S04.E13: Darkness On The Edge Of Town

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Belle said that once something has been freed, it can never be retrapped. Is that really true? I know it's terrible that I barely remember 4A, but wasn't someone trying to put Elsa back into that jar at some point?

 

I don't trust the Blue Fairy either. She is just shady as hell. Maybe she is the mysterious author. I still hate that entire storyline about Regina having the author give her a happy ending because I believe in free will.

[kili]

Belle said that once something has been freed, it can never be retrapped. Is that really true? I know it's terrible that I barely remember 4A, but wasn't someone trying to put Elsa back into that jar at some point?

 

The hat and the jar trap people for different reasons, so it is possible they have different rules via re-trapping.

 

So I wonder where the Sorcerer's Apprentice is - all we saw from the hat were the fairies and Chernabog.

 

He is still in the hat. The spell only released fairies. Belle mentioned that the plan was to get the fairies out and have them help with getting the Apprentice out. Either that is the only spell they found or they are wary about releasing everything from that hat.The problem is that there are probably a significant amount of good people in that hat if the stars all represent people in the hat. I wonder if both the sorcerer and the author are in the hat.

 

Who trapped Chernabog in the hat? It seems pretty recent.

Edited March 2, 2015 by kili

[YaddaYadda]

I'm going to assume that the heart with the greatest potential to go dark to be like potential energy. You have more potential energy the further you have to fall (ie you have more potential on the top of the cliff than at the bottom)

 

I think it makes sense though and I think Rumple has a pretty good idea that he can't really beat Emma.  Her magic alone would have powered that hat, instead, he needed a few fairies just to achieve that.  In 408, Rumple told Hook that he needed Emma.  It might seem like a taunt at first glance, but I really don't think it was.  Rumple needs Emma for a specific purpose, just like he needed Regina before that.  Yeah, I hate using Regina as a blue print, but it's there.  He had the Chernabog released for two purposes, the first was that it would make it easier for them to get back into town and the second one was probably to confirm for him that the beast would go after the Savior, not the Evil Queen.  

 

I really do like how the Chernabog was guarding the Dark Curse and was completely useless at it.  I like how these entities are created and then become too powerful, like the hat and scary as hell and people don't know how to deal with them.  Once is like the fucking Manhattan Project.

[Primetimer]

Once Upon A Time returns with a seemingly increased special-effects budget and more wigs than ever!

Read the story

[DeLurker]

Ditto for Emma having "the heart with the darkest potential".  Give me a freak'in break.

I'm just thankful it wasn't Henry.

 

 

I knew Rumple was the Oxford professor as soon as he was shown getting mail. Why would an actual Oxford professor know how to read ancient spells from another land? So, that's twice that Rumple has decided to put his grandson's only biological parent's life at risk using the hat. At least his characterization is fairly consistent.

Does anyone (not inside my tv) still have the little mailbox icon that pops up and dings when you get new mail?

 

I suck at guessing what is going to happen and I called it that Rumple was the Oxford professor.

[Dani-Ellie]

Ditto for Emma having "the heart with the darkest potential".

Except that's not what they said. If I remember correctly, the exact quote was "the greatest potential for darkness." If Emma's magic is as powerful as they've said it is (and it seems to be that way to me since Rumple needed a hatful of fairies to give the hat the same juice as one Emma), it makes sense to me that her heart would have the greatest potential for darkness because her heart has the greatest potential, period. They could also say her heart has the greatest potential for lightness. Her powerful magic, used for love and protection, is light. Corrupt her heart and her powerful magic, and that same power is dark.

 

To me, their use of "potential" here seems to be saying just that ... potential. It's not a prophecy. It's simply saying that she could be a force to be reckoned with for either side.

[Chaos Theory]

Emma doing something outright evil isn't in her and that is the story but struggling with her iinner demons and the darkness inside of her (hell we have even seen the darkness ie selfishness inside Snow White) would make for an interesting story. Emma has the capacity for self doubt and anger and that is right off the top of my head.

