S06.E14: Page 23

[Shanna Marie]

6 minutes ago, Curio said:

That's literally Operation Mongoose in a nutshell. So that's why it feels like such a cheap ending...because it is.

Yikes, you're right! I'm still wrapping my head around the fact that the Wish Realm wasn't real and didn't count when Regina murdered Snow and Charming, but was real enough to be a place where the Evil Queen could go and have a happy ending with Wish Robin. In my mental happy place, Wish Henry tracks her down soon upon her arrival and executes her.

So, was Page 23 always a picture of Evil Queen Regina meeting Wish Robin at the tavern, or was it a what might have been for Original Recipe Regina?

[Curio]

3 hours ago, Shanna Marie said:

I'm still wrapping my head around the fact that the Wish Realm wasn't real and didn't count when Regina murdered Snow and Charming, but was real enough to be a place where the Evil Queen could go and have a happy ending with Wish Robin. In my mental happy place, Wish Henry tracks her down soon upon her arrival and executes her.

The Wish Realm is real, but A&E were just too chicken to admit it when Snow and Charming were murdered because they'd have to admit they were actually murdered. Also, by repeatedly saying it was fake, they were probably trying to trick people into believing Robin couldn't come back with Emma and Regina. But this episode makes the midseason finale even more excruciatingly painful to analyze because Regina was totally wrong about the Wish Realm. She told Emma everything was fake and to ignore it all, and Emma was naive and believed her. Regina and Emma ditched a real alternate version of their son. What if Emma had carelessly killed Old Hook? We now know that would have been a real different version of Hook she killed. Emma once again took Regina's word at gospel truth without questioning how she knows any of this, just like Operation Mongoose.

If there's a Season 7, it would be entertaining to check in on the Wish Realm people. Old Hook can finally track down Rumple and King Henry can execute the Evil Queen.

Quote

So, was Page 23 always a picture of Evil Queen Regina meeting Wish Robin at the tavern, or was it a what might have been for Original Recipe Regina?

Well, since the Evil Queen and Regina were the same person at one point on this show, I'd assume Page 23 is Regina's inner Evil Queen meeting her happy ending, but "Good" Regina's happy ending has yet to be determined. When Tinkerbelle used the pixie dust, it lead Regina to the tavern because fate knew Regina would eventually split herself into two separate people, so the pixie dust was pointing out the happy ending for one half of Regina's split personality. (Can we officially say Regina has multiple personality disorder?)

Edited March 27, 2017 by Curio

[RulerofallIsurvey]

I normally stay off the board until I've watched the episode, so I'm not spoiled.  But after last couple episodes, I figured it was better to be prepared (as someone else also said.)  So I watched some YouTube scenes yesterday and watched the entire episode today.  Some things I had to take a break from the ep to write down (because it was that frustrating I had to get it out!)  Most has already been said, I think, but I still feel the need to get it out.  :)

