TV: OUAT Review: The Doctor

Frankenstein for the Frankenstorm!

So, in this episode, Emma, Snow, Aurora and Mulan find everyone dead in Haven (does that mean everyone in the Enchanted Forest is dead?) except for Hook. Emma actually gets a hold of herself and does some pretty clever things, and they end up about to go up a beanstalk to meet Jorge Garcia!! (I do wish they would meet him in Storybrook instead. It would be so much fun to meet a giant who is no longer a giant and see how he is dealing with it.) But yeah, that's about all that happened with them. Kinda perfunctory, no great revelations or gripping acting.

Because most of the episode's awesomeness is given to REGINA! Huzzah, she is back and in Magic Anonymous with Doctor Hopper, the most amazing, forgiving, kind and full-hearted human being/ cricket ever. Honestly, he is so compassionate towards Regina, even after she freaks out and leaves his office. And he gives Doctor Whale a verbal beat down when he interrupts the session. Kind-hearted BAMF.

I do wish OUAT was more secretive  I feel like the Hook reveal would have been so much cooler if we hadn't already known he was Hook. Same thing with Doctor Whale. It is built up for so long, "Who is Doctor Whale?", and then we find out in the preview. It would have given us such an OMG moment if we had found out during the course of the episode. It seems like the episodes were even built that way. There was no, "Let me introduce myself, I am Victor Frankenstein/ Hook." It is always someone else towards the end of the episode saying "something something something.....Doctor Frankenstein." Or Hook dramatically putting on the hook.

I didn't really care so much about the flashbacks. We knew bringing Daniel back didn't work, because they brought him back in Storybrooke. It's nice to know that Regina tried to bring him back, and letting go of him gave her the push she needed to go fully evil, but it wasn't life-shattering. Frankenstein was fun, but it seems that they are going more for a movie Frankenstein, instead of the book Frankenstein, which makes me sad. They had such an opportunity to explore something really cool, and get people interested in the original story, but they seem to be going for the easy way out. The black and white world was fun, but a definite statement that this is not the Frankenstein story I love. Am I surprised? Not really. All the rest of the stories are based on the movies anyway.

The modern day story, however, was pretty damn cool. Whale got his arm ripped off! Nice to know the show would go there! And Regina resisted so hard against doing magic. I was proud of her. Her conversation with David as he tried to hold himself together was heartbreaking. However, my BF and I both expected her to remove his heart to stop him. It would have been painfully poetic, and still make sense, because it was the magic heart that made the life possible in the first place. Instead she just blew him away. I was happy about how Rumple did minimal douchebaggery when Whale asked him to put his arm back on. Nice continuity from last episode. You could really see the contrast between past Rumple and present Rumple in this episode.

I am curious about the hearts in the vault. She doesn't know who they belong to. Otherwise, I guess she'd try and give them back? I'm sure that other people know that they have a heart in Regina's vault, and are still under her control. Are they living people? Storybrooke people? You think someone would have said, "Hey, can I please have my heart back, now that you have turned good again?"

Second, was Victor Frankenstein a womanizer? Or was Doctor Whale a womanizer? Also, why is he called Doctor Whale?

Anywho. Entertaining episode, and Lana Parilla gets ALL THE AWARDS! Except for Most Kindhearted BAMF, which goes to Doc Hopper.

Movies: Mirror Mirror

(I'm a sucker for this shit)

I just watched Mirror Mirror for the first time and it is adorable! Julia Roberts was horribly miscast, and as much as I love Nathan Lane he was just a bit too "Jazz hand! I'm being funny!" And the direction was weird at times. But the script was actually pretty clever, and Lily Colins was so charming! And it took me a sec to warm up to the dwarves, but honestly, I think they were some of the best actors in the film. Napoleon and Grub were my fav. I wasn't sold on the whole thing until the dwarves set up Snow White's first kiss to rescue the princes from his puppylove spell, and I was hooked from there.

Yeeeees, there are problems, like how Snow White became a kickass bandit leader in the time it took for Brighton to get back to the castle and the prince to leave and reach the woods, but hey. I expected to hate it, but I admit it, I was charmed.

And the Sean Bean cameo wearing ruffles. I just..I didn't know what to do... I was very happy that he didn't die in this movie though!

(Sean, I am as surprised as you are.)

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!

Movies: Another Beauty and the Beast

Oh for the love of god.

