TV: OUAT Mini-Reviews

Hello everyone!

So behind on the OUAT reviews, so I thought I'd do mini ones to catch up!

"We are Both"

I actually really loved this episode. Both the flashbacks and the present day stuff! First, lets talk about Regina. That woman is a BAMF. The moment when she is in the council chamber and the flaming seal encircles her head like a demonic halo? AWESOME! We get her delicious struggle with power in the flashbacks. While sometimes it felt a bit predictable, it was so well-acted that you did not care a bit. The moment when innocent young Regina confesses that she loved using the power, you could almost taste the need and the rush of it. It made me realize that I were in her situation, I probably would have done the same thing. Magic is tasty and addictive. If I could throw people through the air with just a wave of my hands, hell YES I would! Back in the real world, Regina's scenes with Henry completely sucked me in. They were leaning-forward-on-the-couch moments. While often I wonder if the actress feels like she is acting against a brick wall when she has scenes with Henry, the scene where she offers him magic and he turns her down, and the scene were she lets him go just took my breath away. I did not expect such strength from Regina. This is exactly where I hoped the character would go. Let's watch it again, shall we?

Meanwhile, poor Prince Charming is trying to fix everything and lead the town all by himself (with fantastically proactive and practical help from Ruby which made me love her even more). He also wants to find his family, but he is stretched to the brink between helping the town and saving his family. We get a beautiful cameo from the Mad Hatter who is reunited with his daughter at last. A really great moment. What made the episode for me was Charming's speech at the end, when everyone was trying to leave town and forget their fairy tale lives. Why? Because they are afraid of Regina and her magics. Seems silly to me. BUT, the speech was awesome! How our weak parts help inform our strengths. He makes it ok for them to live in basically a fairy tale town. Both of their lives are legit, and they don't have to all go crazy like Jefferson. (I also loved the small moment when Charming admitted that David had read Alice in Wonderland. That must be interesting! You now know the fairy tale stories of a lot of townsfolk, not just as people but as ancient tales.)  Anyways, solid episode. I leave you with the speech so you can be inspired throughout your day:

Here is the Snarky McSnark review from Io9 who was not as charmed with Charming as I was.

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"Lady of the Lake"

SO did not care about what was going on in the Enchanted Forest. Yes, Snow is a BAMF again, and that is fun (the arrowshooting into the troll's eye was sweet, if over-dramatic). But Emma. Emma, Emma, Emma. I realize that you are out of your element. You probably read "the wrong sort of books," as C.S. Lewis calls them, for this type of an adventure, since you favor guns over swords. However, I have never had less respect for you than when you shot a gun into the air for no reason while hiding from BLIND TROLLS! Maybe it was a fault in the editing? The fight between Aurora, Snow and Mulan was clearly already done before Emma arrived on the scene. The only thing I liked about this plot like was the beautiful and powerful moment at the end where Emma realizes what Snow gave up for her, and when Snow lets go of her dreams for a normal happy family. If felt like Emma finally started to let go and show some real emotional honesty. And Ginnifer Goodwin can really do no wrong. (starts at 2:12): 

The second plot line, Snow's infertility curse, was beautiful and touching. It didn't hurt that she looked gorgeous in every frame. It did feel like the curse really was there and gone poof, and oh we never really had to deal with repercussions of the curse itself. But I loved the deathbed mother-in-law/ daughter bonding.

Third plot line, Henry lies to his mom about wanting to have lunch with her. The little bastard. After what she did last episode? I was so proud of her for handling it well. "I will send your Grandfather to rescue you from my vault of evil because we seem to still have trust issues." Anyone want to address that she still has a vault of evil? No, we'll just leave it there.

Behold, Io9's delicious takedown of Emma in this episode.

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"The Crocodile"

YES! No Emma, very little Henry! Lots o' Rumple and Belle and sprinklings of Ruby! 

To be honest, I didn't really care about the Rumpelstiltskin wife back story. I mean it was fine and informative, but it didn't excite me too much. Hook was ok. I kept thinking he was BBC Robin Hood in eyeliner. But I was not as excited about him as I thought. Frankly, I was more excited about Chris Gauthier as Smee! I love him and I am so glad he has a job after Eureka was canceled! The rest of the plot was rather predictable. Even though I knew Rumple was the Crocodile, I did love his "tick tock" and discussions of time. It made me go "ahhhhhhhaha, yes." I AM looking forward to the Hook in Neverland backstory.

I was a little irked that Hook is really kinda just Hook by name. The original meaning of Hook for me in the J.M. Barrie Peter Pan was this arrogance and incredible insecurity that comes with growing up. The tick-tock of the Crocodile is time chasing him down. In this, he is just generic dashing pirate who lives by a code and happens to have a hook for a hand. Not certain why he is going to Neverland in the first place. He is not a pirate who looks afraid of growing old. And he hasn't grown older or turned into the Hook I know and love in the present day meeting with Cora. So..... what happens to him in Neverland? And granted, yes, most of OUAT's characters' stories and meanings have changed. It's just that they were fairy tales and very open to interpretation because the original text did not say much about them. Hook, on the other hand (haha), was very well-drawn and had definite meaning. This isn't even the Disney Hook. It seems like they thought "ooh, pirates are sexy! Let's have a sexy eyeliner clad pirate. Who is a literary pirate? Let's call him Hook." Any way. /rant

Meanwhile, in Storybrooke, Belle does exactly what I want her to do and leaves Rumple until he changes his ways! Go girl! And it has the desired effect! He goes around town and adorably asks for help from everyone who hates him, and asks Charming for dating advice. Belle and Ruby have a nice heart to heart, another scene that proves to me that Ruby is the most awesomest of characters. Then Belle gets kidnapped by Smee, the most adorable kidnapper in the world, and sent down a mine cart ride to oblivion until Rumple saves her. And Belle gets all sassy about how it's her life and she can do what she wants! Three snaps in a Z formation! Then, we have the most beautiful scene this season, I think, where Rumple gives Belle the library. Bitches love libraries. Honestly, I teared up a bit at all the book porn. I actually cheered at the beautiful circulation desk. And Rumple finally opens up to Belle, and she doesn't let him off the hook so easily. But she wants to go have a burger with him. And all was well with the world.

Io9 lends its usual flair to their Crocodile review. 

And WHO IS EXCITED ABOUT NEXT WEEK?? We know who Doctor Whale is! And guess what? It is as awesome as I thought. These two sneak peaks excited me ooooh so much. The first one really only for the first 5 seconds of the clip, but they are sweeeet:

The second one for the thrilling plot points revealed:

Halloweeeeeeen! MUHAHAHA!