• I'm sure that guardsman who was loyal and doing his job to the best of his abilities until his neck was snapped like a twig was glad to hear that Flashback!Regina/EQ loved "all" of them and was capable of mercy.  Wait.  NM.  
• Yup.  That's the woman who 'deserves' a Happy Ending all right.  
• This Not!Robin has more sense than all the rest of the characters put together: "Couldn't you use magic to dig this hole?"  I was just thinking the same thing.  Bravo Ne'er Do Well Robin!  Too bad we can't keep you around.
• Since when were the Shears of Stupidity buried in a graveyard?  Doesn't seem very secure to me.
• Poor Hook.  He looked cold out on the docks.  His nose, cheeks, and ears were all red.  That modern leather jacket ain't keeping him warm enough.  He should go back to the pirate one.  ;)
• Oh waaahh...Regina whining about not getting her happy ending again.  With Snow White standing there whom the Other Half of Regina put under a curse.   File that under "crass and insensitive."  
• Ah, so now we know why it was so easy for Regina to crush Daddy's heart to enact the Dark Curse: he betrayed her after all.  Bastard deserved it.
• I guess Regina's hypocrite bug finally bit Emma.  How would Hook know that they "do things together" when she lied about the whole Savior Fate/Shakes thing and tried to handle that alone?  It was a shame though. As many times as Killian has been her cheerleader, the ONE TIME that he really needed support she lectures him instead.  And hands the ring back.  Damn.  I get her being mad.  But that's enough to call off the engagement?  That's rather brutal.  (Yeah, I know - I saw the comments about she left an opening for him - but if she really wanted to leave an opening, she shouldn't have handed the ring back.  That seemed like she'd already made up her mind to me.)
• So, last week after Regina's revelation it's back to 'all the damage You've caused' this week to the EQ.  Glad to see that moment of self-awareness stuck.  
• Why were the EQ's eyes all red?  Pollen from the Cupid's Arrow Realm?
• So totally with others wondering why Regina's heart is all Happy Shiny Red after she's crushed the heart of the EQ (remember back in the beginning of the season?), and crushed Not!Snowings' hearts - cause that shouldn't have caused a black spot at all, right?  This is the same Regina who couldn't forgive Zelena over a stupid feather.  Also - those hearts made a weird squishy sound when touched together and pulled apart.  It was kind of gross.
• My God - they managed to make Regina casting the Dark Curse a Good Thing, because otherwise she wouldn't have Henry, or her friends (you mean Snow White and the daughter you separated for 28 f'ing years?) or the town (that no one in the EF ever wanted!)  And as @Camera One pointed out: all the people she murdered.
• LOL!  And the EQ told Regina everything she knows about the sleeping curse, so of course it's much more important to make sure that the EQ gets a fresh start right away (like that second chance Regina gave Zelena...Oh Wait.  NM.) than to start working on undoing that sleeping curse on your friends whom you love.  
• See - since they had the EQ apologize to Snow, now they don't have to have Regina do it.  That's how A&E get out of that.  What do you mean she's not redeemed?  She didn't do all those bad things?  The EQ did!  And she apologized!  What else do you want?
• Henry's lack of schooling is really showing.  "The EQ went to the place where she could get a fresh start."  Snow might let him get away with that awful sentence, but MY third grade teacher would have been wanting to know what was this 'place'?  Did it have a name?  Oh I know, I know - it was phrased that way on purpose for the 'surprise!'  But the sentence structure sucked.
• The Snow hug and kiss on a cheek for Killian was very nice.  High point of the episode.  
• With the others [ @Shanna Marie and @Mathius  ]who do not feel sorry for Emma with her sad face looking out the window at the end.  You gave the ring back, sweetie, remember?  (That is SO high school drama queen, btw) What did you expect?

  • 19 hours ago, Curio said:

    (I don't know why Nemo thought they could leave Storybrooke because we just spent an entire episode on Robin and Zelena being unable to leave Storybrooke...unless the Nautilus is a special realm-hopper. Which, if that's the case, why did we spend an entire plot on Robin and Zelena attempting to escape Storybrooke only to fail? Why didn't they escape in the Nautilus?) 

    I think I asked the same thing in last week's episode thread.  Also, anyone notice the EQ stole the BF wand from Gold?  Gee - imagine that!

    18 hours ago, Rumsy4 said:

    The supposed original recipe is yet to apologize to Snow or Emma or make reparations to the thousands of other people whose lives she ruined, but she gets to make peace with her dead parents, her sister, and now--with herself. 

    And a random horse.  Don't forget the horse.  It was so important, it got nearly an entire episode unto itself.  Even though we never learned it's name.

    17 hours ago, Randomosity said:

    But I know plenty of people in real life who do move on that quickly (and not just after dating break-ups - after divorce, after broken engagements). It's mind-boggling to me every time I see it, but given that it's a thing that does happen, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they try to make it happen here with Emma.

    I think in those cases, it's usually because the 'relationship' is over way before the actual breakup.  That's not true in this case with Killian and Emma.   

    14 hours ago, KAOS Agent said:

    - Finally, I love Nemo. He can be Hook's best man.

    Oh yeah - I really like Nemo too.  

[thuganomics85]

Tinkerbelle!!  OK, it was only for one pointless scene, but I'll take it.  Always great seeing Rose McIver!  Can't wait for iZombie to return.  More of her and David Anders (Dr. Whale!) being awesome zombies!

