Curio

You're right. I don't know him or Becca at all. I can only assume based on his apology that he's willing to become more open-minded because that's what he (or ABC or whoever) wrote, but that could all be to save face, too. I tried to analyze the situation the best I could as a complete internet stranger, but I could be totally wrong with my assumptions as well. I'll own that. I wasn't trying to imply that I'll enjoy watching Garrett on screen now that he's apologized, but that I won't feel as repulsed watching the entire season in general knowing he admitted his mistakes. If he didn't apologize at all, I probably wouldn't watch the rest of the season. I still won't feel great watching his scenes this season, but if he's willing to become more educated like he claims, I can at least tell myself the current version of this person might not be as terrible as the past version we're watching on TV every Monday night. I'm still going to hardcore judge his past actions yet be optimistic that maybe his current self can flip over a new leaf. (If society has any chance of progress, we're going to need all the flipped leaves we can take.) I've seen people in my life go from bigoted to open-minded, but I've also seen bigoted stay bigoted. Only time will tell what happens here, I guess.

I don't want to get too political here, but it's nearly impossible not to with this Garrett situation. I feel like there's a big difference between liking a post about a conspiracy theory claiming a Parkland student is a crisis actor versus liking a post mocking Trump for having the words "I hear you" on a notecard as a reminder to be empathetic towards Parkland families. One side is rooted in fiction while the other is rooted in reality. Far too many people unquestionably believe the Parkland conspiracy theories, which also means they would rather think children are actors playing up the severity of a school shooting instead of having empathy and respect for children who just went through a traumatic event where their classmates and teachers were killed. When you're involved in spreading a conspiracy theory attacking a grieving teenager (liking a post helps boost its validity), an apology is necessary. I'm assuming Garrett mindlessly clicked the like button without much thought, but mindless clicks are how those memes spread faster, which then creates an even bigger political divide. There are a lot of Garretts in the world who might be perfectly nice people in front of their friends and family, but they probably don't read much news outside the funny memes they see on their social media feeds, so to them, the conspiracy theories are their reality. It's difficult to "just listen to what the other side has to say, don't be so PC" when the posts Garrett liked lack basic empathy. The opposite of throwing a child over the border wall is not punishing a child for a decision they were too young to make because their parents forced them to move. The opposite of mocking boys who use makeup, the transgender community, or feminists is not mocking boys who use makeup, the transgender community, or feminists and becoming more accepting of others who aren't like yourself. If Garret's apology is genuine and he's willing to become more open-minded and listen to Becca, maybe their relationship will last. I honestly don't think Garrett is a bad person, I just think he's ignorant about certain topics and lived a sheltered life where he never had his worldviews questioned before joining the show. I'd like to believe people have a great capacity for change, and if joining The Bachelorette ultimately makes Garrett a more empathetic person and forces him to be more aware of issues in the world outside his Instagram feed, then I might actually enjoy watching this season.

If they didn't want a mob of fans with pitchforks outside their homes, maybe they could have...oh, I dont know...given Captain Swan an actual TLK? Or allowed them to have more than one solo adventure together once every 40 episodes? Or, at the very least, included them in the love montage at the end of this episode? As it stands, these were the couples A&E really wanted to make sure the audience remembered during Regina's speech: Robin/Regina kiss Snow/Charming TLK Emma/Henry TLK Another Snow/Charming TLK Princess Aurora/Prince Phillip TLK Rumple/Belle dance Violet/Henry kiss OG Cinderella/Prince Thomas kiss Jasmine/Aladdin kiss Snow/Charming proposal Not even one Captain Swan shoutout. Violet made the list but not Hook? What?! And what about the new characters from this season? No Henry/Jacinda? Robyn/Alice? But hey, at least they remembered Graham. Speaking of which, during the death montage, I'm pretty sure I counted 3 deaths which were directly caused by Regina. Like the theme of the episode, they are "both" now.

"I can't wait to see what's in store for me next!" An awkward silence. "...or for everyone." Congratulations, geniuses. You forgot you elected a narcissist.

The term Mary Sue needs to forever be replaced with Regina Mills because they somehow made her such a Mary Sue that other fanfic writers will watch the show and say, "Even I wouldn't have gone that far."

NO. THEY HAD 150 EPISODES TO ADDRESS THIS SINCE GRAHAM'S DEATH. 150 X 40 MINUTES PER EPISODE = 6,000 MINUTES = 100 HOURS. THEY LITERALLY, NO JOKE, HAD 100 HOURS OF TELEVISION TO ADDRESS THIS, AND SOMEHOW THEY COULDN'T BE BOTHERED TO EVER ADDRESS IT. Ahem, sorry for the capslock. But this is one issue that will forever bother me. Emma congratulated Regina on becoming the Good Queen, probably even voted for her to become the new dictato...er, I mean, totally oxymoronical democratically elected Queen...but never found out Regina killed her friend years ago. Talk about twisted. I guess it's fitting if we're supposed to view Regina's happy ending like a Grimm Tale. Actually, the entire series makes a lot more sense if you analyze it through the lens that we're supposed to view this as a dark and messed up fairy tale where the heroes bow down to the villain who burns villages for fun. Somewhere out there is a scene where Regina goes into her vault of hearts (that, ya know, every Good Queen conveniently has) to rip off small chunks of each heart for the spell. Because she loved those hearts and those hearts loved her. Don't bother putting in too much effort trying to work it out because A&E most likely stuck their middle fingers to their laptops while they were writing the final script and said, "Watch them try to figure out that timeline!"

