or Cora after the first fifteen minutes, but from that point on the show kept me guessing. I knew that no matter who died, the show would be making a bold move. If Rumpelstiltskin were to die, the show would be getting rid of one of its main protagonists and antagonists, along with the actor who arguably helped cement the show in viewers' minds. Robert Carlyle is one of the biggest reasons this show became popular, at least in my book. He took a character who most of us probably thought of as a silly little imp that didn't even have a Disney movie on his list of accomplishments, and made him into a morally complex, insanely intelligent, rather terrifying force of nature that should be reckoned with. With that in mind, killing him off would have been a tremendous risk that could have changed the course of "Once Upon a Time" forever...

   ...but with Cora's death, the show has gone down another dark road. Snow White- the first princess in Disney canon, a voice of reason and a symbol of purity and kindness, the mother of the show- has committed murder. People may argue Regina had a hand in it, but that's like saying that the waiter is to blame  for an e. coli outbreak if the cook serves up under-cooked meat. Snow killed Cora. It may have been to protect her family and friends, and she probably killed people before in the war...but the lack of a battle setting is sure to make this stand out to her and to the people she knows. 

Say what you will about her, but you certainly can't call Snow "passive" anymore.

   

   This was gutsy of the show, considering the wide age range of the audience. I'm really pleased that the writers were allowed to do this, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how Snow develops from here on out. This was unpredictable, this was game-changing, and this was good character development that didn't feel forced. Give me more, "Once Upon a Time." Give me more. 

My Score:

9/10. 

That's for keeping us guessing and taking a chance that payed off. 

My Questions:

-How is everyone going to react to this? Who will be judgy, who will be concerned, who will grit their teeth and tell her that she chose the lesser of two evils? 

-Where is August and why doesn't anyone care? 

-How many times this season has a heart been ripped out of someone's chest? Somebody needs to make a montage set to Taio Cruz's "Break Your Heart."

Next Episode:

Consequences...

(Disclaimer: As always, I've used a lot of gifs, memes, photos, and cultural references in this review/recap. None of them are mine! If you or someone you know owns/made own of the gifs/photos/etc., comment below and let me know- I'll take it down, if that's what you wish. I don't claim ownership of any of them, I just browse Tumblr and other websites for stuff that could fit into my blog and its reviews/recaps. Also, I own none of the media I reference. "Once Upon a Time" belongs to ABC , "The Phantom of the Opera" belongs to Andrew Lloyd Weber, "The Legend of Korra" belongs to Nickelodeon, "The Emperor's New Groove" belongs to Disney, "Game of Thrones" belongs to HBO, I don't know Jennifer Lawrence,  etc., etc...I own nothing! This blog is for entertainment purposes only!!! Also, this show is written, acted, produced and made by people far more successful than me thus far in my life. I really do like it, and I only critique because I care! I  know far less about the world than I pretentiously seem to.)

Chapter 15: In Which The Blue Fairy Tries

I've rediscovered "Wicked," still have dried paint on my fingernails from set-building, and just got back from playing cards with friends. I think it's safe to say that today has been a dramatic day, just as the episode of ABC's "Once Upon a Time" that I'll be recapping and reviewing (2x15: "The Queen is Dead") was packed with drama. But was it of the quality "Grey's Anatomy" Season 7 kind, or more of the "Heroes" Season 3 variety? Read on to find out!

What Happened

The Fairytale Land (flashback)

• It's a young Snow White's birthday eve, so she and her regal mother are busy preparing for the big celebration! But lo- Mrs. Padmore from Downton Abbey, here portraying a servant called Johanna, dares to try on little Snow's new tiara! 

Snow:

Snow's Mom:

• Snow's mom explains that  being born into royalty- an action that took literally no effort on Snow's part, either in the womb or out of it- is not a quality that makes one inherently better than anyone else, and that therefore Snow shouldn't treat servants like they're inferior. Just as we all clamor over each other to give this queen the "Mother of the Year" Award for 2013, she starts coughing up a lung. 

• Quite. 
• At the advice of Johanna, little Snow goes off into the woods to try and find a cure from the Blue Fairy. She finds and talks to said forest-dweller, who suspiciously switches from insisting that there is nothing fairies can do to prevent death...to offering Snow a candle that can exchange the life force of a chosen sacrifice for that of Snow's mother. The fairy makes Snow promise not to tell...
• ...but Snow finds she cannot bring herself to use the candle, since her mother has been trying so hard to teach her to make the morally right choices in life. Tearfully, she explains to the Queen what happened. Her proud mother smiles before dying. 