Also great seeing Nemo again (and next week, I'm guessing), since Faran Tahir is never not awesome.  I enjoyed his advice to Hook, and how supportive and nonjudgemental he was.

Besides that, just another Regina episode, where she is the poor victim against the Evil Queen, they fight, and Regina defeats her.  But she once again, sees the "good in her", and instead of finishing EQ, does some stupid thing by mixing their hearts together (I swear, I never understand how these hearts work at al), so now both have lightness and darkness in them, and they aren't evil.  EQ gets her happy ending and goes back to the other realm, where she an Alt-Robin get their happy ending.  Kind of sucks that Alt-Robin is already gone, since I was kind of enjoying him.  At leas Sean Maguire got a few more paychecks.

The flashbacks were so predictable.  I knew Cupid's arrow as just going to reveal that Regina truly hates herself the most.  Yawn!

Meanwhile, Emma busts Hook trying to toss away his memories of killing Charming's daddy with the dreamcatcher, so now they are on the outs, again.  That's how this show goes, sadly.  Jennifer Morrison, Colin O'Donoghue, and their great chemistry vs. hacky writing and convoluted plots, to keep Emma and Hook apart.  I'm sure they'll eventually work it out and even get married (probably by season ten....), but until then, enjoy the angst!

Gideon's plan now require Hook to be out of the picture.  Hmm...

A lot of the cast got the week of for this one!  Josh Dallas was on baby-duty, Robert Carlyle was hopefully doing something better, and who knows what Emile De Ravin is up to.

Zelena somehow wins line of the episode with "Heroes are so gullible."  For this show in particular, that is extremely accurate.

[AudienceofOne]

21 hours ago, Senna said:

Yeah, the dreamcatcher scene was contrivance of the most bizarre kind.  They might as well have had Emma read the secret in Hook's secret diary under the mattress.  But at least the secret is no longer polluting the air and we can move along.

Oh please, God, somebody write the Hook diary up as a blog.

Dear Diary...

[Camera One]

3 hours ago, Curio said:

Wow, I literally just made the connection that the resolution to this Double Regina plot is exactly the same plan Regina and Henry had for Operation Dumbass. This entire plot ended with Regina convincing The Author to give her a happy ending. That's literally Operation Mongoose in a nutshell. So that's why it feels like such a cheap ending...because it is.

Snow made an excellent point that Henry writing the Evil Queen's story is against the rules.  Henry said it's an exception because she's not in his book or whatever, but she is!  She was inside of Regina the whole time!  This "happy ending" was beyond idiotic.  

And as others have pointed out, the utter unfairness of The Evil Queen being able to *have* a happy ending in the Fake Realm and we should feel happy for her (cue the rousing music) but we're NOT supposed to care about Wish Henry or Wish Snowing whose lives would now be miserable or nonexistent.

[AudienceofOne]

Basically, this episode was unwatchably bad. The idea the Evil Queen's 'happy ending' was somehow inspiration for other 'villains' like Hook was just offensive to this character. I couldn't watch half of it. It was terrible.

[Mathius]

32 minutes ago, Camera One said:

And as others have pointed out, the utter unfairness of The Evil Queen being able to *have* a happy ending in the Fake Realm and we should feel happy for her (cue the rousing music) but we're NOT supposed to care about Wish Henry or Wish Snowing whose lives would now be miserable or nonexistent.

Don't forget, Rumple is now free from his cell there too.  So basically, A&E turned a wish realm of Emma's that was based around an AU fans wanted to see for a long time into a realm where only Regina and Rumple live happily ever after.  Why am I not surprised?

[KAOS Agent]

Quote

Snow made an excellent point that Henry writing the Evil Queen's story is against the rules.  Henry said it's an exception because she's not in his book or whatever, but she is!  She was inside of Regina the whole time!  This "happy ending" was beyond idiotic.  

It's completely untrue since this show loves to pretend that Regina and the Evil Queen are different people. You know who features heavily in the book? The Evil Queen. Not to mention this is some seriously fucked up morality that it's totally cool to mess with people who aren't in the book. So Henry could write fanfic lives for his friends in New York and it's fine. Any future girlfriends can be messed with as well since they aren't in his authorial no-no zone. Writing yourself or anyone else a happy ending was shown to be a bad thing in the S5 finale. It's totally cool now. Removing the Darkness and sharing it with someone else, not cool in 4B, also fine now.