Edited March 2, 2015 by Chaos Theory

[worryfaraway]

This episode is definitely better than those of Frozen arc. Cruella is funny.

Edited March 2, 2015 by worryfaraway

[pezgirl7]

I thought the ep was just alright. Not much more I can say that others haven't already. I was disappointed we barely saw the crazy pineapple snacks at Granny's!

 

Some of my favorite parts:

- Snow teaching Henry's class

- Emma trying to be all piratey "We should buckle some swash... or whatever"

- Hook checking out Emma's assets as she walked away from the library

- Hook getting angry. I love angry!Hook

- Hook and Belle working with each other

- Rumple walking over the time line and throwing his cane

 

Can someone please remind me how exactly Ursula and Cruella helped Regina and Emma defeat the Chernabog? That was suppose to be part of the deal they made to let them in to Storybrooke, but Emma's the one who came up with the idea to make it fly past the town line. So why did they owe it to Ursula and Cruella to let them in? In the past, I don't remember the QOD defeating it, they just went to a high ledge where it couldn't get at them, right? Lame.

[kili]

HOW IS SHE SO SURE THAT THE AUTHOR AND THE SORCERER IS NOT THE SAME??

 

And why didn't she tell them something about the Sorcerer so that it might save them from following false leads?  She's practically no help at all.

 

I do like the idea thatt the Author puts clues to himself in his books - he's like Bach or Da Vinci  (or Rimbaldi from Alias).

[Spartan Girl]

"Who is it?"

 

"The sea bitch."

 

Best exchange yet.

[Eegah]

 

Can someone please remind me how exactly Ursula and Cruella helped Regina and Emma defeat the Chernabog?

 

They told them it would follow the person with the darkest heart.

[RadioGirl27]

It wasn't a bad episode, but it wasn't good either, just really average. What I liked:

- Cruella, she really standed-out among the QOD.

- Rumple, this is the version I like of him.

- Those few moments of Hook/Belle and Hook/Emma were nice.

- Regina's dress was amazing. So was Maleficent necklace. And Colin and Josh looked particularly hot (yeah, I'm talking about fashion and hot boys, that's how underwhelmed I was).

What I didn't like:

- Way too much "Oh poor me" Regina.

- The friendship between Emma and Regina is forced and a disservice to Emma as a character. The scene at the mayor office was so forced that I felt really bad for Jennifer Morrison.

- Ursula and Maleficent were really underwhelming.

- Lots of retconing.

Edited March 2, 2015 by RadioGirl27

[Rumsy4]

The episode was not bad on the whole. The episode was too villain-centric for my taste, and is a good (bad?) indication for the rest of the season.

I was disappointed that Regina is back as Mayor. It is nice to see Snow teaching again, but her 4A arc was pointless. Snowing's secret can't be that bad, considering she only got that Dark Spot after she had killed Cora. And both Snow and Charming were able to get through Glinda's door which screened out people with impure hearts. Whatever, Show...

All the CS goodness was adorable.

Belle/Hook interactions were a pleasant surprise. It's good for both of them to hang out with someone other than their love interests, and not because they are baby-sitting them. ;-p

Emma/Regina friendship is miles better than 4A, but Emma does come across as a little pathetic.

Shady is definitely.... shady. She knows who the Sorceror and the Author are. Could she be the Author?

Rumplestiltskin eating microwaved Ramen was the best!! I also loved the fact that he was the Oxford professor--still manipulating Belle. The QoD were good, but there are too many of them!

[kennyab]

I was surprised at the end that Rumple was that Harvard professor who translated the spell.  But I already thought it was ridiculous that Belle was using the internet for research in the first place.  Why would the runes in the Enchanted Forest be the same ones from our world's history?  At first, I thought she said she reached out to the finest minds of Storybrooke and that sounded kinda funny.

