Zuleikha

93% white, 76% male, average age over 60. I think that says a lot about what got overlooked this year.

Daniel Dae Kim has not been hurting for work. He went from a main role in Lost to a main role in Hawaii 5-0 with what looks to be a fair amount of voice acting on the side. But TV actors all seem to want to also do movies, and people seemed to think Divergent might be as big as Hunger Games.

Social Network also had some unquestionable inaccuracies, including the complete removal of Priscilla Chen from Zuckerberg's life since her existence would have complicated the story of brogrammers building a social platform to chase girls. Sorkin has apparently been quoted as saying, "I don't want my fidelity to be the truth; I want it to be storytelling" and "What is the big deal about accuracy purely for accuracy's sake, and can we not have the true be the enemy of the good?" Entertainment journalists wrote about the inaccuracies, but they didn't criticize the movie for it.

I think she did, though, because she planned to die and was able to stop it. I think one of Regina's strengths is that she doesn't dwell on sadness or guilt. Of course, that's also her main weakness since she often externalizes it as homicidal vengeance instead, but when channeled for good instead of evil, it makes her effective. Oh, another favorite moment was when Hook told Neal that he (Hook) was going to stop pursuing Emma for a bit to give Neal a shot for sake of Henry but then made no secret of the fact that he expected Neal to utterly fail with Emma. I love how Hook was able to combine respect for Neal's place as Henry's father with respect for Emma as someone who makes her own decisions with complete confidence in the strength of his connection with Emma. It's why Hook/Emma is so much better than Neal/Emma, even if I will always root for the what-might-have-been of Hook/Tink. :) (although a Tink/Neal pairing could be referred to as Fairy Fire, which is a pretty name and reminds me of foxfire). I was sad, though, that in the goodbyes, Snow/Charming didn't tell Emma that they would find her, they they will always find her. I'm generally sick of that particular Charming family line, but if ever there was an appropriate moment for it, it was then. It seemed like a strange omission in an otherwise perfectly written set of goodbyes. (and thanks for the birthday wishes!)

I'm not sure how to reconcile The Tree of Regret with all of the other canon Regina moments, but what I've come to is that Regina processes her guilt quickly and then moves on from it. I don't buy that Regina didn't regret falling for Snow's trick and killing Cora, for an example of something that she could go back in time and change without having to lose Henry. But I can buy that she processed it, externalized it into anger at Snow, dealt with it that way, and moved on from the actual emotion of regret quickly. Emma and Snow, by contrast, dwell with it. So I think I can buy that Regina didn't feel any regret in that moment with the tree because she doesn't let emotions like regret or sadness take root in her; she turns them into anger or moves past them. But I don't buy that Regina has never felt regret because I think we've seen it on screen. I don't think the way Lana played the Regina/Henry/Emma scene was indicative of someone ensuring safekeeping of a possession. The emotions were too raw and real. She could have written herself into Emma/Henry's memories so that at least the memory of her would be present in Henry's life (something like Emma gave Henry up for adoption, Regina raised him until he was 10 but then had a fatal illness and heroically tracked down Emma to reunite biological mother and son, Emma has been happily caretaking for Henry ever since). But she wanted them to be as genuinely happy as possible and to have the happiest memories she could give them, even at the cost of completely erasing herself from Henry's life. Regina hasn't always achieved loving Henry unselfishly because she hasn't always known how to do that; she's had zero models for how to do that; and she has a broken moral compass (remember, she also was willing to erase her OWN memories so that she could love Henry better). But I think she has always tried, and with Emma's arrival, Regina's finally learned how. I cannot lie. I loved that. I know in story it was weird, but I like to imagine that it's a sign all of the other characters have as little patience with Rumpbelle as I do, and also think Belle's a dingbat.

