KingOfHearts

It's not like she couldn't have asked to come or anything. I don't think anyone really blamed her for trying to stop Cora from getting into town. It was her choice to stand there crying instead of taking control of her own life. She invents her own hells is what she does. 95% of her "suffering" is her own fault. The writing tries to get us to feel bad for her for the stupidest reasons, too. Dinner invites, week-long boyfriends, lasagna... I can't believe the Evil Queen can't get a grip on this dumb stuff. It's so below her.

I agree. The writers go over-the-top with it to manipulate the audience to sympathize with her. Not only do the other characters not trust her, but they're portrayed as really mean, bitter people. You can take Cricket Game, for example. When they thought Regina was the murderer but she wasn't, it was all, "KILL REGINA!!! SHES EVIL!" But when Regina does kill someone, like Owen's dad, it's nothing but sympathy for her because Owen ran away. I hate being manipulated too. It's as if the showrunners think I'm stupid enough to accept whatever the characters say, even when it's obviously not true. ("There are four lights!" - Picard)

The promo is definitely good for explaining the show to newcomers. I see Sidney is going to be the Magic Mirror in Storybrooke. It really makes me curious what she needs him for. I wish they should would show more serious promos that didn't have lame voiceovers. I've seen some fan trailers that blow these promos out the water.

I just noticed something odd about Regina's character (among the million other things). When Regina does something evil, all the characters just pat her head and say, "It's all in the past." and forget about it. But if Regina does something mildly nice, like bring lasagna or get Henry his lunchbox, she gets all sorts of flack. This isn't a constant rule, but I've seen it ring true many times on the show. In this very twisted way, the writers are bending it so we feel bad for her through the reactions of the characters. Every time Regina shows a little growth or kindness, she gets beat over the head with a stick. Then whenever she does something evil, like kill Graham, she gets hugs and kisses. I'm just thinking, what the heck?

I agree, Shanna Marie. Showing encouragement and condolences is fine, but what frightens me is the possibility of her avoiding Hook over it. If she turns into a dark cloud for multiple episodes, then I'll have some problems. Her character writing hasn't been very appealing lately.

Yeah I get that, but "Storybrooke Is Frozen" or "Storybrooke Has Frozen" makes more sense to me. That "over" feels so unnecessary. Even the announcer said it in the promo he said it as, "Storybrooke has frozen... ... ... over."

"Storybrooke Has Frozen Over" is a lame tag line... Still don't get why they chose it. Oh well, glad to know they're replaying the finale. Have they done that in the past? (This is my first summer hiatus.)

The Frozen documentary that Elsa was originally going to be the villainous Snow Queen. The plot involved Anna going to her so she could freeze her broken heart. I'm thinking on Once, Elsa's parents went to go see the Snow Queen to see how they could control or remove Elsa's powers.

When a show is entertaining, viewers tend to overlook the nitpicky plot holes. That's not only true with Once, but also with popular shows like Doctor Who. I glossed over many problems through most of S2 because I was still enjoying what I was watching. In 3B, I analyzed it to death because the main content wasn't enough distraction for me. I was looking for something more, and all I found was giant plot holes and writing issues. I found The Tower, Quiet Minds, It Ain't Easy Bein' Green, The Jolly Roger, and Bleeding Through to all be incredibly boring. I kept telling myself, "I'm sure next week's episode will be better!" The momentum didn't pick up again until A Curious Thing, and even then the "climax" was very disappointing up to the end of the season. Most of 3B was a major retread of what we've already seen in the past, so there was more allowance for inconsistencies from what the show has already provided because they had to change certain things to fit the plot. If they had creatively introduced new mechanics and ideas, then they'd be able to fill in whatever they needed without tainting what's already been in the show.

May I ask when?

http://tvline.com/gallery/fall-tv-spoilers-2014-season-premieres-photos/#!30/once-upon-atime/ I believe this is a new still, forgive me if I'm wrong. The article is what we already know. I hope we get some non-Frozen promo stills going soon of the premiere episode.

You know you're obsessed when... you begin a rewatch of all 66 episodes in 27 days to get ready for the premiere! (Which is what I'm doing. Yes I'm that crazy.)

Agreed. It's pretty apparent "Regal Woman" is Elsa's mom now. I wonder what "intriguing object" Rumple finds.

After looking at Stable Boy again, I don't find her hate for Snow believable from this episode alone. The writers went out of their way to show Regina being big-sister to her, but also showing absolute hatred and fear for Cora. I don't understand why it all points to Snow instead of Cora, because this episode shows the exact opposite. If the anger toward Snow came later when she was just jealous of her looks, I could imagine that. But the Daniel thing isn't really acceptable to me as a true origin story for revenge on a small child. To make matters worse, when Cora comes to town in S2, after five seconds it's "Mommy you're home!" which is completely off the wall disturbing since she tried to kill her. The writing is just so bipolar. You see one thing, then you're told the opposite.

