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Yeah, I got that sense too. I like this scene with Blue. She talks slowly but it feels very deliberate. Her expressions and tone also tell you exact what she thinks of Regina, but her brief glance at Henry shows warmth. You can totally imagine her taking the book after the scene and doing some investigations of her own.

I like that idea. The Queens of Darkness were hanging around town doing such lame things that maybe this would have been a better use of Cruella's time. When did Cruella leave the 30s world? Given her power over animals, they could have had her affect the werewolves, and have that play a role in Granny's history.

I think they had a big problem with Blue because she could technically be very powerful and could solve everyone's problems, and they didn't want that. But at the same time, A&E never bothered to come up with a coherent reason why. As you said, Blue didn't necessarily need to be evil, but she could have known more than she let on and she could have chosen to let things happen because of her strict adherence to a code. They sort of went that route, but very sloppily and inconsistently. The actress also did a good job with acting cagey, with an all-knowing holier-than-thou type attitude, so that added to the intrigue of the character. I loved it when she was clearly judgey about Regina and Rumple.

I rewatched the animated before the live action as well, and I agree that her motivations were believable. It's interesting that both "Once" and the live action made her "hate" Dalmatians because the dogs were owned by the woman that each Cruella hated most. Then again, the live-action version didn't even try to make Cruella into someone who would ever wear a coat made out of real dog fur. I'm still disappointed we never got Anita and Roger on "Once". I was sure they would be portrayed as dastardly villains who was really mean to Cruella. Alternatively, they could have said Cruella was actually Wish Cinderella turned bad, because Lady Tremaine owned Dalmatians and she was out for revenge. Sounds familiar, eh?

After Season 1, they lost interest in the supporting characters of the town, which was a big disappointment to me as well. In "Lost", they still gave centrics to the second and third tier characters well into the series. Call me strange but I always enjoyed them. Another flashback for Blue or Granny would have been better than dipping into the same time periods over and over again ad nauseum. There was so much wasted setup with all the ignored, forgotten payoff, like the reunion with Thomas's dad, as you mentioned.

I don't remember Regina even making a broad, generic apology. Though the Split Evil Queen did say she was sorry. I remember Regina acknowledging that she was a bad stepmother (understatement of the year). I think it was part of this scene? Sorry, gotta grab tissues, I'm weeping.

I was thinking about how they could humanize or explain why a woman would try to kill her stepdaughter for being prettier than her, which A&E never tried to do. Clearly, the Evil Queen's obsession with her looks meant that she was actually insecure. Maybe she was taught that beauty was the only thing she has of value. That could make the aging process difficult for her to deal with. I guess they could combine that with jealousy that her husband paid so much attention to her daughter, or she believed Snow's presence was a constant reminder of her mother. If the Evil Queen hated Snow's mother, that would add to the motivation (like Cora vs that mean, mean Eva).

I wonder what Disney's approach will be for the live-action "Snow White". Today, they announced Gal Gadot has been cast to play The Evil Queen. The article said it will be a musical, so the composers of "La La Land" has been hired to write new songs for the movie. Would that suggest they might stick closer to the animated story than some adaptations which have gone without the songs, like Cinderella. They're also not calling the movie "The Evil Queen", so that suggests they are not going the "Maleficent" route. I wonder if the Evil Queen will have a sob story.

That's a good point about rewatches and shows that improve upon rewatch. It's rewatching those moments where the first time around, it was still unclear or ambiguous what was happening or why someone was doing something, but on rewatch, you now know the whole story, so you can see the true significance or meaning of a characters' actions/reactions. Having watched the whole series, it's interesting to think of the different strategies Regina could have used. She could have concocted a memory potion to give to Emma and Henry. She could've controlled Graham's heart and have him tell Emma what a wonderful mother she was. We didn't know she could actually have left Storybrooke. If she had swallowed her pride, she could actually have made nice and promise to take Henry for visits once in a while. Surely, she made a connection between Emma and the clock starting back up, even if the pages from the storybook were ripped out.

Season 7 was confirmed in March 2021. Beware spoilers in these links. Then, in June, this article said Season 7 will be extended, with 16 episodes instead of the usual, previously announced 12. I'm glad too!

After re-watching the pilot, I wondered if this could have been the first hour of a movie. Or maybe a 10 hour mini-series could have worked, though even that would probably mean there's no time for Regina and Rumple's sob backstories. Though that might take away from the nuance of the story a bit. If focused solely on the Charmings, I was thinking about including some of the key events from several major episodes and embed them into the 10 episodes. Ep 3 Snow Falls Flashback: Snowing meeting Present-day: Emma clashing with Regina in Storybrooke from Ep 2 and eventually moving in with MM Ep 7 The Heart is a Lonely Hunter Flashback: Snow/Regina in the past with Huntsman, could include some of the other Regina/Leopold stuff Present-day: Emma dealing with/investigating Regina and Gold, finding more and more that doesn't make sense about this "town" and Regina trying to keep Mary Margaret and David apart Maybe Graham actually tells Emma he's the Huntsman and Henry is correct before he dies, and that will be the trigger for Emma to investigate how he died, which would lead to her eventual belief. And/or Emma finds the vault of hearts. Ep 21 An Apple Red as Blood / Ep 22 A Land Without Magic Flashback: This one would need a total reworking to give Snowing a simpler obstacle and how he came to find her in the glass coffin Present-day: Apple turnover for Henry would still work well, and Emma finally believes There would need to be several episodes between those three, for more gradual progression. I was thinking maybe we could have had "The Shepherd", but David actually DOES get his memories back as Prince Charming when he touches the mobile, or at least doesn't get fake memories downloaded. They could still have an episode flashback where Snow meets Ruby and the Dwarves. But then a problem that would still exist is once the Curse ends, everyone's memories return, though that would work as a happy ending. Or the last hour could be everyone with their memories back working together to defeat Regina and Rumple.