 

Everyone in the present-day Enchanted Forest (and Mulan's land and Arrendelle and Mermaids) speak English. And it's not's just a Portal Translation Circuit, because the result is the same whether flying on the Jolly Roger or swimming the seas. So I can totally fanwank that the two worlds share ancient languages as well.

 

That's the least head-scratchiest moment of the episode for me. I mean, yeah, what's the deal with Cruella? Maybe in Once-Land, everyone knows that 101 Dalmatians was a "fake" story about the real Cruella De Vil (who sold the rights to use her likeness and was raking in the bucks)? Been there's the age thing. Maybe she's pretending to be being Cruella Jr, and the stories were supposed to be about her mom? Maybe she's playing it off as being an eccentric millionaire who's changed her whole personality/name to match the fictional character? I'm a fanwanker extraordinaire, but I don't see how this one's not going to be a big mess of plot holes, if they even try to get it to make sense.

[KingOfHearts]

 

So I can totally fanwank that the two worlds share ancient languages as well.

I'm not sure how linguistics work entirely, so forgive me if this is plain ignorance... even if it didn't exist in our world, couldn't it still be translated if it followed the basic system rules of language? Like having a similar root?

 

 

 

BUT BLUE IS SO SUSPICIOUS, LOOKS SKETCHY AS HELL.

HOW IS SHE SO SURE THAT THE AUTHOR AND THE SORCERER IS NOT THE SAME??

Heck yeah. She obviously knew a lot more than what she was leading onto. 

 

 

The episode was too villain-centric for my taste, and is a good (bad?) indication for the rest of the season.

I can understand that. For me personally I'm more into the villains because I find the heroes bland and boring at times, so I enjoyed it. But I wouldn't disagree that others wouldn't like it as much I did.

Edited March 2, 2015 by KingOfHearts

[Dani-Ellie]

Maybe she's playing it off as being an eccentric millionaire who's changed her whole personality/name to match the fictional character?

 

In a world where real people have spent inordinate amounts of money for surgeries to make them look like a cat, Barbie, and Justin Bieber, a Cruella DeVil wannabe doesn't even scratch the surface of "eccentric millionaire." ;)

Edited March 2, 2015 by Dani-Ellie

[Artsda]

"We better go find out what's killing property values this time." That was hilarious.

 

I loved the opening with everyone so normal and doing daily routine things. 

 

I think Regina should have sided with Snow & Charming. Don't let new people in, don't they get tv in Storybrooke? Nobody watched The Walking Dead there? 

[Mari]

I'm not sure how linguistics work entirely, so forgive me if this is plain ignorance... even if it didn't exist in our world, couldn't it still be translated if it followed the basic system rules of language? Like having a similar root?

Not necessarily. There are systems we're still figuring out and struggling with, because there are not only vocabulary and grammar differences, but representational differences, too. Without the Rosetta Stone, which had Greek on it, I believe, we might never have gotten as far as we have with Egyptian hieroglyphics.

[pezgirl7]

They told them it would follow the person with the darkest heart.

 

Thanks! I guess that is deserving of them being let into town? Not.

 

I just discovered my new favorite part of the episode that I didn't notice when I first watched. Hook trying to feed pineapple to Snow!

http://emmasneverland.tumblr.com/post/112521889080

[stealinghome]

- Rumple, at least, was back to being fun, after a half-season of repeating one thing over and over again. My pet theory is that the show will try to make us believe him wanting to get his happy ending means getting Belle (and Belle herself will think so), but in reality,he just wants to resurrect Neal or retcon the shit out of everything that has happened over the last few years.

I'm kind of torn on this. On the one hand, I agree that it's totally in-character for Rumpel to want to hit the do-over switch, wipe away everything that we've seen on the show, and go after Neal again. On the other hand, I feel like that's so obvious it really is/ought to be a red herring, and I could see the show running with the "Rumpel has accepted that Neal is dead" thing they made a point of in 3B/4A, and setting it up to where everyone THINKS he wants a do-over with Neal but really he just wants to get back with Belle. It really could go either way imo.