We have another Beauty and the Beast movie coming out (according to Maria Tatar's blog Breezes from Wonderland), this one starring Vincent Cassel and Léa Seydoux. The director, Christophe Gans, says "Although I will keep to a form of storytelling of this timeless fairy tale that is in keeping with the same pace and characters as the original, I will surprise the audience by creating a completely new visual universe never experienced before and produce images of an unparalleled quality. Every single one of my movies has presented me with a challenge but this one is, by far, the most exciting and rewarding.”

This is in addition to the Emma Watson Beauty and the Beast movie, the CW TV show and the ABC TV show. While doing multiple versions of the same tale makes it more possible for at least one of them to be good, one wonders if "East of the Sun and West of the Moon" or "Cupid and Psyche" might have been a better Beauty and the Beast tale to adapt at this point.

Tumblr Goodness: Fairy Tales for Twenty-Somethings

Yesterday, both Io9 and Flavorwire pointed us in the direction of a hilarious Tumblr blog called Fairy Tales for Twenty-Somethings, where our favorite fairy tales are facing quarter-life crises. It is my new favorite thing!

Here are a few and yes, a lot of these are not fairy tales, but they are funny, so I do not care:

Alice in Wonderland (Children's Book):

The crazy thing is that eventually even Alice began to doubt whether what she’d seen down the rabbit hole had ever really existed. And it didn’t make her sad, there was nothing overly dramatic about it, it was just that now she understood how the world actually worked.

But then she was tagged in a photo by an old friend, by the White Rabbit. It was a faded picture of her and the Cheshire Cat, and, wow, it just brought her right back.

The Prince and the Pauper (Children's Book):

The prince and the pauper unfriended each other on Facebook because neither one could stand the other’s political status updates.

Beauty and the Beast (Traditional Fairy Tale): 

 Beauty wanted to bring the Beast to meet her friends but she was nervous because they all had these super-hot boyfriends who worked in finance. She loved the Beast for who he was, she really did, but her friends were shallow and judgmental.

“Maybe you should get some new friends,” Siri advised.
 

King Arthur (Legend):

After pulling the sword from the stone but before becoming king, Arthur went on a cross-country road trip / vision quest. He crashed on friends’ couches or, on a few nights, the back seat of his car. He went to Burning Man, stayed in the mountains of Montana for a few weeks, and learned to build a cigar-box guitar from some guy on the street in New Orleans.

When he finally arrived home, a wiser man, he thought, “That shit was awesome. I gotta find a way to do that all the time.”

The Tortoise and the Hare (Fable):

The tortoise and the hare met for coffee. They each casually mentioned their recent successes, secretly hoping to appear better than the other. As they walked their separate ways home it hit them at the same time: There never was a race. There is no destination. There is no winner.

Little Mermaid (Literary Fairy Tale):

the little mermaid was a human now but sometimes at an upscale party someone would say to her, “that’s a very unusual accent. where are you from?” her past haunted her. she could never escape who she used to be.

The Ugly Ducking (Literary Fairy Tale)

The ugly duckling read obscure works of literature in other languages and listened to indie music even the guys in the record store had never heard of. if i’m not going to be prettier than anyone, she thought, i’m at least going to be better than them.

Chicken Little (Folk Tale):

chicken little knew she was supposed to be in a good mood while out with her friends, but she just didn’t feel it. she had this certainty that something was wrong even though she couldn’t name what it was. then she started going to therapy and realized all these things about her childhood she’d never thought of in that way. she also started doing hot yoga.

The Emperor's New Clothes (Literary Fairy Tale):

 the emperor bought a new fedora but all his friends thought he looked really stupid in it.

Cinderella (Traditional Fairy Tale):

 when cinderella left the ball right before midnight, the prince stood in the doorway and watched her go. “i’m so stupid,” he said to himself in bed that night. “did she want me to kiss her? maybe i should’ve kissed her. fuck, i should’ve just kissed her.”

Article: "In Defense of Real Fairy Tales"

Recently, the fairy tale blogosphere has been abuzz with a recent article by Adam Gidwitz, the author of A Tale Dark and Grimm and now In a Glass Grimmly. It is in response to the constant complaint that fairy tales are too scary for children, a favorite point of contention for me. He is enthusiastically in favor of reading original fairy tales to children and draws from personal experience:

While adults wring their hands over whether children should be exposed to the real Grimm, young people themselves have no such ambivalence. In my visits to schools I have witnessed the introduction of Grimm tales to thousands of children—elementary students in urban London, middle schoolers in rural Texas, high school students in suburban Baltimore—and the reaction is always the same: enthusiasm that borders on ecstasy.

