Happily Ever After: Relationships Are Hard

[ABitOFluff]

They should at least have Granny say something about not missing the noises Emma and Hook use to make late night. Hee.

More innuendo would be nice. If anything, it's always good for a laugh.

[OnceUponAJen]

I feel like the more the writers see fans argue about this, the longer they'll keep putting off showing it on screen, and it'll turn into this long-running gag until the end of the series.

Awwww....they're waiting until after the wedding. C'mon guys! ;)

[mjgchick]

I miss Hooks innuendo's. We haven't had one since forever. Even in his flashback with Milah he was a gentleman. He made me weak in the knees but I would've loved playboy Hook.

[Faemonic]

True, Emma didn't deny it.  But, it was the sort of thing that would be easier to just drop than give a "We've been dating for a while, and I really love him, but there's been no groinal contact as of yet.  I'm planning on groinal contact as soon as we're no longer in this weirdly filtered light.  Any tips?"  

 

(Not that I really care one way or the other.  Just saying that there's still some plausible deniability there.)

 

That this conversation happened at all is making me want to watch the show again. LOL, "Any tips?"

 

Milah: Call him a bad boy and give him no more than twenty lashes with the cat o' nine tails.

Emma: Uhh...he has self-esteem issues, been working through that with Archie. I don't think you helped?

Milah: ...

Emma: ...

Milah: ...

Emma: I was thinking more like, does he really like being nibbled on the earlobe? Neal would tell me to quit it, but Killian might just put up with that because he thinks that's what I--

Milah: This has been a lovely chat let's never do this again.

Edited March 22, 2016 by Faemonic

[InsertWordHere]

This was said after Rumple told Milah about the pregnancy between Neal and Emma.

Milah's question more than implies that Emma has had sex with Neal and Hook. And Emma didn't deny it.

Because Milah thinks that if someone is with Hook and loves him enough to go to the Underworld for him, they would be utilizing every possible surface to knock their inexplicable costume change in the middle of the Underworld boots with him. Milah likely doesn't know about the curse separations, memory wipes, stolen hearts, and the not ideal (for pirate banging) living situation. We know about these things and that is why there is some doubt that they've been together in that way. Emma didn't deny it because she probably doesn't care if Milah and Rumple think she's been intimate with Hook and also because Milah's statement was ambiguous. If she hasn't, I doubt she would deny it in front of Rumple especially, particularly after that lovely introduction he had just given her. 

 

That said, I think it could go either way and I am fine with either way, but the fact that they were planning to move in together makes me assume they've had sex. I ran out of euphemisms at the end there. 

Edited March 22, 2016 by InsertWordHere

[KingOfHearts]

Quick question - is Henry Snow's adoptive step-brother? Or does that not count?

 

Sorry to interrupt the hot coffee conversation. ;)

Edited March 22, 2016 by KingOfHearts

[Mari]

Quick question - is Henry Snow's adoptive step-brother? Or does that not count?)

I did a relationship flowchart for this show. It was a little terrifying.

And, yes, Snow is absolutely Henry jr's stepsister, which means he's his mother's uncle, and his own great-uncle.

Edited March 22, 2016 by Mari

[KingOfHearts]

 

I did a relationship flowchart for this show. It was a little terrifying.

Now I want to see a parody of an Ancestry.com commercial with this show's family tree.

[mjgchick]

Say Hook and Milah were married, Hook would be Henrys step grandfather and his step father if he and Emma ever get married. Bless this show and its kink to keep it in the family.

Question, did we ever find out that Emma was blood related to Ingrid or did she just freakishly look like one of her sisters?

[KingOfHearts]

 

Question, did we ever find out that Emma was blood related to Ingrid or did she just freakishly look like one of her sisters?

Emma wasn't blood-related to Ingrid. Ingrid was only her foster mom.

[Shanna Marie]

I think it's ambiguous as to the status of Emma and Hook's physical relationship, and I'm okay with that. Planning to move in together may have been a sign that they're ready to move to that level (and need a place to do so), or they may have been sleeping together ever since the break between 4a and 4b. With them, I don't think that's a particularly major step in their relationship. It's just one step on the continuum, and I don't think it has a huge significance. They've both had physical relationships. With them, the bigger moment was the first "I love you." They're being treated a lot like the Charmings, and we don't know when they first had sex, either. Did they start sleeping together after the sleeping curse? During the war? After the wedding with Lancelot? After the state wedding? We still don't know, and I don't think it matters that much.