 

It's really, really hard for me to believe that Rumbelle could ever get back together again, though, I have to say.

 

- The friendship between Emma and Regina is forced and a disservice to Emma as a character. The scene at the mayor office was so forced that I felt really bad for Jennifer Morrison.

Yeah, I thought you could tell JMo thought that was BS. Some of her line readings in that opening mayor's office scene were pretty terrible. You could tell she wasn't into it. at all.

 

I loved the opening with everyone so normal and doing daily routine things.

 

The fact that the opening montage has been pretty universally liked ought to be a big clue to the writers that that kind of thing is what many viewers want more of!

Edited March 2, 2015 by stealinghome

[coops]

- The friendship between Emma and Regina is forced and a disservice to Emma as a character. The scene at the mayor office was so forced that I felt really bad for Jennifer Morrison.

Have to agree. It felt like fan fiction, like if Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy suddenly became best buds. Emma's nature and morals would never allow her to be so at ease with someone she knows is a multiple murderer.

[KingOfHearts]

 

I think Regina should have sided with Snow & Charming. Don't let new people in, don't they get tv in Storybrooke? Nobody watched The Walking Dead there?

I loved how when Ursula and Cruella called Regina up she was like, "Oh crap. It's those two again," like some sort of mean girl encounter. My headcanon is that Regina just knew she and Emma could take them if they caused trouble. Her line saying, "I better not [regret it]" was telling.

 

 

Ummmmm...if you can get the scroll back, make calls across the town line, and send e-mails, then why the drama over Robin Hood leaving? Couldn't Regina just toss him the scroll and have a visit like prison?

Well, we know Robin can't come back because he has to stay with Marian. They could probably have him visit now that Emma thought of the scroll, however since Robin hasn't contacted them, they haven't been able to schedule anything.

[Mari]

It's really, really hard for me to believe that Rumbelle could ever get back together again, though, I have to say.

 

Yeah, I thought you could tell JMo thought that was BS. Some of her line readings in that opening mayor's office scene were pretty terrible. You could tell she wasn't into it. at all.

I'm expecting Belle and Rumple to be back together by the end of the season – early-season five at the very latest. I just don't think the producers see the relationship problems the rest of us do and plan on handwaving most of them away.

As for the Regina and Emma seen? Can we fanwank it asEmma humoring the crazy person? Because that's the only way I am as actions make sense at all

[iMonrey]

 

- When we originally met Mal, she didn't know where Regina had gotten the curse scroll from. Now she almost died helping Rumple retrieve it.

 

If I'm remembering correctly, Regina was in possession of the Dark Curse but traded it to Maleficent in exchange for the sleeping curse. She then returned and demanded the Dark Curse back after Charming was easily able to break the sleeping curse. When Maleficent refused to hand it over Regina killed her pet unicorn, or something.

 

Much as I like Kristin Bauer van Straten, I feel like she's channeling Pam from True Blood a little too hard, and it's making me start to question her versatility and range as an actress.

 

I'm willing to play along with a lot of these retcons and the fact that Cruella De Vil doesn't belong in the same universe as most of these other characters, but I'm really tired of Rumpel. Yes, Robert Carlyle is great and a fan favorite but his story has played out - twice now. This is the second time they've used his character for a big, climatic exit at the mid-season finale, only to have him show up again the very next episode and carry on as usual. Same for Regina - these are characters that should have been dispensed with by now but the show doesn't have the guts to move on.

[YaddaYadda]

On a shallow note, can makeup just scale the eff back on the fake eye lashes?  Belle's eye lashes were very distracting for one and she looked like she might take flight they were so long.  Fake eye lashes are like fake boobs, the bigger they are the faker they look.

[Curio]

Belle's eye lashes were very distracting for one and she looked like she might take flight they were so long.