There are onions in the next room...that's why. 

• After Snow bravely goes to her mom's funeral with Johanna, we find out that the Blue Fairy was Cora in disguise, and that she poisoned Snow's mom. Through Cora's "Muahaha" speech, we learn that she deeply wants to corrupt Snow as a way to get back at the deceased Queen for...something. 

Storybrooke

• IT'S SNOW WHITE'S BIRTHDAAAAAAY!

• But due to the traumatic memories of her mom dying on an early birthday, Snow White doesn't want to celebrate. She goes to visit Johanna, whose whereabouts in Storybrooke were previously unknown (further proof that this is a honking big small town, there's got to be loads of fairytale characters we've yet to see living there.)  Johanna's gift to her is the tiara that her mother gave her on that birthday long ago. 
• After talking to her old servant/mother figure about the long-dead queen, Snow stumbles upon Regina and Cora looking for the dagger. She runs to the sheriff station, where David is just waking up after being knocked out by Hook. (Hook really wanted his hook back.) They decide to buy time for Emma to get back and help. 
• Snow and Regina have an intense stare-down that would make the most uptight school administrator admit defeat. Basically, Snow offers Regina to rejoin "the side of good," while Regina calls her out on her hypocrisy. 
• Mother Superior (aka The Blue Fairy) meets Snow and David in front of Rumpelstiltskin's store. They try to break in using her magic, but her wand won't work. 

• Just as Snow is bringing up the possibility of using dark magic, she gets a call from Emma. Emma tells her where Rumpelstiltskin's dagger is: the clock tower. 
• Snow and David rush up and find the dagger, so that's good. Regina and Cora poof in Nightcrawler style, so that's bad. A fierce stand-off results when Cora magicks Johanna into the tower, offering a trade for the dagger. Snow eventually gives Cora the dagger, but Johanna is killed, anyway. 
• While Snow and David bury Johanna, Cora reveals to Regina (in nowhere less than Regina's old office, stylish as ever) that she arranged for Snow's horse to go crazy, all those years ago, so that Regina could become the queen. Regina articulates a fear that her mother just wants to destroy the Royal Family, not help her get Henry back, but Cora puts this fear down in a rather unconvincing way. 
• Snow tells David that the side of Good doesn't seem to work...people keep dying and being taken away from her. That said, she's decided to kill Cora. 

Manhattan

• Neil and Henry go get pizza while Rumpelstiltskin and Emma discuss how sad it is to feel unloved by their children. One of them deserves the lack of love, one does not. Can you guess which? 
• Henry delivers the ugliest line ever heard on this show when Emma asks him if he likes the pizza. "Great! It's cheesy, delicious, and doesn't lie." 

#sosickofhiscrap

• Just as the pretentious little plot device is asking Rumpelstiltskin if he can call him "Grandpa" (BTW: the answer is a resounding "NO"), Hook jumps out and attacks Rumpelstiltskin with his hook, which has been rubbed with poison since it was stolen back from David. 
• After Emma locks Hook in a closet, the group manages to get Rumpelstiltskin back into Nei's apartment. They decide to take Rumpelstiltskin back to Storybrooke, where magic can save him. 
• Neil reveals that he knows how to drive Hook's ship, since "Earth wasn't my first stop after I left home...otherwise I'd be a few hundred years old." The audience squees, Emma gets Rumpy to tell her where his dagger is, he does, and that leads into the phone call I mentioned earlier. 
• Neil and Emma go to get his car so they can drive to the harbor. Neil's FIANCE (I didn't catch her name, if someone could inform me it would be LOVELY) hugs him goodbye. 

What I Thought

   I would like to breathe a huge sigh of contentment. This was much better than last week's episode, on multiple levels. Since I'm posting these reviews in such close proximity (from a time standpoint), let's talk about this episode in regards to the complaints I laid against the previous one. 

   My first major complaint last week was that the episode didn't use its potential well. Everything was predictable, everything was safe, nothing felt unexpected, and the writers didn't take advantage of the story elements they had before them to break new ground. This episode kicked that one out of its apartment and got a much better new roommate who actually paid their share of the rent. Seriously, kudos on killing off Johanna. I know we just met her this episode, but I thought it was gutsy to kill a character that the writers so quickly established as Snow's surrogate mother. When was the last time a character with a name actually died? Archie was a total fake-out, so this was cool to see- not because I like seeing beloved characters die, but because it raised the stakes. I know now that Regina and Cora [and more importantly, the writers?] mean business. We're still not to the "Nobody is safe" state of mind that many dramas want their audience to be at, but that's okay. This was a big step forward. 