[tennisgurl]

Also, I just feel weird about Regina's whole "I love me" realization this week. It reminded me a lot of another scene like it, back in Neverland where Regina and Snow were tied up by Regret Vines (I swear, I remember that, but I remember not a single thing I learned in college geometry...) and Regina got away by admitting she regretting nothing because it got her Henry. It was supposed to be badass, but it was actually pretty fucked up, considering everything she's done, and how even then they were giving her a redemption arc. Its the same thing here. It was supposed to be a heartwarming moment of self actualization and self love, but really it came off as disturbing to me. To most people, I would be cheering. Regina is not most people. "Do I regret not walking through that door, and finding love and maybe not having become a bloody dictator who murdered, tortured, and imprisoned countless innocent people, used a guy as a sex slave, and used black magic to curse a whole nation over some dumb mistake a kid made who was trying to help me? NO WAY! It all worked out for ME, so its all good! My victims? Sucks to be them!"

Edited March 28, 2017 by tennisgurl

[Curio]

19 minutes ago, KAOS Agent said:

It's completely untrue since this show loves to pretend that Regina and the Evil Queen are different people. You know who features heavily in the book? The Evil Queen. 

 

 

 

It was just a cheap way to explain away the logic. Of course the Evil Queen is in the book, because up until the split, Regina and the Evil Queen were the same person. Regina even started correcting herself a little bit this season by saying "I" instead of "Evil Queen." 

Is this why the writers never bothered to have any of the characters chastise Regina for Operation Dumbass way back in Season 4? During Season 4 episode discussions, we talked about how strange it was that none of the characters said anything like, "Wow, I guess that Author plan wasn't the greatest idea," or, "Wait a second, Hook just gave Ursula a happy ending. Doesn't that go against everything about Regina's plan to force the Author to write her a happy ending?" But if it was always A&E's plan to have Author Henry give Regina a happy ending, then it makes sense why everyone gave up 100 IQ points in Season 4 and never bothered to question Regina's baseless claim that the Author could help her even though it defied all logic. Operation Dumbass was a shortcut to getting Regina's happy ending, yet this is what the writers went with to resolve Regina's series-long battle with herself? They chose the shortcut?

What story does Regina even have left to tell at this point in the series? She's best friends with Snow and the Charming family, Henry seems to like Regina more than Emma these days, she has a happy ending with Robin somewhere in the universe, she's mayor of Storybrooke, she still lives in her fancy mansion and gets to wear her fancy clothes, she apparently does light magic now according to A&E, and she's friendly with Zelena. Unless they decide to reverse Regina's baby issue or give her another love interest this late in the game, I think this character has reached the end of the road. I kind of wish this was Regina's sendoff episode because Lana did some great acting and it pretty much was 90% Regina for the whole hour, but I have a feeling they're going to try and squeeze Regina into plots later on in the season that she doesn't necessarily belong in.

Edited March 28, 2017 by Curio

[Vyk]

19 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

Yes, God forbid we get one from Regina. Hell, even the Evil Queen apologized!

In case it's been forgotten, Regina did finally apologize to Snow way back during the Zelena arc in season three.  Or if not that, then at the very least, she owned up to what she'd done to her.

[KAOS Agent]

Nope, Snow apologized. Regina said it was complicated.

[LaChavalina]

23 hours ago, Senna said:

But at least the secret is no longer polluting the air and we can move along.

Only "no longer polluting" between CS. No doubt we have more obfuscation ahead, building to a tortured reveal between Charming and Killian at some future point.

[Camera One]

I really enjoyed the Snow/Killian scene, but I can't believe that to the Writers, SHE was the one to learn a lesson in this episode...

SNOW: And tonight reminded me of something that I hope I never forget again - love can save even the darkest souls.  You just have to believe in it.

Tsk tsk for forgetting and showing anger towards someone who cursed you away from your husband.  There's that dark spot growing again. 