 

Ha. I just said the same thing in the production arts thread. But seriously, those things have got to go. Emilie is a naturally pretty person, there's no need to slap some spider legs onto her top lids. That scene between Hook and Belle was really nice too, so I hated how I kept getting distracted by a makeup mishap.

[DeLurker]

On a shallow note, can makeup just scale the eff back on the fake eye lashes?  Belle's eye lashes were very distracting for one and she looked like she might take flight they were so long.  Fake eye lashes are like fake boobs, the bigger they are the faker they look.

Speaking of distracting and boobs...after Ursala pulled Mal up from the Chernobyl (I know that is not the name, but it is what keeps popping into my head), Mal's boob looked oddly popped up.

[Shanna Marie]

If in FTL villains never get a Happy Ending, and everybody KNOWS this, to the point where the idea of a villain getting a happy ending is SO insane and unbelievable that nobody believes that even the most powerful immortal sorcerer they know could possibly do it, then nobody would become a villain.

That's a very good point. If you know you can't win as a villain because villains can't win, then why become a villain?

 

Though I suppose on some level the villains don't think they're villains. Regina believed she was absolutely in the right, and part of her rage against Snow was the fact that no one else was able to see Snow for the horrible life destroyer she was. I guess Rumple thought he was smart enough to work around it and get his way, even though nobody else could.

 

It would help in understanding this Author nonsense if they were at all consistent with the theories and if they were based on any evidence whatsoever. At random times they've blamed the book for Regina's actions, as though the book made her do those things and she didn't choose to do those things. They've blamed the book for Regina's current mildly unsatisfied state, even though none of the events of the past 30 or so years are in the book. Then there was the Henry line about bad things happening to Regina in the book, when it was the other way around. And yet the book was shown to have followed the events that happened when it was erased in the past. Maybe they think there's some overall barrier to happiness, like a happiness glass ceiling for villains.

 

I'll have to rewatch to be sure, but I didn't think it was just shadiness on the part of Blue. She looked seriously wigged out, even traumatized, upon emerging from the hat, and she still had that look of being very disturbed about something before Regina started asking questions about the Author. Either she knows something about the hat that has her disturbed about the presence of it in town, or she learned something while inside the hat.

 

Are there good screenshots of Hook and Belle's Conspiracy Board? On the glances we saw on the show, it looked to me like most of it had to have been Belle's work because the handwriting was more "modern." When Hook gave Emma Neal's address, it was a flowing, old-fashioned script (and I don't think he handed her the message Neal sent). The board looked like regular printing on post-its. It would be funny to have that old-fashioned script written on a post-it.

 

I just discovered my new favorite part of the episode that I didn't notice when I first watched. Hook trying to feed pineapple to Snow!

What's funny is that when a shot from that bit was among the promo photos, we were speculating that it was a behind-the-scenes shot rather than a still from the episode, but it was actually in the episode. I wonder how that conversation was going and what they were talking about, considering that I don't think Hook and Snow have ever been shown having a real conversation.

[iMonrey]

BTW - what happened to Tinkerbelle? The hat was supposed to consume all the fairies, but she wasn't in the scene where Hook used the hat to "absorb" them nor was she shown when they were released. I mean, I get it, the actress probably wasn't available, but Blue did make her a fairy again and then she just disappeared. Someone could at least mention where the heck she's supposed to be.

[retrograde]

Though I suppose on some level the villains don't think they're villains. Regina believed she was absolutely in the right, and part of her rage against Snow was the fact that no one else was able to see Snow for the horrible life destroyer she was. I guess Rumple thought he was smart enough to work around it and get his way, even though nobody else could.

That is true on many TV shows (and in real life), but not usually on Once. Fairy tale/Disney villains usually are fairly unashamed moustache-twirlers, and even though Once's schtick is telling the sob story behind the villainy, its villains are usually pretty aware of their own villainy. I mean, they actively refer to themselves as villains. 