It's my birthday tomorrow, and I feel like this episode was a little present to me. It was so good, I actually legitimately cried at the end with Rumple/Pan and Regina/Henry/Emma. Neverland wasn't perfect, but it ended up being pretty darn good. I thought all the major character beats were earned and satisfying. Despite the obviously pregnant Mary Margaret, I loved the scene of Mary Margaret giving Henry the book. I've never understood how or why that would have happened, but I thought it was perfect. Other highlights for me were making it absolutely canon that Emma and Henry were both wrong in S1 when they thought Regina didn't love him, Regina and Rumple both making meaningful sacrifices, Emma/Henry at the end, and everything Robbie McKay (except his eyebrows when he was playing Henry... they work for Pan but not for Henry). Despite my rooting for Hook/Emma in Neverland, this episode almost switched me to Tink/Hook. Their chemistry was a little too good for the storyline! I guess now that she's a fairy again, though, it's off the table. The lows for me were the coconut/shadow destruction and the Rumple/Pan simultaneous killing because I didn't understand either. I missed the explanation for how the coconut candle traps the shadow or why the fire would have killed it, but also the shadow wasn't evil. We saw that. It was just the primordial spirit of Neverland, which also wasn't evil. I don't know why they couldn't kill Peter Pan and then let the shadow return to guard Neverland and keep Neverland as a place for unhappy children to escape to in their dreams. Rumple said over and over that he would have to die for Pan to die but it was never explained why. And I still don't understand why! But it was a great scene. Also... a minor low, but still a low for me... why on earth did the others let Rumple keep the black fairy wand after the swap? I know he's "dead" and all that now, but they didn't know he was going to die and we all know he's not staying dead. Don't leave Rumple with powerful magic like that!

How would a blind item source know whether a person's pregnancy was with her husband or a side piece? Unless the Teen Mom is no longer sleeping with her husband that seems like the type of thing the mom couldn't even know.

Snow sent Emma through a magical wardrobe in order to literally save Emma from a very real, dangerous curse, which Emma knows. I believe better of Emma than to think she holds Snow/Charming's decision against them, especially after her trip to the Enchanted Forest and seeing her childhood nursery. I do understand that Emma can't turn her trauma off like a light switch, but she's not the only person who's been traumatized. Snow's mother died when Snow was a pre-teen, and her father was murdered by her stepmother when Snow was barely an adult. She was then hunted, forced to live on the run, cursed, and... at the moment when it seemed like she may finally have a moment's peace, cursed again. Her homeland has been destroyed, and Snow's attempt at a way back to rebuild it was thwarted. I think that just like Emma's so walled because of her history, Snow is so pushy because of hers. Ha, much as I love Regina, I wasn't intending to say that Snow is the reason the relationship failed in general. What I meant to be referencing were the moments on the show when we saw Snow want to reach Regina and botch it because of dictating to Regina how Regina should feel instead of giving Regina the emotional space to admit to her regrets and desire to change.

I feel like part of this is on Emma, too, though. With Mary Margaret, Emma was warm and friendly. With Snow, she's cold and shut down. I think the difference was that Mary Margaret was often seeking life advice from Emma, so Emma felt protective. I don't think either of them has done a good job adjusting to the role reversal. Emma didn't have a relationship with David Nolan, so she and Charming can build something fresh. It doesn't help that Snow is really bad at giving people emotional space. That's a consistent character trait. She's botched things with Regina that way, too. It's sad, but maybe Mary Margaret and Emma were just a better personality match for friendship than Emma and Snow are. ETA: Yeah, I'm perplexed by the set up, too. Because I knew about Ginnifer's pregnancy from you all, when Snow first started her speech, I expected it to end with a pregnancy revelation. I don't know why the show didn't do it like that because that would have made Charming's confession more heartbreaking.

