KingOfHearts

Especially Regina, because she knows the kind of hells Rumple's stuff can conjure. She doesn't even want Henry near her vault. I'm in the same boat. Belle is technically his step-grandmother now, so that would be a good relationship to build on. They both love books and stuff too, so I'm sure they'll have lots to talk about.

Outlaw Queen isn't even that compatible, and they're a far cry from soulmates. The very fact they needed to put the whole pixie dust thing in there shows they didn't even trust in themselves to pull off a legitimate romance. Take Captain Swan, for example - I didn't need any Tinkerbell prophecy to tell me they fit together. CS had the pacing and chemistry on their side, while OQ didn't. OQ has a serious handicap that they really shouldn't need if they're a believable couple to begin with. The pixie dust could have been passable if the dragon tattoo was handled better. There is nothing climactic about running from the tattoo then coming back in the next episode. If Regina had, let's say, really got into a deep relationship with Robin without seeing the tattoo, I might have bought their relationship. But since Regina saw it so soon, I have good reasons to believe she doesn't love Robin, but the "tattoo guy". If Robin didn't have the tattoo, there is absolutely no way she would go for him. The only romantic scene they had pre-tattoo-sighting is the farmhouse whiskey scene, and it's not even that sellable. The Missing Year was OQ's saving grace, and the writers totally bypassed it. (Probably for the Marian twist... sigh.) I was rooting for the ship before 3B started, but now I hope another man comes along.

My flashbacks of the lawn-gnome-Henry nightmare intensify. Although, using Henry to unlock the dagger plot would be a creative idea. It would give him SOMETHING to do when he's not coddling Regina or house hunting with Emma. I only wish that the nightmare was real...

Traveling arrangements courtesy of the Jolly Roger, of course!

If that's true, it confirms Frozen is in the Regina/Snow Era, and Arendelle is likely to be in the Enchanted Forest. Blech.

Ditto. It's like they themselves don't even understand their own mechanics. I thought "soulmate" just meant the person you were most compatible with. True Love is a bit more vague. I'm not sure what the difference between "normal love" and "true love" is, because if anyone you honestly loved was True Love, then anyone could just TLK or have special babies. It really cheapens Snowing and Emma when just anyone can be True Love. The answer was like, "We love Outlaw Queen, so let's just say they're the most legit couple on the show and leave it at that! What did you think we were going to do legitimate worldbuilding or something?"

I'd take everything the writers say with a grain of salt. Seldom what they say is how it actually plays out. They may think they're conveying one message onscreen, but really it comes off as something completely different. Especially since it's so early in production, they're probably saying anything they can to stir up the medias.

Wait... you mean to tell me that's not how they picked out Frozen?

Yeah, it was recorded for sure. But I bet the Knave/Black Knights together are legit, though. I could imagine the Knave getting in trouble with them.

Yep, I'm totally betting Elizabeth Mitchell is Elsa's mom now. I'm so happy to finally see what Anna looks like. She looks more "human" like Elsa, which I like. Glad to see Socha too. If they're supposedly shooting a take with Snow, black knights and the Knave, I'm at a loss. Did Snow meet the Knave before he went to Wonderland while she was Bandit Snow or something? If Regina was still Mayor Mills and unredeemed, I'd be happy. But she's not, so I'm terrified they're reverting Regina. LOL. I can imagine Belle and Henry being Rumple's little helpers. These two cheerleaders are going to have a blast. I'm surprised Emma and Regina would let Henry near all that magic stuff. Maybe they think Belle will safeguard him?

I love that scene too! It's unfortunate it was played off as a bad thing. (Sort of like killing Cora...) Henry was being snotty about it too - after Emma got after him, he said something along the lines of, "can I at least have my gameboy while I'm in prison". Between that and complaining about bagels, he's a spoiled, bratty kid. NY might have actually made him even snobbier.

It's not the disobedience or acting out that bothers me. Being from a strict household, and now becoming a teenager, that stuff is totally expected. What I don't like is how the other characters react to it. Even though Henry constantly undermines them, he doesn't get reprimanded and everyone still thinks he's just the best kid to ever walk the earth. When Regina or Emma would get after him, it was played like they were wrong for it. I'm not saying I want to start a #PunishHenry campaign, but it really harms his development as a character when he's treated as the angelic golden child. Why would you want to development a character that's already "perfect" in all they do? Oh wow - Regina and Henry have the same problem! I finally get how the Woegina haters feel.

Which episode was Snow's speech in?

It makes him look like he's really stupid and gullible, frankly. I don't hate his concept or acting, but his lines and attitude post-S1 are just really bad. I did really like Henry before the curse broke, though. He also hated Regina in S1, but then thought she was just awesome in S3. He wanted nothing to do with her, then he said he wish he'd never got Emma in the first place. It's like, what? It's a sign the writers don't want to work with him as a character. He's just a plot device they can bend to whatever they need him to be. Normal Henry wouldn't have given his heart to Pan, but since that good ol' end-of-episode twist was a go, he went out of character.