 

BTW - what happened to Tinkerbelle? The hat was supposed to consume all the fairies, but she wasn't in the scene where Hook used the hat to "absorb" them nor was she shown when they were released. I mean, I get it, the actress probably wasn't available, but Blue did make her a fairy again and then she just disappeared. Someone could at least mention where the heck she's supposed to be.

I wish there'd been a scene where Tink discovered that all the fairies are nuns in this world, and that would mean celibacy and a whole lot of quiet prayer, and was like "Uh... no. I'm going to be a freelance fairy."

[kili]

If I'm remembering correctly, Regina was in possession of the Dark Curse but traded it to Maleficent in exchange for the sleeping curse. She then returned and demanded the Dark Curse back after Charming was easily able to break the sleeping curse. When Maleficent refused to hand it over Regina killed her pet unicorn, or something.

 

Yes, but Mal didn't seem to know where the curse came from:

 

Evil Queen: I need that curse. I know you keep it hidden in the orb above your staff.

Maleficent: Hidden for the good of all, old friend. Whoever created that monstrosity makes the two of us look positively... moral. Who did give it to you?

Evil Queen: (Standing) Where I got it's none of your concern. Hand it back.

 

I guess she could have been playing stupid, but we now know that she knew a lot more about where that curse came from than she let on. Why did she trade for it when she had no intention of ever using it. Is Mal secretly a good guy?

[Curio]

Are there good screenshots of Hook and Belle's Conspiracy Board?

 

I haven't looked around for good screenshots yet, but I was planning on taking some high-res ones tonight and transcribing what they say for this thread anyways. So in the words of Emma Swan: "Be patient." ;)

[YaddaYadda]

I guess she could have been playing stupid, but we now know that she knew a lot more about where that curse came from than she let on. Why did she trade for it when she had no intention of ever using it. Is Mal secretly a good guy?

 

I think she probably stole it from Rumple.

 

That was according to him his happy ending.  She steals it from him as pay back for letting heaving her in that cave to die.  I could totally see her doing that.  Maybe that's the reason Rumple had David put that egg inside her.

[Delphi]

http://delphibyproxy.tumblr.com/post/112537823361/once-conspiracy-style

R e: the board

[kili]

I think [Mal] probably stole it from Rumple.

 

That was according to him his happy ending.  She steals it from him as pay back for letting heaving her in that cave to die.  I could totally see her doing that.  Maybe that's the reason Rumple had David put that egg inside her.

 

Mal didn't get the curse from Rumple. She traded for it with Regina. She gave Regina the Apple Sleeping Curse and Regina gave her the Dark Curse. When David managed to cure Snow from the Sleeping Cruse using a TLK, Regina stormed into Mal's castle demanding the Dark Curse back becaues the Apple Sleeping Curse didn't work.

 

Mal argued that it did work and refused to give the Dark Curse back. She suggested that Regina get a pet, Regina threatened Mal's pet and got the curse back.

 

Rumple had David put the egg in Mal because he is a d!ck. Rumple will always use everybody every time, every where.

 

I'm starting to feel sorry for Mal. I heard her "Of course it's me" when Chernabog picked her because she's used to always getting the worst of things.

[YaddaYadda]

Kili, thanks for the clarifications because I absolutely don't remember anything that happened in season 1.

[Shanna Marie]

So, why do they have missing persons reports on the nuns, when they know where they are? I can see that Emma might have taken the reports as a formality, maybe as part of a cover-up, but what value would the reports have to Belle and Hook, who know exactly what happened to the nuns/fairies? Maybe that was Hook's way of torturing himself for being part of their disappearance.

 

It does look like all the post-its were written by the same person. Yeah, it's probably some prop person, but it would have been nice if they'd at least pretended that these two characters had put together this board. That doesn't look like the kind of handwriting I'd expect Belle to have, and we've seen that Hook's handwriting is very different. Would it have killed them to get whoever did the calligraphy for Neal's address to write a couple of post-its?

