2deadcows

I finally watched this tonight and...I don't know why, but I was hoping and expecting this movie to be Dolly's "Coal Miner's Daughter" and it just wasn't. Granted, CMD was a motion picture and made in a different time, but COAT had none of the gravitas of CMD and I doubt it'll have any fraction of its staying power. The younger sister, Stella, did get some of the best lines...or rather, the little actress made them sing despite their hokines. And Jennifer Nettles was a revelation.

Heh. My thought was that the next episode would open with Cary saying "I would like to plead guilty your honor, ........but can't because I am innocent of the charges." So a totally groan-worthy and Saved by the Bell resolution to avoid accepting the plea and the negative consequences therein. :) I'm in agreement with others about the relationship between Geneva and the detective somehow being discovered and used to allege misconduct by both Geneva and the detective. I don't think Geneva actually did anything wrong - aside from having an affair and then, on top of that, being stupid enough to having that affair with the key/lead detective on her case - but I do think the perception will be that she used the influence borne of that relationship to persuade the detective to taint facts/evidence to advance her case. Also, I don't think Geneva's affair, on its face, has anything to do with propping Alicia's morals or ethics. Just like the other cheaters highlighted on the show (including Alicia), Geneva's just another person who apparently can't keep it in her pants. Aside from its potential to be used as a weapon to free Cary, no one will care. That same issue of perception may be used against Alicia and Finn. First with the picture of him leaving her apartment, and now the potential for some pictures/video to come out of the diner experience. It can be made to look like she slept with Finn to secure his support of her candidacy while he was still with the State Attorney's office and further cast shade on her relationship with Peter and her willingness to lie about her living situation. Just like that fake commercial about Prady being in the closet, you could easily have something like that aimed at Alicia's -- if 'Saint Alicia' is willing to go to such lengths in her personal life, how can she be trusted to run the SA's office?

Licensing for the the Eagles catalog is very expensive. During an ep of Letterman two or three months ago, Letterman got it into his head that he wanted Paul & the Band to play some Eagles during the commercial break. Paul said that they couldn't afford it (since the commercial break songs bleed into the broadcast). Dave was all, bah, eff it, we'll do it and pay the fine, which made the folks behind the camera have a conniption fit. This became a running gag during the show. Finally, the lawyers slipped the actual number to Dave. Dave made Paul guess, and Paul, knowing Dave thought it was expensive, started at $1,000. When he hit $100,000 he was still too low. It's actually $250,000 to play "I Can't Tell You Why." I just found links to those parts of the ep on Youtube. The 1st vid is the conversation about the Eagles predicament and the 2nd vid shows discussion about other problematic songs/artists, as well as Dave revealing the actual cost (at time stamp 2:43). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvOmtEmIiUk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuVM2T--jg4

It was stupid. But Blackbeard told them that he was rescued by a mermaid (after Hook seemingly killed him by making Blackbeard walk the Jolly Roger's plank into a bevy of sharks); maybe Anna thought she'd might try her luck by screaming for help? I'm not sure if this is snark, but that's not what I got from the scene. Robin stupidly/naively thought he'd be safe in Regina's presence (and that she'd be safe in his...he's apparently been a bit of a gray hat based on his comments, so I'm sure he could at least hurt Regina verbally while under the SS spell), but I doubt anyone was banging anyone in Storybrooke while waiting for SS to hit. My earlier comments were an attempt to address Regina's movements throughout Season 4, not just those scenes prior to the Regina/Henry conversation in the Mayor's office. Sorry for any confusion! ETA: Oops, looks like the neighborhood Mermaid Watch is on it.

That was out of nowhere and not needed. The best I can come up with is that Operation Mongoose offered an opportunity for Regina and Henry to rack up substantial bonding time by embarking on an adventure of their own. But Regina was simultaneously immersed in finding a cure for Marian and also starting up with Robin Hood, so Operation Mongoose fell by the wayside for a bit? Reaching even further, maybe if Regina had been successful in finding the author (and presumably her happy ending, assuming that's how it works but we all suspect that it's not), then the Spell of Shattered Sight might not affect Evil Queen-Regina so drastically and Regina wouldn't be as worried about going completely apeshit under the spell? In that vein, finding the author might not have helped with the spell, but it might temper Regina's reaction to it? But there's absolutely no basis to believe that's true. I don't know; it's a line I was confused by immediately and tried to puzzle out for a minute, then decided to not dwell because it probably wasn't important anyway. Maybe it was an attempt to add another layer of sentimentality to Regina and Henry's good-bye.