 

With Robin and Regina, that was a definitive turning point moment in which he made his choice about the woman he wanted to be with, and him sleeping with Regina was him crossing a final line. If that had been ambiguous, it would have looked like he was still waffling.

[profdanglais]

In my head canon, Emma and Hook got down for the first time in the pink roses, and I will believe that until it is explicitly shown to be wrong (e.g., Emma and Hook in bed, dripping sweat, and Emma says "Boy, I'm glad we waited so long to do that, it was totally worth it.").

 

I feel like it's in character for Emma to want to wait a bit though. We've seen that in the past she's jumped into bed with men and it hasn't ended well, plus she still has her issues about losing people who are close to her. Emma and Hook both seem like the sort of people who can separate sex from love, but when they are in love, sex becomes something they take seriously. They wouldn't want their first time together to be a quickie in the loft while Emma's parents pop out for a pint of milk. 

 

Plus if they did get it on in the roses, then that adds another dimension to Emma's desperation to save Hook from the cut from Excalibur. She's finally admitted she loves him, they've expressed that love physically, she's happy and hopeful about getting rid of the darkness, they're planning to move in together to a big house with plenty of private space, then suddenly it looks like she's going to lose him. Not that she wouldn't have done the same thing if they'd never slept together or if they'd been at it for months, but recently-stirred-up sex hormones would just impel her along even more. 

[Camera One]

Speaking of epic romances, would anyone like to see Merlin and Nimue falling back in love in Underbrooke?  True, she was instrumental in killing him, but love means forgiveness.  Think of it from her perspective, it has been centuries and she still loved Merlin.  She loved him so much she killed him.  Is anyone swooning too?  Anyone?  

Edited March 26, 2016 by Camera One

[Rumsy4]

How does everyone feel about the scene where Rumple introduced Emma to Milah? I felt incensed on Emma's behalf, becasue he was intentionally trying to make the meeting as uncomfortable for Emma as possible. But, reading other boards, it looks like there are people who essentially agree with him? One person actually called Emma's relationship with Hook "disgusting" becasue of Milah & Neal. Now I will admit that in the beginning, I was slow to jump on the CS train precisely because of the whole Milah/Neal angle. But after a certain point, it didn't bother me anymore. Especially as Emma and Neal hadn't been together for 10+ years, and Milah/Hook were over for 200 years. But I can see that not everyone will be okay with the dynamic, but I feel that Emma alone has been unfairly targeted for mockery over this in the Show. 

 

Leaving out the CS angle, painting teenage pregnancy and having a child in jail as a torrid and scandalous affair was pretty classless of Rumple. When you add the fact that Rumple's son was the one to have the "torrid affair" with a tenageer and abandoned her, Rumpel was only aiming at shaming Emma. Especially in a show that has adultery and rape, and no one is ever called out for it. In fact, Mary Margaret was quick to assure Regina that she had nothing to be ashamed of over the crypt-sex incident. It really upset me that Rumple is made to slut-shame Emma basically for the sake of comedy. Thoughts?

Edited March 26, 2016 by Rumsy4

[Camera One]

Unfortunately, all that matters is it was funny.  That dialogue has gotten tons of praise so all that will happen is positive reinforcement.

[InsertWordHere]

How does everyone feel about the scene where Rumple introduced Emma to Milah? I felt incensed on Emma's behalf, becasue he was intentionally trying to make the meeting as uncomfortable for Emma as possible. 

Yes, I thought he was deliberately trying to shit stir and put Emma in the worst light possible to Milah. I was so happy that Emma didn't want to play his game and as soon as Emma gave Milah reassurance about Baelfire, Milah was cool as well. I think Rumple was doing this because if he had been in Milah or Emma's shoes, he would never be able to work with say, Hook or a past love of Belle's to go rescue their shared love interest. 

 

The Bae connection between Emma and Hook has never really bothered me mostly because at the time they met and had their initial spark, neither of them knew that Henry's father was Milah's son. It had also been ten years since Emma had even seen Neal, who withheld the truth of his identity to her, so the possibility of him being anyone from the Enchanted Forest and having any sort of connection to Rumple or Hook or anyone else had probably never occurred to her. 