So what are the Writers saying, the characters should just hold hands and believe that Gideon won't try to kill Emma?  Because that worked so well in "Tougher Than The Rest".

Edited March 28, 2017 by Camera One

[KingOfHearts]

Quote

Tsk tsk for forgetting and showing anger towards someone who cursed you away from your husband.  There's that dark spot growing again. 

I thought doubting the Evil Queen was out of character for Lobotomized!Snow. She believed in Regina after she put her under a sleeping curse, threatened to kill David, attempted to kill her daughter multiple times, and cursed her people in a living hell for 28 years. She didn't need an apology from her, but she needed one from her clone?

It cracks me up to think Regina's True Love is - surprise - herself!

Edited March 28, 2017 by KingOfHearts

[Camera One]

I'm just glad we got Non-Lobotomized Snow for 2 minutes.  It makes sense this is fueled by her lack of restful sleep and the current sleeping curse.

Meanwhile, Lobotomized Henry was back in full force in this episode.

LOL that Snow was running around in the snow when she could have, you know, called their cell phones?  Maybe it was just an excuse to stay awake longer.

Edited March 28, 2017 by Camera One

[Curio]

11 minutes ago, KingOfHearts said:

I thought doubting the Evil Queen was out of character for Lobotomized!Snow.

 

I agree. I mean, sure, I was happy Snow finally had a normal human reaction to the Evil Queen, but she's always been the character who shows too much mercy and forgiveness to Regina/EQ.

Also, it's kind of sad that Nemo can read Killian better than Emma. It took Nemo like 2 seconds to ask Hook what was wrong because he knew something was bothering him.

Edited March 28, 2017 by Curio

[Noneofyourbusiness]

Such a beautiful ending for someone who was making death threats and rape threats so very recently. We can all smile about this.

I called the Shears being used to separate the two Reginas way back when.

[hockeycat400]

Yeah, I kind of felt not-sorry for Emma when she was waiting for Killian to come home that night.   What did she expect, after what she said and did to him?  Huge CS fan here, but I was not happy with our girl...

The only solace I can take from her giving the ring back, is that we get another proposal...hopefully done properly this time.  ;)

[Curio]

4 minutes ago, hockeycat400 said:

The only solace I can take from her giving the ring back, is that we get another proposal...hopefully done properly this time.  ;)

 

Basically the one silver lining here. Except I hope Emma does the proposing because if I were Hook, I'd have no idea what Emma wants in a man anymore because she left the ultimatum so vague.

[Camera One]

The Writer Brigitte Hales answered a lot of questions on Twitter.  Here are some that might clarify what happened.

jess‏ @herhookedhero  21h21 hours ago
 @InkTankGirl my friend @swanhooked and I are kinda in disagreement of whether or not Killian was going to tell Emma he was leaving. Was he?

Brigitte Hales‏ @InkTankGirl
@herhookedhero @swanhooked That's for you to decide. I know what I think.

-------------

Violet¹‏ @Pirate_of_CS  22h22 hours ago
 @InkTankGirl why hadn't Emma notice that something was off with Killian before she saw him with the dreamcatcher?
Brigitte Hales @InkTankGirl 
@Pirate_of_CS I like to think she did.

Edited March 28, 2017 by Camera One

[KingOfHearts]

Those responses sound exactly like Adam. Keeping things vague does not work in their favor.

[Rumsy4]

8 hours ago, Arnella said:

Just keep going Killian - even going to hell and back for this woman won't get the forgiveness and acceptance that Regina gets for just being Woegina. 

The REC taints everything. All the Regina-worshippers come across as hypocritical when they react one way to Regina, and the opposite to other people. 

6 hours ago, Curio said:

Wow, I literally just made the connection that the resolution to this Double Regina plot is exactly the same plan Regina and Henry had for Operation Dumbass. This entire plot ended with Regina convincing The Author to give her a happy ending. That's literally Operation Mongoose in a nutshell. So that's why it feels like such a cheap ending...because it is.

Yup. Operation Dumbass finally came into fruition. And it was dumber than even we imagined.