I would have loved to see that. What could have been...

A&E obviously know the fans are upset about this as well because The Apprentice told Henry his story needed more romance. So they hear our criticisms yet completely ignore it. It's such a shame because it's extremely rare to find actors with great chemistry who also portray iconic characters. This show had numerous couples with amazing chemistry, but A&E were bound and determined to ignore the chemistry and focus more on convoluted monologues and explanations of magic rules. I think the reason A&E were afraid to really go there with Captain Swan was because they so badly wanted Emma to be this feminist icon who doesn't need a man to define her that they purposely didn't give her romantic relationship as much importance as it deserved. But in general, I just think A&E are really bad at writing romantic relationships, so to them, they probably thought they gave Emma and Hook too many romantic scenes.

One of the biggest writing blunders (of the many) this show suffered was never knowing whether Emma or Regina should be THE lead. At the beginning of the show, it seemed obvious it was Emma, then Emma and Regina flip-flopped in importance for a few seasons depending on the plot, and then the final few seasons A&E said screw it and made Regina THE lead. If they had just stuck to one character the entire time, the entire series would have been much better and the fans wouldn't have felt ripped off. If this were truly Emma's fairytale, the show should have ended at Season 3 or gone in a completely different direction during Season 4. If this were truly Regina's fairytale, they needed to make it obvious in Seasons 1–3 instead of stealthily having her take over the show. Honestly, I kind of wish Emma wasn't even in this episode. I would have been totally content if her final appearance was Whook's intro episode and the reveal that she's pregnant. Instead, our final moment with Emma Swan is her applauding Regina and giving her a pep talk.

A comment in another thread just made me realize... Did Emma get to say one word to her parents this episode?? "Sorry I'm late" doesn't count.

I'm probably way over thinking this, but how can it be a legitimate election if the person elected didn't even know they were on the ballot? In order to keep Regina in the dark, that means everyone in the new Storybrooke Universe had to keep the election process a secret. (There's absolutely no way Regina wouldn't have thrown her name into the hat if she knew an election was going on.) If everyone in town was keeping the election a secret, how is that fair to the other candidates? The other candidates wouldn't have been able to run a proper campaign because they wouldn't have been allowed to use all the communication outlets available to them—they would have had to run a secret underground grassroots campaign. And if the election was being kept under wraps, how did everyone else in the new Storybrooke Universe know when/how to vote? Were Regina's friends and family the only people in Storybrooke who even knew this election was going on? This sounds a lot like fairy tale voter suppression. And let's not even pretend like Storybrooke has laws and rules they follow. If there isn't some kind of constitution they abide by, why bother having an election? Does Regina have to pick cabinet members now? Vice Ultimate Ruler? Secretary of Magic? Ambassador to Neverland? This could have actually been an interesting plot for Season 8, but we'd have to get new showrunners because A&E have proven they know next to nothing about the law or government. Or basic worldbuilding. In most epic tales, the character who ends up being the best leader is the reluctant hero who doesn't want the position at the beginning. But for A&E's grand vision, they decided the best ruler was...the character who's basically been ruler for all seven seasons of the show already, and who also spent years abusing their position of power for their own selfish ambitions. Just with a name change. (But we all know that A&E would have kept calling her the Evil Queen in Season 8 the same way it didn't matter when Mary Margaret declared she was Snow...for real, she means it this time.)

Blame the Fairy Electoral College. I love how it's canon that Emma didn't give a crap about showing up late to Regina's event. (I'm guessing Emma figured she and Hook could make a quick batch of pancakes when Hope finally fell asleep.)

I'd like to see the Once Upon a Time in Offscreenville scene where everyone who ran against Regina are sitting at the bar watching the live coronation on the television, complaining about how they never stood a chance against a rigged election.

This is why the Season 3 finale will be my effective series finale for the show. It was Emma's fairy tale driving the finale's plot, and every main cast member seemed to be at their happiest: Snow and Charming were celebrating having a new baby, Emma and Hook found love, Belle and Rumple got married, and Regina and Robin were together and happy with Roland... OMG. Roland. Where was he all season?!

I'd say it represented the show starting at 4x01. There was a palpable tonal shift starting with that episode where it gave you this gut feeling that the entire show was actually all about Regina. Seasons 1, 2, and 3 at least still gave the audience a false illusion that the other characters might also be just as important.