   Snow's identity crisis this episode was also intriguing, as was the flashback. Little Snow's storyline (by the way, her actress is impeccable in terms of how much she acts like Ginnifer Goodwin, Snow White's adult actress) was important to the main Storybrooke plot this week, unlike Rumpelstiltskin's in "Manhattan." We needed to see that Snow White has contemplated dark (yet understandable and, in the case of Cora, maybe even practical) options before in order to see that her vendetta against Cora is viable. Without that flashback, we wouldn't have believed that Snow would ever go through with killing Cora. Now, though...I'm not so sure. This is so much better than Rumpelstiltskin's because it was nothing new, nothing we didn't already know, EXCEPT for the final prophecy regarding Henry. But surely that could have been delivered in a better way. 

   Potential was being taken advantage of across the board this week. Neil having a fiance should make for great drama later on, not to mention Cora's incredibly strategic mind that, when combined with her extreme "mother bear" instincts, has caused so much of the plot on the show. 

   Per my second point, the characters we took a look at this week (little Snow White and adult Snow/Mary Margaret) are far more sympathetic than Gold and Henry. Let's compare the kids and adults. Henry is probably acting a bit more like the average eleven-year-old, so perhaps he's at a disadvantage; still, his whining, rejection of people who make choices he doesn't like or understand, and know-it-all attitude makes his grandmother at his age look far deeper, more complex, and like a much stronger individual. Snow faces ethical dilemmas and makes tough choices that weigh deeply on her. She learns from her mother and takes on the enormous responsibility of attending her mother's funeral in a leadership position. That's impressive and admirable; it's something I don't know if I could do now, much less at her age. I think the differences in how I view these two characters is that, while I look for relatable protagonists with flaws, I also look for heroes-- people who inspire me to be better, who face dire consequences that I never have, but can still connect with. Snow presents that to me in a way that Henry does not. 

   When it comes to the adults, a similar principle applies. Rumpelstiltskin and grown-up Snow/Mary Margaret have both recently been humanized, but Rumpelstiltskin's flaw (his selfishness, not his cowardice) is magnified to such a great extent that I don't want to relate to him. Snow's ethical decision this episode, however, is a scary yet realistic one. Cora has been putting those she loves in danger for her entire life. Her mother and Johanna are dead, and her daughter has been repeatedly put up against grave threats. Cora will most likely try and hurt or kill more of the people she loves. Should Snow compromise her morality, which has done nothing but compromise her in the past? This is thought-provoking, brain-stumping stuff that Snow has to deal with, whereas Rumpelstiltskin just keeps repeating himself.  

My Score:

8/10. 

Thought-provoking dilemmas and upped stakes takes the cake this week. 

My Questions:

• Assuming us Captain Swan shippers (people who wants Emma and Captain Hook to fall in love) are not totally crazy and a love quadrangle between Neil, Emma, Kilian and Neil's fiance (whose name I didn't quite catch) is indeed being set up, will it blossom in the final episodes of this season, or are the writers looking ahead to Season 3 and beyond? 
• Neil's been shown to be a mostly-decent guy so far, doing everything out of love for Emma in the past and desiring to reconnect with his long-lost son immediately. He didn't try and deny to Emma that he's moved on romantically, and is putting aside his justified anger to help his jerk of a father. That said...what's his flaw? What's wrong with him? What character trait is he going to have to struggle with? 
• Will Neil call out Henry on the crappy treatment he doles out to his mothers? 

Next Week (technically tonight, but shush):

Will Snow follow through? Will Regina follow suit with Cora's commands? 

(Disclaimer: As always, I've used a lot of gifs, memes, photos, and cultural references in this review/recap. None of them are mine! If you or someone you know owns/made own of the gifs/photos/etc., comment below and let me know- I'll take it down, if that's what you wish. I don't claim ownership of any of them, I just browse Tumblr and other websites for stuff that could fit into my blog and its reviews/recaps. Also, I own none of the media I reference. "Once Upon a Time" belongs to ABC , as does "The B in Apartment 23," "Downton Abbey" belongs to the BBC, "Heroes" belongs to NBC, "Grey's Anatomy" belongs to ABC, I don't know Mila Kunis or Tom Hiddleston, etc., etc...I own nothing! This blog is for entertainment purposes only!!! Also, this show is written, acted, produced and made by people far more successful than me thus far in my life. I really do like it, and I only critique because I care! I  know far less about the world than I pretentiously seem to.)