Which is, I admit, a little strange. Grimm fairy tales are 200 years old. They do not feature guns or robots, they do not involve cliques or internet slang, they do not mention LeBron James or the WWE. They are not televised or computerized. They are the most primitive form of entertainment still in existence. How do they bewitch an auditorium full of tweens and adolescents? Why, contrary to adults’ expectations and apprehensions, are fairy tales so perfectly appropriate for these children?

He discusses how children LOVE violence and gore:

The children I meet literally cannot believe that Cinderella’s step-sisters dismember themselves to get the slipper to fit. And they really cannot believe that adults have been peddling the sweet, anodyne version of the story all this time, when there was another version that was so much cooler.

He talks about how fairy tale violence is much more digestible than real violence:

The explanation, I think—and this is the second reason that the real fairy tales are uniquely appropriate for children—is that the tales are not at all realistic. I once taught a six-year-old girl who suffered from insomnia. Her affliction was cured when we discovered that her mother let the girl watch the eleven o’clock news. This first grader could not sleep because she was watching accounts of fires, assaults, and deaths right before bedtime. But she loved Grimm fairy tales. For fairy tales signal clearly to children—through simple, matter of fact descriptions of unearthly events and keystone phrases like “Once upon a time”—that the land of the fairy tale is decidedly not the external world.

Lastly, he spoke about my absolute favorite reason why fairy tales are so important to read to children, complete with violence and gore:

The land of the fairy tale is not the external world. It is, rather, the internal one. The real Grimm fairy tale takes a child’s deepest desires and most complex fears, and it reifies them, physicalizes them, turns them into a narrative. The narrative does not belittle those fears, nor does it simplify them. But it does represent those complex fears and deep desires in a form that is digestible by the child’s mind. Sometimes I refer to this as turning tears into blood. Allow me to illustrate what I mean.

I often share the Grimm tale “Faithful Johannes” with groups of students. In this tale, a father decapitates his two children to save the life of his faithful old servant Johannes. This done, the old servant places the children’s heads back on, and they leap and frolic and play as if nothing at all has happened. After sharing this tale, I typically ask kids, “How would you feel if your parents cut off your head to save an old friend of theirs? Imagine, of course, that you came back to life—but they didn't know that you would. How would you really feel?”

What amazes me about kids’ responses to this question is that, not only are their answers always the same, from Los Angeles to London and everywhere in between, their answers almost always come in the same order. Maybe it has to do with the order in which I call on children. I usually call on a serious looking girl first. Her answer is almost always, “I would feel betrayed.” Next, I call on another girl. “I would feel angry.” Then, I call on a boy who looks like he’s going to jerk his arm out of its socket, he’s raising his hand so strenuously. “I would cut off their heads, and then I would shoot them with a machine gun, and then I would…” I let him indulge in his patricidal fantasy for a few more sentences, and then I say, “So you would want revenge?” And he says, “Yeah, revenge.” And then, usually fifth or sixth, a boy or a girl will say, “I would feel like maybe my parents didn't love me enough.” Which silences the room. Finally, I say, “I hope none of you have ever experienced any of those feelings. But I know I have. And maybe some of you have, too.” And the kids nod their heads and stare.

“Faithful Johannes” takes a host of amorphous, ambiguous, and uncomfortable feelings and puts them into terms that children know intimately—the terms of physical pain.

This is the exact approach that Gidwitz takes when he writes his books. A Tale Dark and Grimm (see my review) begins with "Faithful Johannes," and then follows the path of the betrayed children until they find some peace.  While the tone of the story is glib and gory, he packs it full of visceral emotional lessons and experiences.

He drives it home by discussing how children put themselves in the mind of every character. The fairy tale characters are consciously empty vessels into which we pour ourselves:

In most fairy tales, the great wide world takes the form of a forest. Bruno Bettelheim, the great psychoanalytic interpreter of fairy tales, explains, “Since ancient times the near-impenetrable forest in which we get lost has symbolized the dark, hidden, near-impenetrable world of our unconscious.” Forests are where our fears turn into wolves, our desires into candy houses, where our fathers turn us loose to fend for ourselves, where the emotional problems we face at home are physicalized, externalized, and ultimately conquered. Where tears are transformed into blood.