My impression has been that, until recently, only Ingrid knew that she was preparing to cast the Shattered Sight spell and that it would affect the town at-large. Then Rumple figured it out after Belle's experience in the Snow Queen's ice cave. Prior to that, as far as anyone knew Ingrid was only after Emma and Elsa. Of the magical beings that could be of help in this situation...Rumple sat on the knowledge about Ingrid's existence, then her plans for the Spell of Shattered Sight -- that's when he wasn't out attempting to murder Emma and out-right murdering Mickey and the fairies. He has not only not helped the townsfolk but is actively working against them. Elsa has been too busy chasing after her ghost of a sister from another realm and sucking everyone into her quest rather than trying to develop her magic into something helpful to free the town from the ice barrier. (And don't forget Emma's magical freakout that re-focused everyone's attention for a time - which wasn't her fault but which might have been dampened somewhat had Emma treated her magic more seriously, earlier). I don't recall Blue being involved during this Frozen plot either. But yet somehow fault for the lack of progress with ending Ingrid's (unknown) schemes lies with Regina because she spent time trying to save Marian? What we have seen onscreen during Regina's "come to the good side" development is that when Regina is aware of or is asked to help others -- whether it be with Marian or Emma's magic lessons and magic freakout, developing a locator potion to find Emma, or fighting the Wicked Witch, twice, despite believing that she will die -- she does. But then when Regina is allowed by the plot to contribute, the Mary Sue and Woegina comments dominate. As for being all het up about Regina's non-involvement in the Frozen storyline, blame asinine plot contrivance and plot holes instead of involving Regina in their stupid Frozen plot. I thought one way to make the Marian contrivance relevant with FrozenTM was to have there be some overlap between the spell that Marian is under, Ingrid's ice wall, and Elsa's magic...that knowledge gained during Regina's research into cracking Marian's condition would somehow be helpful towards dealing with Ingrid's magic overall. Then have Regina simultaneously collaborate with Elsa -- who shares ice magic and a bloodline with Ingrid which would both presumably be useful when joined with a knowledgeable witch like Regina -- to solve the mystery of Ingrid and Marian. (Throwing in Emma's special True Love magic to round everything off to crack the code.) But the writers were illogically determined to keep Regina isolated in the vault until the very end.

That was one of my first thoughts -- that maybe the Shattered Sight curse (or maybe it combined with Ingrid's magic) has within it an ability to cancel other forms of magic - or at least any magic that would prevent the SS curse from fully taking effect. That would also explain to me why Evil Queen-Regina is bothering to fight Snow White with a freakin sword instead of using magic. They'll probably handwave that bit as EQ wanting to "watch (Snow White) bleed" by her own hand but that's bullshit. When have we ever been shown that the Evil Queen has any sort of sword fighting skills? Magic is her weapon. Lana Parrilla has stated that without her magic, Regina is helpless. The true crazy pants, out-of-control EQ whould just walk down main street efficiently zapping everyone she hates with magic because it's quick and those peasants aren't worth expending any other effort. Also, regarding Regina's logic in sealing herself and Henry inside their hideaways with her magic - obviously it doesn't work because the preview shows Hook entering the Mayor's office and Regina in the Sheriff's station -- but before seeing the preview, I had fanwanked that Regina would tap in to her light magic or some super-complicated combination of both that would require Regina to be of pure mind/heart/intention to break -- something that the Evil Queen in true Evil Queen mode would never be able to do. Which is still possible, assuming my other theory about the SS curse itself nullifying her magic is anywhere near correct. Yeah, that was a huge eyeroll moment. Especially since the show has gone to such lengths to illustrate both Snow's and Emma's (maybe sometimes reluctant) growing/continued belief in Regina. It's like the writers are doing all they can to reduce Regina's worldview/support system to Robin despite show history. Rite. Emma even said something to Snow about what if you starve to death, but then, nothing, no precautions taken. Well, Regina's been shown to have a colorful history with Maleficient (and that line, along with the new and continued use of the library elevator from last ep to this one could maybe be read as foreshadowing). And then there's the blonde Snow Queen who is causing so much trouble currently. Here's the thing. At first I wondered if everyone would lose their memories of who they truly are once they get to the other side of the ice barrier, but then remembered they're living under Snow's curse now...so any forgetting is probably off of table. But aren't folks still prevented from leaving town? I thought there was more danger in leaving than just losing one's memory. Or did I make that up? At any rate, I'm assuming that there is some magical element to the ice, that it isn't JUST ice, that would prevent folks from crossing the town line and escaping the SS curse. Also, regarding why Regina insisted that Henry was safer with her or, ultimately, away from both Regina and Emma once the SS curse hits -- Regina noted that Emma was part of the Snow Queen's plan. Who knows what will happen to Emma? Will she be under Ingrid's control in some way? We already know that Ingrid can control/siphon Emma's and Elsa's magic. Someone else speculated that Ingrid might do a memory wipe on E&E. I can understand wanting Henry far away from that. Also, has the show ever bothered to even pay lip service to the fact that Regina's major magical weapon is FIRE...and that, to my knowledge, no attempts have been made to use Regina (or combine her magic with Emma's) to melt/vortex through the barrier or at least explain why it would not/does not work? It was unbelievable enough that there was no mention at all of Regina's fire magic when Emma and Elsa were trapped in the ice cave-in (yes, Regina was stuffing her face with sorrowful chocolate and was unreachable by phone earlier in the day, but the show/Charming thought it was totally acceptable to waste time chasing down dead ends via freakin Bo Peep but not even think to to drive to Regina's house/vault to let her know what was going on and ask for help?), but the actual optics of Regina standing in front of an ICE WALL in this ep without mentioning the possibility of blowing through it with fire was ridiculous. You don't want to reduce your stupid plots to 3 minutes?, then say that the ice is infused with Ingrid's special ice magic blend and is impenetrable similar to Marian's frozen heart or something, but don't just ignore what you've spent the entire life of your show establishing.