 

I wonder if Rumple's translation really was a translation of the spell Belle found or if it was just whatever spell he needed her to do that would get the results she wanted (so she wouldn't be suspicious when it didn't work) but that would also summon the Chernabog.

 

And I'm kind of amused by what a real Oxford professor would have thought about getting a request to translate something that looks like a spell about fairies and a magic hat from a small-town librarian in Maine.

[Bort]

Much as I like Kristin Bauer van Straten, I feel like she's channeling Pam from True Blood a little too hard, and it's making me start to question her versatility and range as an actress.

Maleficent may just not be the right fit for her? Because I know what you mean in that it doesn't seem like she's gelling in the role. I know she has it in her to play this, I never saw True Blood, but she was cold and quippy in Dirty Sexy Money, and flat out hilarious (clips here and here).

[stealinghome]

I guess she could have been playing stupid, but we now know that she knew a lot more about where that curse came from than she let on. Why did she trade for it when she had no intention of ever using it. Is Mal secretly a good guy?

No, the writers just not-so-secretly don't care about continuity anymore. :)

 

Maleficent may just not be the right fit for her? Because I know what you mean in that it doesn't seem like she's gelling in the role. I know she has it in her to play this, I never saw True Blood, but she was cold and quippy in Dirty Sexy Money, and flat out hilarious (clips here and here).

I thought she was aces in Season 1 as Maleficent, so I'm giving her a little time to settle in here. They haven't given her a lot to DO yet--and honestly, she, more than Cruella or Ursula, doesn't make sense as a Rumpel toady, which doesn't help. Maleficent was cool in S1 because she was a badass. She's been pretty defanged so far this season.

 

her quip about impregnating tentacles was AWESOME, though.

Edited March 2, 2015 by stealinghome

[kili]

Kili, thanks for the clarifications because I absolutely don't remember anything that happened in season 1.

 

That's okay. I don't think the writers remember either.

[LizaD]

So does this create some timeline continuity issues? Back when Emma met Rump in the time travel, which was the first day of her parent's meeting, Rump had no clue about the dark curse or true love thing. He said he was in the process of cooking up something but how could Emma know if he hadn't done it yet? But this first pow-wow had to have been before Belle was with Rump, because it's the first time the queens met each other. By the time Belle was in the picture from last season's finale, the trio were old friends.

 

Also I'm pretty sure the writers don't realize this but yet again Rump used Belle to unwittingly do his dirty work.

 

 

Much as I like Kristin Bauer van Straten, I feel like she's channeling Pam from True Blood a little too hard

I thought the opposite, that she was trying too hard to not do Pam. Pam is more like Cruella.

[Helena Dax]

The way I see it, Regina, Rumple and other villains didn't know they were living in a world where villains couldn't have a happy ending. That's something they found out later. That part makes some sense and it doesn't go against free will because they chose to become villains. However, I agree that if they're just doing what an author tells them to do, they aren't even humans, just... fictional characters, I guess. That's why I think it doesn't work that way and they're mistaken. I believe Regina will get her happy ending because her quest for the author will give her the chance to find it, but it will be thanks to her choices, not the author's choices.

 

I like Cruella, she's fun. 

 

Loved the scene with Hook and Belle. I hope we'll have more romantic/hot scenes with Emma  and Hook because I seriously need it.

[KingOfHearts]

This author plot is confusing as water is wet, but what perplexes me even more is that even the show seems to think its crazy at times. Like when Regina asked Blue Shady, "I know it sounds crazy, doesn't it?" and her response was, "Ummm... no it's not crazy", like she was being half-way sarcastic. Then other times it takes it so seriously that I get lost altogether. We, as an audience, have almost no facts to base it off of. None. It's all character speculation, yet the show treats it as gospel truth. So much in fact that it's the focal point of this new arc.

 

It's probably one of the weirdest plots its ever done.