[YaddaYadda]

I thought that whole dialogue was straight up slut shaming. Rumple went on his way to find this person he's known for a really long time, and doesn't say a word to Emma about who he is bringing into this whole operation. And then just drops the whole thing on her.

 

For me, it came off as a plain vengeful move on his part because Emma forced him into the UW, and now he knows Belle is pregnant, so he just decided to do that.  Plus of course, if Emma and Milah had played into that, things would have devolved into something potentially nasty. They didn't, I guess I can be grateful for that.

 

And from Jennifer's acting choice, it didn't even look like Emma had ever given a single thought to the whole Milah/Neal/Hook end of the equation at all. 

 

I know the whole thing was played for "fun", for the awkwardness of the moment, but I thought it was out of line for the most part. 

 

She had a teenager pregnancy (because your older son was less than responsible? Birth control doesn't only fall to women), in jail (because you son put her there), and now she's with your ex...

 

The whole thing was just gross.

Edited March 26, 2016 by YaddaYadda

[Rumsy4]

I think Rumple was doing this because if he had been in Milah or Emma's shoes, he would never be able to work with say, Hook or a past love of Belle's to go rescue their shared love interest. 

 

100% agree. He's the guy who still goes around claiming Hook "stole" Milah. The look on his face when Emma and Milah were happily co-operating was priceless!

 

She had a teenager pregnancy (because your older son was less than responsible? Birth control doesn't only fall to women), in jail (because you son put her there)

 

And since the Show has subscribed to the St. Neal narrative, this will only ever be a moment of comedy for people like Rumple. Ugh.

[mjgchick]

Rumple doesn't respect women so I'm not even shocked that he finds it funny when a teenage pregnancy was conceived out of his grown ass sons hands but of course he blames the woman and not his irresponsible son who should've taken precautions to the situation oh and not send his teenage girlfriend to prison. Of course the show used it for laughs because "Haha teen pregnancies in prison is funny." not.

 

What I did love was Emma didn't throw that douche under the bus for doing all those things to her. She wanted Milah to be reassured that her son was happy in another place. I would've loved to have seen both those women throw Rumple in the lake.

[Shanna Marie]

I did find the scene with Rumple, Milah, and Emma amusing, but mostly because of the way the women played it. Milah's reaction was utterly priceless. And it was salvaged by the way the two women got over whatever jealousy or rivalry might have been there to work together, leaving Rumple to look like a jackass.

 

The fact that Emma's now dating the former lover of her former lover's mother has never bothered me because I figure that as long as there's no blood relationship involved, there has to be a statute of limitations about relationship overlap, and a century more than qualifies. Hook was not a stepfather figure to Bae while he was involved with Milah. Whatever relationship Hook had with Bae in Neverland wasn't really about Milah (though Hook loved him from the start because of Milah). It had been at least ten years (probably more) between the time Hook had any contact with Bae and the time Neal and Emma were together. It was more than ten years between the time Emma and Neal were together and the time she met Hook, and it had been more than a century since Hook was with Milah before he met Emma. To me, all that pretty much means a clean slate between all of these relationships.

[InsertWordHere]

Honestly, I think most of the claims of grossness comes from the belief that the existence of Henry somehow makes Emma and Rumple (and by extension Milah and Hook) "family" and I am sorry, but no, it does not. Emma and Neal had a one to three month (I am being generous here) relationship that produced a son at a time when neither Rumple or Milah or Hook were in either of their lives. Neal had a relationship with his son for about a month (and again I am being generous here) and he and Emma were not together during that time. In fact, for half of that time, he was engaged to another woman. Rumple never met Emma while she was in a relationship with Neal. Rumple has more of a connection with Emma through his efforts of setting up Snow and Charming than he does through her "torrid affair" (blech) with Neal. Milah never saw her son while she was in a relationship with Hook and (still) has never met Henry. Hook did not raise Baelfire as his stepson and did not even form any sort of relationship with him until after Milah's death.

 

Neal/Emma/Henry and Hook/Milah/Baelfire never lived together as a family. This isn't the story of a woman getting together with her dead baby daddy's dead mother's boyfriend after they had all known each other for ten plus years. They didn't have family dinners or go to baseball games together. There was not any sort of family unit being destroyed here. 