I was rewatching Hat Trick, one of the best episodes of S1. There were definitely some points of interest. First of all, the adaptation of Wonderland was much, much better than Once: Wonderland. The CGI was cheesy, but it was also very whimsical and creative. I love how they did the hedge maze, then finally the Queen of Hearts. You could tell the writers were really trying at this point of the game. Even the twist on "Off with his head!" was neat. The whole sequence had a closeness to the source material that I found Once: Wonderland to be sorely lacking. Emma and Jefferson had some serious chemistry going on this episode. I wouldn't say romantic, but the actors fitted each other so well. I found all the present day scenes to be creepy and unsettling, which was spot on for showcasing the Mad Hatter. This is the episode that really started to hint the curse was getting closer to breaking, and that Emma was getting closer to believing. The suspense here legitimately caught my attention. Stupendous acting. When looking at the series as a whole, what got to me especially was the scene with Mary Margaret and Emma at the very end. Emma calling Mary Margaret family was more more believable than her "home" revelation in 3B to me. Her reasons for staying were so, so much better. She finally had a family she could rely on for the first time in her life. I find it sad that her family is anything but reliable today.

The reason, at least how I saw it, that Mary Margaret got some much more flack for it than David was because Mary Margaret was deeply involved in the town's community. They respected her as an innocent schoolteacher who symbolized kindness and purity. The town felt betrayed by someone they thought they knew for years. They had barely even met David Nolan. Plus, Regina was pushing them to blame Mary Margaret with her TRAMP paint or whatever else she did so she could usher in the murder framing. I wholeheartedly agree though that how they handle genders is far less than perfect. I agree with Shanna Marie 100% on Regina and Marian. I know a lot of people irl that are wondering why Regina hasn't gotten killed for what she's done!

True, but he did it in revenge for locking up his current girlfriend. So again, it's tied with his love interests.

It's funny that there have been many times when Rumple could have killed Regina, but never did. After all the times she's poked at him, tried to overpower him and even kill him, he maintains some sort of family-like relationship with her. She's the one woman in Rumple's life who has remained pretty stable with him. Emma has taken that role as well now. It's interesting that there are just some people Rumple chooses to spare and work with, and others he murders on the spot.

I think he might have liked her in the flashbacks to some degree, but it's up for interpretation. He definitely didn't like her in Storybrooke. I wouldn't say their were a couple, but Zelena did love him and he killed her. I'm just saying people who love Rumple or Regina romantically tend to get killed.

I agree, especially with Rumple. Regina could get to a place where she can be trusted, but her redemption arc has been built so poorly that she's not close to being there yet. Meanwhile, Rumple hasn't redeemed himself at all. He just killed one of his love interests a few episodes ago! At this point, I wouldn't want to be a lover to either of them for fear of my own life. I think Regina would have a "safer" relationship if she got someone grey and just as clever as she is who wouldn't be afraid of her. Cora and Rumple are a more extreme case of this scenario.

They also wanted Emma to accept Storybrooke as her home in the finale, but without showing any good reason why she would choose to do that. I found the whole "I miss my parents!" thing to be really weak. The writers were totally ignoring all the other moving variables associated with the matter. Emma didn't even care about Henry's safety or well-being, for crying out loud. They did not bother to actually lead up to it or work on Emma at all until the very last second. There's the curse too. Instead of writing out the Missing Year that led up to it, they jumped about six months in one episode. Snowing's opinion about the curse dramatically changed just because a witch made some threats. It's like the curse was just a plot hurdle for the writers to jump over. They didn't care about the weight of it or what caused it. They threw in their little twist and completed it in one episode. 3B was incredibly half-baked. It felt like they just wanted to rush through it ASAP so they could get to their time travel adventure, then onto Frozen. All they cared about was Zelena's crazy scenery chewing and Regina's epic romance. (Which by the way was also half-baked because the writers were only using it to get to Marian!)

I always wondered how Emma could afford a ritzy high-floor apartment in Boston, then an even more expensive one in Manhattan. All Regina did was the fake memories.

Because of that scene, "making tacos" is now my go-to euphemism.

Which is weird because in Witch Hunt, the major point was that Regina could find love somewhere else, with Robin to fit that bill. I don't understand why they gave Outlaw Queen so many character moments in that episode, then totally dropped it. See, I thought the point of Robin was to teach Regina she could find happiness somewhere besides Henry. All that went down the drain when OQ didn't happen in the Missing Year and she got Henry back with a TLK in the present. On a side note, if Outlaw Queen had gone strong for the whole Missing Year, the Marian thing wouldn't bother me as much.

What real relationship would be hostile for a whole year in one place and be lovey-dovey from just one week in another? If Regina and Robin had no chemistry in the Enchanted Forest, then it shouldn't be any different in Storybrooke. That's one of the major pillars of my disbelief for this couple. If they couldn't like each other before, why do they like each other now? I'll tell you why - the tattoo. Regina never saw the tattoo in the Missing Year as far as we know, but in Storybrooke she saw it almost immediately in their relationship. With that, Regina knew the relationship was guaranteed and she didn't have to work for it. It was handed to her on a silver platter by a spunky green fairy named Tinkerbelle. Knowing she couldn't lose, she took advantage of the free romance. All the scenes we get with Outlaw Queen are physical and flirty. It's neighboring Graham territory. I don't see a real relationship with Regina and Robin - just love with benefits. Marian should find this sickening. If I were her, I'd grab Roland and get the heck away from them.