This physicalization of emotion is so powerful for children because every child has fallen and bruised himself. Every child has felt hungry, even if only in our well-fed, First World way. Every child has had a cut that has bled. And so every child knows that the bruise stops hurting, the food does eventually come, the blood clots, scabs over, heals. When a child reads about emotional pain—betrayal and loneliness and anger at parents—in terms of blood, he comes to understand that those pains too will heal, that salty tears also dry.

He quotes G.K. Chesterton  who states something rather comforting about fairy tales, and rather depressing about realism:

G. K. Chesterton, in defending fairy tales from Victorian do-gooders, explained, “Folklore means that the soul is sane, but that the universe is wild and full of marvels. Realism means that the world is dull and full of routine, but that the soul is sick and screaming. The problem of the fairy tale is—what will a healthy man do with a fantastic world? The problem of the modern novel is—what will a madman do with a dull world?” Children are indeed healthy men in a fantastic world. From their perspective, they are the only ones who make any sense, and everyone else, adults in particular, are shadowy incomprehensibles. (I tend to agree with children on this point.)

In the end, he advises us to trust our children. They know what is good for them and what is not. If a book is too scary or too much for them, they will put it down. If a book is good for them, as many sleepy parents will attest, they will demand it again and again.

This article is probably the most concise and well-stated argument for scary fairy tales that I have ever read. It sums up my feelings on the matter perfectly!

Books: Grimm Takes for Young and Old by Phillip Pullman

SurLaLune turned my attention to the fact that Phillip Pullman's version of the Brothers Grimm's fairy tales has come out! Check out the really beautiful book trailer!:

From the sounds of it, Pullman has really added some twinkle to the language of the stories. While still maintaining their fairy tale structure and rhythm, he has added tiny details that give you a sharper view of the story and appeal to your senses. The Telegraph states that the stories "have a swift yet stately sense of movement, the storytelling stripped down to the very basics. They manage to be gripping, even if their structure has a hypnotic regularity." However, Pullman has added "sprinklings of wit."

It is going on my Amazon wish list! 

TV: The CW's Beauty and the Beast

No, I have not watched it yet. I feel very reluctant to watch it, as I feel that the story is of a beauty and a beast, not a beauty and a hot guy with a scar. I could potentially be sold on the beauty and a guy who occasionally Hulks-out.

That is the question: is Beauty and the Beast about a woman seeing someone's inner beauty and falling in love with it despite his appearance? Or is it about a woman who changes a person who acts beastly for the better? This show seems to be leaning towards the latter, but for me, that gets into borderline "You can change him" and "Even though he abuses you, he still loves you" territory. (see my feelings re: Belle and Rumpelstiltskin in OUAT). I think the Disney Beauty and the Beast strikes the balance between the two interpretations pretty well, same with La Belle et La Bete by Jean Cocteau.

Either way, Io9, yet again, has offered a deliciously snarky review of the first episode called "The Sexpocolypse that is The CW's Beauty and the Beast:"

"The CW's Beauty and the Beast is a masterpiece of the art of sexy sex. Everything on this show was "sexy." At first we thought this was just a lark — but when The CW starts rolling out the pursed-lipped hospital ID cards, and sexy daylight streaming police offices, on top of sexy ladies fight-moaning in sexy slomo, we realized... this is intentional. We're going to have so much fun with this show, you guys."

 See the rest of the delicious snark here, complete with spoilers. I will watch at least the first episode, I swear, but I am so behind that it might take a while.

In the mean time, see what George R.R. Martin, the original show runner for the 1980s Beauty and the Beast TV show, has to say about the new incarnation.

TV: OUAT Thoughts: Broken

Snow/Mary Margaret is a BAMF!

Ok, I watched it, and I thought it was pretty great!

First, the intro. I thought I was watching the wrong show. We are in New York following this new guy around? But then it turns out he knows about Storybrooke, cuz he receives a postcard from there saying only "Broken." How can the carrier pigeon leave Storybrooke without getting killed? We do not know. Who is this guy? All signs point to Bae, but there are some interesting Peter Pan theories out there, since he is a man who looks like he is not happy with his grown up life and has some rather interesting apartment decorations. Also, the intro definitely reminded me of this classic from Lost. Best season starter ever.

