S06.E11: Tougher Than the Rest

[Camera One]

24 minutes ago, Shanna Marie said:

And is he stalking Emma across the country to pop in and give her "wise" advice without actually really living up to the responsibility he promised and looking after her? He ran off as a kid while they were still in Maine, but he somehow tracked her down years later in Minneapolis when she was homeless. How did he know she would be there? I'm pretty sure she's not using credit cards to travel, so he can't have been hacking into her credit card account to see where she's buying bus tickets to go to.

Anyone up for an August spinoff series?

[Shanna Marie]

44 minutes ago, Writing Wrongs said:

Did JMo have a no make-up clause for Season 6? She's come a long way from the hideous black fake eyelashes of Season 1.

I think they swapped the hideous fake eyelashes for the super-bright red lipstick. Not only is the heavy makeup look with really obvious lipstick wrong for the setting, but that's a terrible shade on her and didn't work at all with the pale outfit. She should have been wearing something with just enough color to show up on camera while looking like "enhanced natural."

35 minutes ago, Camera One said:

Anyone up for an August spinoff series?

I want the spinoff series about the omniscience fairy who randomly grants characters information they should have no way of knowing. She really gets around, and she seems to love stirring up chaos by popping in and telling people things.

Regina bringing Wish Robin to our world is awfully hypocritical, given the amount of drama she inflicted on Emma when she brought Marian forward in time. Emma didn't think about consequences and was a terrible person for unknowingly ruining Regina's life, but I guess it's okay for Regina to bring someone from another realm over without thinking about the consequences.

[AnotherCastle]

3 hours ago, Writing Wrongs said:

Did JMo have a no make-up clause for Season 6? She's come a long way from the hideous black fake eyelashes of Season 1.

According to her:

[andromeda331]

6 hours ago, Camera One said:

The whole August-is-Emma's-closest-friend thing just doesn't work and is totally unearned.  I suppose it's no worse than the Emma/Regina or the Snow/Regina friendships which totally don't work either.  

Its pretty much the same thing the victims having to do all the work to be best friends with the person or persons who screwed them over. 

[Camera One]

I was thinking... did Rumple and Gideon ultimately get more scenes than Rumple and Neal, with more time to work out their "issues"?  It seems backwards that Bae was such a big driving factor yet we got more Gideon.  The actors who played Rumple and Neal seemed to want a lot more scenes together.

The actor who played Gideon was good, but it was difficult to care about this whole relationship.  I saw there was a sneak peek with Rumple/Gideon from this episode and just the thought of watching it again bored me.  When rewatching this season, Rumple/Gideon was truly some of the more tedious aspects.

Another tedious aspect was Regina and Robin.  The scenes in this episode were just so boring.  I had zero interest in seeing more of him.  

They did a good job of casting this Younger Emma.  I really liked her.

Charming really got a mouthful of Exposition Fairy-itis when he was walking down the street with Hook to remind viewers what happened before the mid-season break. 

Edited August 5, 2019 by Camera One

[KingOfHearts]

It's tough (-er than the rest) to get audiences to care about a character so late in the game that's supposed to be both important to the plot and to one or more of the main characters. I personally found Gideon too goody-goody and lacking in nuance. Given his backstory, I don't think he would've turned out the way that he did. 

Spoiler

The Black Fairy controlling his heart is a cop-out. 

It doesn't help that he barely showed up in S7, then was never mentioned again.

[tennisgurl]

The Wishverse has existed for two episodes now, and its already falling apart. So we keep saying "its not real its not real!" over and over...unless its Robin in which case he is totally real and the soul of dead Robin is this guy for some reason even though we can be sure that THAT will never be explained even though we have had it beaten into our heads over and over that none of this is real. In which case, you would think that Wish August would have been a bit more nervous about Regina and Emma leaving his world, because that would mean he would cease to exist. 

Speaking of August, he still freaking sucks. Oh gee, thanks so much for telling Emma to go to the cops and inspiring her middle name, thats just so helpful of you! I guess you could take her in and spend time with her and give her someone to finally care about her, but who would want that? Better get her to the jail, so she can get used to it for when you and her boyfriend decide to send her to jail for toughen her up or whatever. I just hate this idea that the only way for a person to be strong is for them to suffer, its just disturbing to me. I will say though, that the guy who plays him does a good job for the most part of coming across as a different person in the Wishverse than he does normally. 

Regina just grinds my freaking gears with her constant self pitying complaining. I get that her boyfriend died and that sucks, but her holding onto this other guy who is very obviously not her boyfriend (especially right after she offhandedly killed Wish Snow and Charming) just comes across as weird and inconsistent with the world we have created here, and is just Regina getting what she wants even if you have to bend the rules of reality to get it. And of course, we get lots of "oh everyone hates me everyone's lives are better without me" with lots of sad faces and annoyance from her about the tiny fact that, yep, she did ruin tons of lives and people would be better without her, but we cant acknowledge that anymore. Its just more poor Regina.

Wish Hook...oy. Great seeing him used as a cheap joke! So...great! 

Gideon is played by a pretty good actor, but his actions are just nonsensical unless you assume that he is deeply messed up in the head due to years of abuse by the Black Fairy. 

Spoiler

Of course knowing that the Black Fairy is controlling him just makes his motivations a complete waste of time and a cop out.

Edited August 5, 2019 by tennisgurl

[Camera One]

The Rumple/Bae relationship was more interesting because Rumple blamed himself for their separation (and he was mostly right).

Whereas did Rumple blame himself for what happened to Gideon?  Or did he blame The Black Fairy?  Did Belle blame Rumple for what happened to Gideon?  I mean, if Rumple didn't make the threat, would Belle have sent Gideon away into the forest?

Edited August 5, 2019 by Camera One

[KingOfHearts]

On 8/5/2019 at 2:59 PM, Camera One said:

Whereas did Rumple blame himself for what happened to Gideon?  Or did he blame The Black Fairy?  Did Belle blame Rumple for what happened to Gideon?  I mean, if Rumple didn't make the threat, would Belle have sent Gideon away into the forest?

Spoiler

He didn't turn out like Neal either. Despite not having a healthy mother or father, he grew up to be a "hero". He wasn't jaded and didn't reject Rumple like Neal did. Granted, Neal and Gideon had different circumstances, but Rumple's whole conflict was whether or not he could reconcile with his son. This was a critical character beat for him all the way back in S1. But for Gideon? His heart was controlled by the Black Fairy and he showed no ill will to his parents. Rumple and Belle even got to reboot him as a baby. So... where's the conflict?

[Camera One]

This line from the Rumple/Gideon scene:

Quote

"It is my fault after all, is it not?  I let the Black Fairy take you.  I couldn't protect you.  You go ahead.  Do it.  Hit me."

That completely glosses over how Rumple pretty much caused Belle to send Gideon away with the Blue Fairy.

Spoiler

But for Gideon? His heart was controlled by the Black Fairy

On rewatch, that makes all the Rumple/Gideon scenes in this episode pointless and a waste of time.