She was also pretty pleased when everyone was turning against Elsa after DQ framed Elsa for icing Marian. Plus, we did get this exchange: Emma: What did you do to me? DQ: All I did was show you who you really are. Emma: Make it stop! DQ: I can't. It's you, Emma, and it's beautiful. Can she really not help Emma? She didn't seem to want to help Elsa either and played similar word games with Elsa before owning up to her villainy. I guess the above exchange in the sheriff's office could be read as vague enough to imply that DQ somehow tinkered with Emma's magic to super charge it, but I don't really think they'll go there and that, in the end, all of this will be on Emma and her magic and her emotions. HOWEVER, combine that "all I did was show you who you really are" with the wonky effects...and I don't think the speculation of DQ's meddling is out of left field.

I'm almost of the same mind you are. Mainly because the magic that blew out the brick wall looked a lot like ice magic to me. It could have just been Emma's ever-CGI-changing white/yellowish magic, but on first watch all I saw was DQ-style magic. Plus, after busting up that wall, there was a bunch of white stuff on Emma's hands that looked a lot like snow and/or ice. I don't recall that effect for Emma's magic before. I would be so pissed if I had to dress in a suit only to sweep a floor and dust furniture. Not cool. Regina'd better send the dry cleaning bill to Rumple! ETA: JMo had the best kicked puppy reaction faces tonight. Really gut wrenching. She really comes through when given the chance. I don't know how the main cast manages to continually create something watchable out of what the writers hand them.

The same can be said about Emma. Literally. Why be greedy, isn't Henry enough? Of course not, because adults want and need adult relationships. I've been around parents who live for and through their children and those are people I don't like to spend a lot of time around. With Regina, we've seen her call Henry her happy ending and then in Neverland she told Emma that Henry was all that she had (while Emma had her suitors and her parents). So I think it shows positive emotional growth for Regina to reach for (and recognize) happiness beyond Henry. I just wish the writers hadn't decided on Robin Hood as her Romantic End Game and that magic/pixie dust had not been a factor because that makes self determination suspect, but whatever. Same with Emma. She's moved on from Neal's betrayal and is dealing with her issues and is finally ready to try a relationship. Maybe it will work with Hook, maybe not, but she's growing too. If the writers handle Emma correctly she should be the most interesting, because her connections are many and would seemingly be the most dynamic...Henry, her parents, now Hook, and whatever her relationship was with the Snow Queen and how that realization may affect her going forward.