The actresses playing Julie and Felicity did a good job in "Drawing the Line (Part 2)" showing the difficulties of the aftermath for both the person impacted and a friend trying to help. I understand why Noah told the other R.A., but it was still bad form. I really liked pink shirt guy before this, so it was disappointed to find out that he could do this. I guess that is realistic because some guys never learned the importance of consent and no means no. At least he owned up to it in the end and apologized to Julie. Who knew Ben would be the one to get through to Julie, though he somehow figured out the exact personal story to tell to make Julie realize it wasn't her fault.

It was layers upon layers of unfathomable behavior. Forgiving Bonnet was bad enough. Okay fine, let's say we buy it helps with her healing. As you said, she doesn't even know if the baby is Bonnet's so why on earth would she take another step and tell him about that possibility?

I think this has affected a bit how I see this season, since some of the American scenery is so fake. Filming in Scotland showing Scotland, I felt more immersed in the "world". Yeah, agreed. This was the first time I've looked into the behind-the scenes of this particular show, and I'm not convinced it sheds light on much. I prefer to judge based on the story itself, which has gotten "wash, rinse, repeat", as you said. Unfortunately, that is the case with so many shows by the fourth season.

That's a good point. It makes sense that after the pilot was picked up, then they started to think about the day-to-day locations. It was a smart idea to have a diner attached to the inn and have Granny and Ruby at both, though I wish we saw the inn side again to reinforce the continuity. I'm not big on the nun idea, but I think it could have had some potential. For example, if Mary Margaret originally lived at the nunnery with the fairies, that could have explained how she happened upon the storybook. More of the nuns and Mother Superior could have provided more detailed and intricate worldbuilding (though with A&E, we never would would have gotten it, sadly). If Mary Margaret had been a nun, maybe Kathryn would have been unnecessary. Simply falling in love with a man and having a forbidden romance could have been drama enough. I really hated that they had David going back to Kathryn later on, and having MM and David sleeping with other people was ick. Speaking of which, the whole storybook was poorly handled in the pilot, I think. I didn't like how Regina got a hold of it. Surely, she would have tried to destroy it. And then looking ahead, none of the storybook/author stuff made any sense, so it was a glaring example of bad payoff when rewatching the pilot. This reminded me how important Emma's "superpower" was in the pilot - that was THE reason why she decided to stay in town. This was another aspect that was very poorly handled thereafter. We never found out if it was real or not, since there were so many times when the "superpower" completely failed. We tried to handwave it as it doesn't work when Emma is emotionally affected, but heck, she was emotionally affected in the pilot. There is no question that Henry hated Regina in the pilot and this even continued for almost all of Season 1. Looking back, I agree that their later closeness was completely unearned. Emma's openness to Regina in the pilot also showed she wasn't all WALLS™. She was so open that it was her birthday and she even revealed her wish. That was vulnerability and wearing her heart on her sleeve, to some stranger. That was a major reason I liked Emma right from the pilot. She was strong but she was also soft.

Episode 6 "Cheating" was hard to watch. I cannot believe Felicity was idiotic enough to rewrite Ben's paper and submit it. I don't blame Ben for being furious with her. I started watching from the first episode of Season 2, and it surprised me that she would do something like that. Still, they were lucky that professor didn't report them to the university. It was good of Noel to go over to talk to Ben on Felicity's behest. And it seemed like Felicity's bad judgement would continue in "Drawing the Line (Part 1)" when she agreed to check Elena's student records. It turned out being an interesting subplot, though. I liked seeing more of Elena, and she had a good scene with Noel when he explained how he had to apply for funding. I was sad to find out that the pink shirt guy forced himself onto Julie. I had liked him in the last few episodes, but this was a good way to show the issues of consent in college.