[KingOfHearts]

Say what you will about the poor choice of words, I'm shocked the writers allowed Rumple to say anything less than stellar about Neal's involvement with Emma. I'm surprised "pregnancy" and "prison" were used in the same sentence. I thought those words would be blocked under the Neal is a Hero ordinance.

Edited March 26, 2016 by KingOfHearts

[mjgchick]

The problem is Rumple wasn't shaming Neal. He put all the blame on 16 year old Emma instead of his 2(24) year old son. Emma didn't even try to correct him on it because it was played for laughs. Jennifer and Rachel's facial expressions are what made me laugh. Then the women actually ended up working together and Rumple got to hear that Neal only came to see Emma and not his ass.

[KAOS Agent]

Rumpel was being a dick about how he went about establishing Emma's relationships, but he also gave her one giant character reference. Milah knew instantly that her ex and Emna hated each other, but that Killian & Bae loved her. That tells Milah a lot about Emma, which I think is why there was absolutely no problem with cooperation between the two. She knew she could trust Emma even while she could not do the same with her husband.

[OnceUponAJen]

I thought Rumple's introduction to Milah was funny. It was clearly played for laughs. However it isn't surprising that he did it, because he and Emma are adversaries now more than ever because of his negating Hook's sacrifice.

When it comes to Emma, I can't blame her. I made bad choices in men as a teenager, and I trusted people I shouldn't have. That relationship was clearly in the past. Emma just couldn't feel free to trust Neal again. When Hook proved to Emma that he truly cared for her and had her best interests at heart, I couldn't blame her for becoming attached to him. She's never had a stable relationship with someone she can trust. If anything, I think it should be Hook feeling a little funny about the situation what with his history with the Stiltskin family. But, Milah is gone and Hook called himself the villain in that scenario. I think he does regret that Milah was separated from her son, and for the way he treated pre-Dark One Rumple.

Edited March 26, 2016 by OnceUponAJen

[Shanna Marie]

The problem is Rumple wasn't shaming Neal. He put all the blame on 16 year old Emma instead of his 2(24) year old son.

Yeah, he was trying to make Emma look like a tramp to Milah, like Hook had moved on from Milah to the trashy ho who'd also slept with her son. But I do think that it backfired on Rumple because the fact that both Emma and Milah loved both Bae and Hook gave them common ground and some trust. I was disappointed that Milah stayed behind with Rumple because I would have loved to see the two of them really teaming up to rescue Hook from Hades.

 

I found it interesting that Rumple referred to Milah as his ex-wife instead of his late wife. That implies that he considered their marriage over before he killed her, which makes it even worse that he still claims that she was "stolen" from him, he still feels like the wounded party with Hook because his wife was stolen, and he murdered her for leaving him.

[Camera One]

I found it interesting that Rumple referred to Milah as his ex-wife instead of his late wife.

 

Or it was just to clarify to/remind audiences that he is now married to someone else and the Rumple/Milah marriage did not end amicably.  It was also a way for Rumple to distance himself from Milah  Though I also have no doubt the very angry Dark One Rumple would certainly have considered the marriage over, even if the pre-Dark One Rumple might not have.  Given how Rumple sees the world and himself, there is no surprise that he would still believe Hook stole Milah from him, or at least he would tell himself that since he probably hasn't confronted his own role in what made their marriage so unhappy.

[InsertWordHere]

A small thing I like about Captain Swan is that prior to The Brothers Jones, Emma had barely ever brought up Hook's looks, except for the unfinished "you look-" when he showed up for their date having changed out of his pirate clothes. Hook brings them up, like a lot, and Emma either scoffs or rolls her eyes or ignores him. She didn't allude to him being handsome until he stated that he no longer was, and that's when she comes out with the reassurance that "no one's that powerful."

[KingOfHearts]

I'm genuinely confused what the writers are attempting to do with Rumpbelle now. I thought for sure they would have waited until the Gaston episode coming next week to reveal Rumple's treachery to Belle. Is Rumple's speech about Belle loving the beast supposed to create angst or put the couple into a new light? We've been saying for a while that she loves the dark parts of him. (Heck, she said it back in 3B.) It would be far more interesting if the show treated them as a dysfunctional couple. But is it really going there, or is Rumple going to be proven wrong later?