Here's how I see it. At this show's most basic premise, a happy ending is when you find your true love. It may also be defined by the triumph of Good over Evil. The basic story and happy ending of Snow White and Prince Charming, pre-ONCE, is when Charming awakens Snow with a kiss. The kiss also serves as a victory over the Evil Queen's curse of Snow White...so that happy ending may also be seen as a victory of good over evil. With regard to the storybook, I think we're being led to believe that the writer of the book does have some actual power over what happens to the fates of the people being written about. I personally don't feel this absolves the storybook characters of the consequences of their actions, but I do allow for nuance and gray areas, and, more importantly, the chance for people to change for the better. I don't think the writer is a puppet master controlling every action of every character at all times, and I think Regina would agree with me. I think Regina believes that the author of the storybook (and the morals and mores of the Enchanted Forest) do not allow for bad/evil characters to be good. That once a path is laid... once a villain, always a villain no matter what positive changes one makes in his or her life, no matter what manner of restitution one makes, that person can never attain happiness. So in Regina's case, despite changing enough to earn the gift of light magic and a second (or third, since she bailed the first time with Robin) chance at a Soul Mate/True Love, she has just seen her last chance of happiness dry up before her eyes. She truly believes Robin was her last chance. In the language of the Enchanted Forest, there is no chance of love in her future. And the lesson of 'villains don't get happy endings' has always and keeps getting drummed into her (ONCE has stressed this time and time again). So the only way to change her fate is is to change the storybook; to find the author and change the ending. ETA: I think it's pretty clear that Emma and Regina aren't exactly besties at the moment and so any magical sessions would be suspended at this time. :) What I hoped to infer earlier was that, yes, as you and others have noted, Emma has struggled with her magic and we've mostly seen her do it and succeed while under emotional duress. However, the show actually addressed this for once (yay! Also, pun!) and so we've seen Emma train with Regina and specifically seen Regina advise Emma how to focus and hone those emotions so that Emma could reliably use her magic. Emma's not there yet, but she obviously takes a lot of what Regina says to heart, so I believe Emma absorbed Regina's magic tutorials and expanded upon it during her solo (also off-screen) practice sessions in between crises and we may have just seen the fruits of her labor in Sunday's episode. Or maybe it was just another burst of over-emotional magic. But I prefer to think of this as progress. More shame me, I guess. I think the show is way too inconsistent about magic to get too deep into this conversation (about magic, heh). However, I'm not discounting possible reasons (aside from increasing the drama) for the gold box. When I think about all of the hearts that have been taken from characters...something special has been done to those people that the writers could argue would preclude the need for a special golden box. Regina put a protection spell on her own heart before removing it. (Cora was a witch, so hers was probably protected but her box was probably platinum.) Henry's heart is protected too. Aurora and Snow survived sleeping curses and were revived with TLK, so maybe their hearts are somehow inured to whatever storage container befalls them. Marian is just a regular heretofore healthy uncursed person who was/is now suffering under a freezing curse. Maybe the gold box stabilizes the heart in some way? I don't know. I gave up on rationalizing the magic stuff when the show did in the Season 2 (or was it the Season 1 fairybacks?).

Emma's been training with Regina. Who knows how regularly (probably not very, and almost completely off-screen as with most fun things on this show) but I remember at least one during the Neverland arc and then that awesome one with the bridge scene during the Wicked arc. During the bridge scene, Regina noted that Emma's magic was instinctual and that Emma needed to "push those instincts until [she] mastered them." Afterwards, in order to guide Emma in using her magic to 'Skype' Ariel and Prince Eric, Regina noted that Emma had earlier "learned to focus and let emotions awaken [her] power, and now [she] had to look inward." So ONCE is showing Emma as steadily improving her magic. It's also worth reiterating that Emma's abilty to 'use mirror magic' to look between worlds is something that Regina can't do, but Regina thought that Emma could because of the "raw power she possesses." So who knows what else the writers have in store for Emma? Which could be interesting. I don't know. I don't like the writers' all or nothing approach to magic on this show. At one time Regina was the all powerful. Then it was the Dark One. Then when Cora came around even Rumple was afraid of her. Then Wicked arrived and Regina's magic was useless until its the last-minute plot-convenient color change. There's no balance on this show. On first watch, I had the impression that Regina almost immediately realized that she'd have to remove Marian's heart but was hesitant to suggest it for fear of everyone's reaction (and in hopes that a cure could be found through others' efforts). Putting myself in her shoes, I think I'd be hesitant to suggest doing such a thing in anticipation of what kind of shit-fit reactions I'd get as a former stealer of hearts. But on re-watch, in that first scene when Regina joined everyone in the Mayor's office she noted that they were dealing with strong magic and that she could "maybe" slow it down. After Robin's TLK attempt failed, Regina said she needed more time to study Marian/the curse. And then in the next FrozenMarian scene, Regina says that "the curse is working its way towards her heart...once it touches, that's it." Then Robin begs her to do something and Regina gets this LOOK on her face and then HEAVY SIGH. Like, "please don't force me to suggest that the best thing for my rival is for me to rip her heart out of her chest because I know how that will look." So then we know she's figured out what to do between the first and second scene. That in the interim she hasn't been able to slow down the curse and no one has burst into the office offering a cure and the only thing left to do is rip Marian's heart out. Given how wonky time passage is on this show, who knows how much time actually passed? It seemed darker in the office (even though you can see light through the windows), but it was day time during the other immediate scenes (Emma/Charming/Snow Queen/Hook in the forest and Snow/Archie in the street). But then in the scene after the heart-taking, it's nighttime at Granny's patio. Regina's not trying to change the past. Here's what she told Henry: "These stories about me in the book...I was written as a villain. And things never work out for the villains, so I want to find who wrote this book and make them...ask them... to write me a happy ending." And yeah, thanks to those who mentioned Snow's hideous bird painting. It was so perfectly Mary Margaret style (with a big Snow White shoutout) and so hideously out-of-place. Regina's office may require some color, but that's not the dollop it needs. Why are Enchanted Forest and Arendelle folk speaking like Americans from the 21st century? The writers at least paid lip service to old timey/Shakespearean-speak in the first season. So far, this season has been a big miss for me, with too much screen time devoted to Frozen characters while core ONCE cast members who are the reason this show exists beyond Season 1 are reduced to bit players. Again, there's no balance on this show. Quality-wise, if I had been presented with this in the first season, there's no way I would have stuck around. But I did watch Season 1 and I did fall in love with the core characters and unique storytelling and gorgeous costuming. I still find parts that I like and even smaller bits that I love, but I have to ff through a lot of horrible, cringe inducing junk to get it, and despite all reason I do still have hope that this crappy show will find its way back. Wither thou, Season 1 writers?