There is only one character on Once that I openly despise - and it's post-S1 Henry. I absolutely hate how they tried to make him "smarter" than the adults and letting him do whatever he wants because they feel sorry for him. The writers dumbed down everyone else to make Henry the righteous victim, and I loathed every second of it. He definitely gets his victimization from Regina. What Henry wants from his parents, he gets. He can say things like, "I love pizza because it doesn't LIE" to his own birth mother and we're supposed to feel sorry for him. He ran from home, lied to his mother countless times, stole his teacher's credit card and used it through Boston, attempted to ran again by stealing his mom's car to go back to NY, gave his heart to Pan even though his parents were pleading for him not to, invited Walsh over without his mom's consent, ditched school countless times, lied to his grandpa about going to school, tried to blow up a well with dynamite, and patronized and smart mouthed his family constantly. All this, and yet he's treated like the golden child who can do no wrong. I also resent the whole, "Destroying magic will solve all our problems!" thing. Quite honestly, that's a really dumb idea. Evil people are still going to evil, Henry - magic or not. If I could choose any of the main cast to be killed off, Henry would be a close second.

She and Hook were enemies like three days ago, too. So really anything CaptainSwan in 3A was a little rushed. That's probably because Colin broke his leg in 2B, though.

It wasn't necessarily a true triangle, but it was written as one... for those ratings!

She just got divorced recently, so not sure.

Well she did passionately kiss Hook. Even though it was supposedly a thank you for saving Charming, she found it legitimate enough to talk to her mom about it later when she didn't have to. When Neal came back to life though, she slammed on the brakes.

S is for Scarf, what Henry always likes to wear!

I pretty much agree with this. S1 gets boring in the middle on rewatch. If you already know how the Kathryn murder case ends, it's really not worth watching, unless fairybacks are your cup of tea. 1x01-1x07 are good for the most part (although I really don't care for the Archie/Ashley fillers), and 1x17-1x22 are the best streak of episodes the show has ever had. They're almost like a six-part season finale. S2 is passable up to 2x09 (Queen of Hearts). It doesn't pick up the pace again until 2x14 (Manhattan), but it quickly dies off in 2x16 (The Miller's Daughter). The rest of the season after that is really crappy. S3 has momentum in episodes 3x01 to 3x03, but doesn't become particularly interesting until 3x07 (Dark Hollow). From then on, it's an above average series of episodes that lasts until the winter finale, 3x11. (Going Home) All of 3A is better than S2... except for Nasty Habits. 3B starts off strong with New York City Serenade and Witch Hunt, but quickly falls short with The Tower. It takes four whole episodes to recuperate, then shoots off from zero to sixty with A Curious Thing, 3x19. From then on, it's just average until the finale. Once is really good when it's good, but downright terrible when it's bad. Its quality is very bipolar.

All-Seasons usually fits that bill, haha. It was possible for Emma to love Neal as Henry's dad and love Hook romantically at the same time, but I don't understand why Emma didn't set some serious boundaries with Neal. It was full-on love triangle in 3A, which I really don't get. Was it totally out of Emma's mind to just keep a friendship with Neal? If she felt so uncomfortable around him, she could have just told him she didn't want to get involved romantically. I'm a guy, so pardon me if I'm wrong about Emma. Neal went from avoiding Emma like the plague and being scared to be around her to vying and getting into petty fights with Hook over her affection. It's almost like OQ, in that they threw in romantic tension for the sake of entertainment value. On this show it seems relationships are only romantic, adversarial and familial, with nothing else in between. I really wish there were more platonic, strong friendships on the show. If you're single, you get shoved off to Offscreenville (*cough* Red *cough*). The message the show is sending is that you either have to be related by blood or romantically involved with someone to really matter.

It may not have been true, per se. A lot of people say things they don't actually mean in a near-death situation. In that kind of circumstance, it would be difficult to find what to say. That's just my optimist headcanon, though!

Wow, Jean. I didn't realize how crappy Regina's story was until I read your post. For real. You make some really good points. I don't think Woegina exists because of Regina's attitude, but because of the way she's written and the way other characters are written in conjunction with her. It's pretty sad, really. Regina is not a saint, but she really gets some of the worst writing on the show. It's not the story itself that's the problem, but how the characters react to it and how it's treated superficially. It's all in the perspective. I can see why the Evil Regals despise Emma so much. She's written as an ungrateful golden child. Meanwhile, poor Regina never seems to catch a break. Emma and Regina are two big reasons why I watch Once, so seeing them bent to fit the wild whims of the almighty plot just rubs me the wrong way.

It seems cheap for Marian to have some kind of twist like that, but so was the time travel in the first place. When you look at it: dead wife time travels to future, then instant happy family reunion. It's just so fishy and manufactured... much like Outlaw Queen itself. I personally don't think they'll be doing a twist on the lion tattoo. If you watch the tavern scene, you can visibly see that it's Robin at the tavern if you look quick enough. But I wish Regina would find someone else - she could do so much better than her flaky soulmate she's got now. It's my gathering that OQ shippers are more sold on Regina just having someone than the actual pairing itself.