Edited March 28, 2017 by Rumsy4

[KAOS Agent]

I'm confused as to what burning the dreamcatcher would do. Does it remove Hook's memory of the event forever? 

[Shanna Marie]

2 minutes ago, KAOS Agent said:

I'm confused as to what burning the dreamcatcher would do. Does it remove Hook's memory of the event forever? 

That was my impression, that he somehow (without magic) pulled out that particular memory, and burning the dreamcatcher would have removed that memory. I guess it would have been too much to ask Rumple to brew him some of that memory tea.

Really, though, it makes some sense, and when you think about it, might have been the least harmful option. Telling the others wouldn't really help them, and would likely cause them some pain. David's made some peace with the fact that George ordered the killing, and David can go on without having George in his day-to-day life. But learning the full truth wouldn't be a comfort to anyone. Even if Hook told and they forgave him, he still had to live with it, and as he said, he couldn't look at them across the table. If they didn't forgive, then Emma has to choose between her parents and her love. They stuck together in a small town, so it would have been hard to avoid them. Maybe letting Hook remove those memories would have been kindest to him and to her parents.

[Curio]

12 minutes ago, KAOS Agent said:

I'm confused as to what burning the dreamcatcher would do. Does it remove Hook's memory of the event forever? 

I'm glad I'm not the only one who was confused about this at first. I was confused why Emma was so upset, but then I eventually connected the dots that he was deleting those memories from his brain. But I didn't even make the connection that he was going to throw the dreamcatcher in the fire at first, the only thing I was thinking was, "That's a nicely framed shot. Is Hook cold? The flames look pretty." 

Didn't they establish in Season 5 that using dreamcatchers to retrieve memories is dark magic? Either Hook has learned how to brew dark magic potions on the side or he still has some dormant Dark One powers.

Edited March 28, 2017 by Curio

[Camera One]

In "Dreamcatcher", Regina tells Emma that dreamcatchers are super dangerous, super dark magic.  Stay away everyone.

[Curio]

17 minutes ago, XrystalPond said:

Plus when Emma was making her excuses to Snow about why they weren't planning a wedding yet, why didn't she bring up the sleeping curse. "Mom, I can't wait to plan the wedding. I just kind of hoped both my parents would be awake for it."

 

 

But that would have detracted from Regina's happy ending. We can't keep reminding the audience about what Regina did to the Charmings if she's supposed to live happily ever after with Robin at the end of the hour.

Edited March 28, 2017 by Curio

[KingOfHearts]

Ugh. I'm rewatching 5A right now, when Emma was playing mind games and using artificial magic means to "fix" her problems. It really makes her look hypocritical in this episode, because Dark Swan was ten times worse than Hook and his dreamcatcher. Emma has such a long history of lying, and it continued in S6. But, you know, after her secret about dying was revealed, everyone got on her case too. Hook included. 

Edited March 28, 2017 by KingOfHearts

[Camera One]

my princess‏ @ahoyodallas  
 @InkTankGirl a scene you wrote but didn't make the cut?

Brigitte Hales‏ @InkTankGirl
@ahoyodallas Well, considering the many drafts of the Emma/Hook fight and the Regina/EQ redemption... it feels like a lot didn't make it.

-------

Is she talking about the draft she submitted at the end?  Or the previous drafts?

It looks like she definitely wrote all the Emma/Hook stuff.  I'm not sure how they divided the Regina stuff.

[InsertWordHere]

I want to be happy for long-haired and even more snarky Regina and Wish!Robin, because I actually enjoyed their rapport, but then I remembered that according to short-haired business casual Regina, there's always been chemistry between her and Rumple. Is long-haired and elaborately-dressed Regina going to be secretly pining for Wish!Imp!Rumple? Will Wish!Imp!Rumple reciprocate since Wish!Belle is dead? Or is there yet another Regina (Wish!EvilQueen!Regina) around to be paired with Wish!Imp!Singleandlovingit!Rumple? Will Drunk!Overweight!Hook do something silly and mischievous while failing at life? Does anyone besides Wishmyfamilywasstillalive!Henry care that the King and Queen are dead? Tune in next week on As the Wish World Turns!