I haven't followed the behind-the-scenes of the show at all, so I've never heard of Ron Moore, but I looked him up, and it sounds like he was still the showrunner in Season 3-4. Maybe Matt Roberts took over officially for Season 5? Anyway, it looks like by both Season 3 and Season 4, he was becoming less directly involved: And this year, he's leaving Sony Pictures for 20th Television, and it looks like (from an article earlier this year about Season 6) he will still be somewhat involved. This is what Ron Moore said this year when asked: I don't think season 4 has been worse than previous seasons per se... it has just been different. Every season so far has been quite different as it has moved gradually away from the premise in Scotland. Some of the problems I think have been constants, like the over-reliance on gore, violence, rape, contrivances and frustrating separations. Maybe these recurring issue become more and more of a problem as a series wears on, because they feel more and more repetitious and tired. The problem could be show-based or book-based or both. Still, I don't think the show has jumped the shark quite yet. It may be frustrating to watch, but I'm still on the edge of my seat waiting for the next episode.

This pilot is still really good, despite multiple previous rewatches. I think I could have waited maybe a year or two longer, for more of the "watching for the first time" feeling, but the emotional parts were still effective. The pacing was good too, and it felt like every scene and line counted. The transitions from present-day to flashbacks were fun. The whole episode was well crafted, and when I think back to all the pilots I've seen since this one, it is very rare indeed. Though at the same time, I almost *don't* want to watch more.

They were probably in the blind witch's house, LOL. Don't forget to get angry when no one likes it. Speaking of trivia, the actor who played Owen said there was a line in "Welcome to Storybrooke" where Owen suggests that Regina add red pepper flakes to her lasagna, but the line was cut. There are so many layers to this show. Need we say again that A&E are brilliant?

It is finally the day when the stars in the sky align with the stars on the Hat! Has everyone baked their very special apple turnovers?

I agree it still holds up. Though not sure if it would be dated for younger people who didn't grow up with tapes and are used to cell phones. Episode 5 was the Halloween episode, and it was nice to hear Felicity realize that maybe she should get over Ben. He flaked out on her multiple times and wasn't apologetic about it at all. But his puppy dog apologies can't be beat, I guess. It was nice to see her "friends" so concerned at the beginning after they heard she was mugged (though I'm not sure how they knew so fast that Felicity was involved). Noah can really rock a Subway uniform. I didn't realize this was how Javier was introduced. I didn't realize Noah and Elena were also going to Sean's party, and did Ben and the pink shirt guy know each other?

Episode 4: "Boggled" - They really didn't make it easy to like some of the characters. Noel having a girlfriend already was disappointing. I suppose it makes a difference that he didn't plan it and he and Hannah had discussed seeing other people, but still, he was flirting with Felicity big time in the last few episodes so he would have been leading her on if she wasn't so obsessed with Ben. Speaking of which, she gave creepy vibes again going out of her way to watch the track tryouts. Ben didn't tell her about losing the race... I wonder if Felicity will take the hint that he doesn't feel close enough to share that with her. I didn't realize Elena started off so abrasive. I sort of liked Julie with the pink shirt guy. It was nice to see a bit more of Meghan. Worst roommate ever, but she was funny. I hope they restore the picture quality of the show at some point. It is so pixelated.

I was watching this episode of "The Charmings" sitcom that aired in the 1980s. I wish more episodes were available to watch. There was a lot of humor to be mined in the concept of fairy tale characters existing in modern life. Why do the Charmings always have to keep The Evil Queen around. Sheesh, kick her out.

I started watching in Season 2 way back when the show originally aired until its eventual demise, and since it's available on my streaming service, I decided to watch the show from the beginning with Season 1. I've always thought Felicity was foolish to choose a university because of a boy, and even in Season 2, I liked Noel more. But it feels more extreme when watching from the beginning. I just finished the third episode, and Felicity staring at Ben while he was sleeping at the end was a little creepy. Ben was clearly into Julie, and at this point, she should have realized the reality and gotten over her fantasy. It was hard to like most of the characters at this early stage. I can see Julie was trying to be a good friend, but she should have been upfront with Felicity. Ben himself should have been more clear to Felicity he was still interested in Julie. Noel was a little too obviously falling for Felicity. I liked Elena, so it was interesting to see her introduction in this third episode, which was cringey to watch, with the tape being broadcast at the party, and Felicity's interactions with that professor. I can sort of see why Felicity was so entranced by Ben, though. He does make you want to like him. I was re-watching the old Nancy Drew series where he played Ned Nickerson, and the actor has this quiet suave quality to him which is very appealing. In the first episode, Felicity's dad was really overbearing. It was interesting to see him sort of accept Felicity staying in NYC at the end. In the second episode, I felt badly for her mom when Felicity was referring to the Tuesday meals with her mom and how the burger she ate by herself was the best burger ever. At the same time, though, I do understand what Felicity was saying about freedom and how it felt to have some independence and control over your life for the first time. Still, I've liked watching the episodes, partly due to nostalgia, and partly because there were some nice moments in this representation of the transition from high school to college. I wish I could watch this season with the original songs, though. There was a lot of potential for growth for Felicity and the other characters, and I look forward to seeing the rest of this season.

I was catching up with a few recent period dramas (Bridgerton and Belgravia) and was actually pleasantly surprised to be watching something historical where I didn't have to worry about people getting tortured or threatened with death every other episode. Yes, I can't believe that Marsali has actually become a favorite, considering how annoyed I was by her at the beginning. I wish she and Fergus got more to do.