 

All the cards got played into one scene. That only works if the original angst is a misdirect for a greater angst coming later. If all of Rumple's secrets are out in the open already, new drama should be coming around the corner.

Edited April 4, 2016 by KingOfHearts

[Curio]

I'm genuinely confused what the writers are attempting to do with Rumpbelle now.

 

I'm genuinely confused, too. The smart thing would be for Belle to realize she's been wrong about their relationship this entire time and that there will always be a power imbalance between her and Rumple, so if she had any self-respect, she'd cut ties with him. As long as he chooses to love the dagger as much as he loves Belle, there will always be an imbalance because Belle doesn't have something equivalent to that. But knowing TS;TW, they probably set this up so that Belle will choose Rumple anyways because she'll realize she was in love with the Beast the entire time without knowing it, which is a really weird message to send. Then again, if they're going to put all their chips on Dysfunctional Relationship, you might as well go all out?

 

All the cards got played into one scene. That only works if the original angst is a misdirect for a greater angst coming later. If all of Rumple's secrets are out in the open already, new drama should be coming around the corner.

 

This show is the worst when it comes to emotional fallout. Rumple has multiple secrets to tell Belle, and instead of sprinkling that drama over several episodes, it's all info-dumped into one scene. It's like Hook and the magical bean adventure—oh, you've been keeping a secret from Emma the entire half-season about how you were able to reach her in NYC? We should probably info-dump that all into 20 seconds of dialogue because it's boring to explore character-driven conversations.

Edited April 4, 2016 by Curio

[YaddaYadda]

I thought the worst part was that he slipped up with the whole Dark One bit. He wasn't planning on telling her, he made an oopsie.

That whole scene made me really uncomfortable.

[mjgchick]

Are we going to get a "Your true love is sometimes not the right person to be with." type of thing because that's the only thing I get from those two.

[KingOfHearts]

That whole scene cheapened Rumple's betrayal. Selling someone's child away should be a straw that breaks a camel's back. The fact he's the Dark One was setup in the 5A finale as a potential fallout catalyst for the couple. However, the episode sells it all as typical Rumpbelle angst. The most we get out of Belle is, "I'm not going to make decisions until the situation at hand is dealt with." (Paraphrasing) What the show was leading up to and what actually happened amounts to a disappointing difference. 

 

Rumple's honesty seemed to coincide with A&E's statement that he learned something in 5A. It's fodder for thinking that Rumple is becoming a better person or that Rumpbelle still stands a chance. "At least he's being honest about it" is a lame excuse that this show's writing would use.

Edited April 4, 2016 by KingOfHearts

[KAOS Agent]

I think Rumpel is a horrible person and Belle should run far away from that relationship, but I really dug Rumpel basically laying it out for Belle that this is who he is and he's not going to change for her. On some level, I'm on his side in terms of the relationship status because she always talked about how she loved him and wanted him to be a hero and not be the Dark One anymore and as soon as that happened, she dumped his ass. She was completely entitled to do that, but what does that say about her feelings for him? She really does seem to love the fantasy and not the reality. Telling her that he loved both her and the dagger made his feelings clear and set forward the idea that any relationship going forward would mean acceptance of that on her part. Then he went all creepy talking about her decisions because I'm not sure how he'd handle it if she takes off with the kid, but ultimately, the choice is hers and he was honest about what she'd be getting. 

 

Now she just needs to run the hell away from that whole freakshow, but the speculative look on her face about how Zelena changed because of Pistachio does not bode well for that idea.

Edited April 4, 2016 by KAOS Agent

[profdanglais]

If Belle takes Rumple back after that speech, I actually think I'll be on board with Rumbelle. I liked that he made a distinction between being the best man he could be because of her and actually being a different person. Belle may bring out the best in him, but he's still the effing Dark One. If she could see him with clear eyes and try to influence him for good as much as possible, but still accept that he's the embodiment of darkness and is going to do some nasty stuff from time to time, at least their relationship would be based in genuine understanding instead of her silly fantasies. I really hate when people in TV shows claim they're going to change because of love. People just don't work like that. We can try to be the best that we can, but no one can alter the fundamentals of who they are, and if you're in a relationship with someone whose love is contingent on you changing the essence of what makes you you, then they don't really love you. But Belle choosing to acknowledge that she loves both man and beast? That may not be the soundest judgment in the world, but at least it would be her choice, and it could have a really interesting effect on the Rumbelle dynamic. 