[Camera One]

Oh yeah, where's the actual Evil Queen in the Wish Realm.  Maybe they can do another heart meld.  I guess for those who are so happy for the EQ, don't think too hard because life in the Wish Realm would really suck, what with Wish Rumple trying to kill her, Wish Shady Robin being totally noncommittal, Wish Henry hating her guts, non-drunk Wish Villagers despising her, etc. etc. etc.

Edited March 28, 2017 by Camera One

[Rumsy4]

Yay! A version of Robin who doesn't have children, and a clone of Regina who was happy to leave her son behind are together in a Realm where they're both wanted criminals, and the Dark One is after them. Happily Ever After, indeed! 

59 minutes ago, Camera One said:

Oh yeah, where's the actual Evil Queen in the Wish Realm.  

It will be awesome when they meet. What a love fest it will be! Young EQ can snark at the crow's feet on the older EQ.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

On 3/26/2017 at 6:04 PM, Mari said:

We had to spend an entire hour while  Regina lived out A&E's fanfiction of  a Whitney Houston song?  Because, sorry--Whitney did it better.

I was going to make a joke about her cover of "I'm Every Woman" (instead of "The Greatest Love of All") and then I remembered these lyrics:

I can cast a spell, of secrets you can tell
Mix a special brew, put fire inside of you
Anytime you feel danger or fear
Then instantly I will appear cause
I'm every woman, it's all in me

On 3/26/2017 at 8:04 PM, Frozendiva said:

She misses the more over-the-top wardrobe. The tiaras, the sequins, compared to boring business wear.

Yeah, that lame hat last week is nothing compared to the crazy headdresses from the EQ!

5 hours ago, Camera One said:

The Writer Brigitte Hales answered a lot of questions on Twitter.  Here are some that might clarify what happened.

jess‏ @herhookedhero  21h21 hours ago
 @InkTankGirl my friend @swanhooked and I are kinda in disagreement of whether or not Killian was going to tell Emma he was leaving. Was he?

Brigitte Hales‏ @InkTankGirl
@herhookedhero @swanhooked That's for you to decide. I know what I think.

-------------

Violet¹‏ @Pirate_of_CS  22h22 hours ago
 @InkTankGirl why hadn't Emma notice that something was off with Killian before she saw him with the dreamcatcher?
Brigitte Hales @InkTankGirl 
@Pirate_of_CS I like to think she did.

 

5 hours ago, KingOfHearts said:

Those responses sound exactly like Adam. Keeping things vague does not work in their favor.

I don't understand why writers/showrunners bother to respond to twitter questions if they're not going to provide any actual answers. They might as well just auto reply with "That's for me to know and you to find out."

[OnceUponAJen]

7 hours ago, LaChavalina said:

Only "no longer polluting" between CS. No doubt we have more obfuscation ahead, building to a tortured reveal between Charming and Killian at some future point.

I fully expect that to happen offscreen

[Mitch]

Stupid episode..but Parrila should get an award for saying some of those lines with a straight face."There is no telling what evil she is up to!"

Okay so Regina wants to face off the EQ on her own..I get..but wouldn't it be smart to have back up...just in case the EQ won. She has the savior and the a super strong witch sitting there..shouldn't they have at least been waiting outside to attack EQ if she won? What did they say, "Hey Regina good luck, I'm going to go home and watch Walking Dead and Zelena said she had some laundry to do so give us a call tomorrow and let us know how it went." All of these characters just deserve to die for their stupid plans.

So is the dream world real or not? So Regina did just kill the Charmings...these writers are about the laziest writers on earth. The EQ split thing would have worked better at the end of S2, after Cora dies Regina splits herself and then the EQ could have done all the dumb whack job things they had Regina do, like the Fail Safe..( Regina should have been totaly depowered with the split, so I would have had the EQ lock her up somewhere why she pranced around and then Regina had to actually use her brain to get out and warn the others...) then Regina could have made peace with her bad side and absorbed her and then the show could have moved on instead of this constant back and forth.

Zelena has become the character that Regina should have been..not EVIL, and actively killing people but out for herself and totally dismissive of the "heroes" and their stupidity. Too bad the writers dont know how to write for anyone "in between" and can only write cardboard villains and heroes.