From the Ariel thread but more relevant to Dark Hollow: All of the episodes are blurring together for me, but didn't Snow/Charming and Emma/Hook/Neal split off from each other pretty quickly? I remember it as Snow and Charming having most of their post-Caves conversation on the walk to Tink's house with there not being much time for Snow and Emma to talk. But I also feel that this is something that should go both ways. Snow's been trying to make overtures to Emma and Emma hasn't been very receptive. I get that technically Snow's the mother and Emma's the child, but they're functionally the same age. If Emma wants a parent/child relationship with Snow or Charming, she needs to be more inviting. (However, I think it makes sense for all involved to give up on that and focus instead on forging their strong, unique relationship)

Did I blink and miss the Medusa flashback or is this from a future episode? Responding in "Dark Hollow"

I feel very mixed about this. Part of me does thing that it's silly for a Western adaptation to feel forced to keep the original setting. When La Femme Nikita became Point of No Return, no one was surprised it was relocated from France to the US. This is presumably going to be an English language film, so it would be weird to be set in Japan but have everyone speaking English for no good reason. (Note: I assume Memoirs of a Geisha was kept English language rather than subtitled, but I haven't seen it so I don't know how well that worked... maybe it wouldn't be as odd as it feels like it would be). On the other hand, I don't like the idea of such an iconic Japanese story being turned American. Also, American and Western doesn't have to mean Caucasian... why not cast a Japanese American actress as Kusanagi? But it's not like I was excited for a live-action version anyway. And yet people will still say Idris Elba can't play Bond. At least Bond's a fictional character!

I don't see how Snow's confession in the Echo Caves was more hurtful or worse than Emma's declaration of orphanhood to make Pan's map work. Both said a truth under magical duress that the other probably secretly knew already, and neither would ever have said it so directly otherwise. If anything, I think Snow's declaration was less hurtful than Emma's because Emma pretty much invalidated her relationship with Snow whereas Snow just wanted an experience of motherhood that she had been cheated from. This actually makes some sense to me. Regina sends others because she does want Snow dead but knows (at least subconsciously) that she won't be able to do it herself... If I remember right that was part of the logic of sending someone else after Cora, too. But I don't think it holds up over confrontation after confrontation. At some point, Regina would be desensitized, and there just wasn't anything in the writing to convince me that Regina really would have hesitated over helpless mermaid Snow instead of disintegrating her or breaking her neck. At least, the writers could have had Regina taking out Snow's heart when Ariel shanked her since I could buy that Regina would prefer to capture Snow's heart to a quick kill! I think how this episode could have worked better with the same main characters would have been to put Snow in the Eric role in the tale. Just skip the romance entirely and make Ariel's motivation to get to land/escape her father. Regina-as-Ursula could then give Ariel a legs-for-Snow type of deal and Ariel could be trying to trick Snow from the beginning. Instead of a ball, have Snow/Ariel talk in a cove or something like that and talk about their fathers and dreams... maybe work in something about attitudes towards kids to connect Snow's fairyback to her Neverland present arc. Then Ariel could betray Snow, have regrets, unbetray her before delivering her to Regina-as-Ursula. Regina could still take Ariel's voice, but never come face-to-face with Snow directly. Regina could get Ariel's help at the end with the same promise of legs on demand. (and I don't really mind noticing Ginnifer's pregnancy. I just think it's funny because it's jumping out at me, and I am normally the worst at spotting stuff like that. I've failed to notice people's 3rd trimester pregnancies in real life!)

I must have been projecting because I honestly thought Emma was able to light the candle due to her pissed-offness at how the two of them had been behaving. I think that's the core of my issues with his portrayal in general. Baelfire is one of the least "real world" characters. His formative years were altered and marked by magic, and on top of that, he's centuries old. There's just none of that there in Neal. The only times I buy him as Bael is when he does his quiet burns of Rumple speeches because I think he plays it in a believable and nice way that he was so hurt by Rumple he just can't even care any more. But it's possible I'm biased by being so grateful for SOMEONE actually calling Rumple out.