Edited March 2, 2015 by KingOfHearts

[Trichromatic]

Line of the night: "I suppose that's better than blaming bad judgement and gin"

[iMonrey]

 

I guess she could have been playing stupid, but we now know that she knew a lot more about where that curse came from than she let on. Why did she trade for it when she had no intention of ever using it. Is Mal secretly a good guy?

 

She knew where it came from but not who created it, as far as we've seen. The sequence of events as we know them so far: Rumpel steals the Dark Curse from the cave, leaving behind Maleficent & Co. as fodder, although they escape. Rumpel gives the Dark Curse to Regina knowing how she'll use it to his advantage; Regina decides the Dark Curse is too drastic and trades with Maleficent for the Sleeping Curse. No doubt Maleficent was only too happy to take it off Regina's hands, knowing it would screw over Rumpel, and refused to give it back because she knew it would be bad news for her and everyone else but Regina and Rumpel. But Regina ended up getting it back anyway.

 

My big problem isn't what Maleficent knew or didn't know, it's that they've firmly established Rumpel created this curse for the express purpose of bringing him to wherever Neal went. He had all the little secret back-doors planted in the curse to get his memory back when Emma came to Storybrooke and Snow and Charming had to go to him to find out what the curse would do because he created it. Now they're trying to backtrack all of that and say someone else created it.

 

Unless they're trying to say Rumpel did create it, but gave it to someone else initially, and that's why he had to steal it back from the cave? I dunno.

Edited March 2, 2015 by iMonrey

[YaddaYadda]

He had all the little secret back-doors planted in the curse to get his memory back when Emma came to Storybrooke and Snow and Charming had to go to him to find out what the curse would do because he created it. Now they're trying to backtrack all of that and say someone else created

 

I'm sure the Sorcerer created it, just because he seems to be stupid that way.

 

For the sake of my own sanity because I do enjoy it very much, I'm gonna go and say that someone created the curse as in the idea of it and that Rumple decided to hijack it and twist it for his own purpose.

 

It's like Henry's stupid book, we are in the Land without Magic and Storybrooke had no magic and yet the book appears to Snow by magic.

[KingOfHearts]

 

For the sake of my own sanity because I do enjoy it very much, I'm gonna go and say that someone created the curse as in the idea of it and that Rumple decided to hijack it and twist it for his own purpose.

Well apparently the curse is highly modifiable, as it was modified in Curse 2 quite heavily. 

[kili]

it's that they've firmly established Rumpel created this curse for the express purpose of bringing him to wherever Neal went. He had all the little secret back-doors planted in the curse to get his memory back when Emma came to Storybrooke and Snow and Charming had to go to him to find out what the curse would do because he created it. Now they're trying to backtrack all of that and say someone else created it.

 

Maybe Rumple created it and somebody stole it form him and stuck it in a cave with Chernabog. I have visions of him and the sorcerer now playing one upman-ship games with each other. Like those two basketball players in the MacDonald's commercial trying to hit trick shots.

 

The thing that really, really, really doesn't make sense is how Regina could so easily reproduce the Dark Curse. If Rumple didn't create it and had to steal the scroll hidden deep in a cave and you need the scroll to cast the curse and Regina ripped that one up, how is she and Snow able to recast it? If Rumple isn't powerful and knowledgeable enough to create the Dark Curse from scratch, Regina doesn't stand a chance. The chances of Regina recreating the curse just went from slim to none.

[KingOfHearts]

 

The chances of Regina recreating the curse just went from slim to none.

I'm sure she studied it very, very thoroughly before and after it was reenacted. This woman had lots and lots of time on her hands. Twenty-eight years, in fact. She probably just copied it from memory.

 

 

Maybe Rumple created it and somebody stole it form him and stuck it in a cave with Chernabog.

This seems logical. The Sorcerer probably wanted to protect it and prevent people from enacting it.

 

The flashback scenes in Maleficent's castle reminded me of the movie Clue.

Edited March 2, 2015 by KingOfHearts