Souris

I'm sure part of it is because poor JMo gets jumped all over by SQ and SF fans whenever she says anything remotely positive about CS. It's UGLY. I mean, she ended up feeling like she had apologize and clarify in a lengthy Facebook message after she recently said that it would've been hard for Neal to be Emma's happy ending because he'd betrayed her so much. Factual and fairly benign, right? Well, you would've thought she said she liked skinning and eating puppies for the way some Neal fans reacted. Actually, I am pretty sure they would've been less reactionary to the puppies thing. Whereas Lana never seems to get online guff about anything she says, even if maybe it's a little dodgy, so she can give her opinion freely. Sean seems to benefit in that from being her on-screen romantic partner. Colin seems determined not to say anything too concrete except on benign matters, which, given the fandom, is probably the wisest course of action. It's a huge shame, because I feel like JMo is one of the most thoughtful of the actors about her role and the things she tries to imbue into it, but she gets so much blow-back for no reason.

R is for Robert Carlyle!

L is for our Grumpy, Lee Arenberg.

I have no problem with fans expressing their opinions. It's what we're all doing here. But this group is taking it way too far and in a manner that is actually undermining of any point they're trying to make. It's proving that "fan" is short for "fanatic." Their stridency is actually SCARY. Their issues have been brought up again and again and again and again. IMO, some of them have turned into bullies over this issue, which is rather sadly ironic. Is brow-beating actors really the way to accomplish anything? The actors may be the public face of the show, but that doesn't mean they should be subjected to this. This is a television show. It's meant to be entertaining. Freedom of expression and all that, but if people are so upset that they're canvassing real-life rape and abuse victims to hijack an entertainment event, then perhaps it would be healthier for them to step away from the show that upsets them so much. Put that effort and energy into doing some actual good and helping real victims, not into trying to force change on a TV show over an issue that actually isn't an issue in the way they've framed it. Any rape culture arguments about the show should be pointed toward actual rapist Regina and wife-murdering Rumple. And yet they aren't. The Swan Queen stuff, I have less of an issue with, despite their fans' continued references to it at cons. It's a ship that the writers have said isn't going to happen, but I don't see any real harm in it, even though the actors seem rather tired of talking about it. It's the co-opting of a serious real-life issue like rape and rape culture and feminism -- which I actually feel VERY strongly about -- into something that at its core seems more like ship bitterness than anything else. That isn't targeting the true problem of rape and rape culture. It's trivializing it, and that's one of the worst things that can be done when it comes to a serious issue.

That is an awful lot of new characters -- Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Will, Marian, now whoever Elizabeth Mitchell is playing. Will the regulars be able to get a line in edgewise? I'm actually very concerned about them being pushed to the side for their new toys. (Except Regina, of course. They'll never push her to the side.) It was bad enough with the Zelena-centric arc of last season, but she was only ONE new character. Next half-season there will be SIX newbies.

Oh, god. ::headdesk:: I hate stunt casting so much. Maybe she'll be Hans' sister. Or a character more like the fairy tale Snow Queen.

You know that, and I know that, but unfortunately, there are always some fans who can only see what they want and don't take anyone else's feelings into account. I figure it'll be the luck of the draw who gets picked to ask questions, but there are always some uncomfortable ones. Apparently there's a group planning to show up with a petition with names of rape survivors to protest Once's "rape culture" and threaten to boycott the advertisers if the show doesn't put a stop to Hook/Emma. That is so deeply disturbing it takes my breath away. And there are some -- I'm not sure if it's the same group or a different group, because I'm not going that far down the rabbit hole to find out -- who are planning to make the actors sign their Swan Queen pictures and only ask them about their thoughts on that particular matter. Because, you know, they haven't done that before, and I think they're still not going to get the response they want. You can see at past cons how uncomfortable those questions make the actors as they verbally tiptoe around, trying not to offend anyone. Sometimes I despair.

As much as I want to see the cast being fun at Comic Con, I'm actually to the point where I wish they weren't going because of the crazy element of the fanbase who seem determined to repeatedly put the cast on the spot with their crack, fringe ships and fanons. I have never seen such an over-the-top fandom as Once -- with its strident, almost militant factions -- and I've been a part of some doozies. It's disturbing to me, and I know it must be for the cast.

C is for Colin O'Donoghue!

Kudos, kili. Kudos. Y is for You, who Charming will always find.

W is for Whale, her one-night stand!

N is for Nolan, David's last name in Storybrooke.

I updated Scenes From Season 4.

I wholly disagree with this. We saw him come to the realization in S2 that he wasn't happy after he thought he got his revenge against Rumple. He realized it didn't make him happy, it didn't magically make everything better. He even verbalized this to Regina and that maybe nobody liked them because they were just being villainous. And he started taking steps to act in a better manner. To me, it stemmed WAY more from realizations within himself than from any mercenary plan that would get Emma in his bed. Even though he fancied her, Emma was more a conduit to giving him an opportunity to be a part of something and, to quote As Good As It Gets, "You make me want to be a better man." To find somebody that will help inspire you to be a better person isn't a negative to me. He absolutely didn't save David's life because he expected something from Emma in return -- as far as he was concerned, Emma was never going to know about it. He tried to stop David from telling everyone about it, until he realized that David was making up a story, and he was still then uncomfortable with the praise. Now, he did indeed save David's life FOR Emma, because he cared about her and didn't want her to lose her father, but it wasn't out of any expectation that he would get something from her in return. There was no quid pro quo, Clarice. He certainly didn't expect her to ACTUALLY kiss him, even though he flirted for for it. He expected her to roll her eyes and walk away as usual. Likewise, he could have used trading away the Jolly Roger any number of times during 3B to make her feel beholden to him if that was all he was interested in, but he didn't until she seriously asked him about it. I don't think he would have ever said anything about it if she hadn't directly asked. If all he wanted was something from her, he could have used that ace up his sleeve a dozen times when she was New York-ing all up in his grill. But he didn't, until she'd already decided to stop running and stay in Storybrooke.

Taking my reply to the Hook thread.

I haven't seen any concrete spoiler about a Hook/Elsa connection. Just a lot of ship speculation. But do tell if there is actually one! As fast as they've moved with Regina and Robin, not only will they get the TLK, but they'll be married with five kids and an SUV by the end of 4B. Hook and Emma seem to be the only relationship they're taking at a standard TV pace. But I want any TLK this season to be theirs, dammit.

Q is for the Queen's bedroom, where Regina sent de-hearted Graham. Grrr.

I just read that apparently Lana got married today. Not much time for a honeymoon, then!

J is for Jungle, where they kept traipsing through on Neverland.

C is for castles, of which there seem to be a lot.

U is for Ursula.

R is for Ruby/Red.

L is for Liam Jones!

Ah, yes!

J is for James, David's erstwhile twin. (I should have waited for K.)