On the plus side: better writing for Ariel. Nice use of and reveal of the Darlings. Progression of the Henry/Pan plot. On the down side: Make the Rumpbell stop. Please! I can't take it. I'm fine with pretending 2B never happened as the writers so badly want me to except that Lacey/Rumple was one of the few things I actually liked! They made sense, and I thought I finally got the underlying Rumple/Belle relationship. Except apparently not? Neither Rumple nor Belle care about the reveal that Rumple has zero interest in trying to be a better, changed person? Belle doesn't care at all about Rumple's glee in going around town tormenting people with Lacey? And Belle is supposed to be neither traumatized nor an idiot? I'm supposed to still see them as truly in love? I know it sounds juvenile to say that expressions of love makes one sick, but I did literally feel ill during all that "our love will lead you" crap with Rumple's sand dollar message. But to end back on the positive, I am all aboard the Captain Swan ship. It felt to me like even Neal was just surrendering to the obvious. I HATED Hook/Emma back in S2, but this revised version based on respect and reciprocity? Sign me up! I was also glad to see Snow calling Charming on his crap (and in awe of Ginnifer's ability to glare even with her back! I need to learn how to do that)

The Little Mermaid is one of my favorite Disney movies, so I was very disappointed in this episode. I can appreciate a good salad trident shanking, but they otherwise completely botched Ariel! She's NOT motivated by love for Prince Eric! She's motivated by her curiosity/fascination with the human world. Rescuing Eric prompted the chain of events that led her to Ursula, but she wanted legs before she rescued him. She even sings it explicitly in "Part of Your World" ("bet they don't reprimand their daughters/bright young women/sick of swimmin'/ready to stand") She wasn't horrible (albeit cast way too old!), but it was disappointing to have the complexity of her story reduced to love at first sight. Regina as Ursula was fine and fun, but I wish the writers had figured out a way to do the story without Snow. Mermaids are already an established part of Neverland. Surely, there could have been some way to do a Neverland-based mermaid story to tie to an Ariel flashback and the Ariel reveal while letting the flashback be a straightforward Regina story or a Regina/Rumple story. There is simply no new ground with the Evil Queen/Snow conflict, and it's already past ridiculous the amount of times they've been in contact with Snow still alive. I buy the apparent headcanon of Lana and Ginnifer that there's a deep love underlying all the hate and pain, but even with that, I do not buy that Regina would have gone through all that trickery to get to Snow and then not quickly killed her. But there is still potential story with Regina's early days and the mentorship with Regina/Rumple. It really felt like the Snow was involved in the story for the sole purpose of giving Ginnifer screentime, and it didn't work. I did like that Regina and Rumple are now paired together, though, because Rumple desperately needed someone other than ShadowBelle to talk to and that pairing makes sense (so much sense, in fact, that I'm wondering why the show didn't do it in the first place since the potential story value of Regina with the Charmings was underutilized, IMHO). Also, I blame all y'all for talking about Ginnifer's real life pregnancy because I'm now distracted by watching her costuming try to conceal the pregnancy. I would never have noticed if I didn't already know, but now the empire-waist dress and loose blouses are jumping out at me.

