Souris

I wonder if they'd do a trio of JMo, Lana and Jared and have just Josh and Colin together?

Aiyeee! It's happening! It's happening! :runs around flailing: I guess he'll be in a lot of winter coats with long sleeves to deal with the hook. Geez, if that coat did weigh that much, Colin is gonna feel a heck of a lot freer. Literal weight off his back.

They could do a trio of JMo, Colin and Josh, with Josh playing the "dad" to his daughter and her sort-of boyfriend. And Colin and Josh could have a nerd-off. That would be a hoot. Emilie and Robert together, of course.

God, yes. As soon as I saw his name, I got even more concerned about the fan issues. I love that Yvette Nicole Brown is modding.

C is for "Charming suits you."

LOL, that's how I ended up on Z. I forgot Y! Duh.

How do I keep ending up on Z? Z is for Zelena's meat pies! Urgh, what next? Memorable quotes! And I'm going to be tacky and start it: "As you wish."

I'm going to go back to something someone (stealinghome?) said awhile back about liking the friendships on the show and wanting to see that more. I think the show was great about that in S1. We had the start of the friendship with Emma and Mary Margaret, which I really enjoyed. They may know they're mother/daughter now, which of course would alter the dynamic, but I'd like to see the friendship part of the relationship return. Moms and daughters can be friends, too! Then the friendship among Red, Snow and Charming was awesome. I actually jokingly called them my OTThree. (Honestly, if one wanted to ship a trio, they were a great opportunity!) Red was a really important character, and I hate that she was so marginalized that Megan Ory moved on. I unfortunately can't see them bringing Red back to that level even now that Megan is available again, because 4A seems like it's going to have a cast of thousands. But I hope they at least acknowledge the important role she plays in their lives. I desperately hope that Hook and David's bromance actually becomes canon, not just fanon. I mean, they had some moments in S3, but fandom kind of took it and ran with it a bit farther than was there. They haven't shown a true male friendship on the show, so that's a perfect opportunity. I'm also not sure that Snow really hates Hook as much as fandom has decided she does. Obviously, she wasn't a fan up through the Neverland arc. But by the time of "The Jolly Roger," she was assuring Ariel that Hook would help her. And now she has the memory of him being helpful Prince Charles back in the day, too. I think David likes him more, of course, but I'm curious to see where the show takes the Snow/Hook relationship in S4, whether they go with the fanon interpretation or whether she's supportive of him because he makes Emma happy. I do side-eye the insta-BFFs that the show cultivates sometimes. Like Snow and Ariel being suddenly so close.

Robbie's been flying around Europe on vacation. He never said it was Vancouver, fans just jumped to a wild conclusion.

Neither was it ever Hook's intent to rape Emma or anyone else that we've been shown. A sex joke (which the sword line was IMO) isn't a rape joke. So if we're judging characters on the rape argument by intent, not just effect, then that counts for yet another reason why Hook isn't Rapey McRaperson. I will grant you the "getting people drunk is usually my tactic" line. That was a bad line that shouldn't have been filmed. As far as Hook knocking out Past!Hook, it was a combination of jealousy and this Hook not liking that past version of himself. From The Hollywood Reporter:

J is for the Jewel of the Realm, which became the Jolly Roger.

And this, in a nutshell, is exactly why so many fans have a problem with the rape culture argument and figure it's put forth mainly by bitter shippers, and why the proponents of it may feel like they're not taken seriously by the fandom at large -- because it's divorced so completely from context and focused on the wrong things. It's this argument, not Hook, that strips Emma of her power and agency. If Emma didn't WANT to kiss Hook, there was no way she was kissing Hook. Saying otherwise completely ignores Emma's feelings in the matter -- and isn't THAT a part of rape culture? It's funny -- and by funny, I mean not at all funny, more like suspicious -- that proponents of the rape culture argument point only to incidents involving Hook. Not the long list of actual, other problematic behaviors and characters on the show, starting with Rapist in Chief Regina. Or wife-murdering, Belle-deceiving Rumple. Or Neal, who actually took away 17-year-old Emma's agency along with August by setting her up to go to jail and not telling her the truth of who she is. If they used these things as their primary evidence, then they would actually have a leg or two to stand on. I would totally see their point then, because these things ARE problematic. But no, they focus on Hook, who flirts as a defense mechanism, accepts Emma's terms for their relationship and is constantly building her up and celebrating her power, far more than any other character.

Z is for Alex Zahara, King Midas. Next up: Props or items!

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.