Second, LUUURVED the Snow/Mary Margaret and Charming/David amalgams  Everyone seems so much more alive and proactive. And sassy. By far the best moment: when Snow admits to having a one night stand with Whale, and silences Charming's protests with "We were cursed," and moves right along. AND Snow, without hesitation, creates and uses a home made flame thrower. Badass. There are good points being made around the interweb about how suddenly everyone abandons small town laws and morality and goes directly back into fairy tale world dramatic gestures and medieval justice. And I kinda like it. It's like everyone has been released from whatever was holding them back as people. They can be fully themselves, make bold choices, take stands, and really live their potential. (Yes, Megan, it's called a curse was broken. I know, guys, but it is cool how it affects them.)

Third, I was so happy they did not spend too much time on the "Regina is evil, she is the reason for this, lets kill Regina" stuff. It was background for the far better emotional stuff that was going on with everyone. Snow even says, "Mr. Gold can wait," dealing with family is more important.

Fourth, Doctor Whale, you frustrating and intriguing bastard. Charming does not know who he is, and Charming is not his prince, as Whale says. This means he comes from another land than Charming (perhaps a fictional Geneva with secret lab castle?). Oh and I am sure tons of slash fiction was born from this image:

"You are not my prince." Make out, already.

Fifth, I was touched that Henry did not want anyone to kill Regina. I didn't really understand the whole character turn around, "YOU ARE NOT MY MOTHER" to "She is still my mother, please don't kill her." And then again "I never want to see you again!" But hey. I don't really expect much from Henry. 

Sixth, Yay! Emma didn't talk that much! Her one awesome moment was the subtle touch that awakened Regina's magic again. I cannot wait for them to explain that. Of course all the Swan/Queen slash writers are exploding with explanations. Seriously, the stuff writes itself.

Seventh, Gold and Belle. I was not as happy about it as I thought. I knew he was going to fuck it up, and that made me sad. It made me even sadder that Belle came back. It came across more as Stockholm syndrome, or "I must stay in an abusive relationship because he needs me" than "I will change you into a better man." I usually fight for Beauty and the Beast relationships, but Gold wasn't passionate and angry and let his feelings run away with him. He was cold and calculating and knew what he was doing, and he still did it. I worry that she will get hurt.

Lastly, Mulan, Prince Phillip and Sleeping Beauty. I must admit, I was not sold on that storyline when I saw it in the promos. It looked frikkin boring. And the storyline itself kinda was. But I was impressed by Aurora's acting. She charmed the pants off me. Mulan is a bit humorless and uninteresting, but hopefully she will warm up as she and Aurora, and maybe Emma and Snow create an awesome girl questing squad. OH huzzah for the CGI not sucking!  

These are just my thoughts, and if you want a hilarious and more detailed recap, see Io9. They do an excellent job.

TV: OUAT execs want to "move beyond fairy tales"

The doors to other worlds in Wonderland.

I KNEW IT! I knew it!

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz admit that they are planning to expand the Storybrooke universe beyond fairy tales:

Here’s what I find interesting about the characters you’re adding this season. Mulan is a Chinese historical figure. Captain Hook is an early 20th century literary creation and Lancelot is a fifth-century possible historical figure. Those aren’t fairy-tale characters.

KITSIS: Go back and look at the pilot when you see Henry’s book and the book flips [through the pages of illustrations from different stories]. Also the episode with the Mad Hatter when you see all the doors [to other worlds]. If you Tivo-pause those doors there are some that look different than what you might think.

HOROWITZ: Fairy tales are ground zero. They’re the first stories we hear … Will Chewbacca show up in Storybrooke? Probably not, because that’s a Lucasfilm property.

KITSIS: But he’s welcome to!

While sad for those of us who were hoping to see less-well-known fairy tales in Storybrooke (though I gave that up when I first heard the name "Maleficent"), this opens up whole new universes for the writers. Now that they have re-framed the show to focus on storybook characters, not fairy tale characters, us fairy tale nerds can just move on, and stop clinging to the "but that's not a fairy tale character" line, and embrace it.

AND it means Dr. Whale as Victor Frankenstein is even more likely!

Sorry, folks. I will have real content soon, not just OUAT stuff. Its just been really busy, and OUAT came out last night, so the internet is abuzz. I have yet to see it, but I will let you know when I do.