I remain intrigued by this season, which is good. On the con side, I continue to dislike Charming. I just didn't get the whole point of Charming keeping the dreamshade secret. It's not honorable, and I hope I'm not supposed to have seen it that way, but it also didn't seem like Charming learned anything from it. Way back in S1, people were trying to tell me that David Nolan was nothing like Charming but the whole dreamshade thing seemed exactly like the not telling Katherine about Mary Margaret and then lying to Mary Margaret about Katherine. Charming's had a consistent character trait of not recognizing other people's right to full information so that they can make their own informed choices. There was a point where he basically demanded Hook lie to Snow/Emma so that they wouldn't think of Charming as a liar, and all I could think was that if he didn't want to be thought of as a liar, then he shouldn't lie (especially about something like lying!). Also on the con side, I thought it was unbelievable that none of Snow, Emma, or Regina would recognize that something was wrong. Props to the makeup artists for making Charming genuinely look like he was on death's door, though! On the pro side: I don't get tired of Pan's mind games. I don't know why I wasn't expecting the ending, but I wasn't and it was so deliciously, perfectly evil. I also love that I honestly don't know what Hook is going to decide. I DESPISED the idea of Hook/Emma last season because he was so sleazy, stalkerish, but I'm warming to it now. I, too, would have liked more backstory on Pan/Hook this ep, but I am confident that we're not done with their story yet (and please don't hint to me that I'm wrong if I am!) I also liked the moral gray of the heart scene. I am actually on Snow's side, though. I think the choices they make matter a lot, perhaps in a place like Neverland more literally than in Storybrooke. I disagreed with Regina that Regina doing the actual heart ripping somehow kept Emma's hands clean. No, Emma made the choice, too, and she is just as morally culpable for anything that happens to that Lost Boy. But it was a believable "wrong" choice, so props to the show for setting that up nicely. I don't mind all the walking because to me, good stuff is happening. Even when it looks like the characters end up where they started, there's always some forward motion (for either plot or character). We've got Neal on the island; Charming bound to Neverland and still carrying the secret from Snow/Emma; Hook and Rumple both facing actual moral dilemmas; Henry sinking into Lost Boydom (but now knowing that his family is there); Tink on board to double agent. That's a lot! Regina's underutilized right now, but we do know that she's open (for the first time!) to cooperation with Emma and has some kind of plot with Robin Hood waiting for her. (There's also an interesting arc of her figuring out how to use her evil powers for good, which I'm not sure is deliberate or not because this show generally doesn't do subtle but it hasn't been called out). The only character who's been neglected is Snow, and she's still had some good moments with Emma. I also won't be surprised if she has her own Charming-related Temptation of Pan moment coming up in the future.

I've got a toddler. From what I can tell, the appeal of Frozen is simple. Elsa has badass snow/ice magic. That's why Elsa's the character who became the face of Frozen and Anna--the actual heroine--is more of an afterthought. There are a lot of reasons why I, as an adult woman, like Frozen (the lines in "Let it Go" about "be the good girl you always have to be" followed at the end of the song by "the perfect girl is gone" get me every time). But what I can tell with my daughter is that it's all about Elsa's power. There just aren't many human female good guys with actual power for her to connect to. Boys get tons of superheroes, but girls barely even get protagonists.

Okay, I can't do this without a spoiler tag. In the Broadway musical, . Rapunzel is one of the more underdeveloped characters (she's a secondary character, not a main), but I can't imagine the musical without her. ETA: Oh, I see what you mean about the Baker realizing she's his sister. I've always assumed the Baker figures it out after the potion making scene, but it's never spelled out and it's not a plot or character point in the musical either.

I haven't seen the movie, so I can't directly compare but Rapunzel is important in the Broadway production. Since some people may choose to see the Broadway version after seeing the movie, I'm going to be a bit vague, but events concerning Rapunzel lead to the conclusion of the Witch's story arc such that the Witch's story can't be completed without her. Rapunzel is also involved in the Prince storyline, but I think she could arguably be removed to just leave Cinderella and her Prince since Cinderella's Prince is the more plot-significant one. I do, however, feel that the main first act Rapunzel/Witch scene is key to understanding the Witch's character and really setting her story arc in motion, so I'm intrigued that the movie handled the Witch's arc in a way that Rapunzel felt gratuitous. FWIW, the Baker does know they're siblings in the Broadway musical. The Witch's Rap includes an exchange that's something like the following

Personally, I can't see much new ground out of an Owen-against-Regina plotline, but I do think there was something interesting with the idea of Owen-against-magic given that Henry and Neal were also both anti-magic. I think there could have been something interesting with Owen/Tamara not being crazy fanatic villains but more or less normal people, with a justifiable goal of keeping magic from wreaking havoc on our world the way it arguably does on the Enchanted Forest and Neverland. There was potential for new tension between Emma/Henry or Emma/Snow/Charming if Neal/Henry decided to work with Owen/Tamara, and of course, plenty of room for reluctant alliances between an Emma/Snow/Charming grouping and Regina/Rumple in that story. How would Emma handle Henry working in opposition to her goals? What would Rumple do if Neal put him in a position to redo the choice between Neal or magic? How would the other denizens of Storybrooke feel about the idea of ending magic? I read some spec somewhere that the producers didn't know if Neverland would be a go, and if not, Owen/Tamara's storyline would have wrapped up differently, but I don't know if that's true. It does seem hard to believe that the original plan for Owen/Tamara was that they were simply working for Pan on complete blind faith.