[Rumsy4]

To be fair to Belle, she was naive enough to believe in the Power of Love --but Rumple has been complicit in letting her believe he could change, that he would change. 

she always talked about how she loved him and wanted him to be a hero and not be the Dark One anymore and as soon as that happened, she dumped his ass.

 

She dumped him when she kicked him out of Storybrooke at the end of 4A. She refused to take him back just becasue he had won the duel with Dark Hook. She only came back when she thought he had done something selfless--for her. She didn't just want Rumple to be a hero. She wanted him to put her first and give up his power for her. That's always been her contention. She thought he had given up the gauntlet for her back in the EF. And she thought he had given her the real Dagger when they got married. When she realized it was all a lie, she dumped him. Again, yesterday, she was hurt that he wouldn't give up his Power even for her. 

 

It's good that Rumple finally laid all his cards on the table, but he is probably confident that she will take him back based on their past history. Besides, she just found out she is pregnant, and is in a vulnerable mindset. That's why I feel the Rumbelle dynamic is not going to change. He will continue to be power-hungry, and do just enough to keep Belle satisfied that he is a "better" person. And she will continue to hope in his "good heart". Bleah.

Edited April 4, 2016 by Rumsy4

[Curio]

If Belle takes Rumple back after that speech, I actually think I'll be on board with Rumbelle.

 

I always thought I would jump on board Rumbelle if they finally had Belle admit that she likes the Beast version of Rumple more, but now that they've introduced it in a way where Rumple says that he'll never put Belle first in his life, I still don't see how they can work because they'll never be equals in the relationship. If Belle takes Rumple back at this point, she's basically accepting that she'll always play second fiddle to a wavy dagger and that she'll always be supporting the villain instead of the hero. 

[YaddaYadda]

It's gonna go more like

 

Wavy knife

Baby

some new magic

betrayal

..

..

..

..

..

Belle

 

The writers will never let Belle cut her losses, but I'd like to think that the fact that she was present in the important Zelena/baby scenes is foreshadowing of sorts regarding Belle and her pregnancy/baby. 

[kili]

Now she just needs to run the hell away from that whole freakshow

 

Can she? The last woman who had a child with Rumple and then  tried to run away ended up dead and then ended up in the River of Lost Souls for eternity.

 

Pre-Dark-One Rumple hobbled himself to avoid not being in his baby's life. He traded his second child away to save his first son. He burnt down a castle and killed the Dark One to protect that son a second time. He plotted for three hundred years and killed countless people while ruining even more lives to get back to that son. This guy makes Javert look positively chill.

 

Rumple is not going to let Belle leave with the child and he's not going to let her leave without it. He's more powerful than any Dark One ever. What can she do? She's trapped at this point.

 

I can't decide if she agreed to think about the relationship after Rumple saved them because she  honestly will consider it or if she was just trying to buy time.

[Shanna Marie]

I would say that Hades thinking he had true love with Zelena after one bike ride cheapened the concept of True Love, but:

 

A) At least they didn't prove it with a curse-breaking kiss. There's still the possibility that he was setting her up for something or playing her. And I would think that the fact that she didn't trust him not to be playing her meant it wasn't mutual True Love.

 

B) They already pretty much destroyed the concept of True Love when they had Brennan Jones awakened from a sleeping curse by a True Love's Kiss with someone who had never actually met him when he was conscious and who knew nothing about him. So, sure, what the hell, the slightest stirring of any kind of emotion may as well be True Love on a magical level.

[mjgchick]

Is Hook and Emma the only couple on this show who didn't fall for each other after the length of a sitcom?

[daxx]

Is Hook and Emma the only couple on this show who didn't fall for each other after the length of a sitcom?

Yes, because Emma isn't a fairytale character but spent most of her life in the real world. That's my take on it at least.

[Shanna Marie]

Thinking about how crazy the family relationships are on this show, I couldn't help but imagine how a round of "Whose Parents Sucked the Most" might go:

 

REGINA: My mother wanted me to marry a king and be a queen.

ZELENA: (sarcastically) Oh, that must have been truly terrible for you.