Oh, just remembered something. This exchange: Amanda: You know when Kenya comes back she may need to find another job. Stahma: I say this as a friend... (me: Oh no she won't.) Stahma: ...You need to prepare yourself for the fact that she's not coming back. (me: omg that woman has all of the balls) Yeah, as for the religions of the future don't forget there's even room for the crazy cultists, as evidenced by those sadists that surround/ed Irisa.

I liked it. Except, Amanda's a drunken drug addict pimp (excuse me, 'Madam') who's being peeped on by Mayor Perv? Ugh. And how long has this gone on? Double ugh. I hope she finds out at some point (preferably when he can't use his knowledge of her drug use to his advantage) and gets her sweet, sweet revenge. And since she has yet to find out about Kenya (RIP), I'm afraid she won't be a functioning addict for much longer. Nice to see the true Stahma come out from the shadows and 98% own her bitchery and badassery. She's not all the way there yet, but it was satisfying nonetheless. And Datak. My kingdom for a handjob, amirite? Anybody's hand will do! Stahma looked simultaneously bored and disgusted to oblige him. Heh. Too bad he'll probably escape before the next 'family visit,' because it'd be a hoot to see Stahma get a special day-rate for one of KenyAmanda's girls, dress her up as a Stahma lookalike, and let her take care of that business. I'm not as interested by the Irisa/Nolan plot line so far and, as with last season, wouldn't miss Rafe. How in the hell can they air this show at 7pm?

Camera One - Speaking of Fringe, I missed the last half of the last season (couldn't get it together as to when the season would resume and then only realized it was back when the 2nd or 3rd episode was underway so decided to not watch any of it and catch up later. No spoilers!), and recently purchased the last season to 'watch along' with the forum and read the recaps. With the big TWoP announcement, I was having to triage between what shows and recaps to keep and just gave up the possibility of saving any forum comments. Now I'll definitely try to grab those forum gems.

Hey guys, just spreading the good news that TWoP's recap archives will remain open to the public. The forums will still close though. But yay! and woot! for the recaps. After Fan Complaints, NBCU to Keep Television Without Pity and DailyCandy Archives Public * Note that the article is incorrect at the current time with respect to the forums.

Loriac - are you referring to the blackish blur in the extreme foreground? At first I thought that flash was ominous (also had a moment of thinking a monkey would scoop Henry up before Emma reached him), but now believe it to be just another person walking in the park. Like with Regina and Henry and all of those other park goers in the last episode. The plot point park I don't remember seeing before then. You know, with everyone walking all leisurely in the wide open instead of hiding out from the rampant flying monkeys? Blerg.

Hi everybody! I'm so sad about TWoP, but relieved to find out about Previously. I was an infrequent poster on TWoP but had been a registered user since 2002 (and reader for a couple of years before that! Another 'Once' show "Once and Again"...its cancelation...forced me to register to express my grief back then). So glad to see some familiar names.