I don't think this is what the show has portrayed to this point (obligatory disclaimer that of course, I don't know what's to come). Emma does not control access to Henry. Henry controls access to Henry. Regina has always sought time with Henry and approval from Henry directly from him, and Emma has no legal standing over Henry. If Henry decides he wants to go back to living with Regina, Emma has no practical ability to stop Henry (nor do I think she would even try since she respects Henry's choices unless there were a specific reason to believe Regina was dangerous to Henry). In any event, Regina is certainly not trying to earn Henry access from Emma on the grand road trip through Neverland since Henry is captured with Pan rather than with Emma. Right now, their interests are tightly aligned: both want to make it through Neverland alive, rescue Henry, and return to Storybrooke. Moreover, on a meta level, whether people like it or not, Regina is one of the central characters of this show. Emma suffered in 2A and 2B because absent the Savior arc, she had no meaningful connections with the stories being told. I argued then (and still believe) that Emma's character didn't need to be in 2B at all. The emotional weight came from Snow/Regina/Rumple/Cora (with Charming, Hook, and Belle logical secondary characters). Emma and Regina have a tie to each other's stories, but it's weakly developed at this point. Using Neverland to deepen that tie can only be good for making Emma matter as a character for everyone who isn't simply an Emma fan (and alternately, for making Regina continue to matter for those audience members who just want her executed already). It's why I'm cautiously optimistic about the Neverland set up.

She hasn't been completely unremorseful, though. She's made baby steps forward towards genuine change, and it was not very long ago in show time that she intended to sacrifice herself to save Henry and Storybrooke. I believe it was to Emma that she had the line about living so much of her life as the Evil Queen but wanting to at least die as Regina (and if not Emma, it was to Snow). Regina's not the type of character who's going to prostrate herself for forgiveness or wrap herself in sackcloth for repentance, but I think it's been made explicit both that Regina regrets many of her choices and that Emma recognizes that Regina regrets her choices. Remember that Emma was Regina's biggest advocate in "The Cricket Game." I also think since Emma met Cora, Emma gained insight into how and why Regina came to be the Evil Queen. I don't see Regina and Emma as very similar people, but I do think their lives have some similar tragedies. It's implied that Emma survived abuse of some kind while she was in foster care, and we know that Regina was physically and emotionally abused by Cora (and I'd argue Regina was also emotionally abused by Rumple, but I don't think Emma has any idea about the twisted nature of Rumple/Regina's relationship). Emma never went as evil as Regina, but Emma was certainly not a good person while she was conning and thieving on her own and with Neal. I think Emma recognizes that Regina is at a turning point where she can become a better person, and that regardless of whether Regina deserves second (or third... or fourth) chances, it will be best for Henry if Regina achieves that. Emma and Regina have also had high stakes times of working together in both season finales, so I think the groundwork is there for mutual tolerance if not actual friendship. Plus, right now Emma's options for sociability are the parents that she has many unresolved issues with, the uncomfortably flirtatious pirate, or snarky Regina. Out of that grouping, I think Regina's actually the most emotionally safe. She's the only one in the group who's not trying to earn anything from Emma right now.