REGINA: Yes, it was, when she killed my boyfriend to make sure it happened.

EMMA: My parents put me through a portal to another world on the day I was born. Alone.

SNOW: (aghast) Emma! You know we had no choice.

EMMA: Okay, then, how about my foster mother, the Snow Queen who tried to turn me into her perfect magical sister by throwing me in front of a bus?

DAVID: My parents sold my twin to Rumpelstiltskin. And my father died in a drunk driving accident.

SNOW: But your mother was lovely.

DAVID: Yeah, she was.

HENRY: My birth mother gave me up for adoption when she had me in prison.

EMMA: I was trying to give you your best chance.

HENRY: And she didn't even let my dad know I existed.

EMMA: Because he ditched me while I was in jail and I couldn't find him again. He didn't ever show up in the place we said we'd meet.

DAVID: What? That's what happened? Is it too late to rename Neal? I mean, he's still too young to really know his name. It wouldn't confuse him, would it?

HOOK: I bet I'm looking pretty good now, eh, mate?

HENRY: And then my adoptive mother turned out to be the Evil Queen, but she tried to make me think I was crazy when I figured it out. And then she almost killed me with a sleeping curse.

REGINA: I was a different person then. And the curse wasn't meant for you.

RUMPLE: My father abandoned me when I was a child so that he could be a child again and be Peter Pan.

HOOK: And then you abandoned your own son.

RUMPLE: After you stole his mother.

HOOK: You can't steal someone who's capable of making her own decisions.

ZELENA: Well, my mother abandoned me by the side of the road when I was a newborn because I interfered with her social climbing. And then my adoptive father thought I was wicked because of my magic.

HOOK: My father sold me into slavery when I was a child to buy his own freedom. The only way I got out of it was my brother signing me up for the navy.

ZELENA: I think that settles it. I win.

HOOK: You had adoptive parents. I had a slave driver of a captain.

RUMPLE: Two words: Peter Pan.

REGINA: You've all met Cora. No one suffered like I did.

BABY PISTACHIO: Waaaaahhhh (translated: Seriously, have you met the morons who spawned me?)

ROLAND: I forgot what my dad looks like.

[Selina K]

Epic. One addition

DAVID: and did you see the hair my mom let me grow? That was abusive to let me walk around with that mop.

[KingOfHearts]

 

DAVID: and did you see the hair my mom let me grow? That was abusive to let me walk around with that mop.

MERIDA: Oh yeah? Just look at MY hair! You want to hear about parental issues? My mother tried forcing me to marry a suitor, my dad left me a debt to a witch-

EVERYONE: Shut up, Merida! This isn't your show.

[Shanna Marie]

DAVID: and did you see the hair my mom let me grow? That was abusive to let me walk around with that mop.

SNOW: (pats him on the hand) Sweetie, you were an adult. That was your own poor choice. Don't blame your mother.

[mjgchick]

Was Marian the only good parent on the show not Emma? lol

[HoodlumSheep]

Was Marian the only good parent on the show not Emma? lol

Don't you mean...Zarian?????

If you don't count the contrived plot twist as being planned, then yes, Marian probably was the only good parent.

Edited April 5, 2016 by HoodlumSheep

[Shanna Marie]

Was Marian the only good parent on the show not Emma?

We never really saw the real Marian as a parent, other than the fact that she refused to tell anyone who she was so that Regina couldn't do anything to her family. But she was away from her family for whatever reason, so I guess she's one of the unintentional abandoners.

 

I guess I should have added Ruby's wolf mother who tried to kill her friend and who wanted Ruby to join her wolf pack (you know, the pack she specifically rejected in favor of her grandmother and Snow, but that she apparently used a bean to travel between worlds to find, leaving Snow and her grandmother behind. For reasons).

 

Eva may have been a dark, evil truth teller, but she and Leo seem to have been good parents to Snow. The Darling parents seemed to be good people.

[YaddaYadda]

Don't you mean...Zarian?????

If you don't count the contrived plot twist as being planned, then yes, Marian probably was the only good parent.

 

We don't know anything about Marian as a mother, but Zelena took care of Roland for like 9 weeks. To me it looked like she did right by him. He wasn't traumatized by her, and they erased his memories because Robin was concerned about his well-being with his mother leaving twice, and having to explain the reasons behind it.