I don't know how I'd write it if I were in charge of the show. I like them as both antagonists and as reluctant allies with a respectful undertone. (I always felt that beneath Regina's terror/resentment of Emma displacing her in Henry's life/ending the curse, Regina does like and respect her in a similar way to her frenemies relationship with Rumple). I guess my ideal, since I'm a Regina fan and want her moved solidly to the protagonist side of the show but with plenty of snark, would be to have them more as respectful, reluctant allies, but where respectful means that they don't actively work against each other rather than that they're polite to each other. I'd like plenty of snarky comments both ways! Something I'd like to see in future episodes is Regina teaching Emma magic. Rumple's gone, so Regina is literally the only person who Emma can learn from right now. It would be a new dynamic for Regina/Emma for Regina to be in the teacher role and Emma in the student role. There would be some juicy trust issues since Regina would be presumably reluctant to teach but could be written as doing it for the self-interest of increased safety and getting Henry and themselves safely out of Neverland. And of course, Emma would be reluctant to trust Regina in any way but would do it for the same reasons. This would also be an opportunity for the show to write some desperately needed ground rules on magic (which I know they won't do because then they'd have to figure them out! but like Snow, I am ever an optimist). Done really well, it would also be an effective way for Regina and Emma to negotiate their relationship as co-parents with Henry. Finally, it would end the Emma never uses magic except at the most important, plot contrived ways. I was skeptical of the Neverland setup, but I think it has potential to be a stroke of genius for fixing some of the character issues from last season. It's forcing a focus on the relationships among the most central characters (plus Hook) in a setting that allows a nice balance of conversation and action. With Neal in the Enchanted Forest, the show doesn't even have to force fairybacks in where they don't fit (although clearly they still might! but at least they don't have to). Emma's character benefits from her being central to the plot, and she's back at the center again. I love Hook as a character and the actor playing him, so I'm good with Hook getting bumped up in importance, too. Wouldn't a lot of that depend on what August said happened? I don't need the show to be realistic with Emma, but if there is to be a flashback establishing more about what happened with Emma, I think the above points to what I'd be interested in seeing.. what did August say about who he and Emma were? Was there a search for relatives or did August say something that led away from that? Were August and Emma believed to be siblings? What happened to baby Emma after August ran away from their home? Was she replaced with the family she mentioned or was that initial home the one who gave her up at 3? (Also, how did Emma get from the end of "Tallahassee" to the competent bail bondsman we saw at the start of S1) So I guess the show could have done Emma flashbacks in a way that I would have liked without needing to get Lifetime special about it. Now I am sad that they didn't do that instead of the Snow/Regina, rinse-repeat.

I loved the "Lost Girl" conversation being between Snow and Emma. The argument I made back at the end of 2B was that Emma's character wasn't working because she didn't have enough history and connections to the general story. That conversation was an important part of upping the emotional stakes, and Jennifer Morrison/Ginnifer Godwin did a great job acting it. I really want more of that between Emma/Snow/Charming and some bonding between Emma/Regina as well. The "Lost Girl" stufff does, however, feel a bit like spinning wheels. We know Emma was lonely and wanted to find connections, and she's found them. She understands why her parents gave her up, why they couldn't look for her, and she's been in a position where she's done the same. I don't think it's wrong that she still has identity and abandonment issues, but that there should be some more of a dent based on everything we saw happening in S1 and the time she and Snow spent together in 2A. I am so glad that the show did not do an Emma flashback, though. I do NOT need a Lifetime special about the horrors of the foster care system. Also in the real world, a healthy, white, newborn girl like Emma is more likely to have been quickly adopted than abandoned to the system. She was literally the most in-demand kind of baby, so it's show contrivance that she had such a loveless life instead of being raised in as stable a home as anyone can get. I agree that the fairyback was stupid. I think there was an idea there that could have worked. Snow appeared to be fairly sheltered before the banditry in the woods and not to have been raised for leadership or to have much experience with it. Putting Snow on the same path (although with opposite connotations) through a genuine struggle about what it means to embrace her identity as queen and leader could have paralleled. But the way it was done with Charming disrespecting Snow's choice and tricking her into a confrontation with Regina was lame. It didn't make Snow seem like a good leader, and it didn't help me like Charming (which I'm still waiting to do). Also, the more times Regina and Snow have direct confrontation scenes, the more ridiculous it is that Snow is still alive instead of being disintegrated, heart ripped out, transmogrified into a wooden statue or what have you.