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

There's A Thin Line Between Love And Hate On Once Upon A Time, But What About Self-Loathing?

It's Regina vs. the Evil Queen in an episode of creative camera angles and bitterness.

[maryle]

Only watched the cs scene for now.

I kinda know what they did with OQ and sound so cheesy! and easy for Regina.

But, I totally buy both Emma and Hook in their reaction.  

Actually, I loved how Emma was not over dramatic or yelling.  She was much more hurt that Hook didn't include her.

Hook angst was also raw throughout all his scene my favorite is the Snow Hook scene. I saw  so much layers in that scene. 

Jen and Colin really sold all their scene but cs definitely is entering in soap territory maybe it is really a blessing for cs as a ship that the show is so close to his end. 

[Olivia Y]

"...knowing that I destroyed [your family] too."

Okay how does this make any sense whatsoever? Wasn't David's father about to be killed anyway? If it had been that he was about to be saved by someone and then Hook comes along to kill him then I could...sort of understand? But the way the story actually plays out...I have no idea how any of their trains of thought work. 

And if David's father hadn't been killed...then what? David would've had both parents, but that wouldn't have stopped King George from coming and forcing him to take James' place after James was killed, and the rest of the story wouldn't really change would it?

The sword fight was just...ugh. These are two people who are supposedly so powerful, and they choose to use swords? (Okay they switched to magic soon after, which just highlights how stupid that was.) And yeah, the resolution was cringe-worthy. If EQ was redeemable, and that there's 'good' inside her, does that mean they can just keep splitting up and still have both 'good' and 'evil' and...ARGH WTF. 

The actors on this show really should get some sort of award purely for being able to deliver these lines with a straight face and even pretend like they're taking this seriously. Honestly, how does a show with so many fantastic actors come up with something so ridiculously awful? (And why can't I stop watching? Argh.)

[Camera One]

2 minutes ago, Olivia Y said:

And if David's father hadn't been killed...then what? David would've had both parents, but that wouldn't have stopped King George from coming and forcing him to take James' place after James was killed, and the rest of the story wouldn't really change would it?

That's a good point because they've explored David so rarely and in such a limited way that we have no idea how losing his dad affected his personality.  Except "White Out" when we found out it made him into a total loser who needed Anna to give him courage.

[Shanna Marie]

6 minutes ago, Olivia Y said:

And if David's father hadn't been killed...then what? David would've had both parents, but that wouldn't have stopped King George from coming and forcing him to take James' place after James was killed, and the rest of the story wouldn't really change would it?

I don't think David would have had two parents, no matter what Hook did. There was no chance that George was going to let Robert live, and finding him would have been pretty easy. If Hook had let Robert go, there would have been a really good chance that George's men, or possibly the constable, paid off by George, would have arrested Robert for the murders of those guards (get the inconvenient person out of the way plus discredit him in case he'd said anything to anyone), so instead of David having a dad he thought died in a drunk carting accident, he'd have had a dad executed for murder. Best-case scenario might have been Hook taking Robert with him. David still grows up without a dad, maybe thinking he abandoned the family, but Robert's able to come back home just before the curse or ends up in Storybrooke before he gets home.

But it's typical of Hook to take full responsibility for his bad actions. David losing his father was bad, Hook killed his father, therefore, Hook sees himself as responsible, whether or not it would have changed anything.

The episode has finally showed up on demand, but I may wait until later in the week to watch it.

[chrisvee]

It's hard to take the CS drama seriously when Hook is held to such a higher standard than Regina and Rumple. His crimes are treated as more serious and his redemptive acts are given less weight.

[jhlipton]

On 3/26/2017 at 9:21 PM, Katherine said:

How can we root for a couple when one murdered the other's grandparent?

Here's the thing that bothers me the most about this:  Hook did not murder David's dad and Emma's grandfather.  He murdered some random peasant (obviously one of many if he didn't know who it was before the picture).  That this random peasant is related to everyone is more the fault of the Storybrooke genealogy chart than any error on Hook's part.  When has anyone said to Rumple, "But you're Emma's father-in-law baby-daddy's daddy!"?

On 3/27/2017 at 1:04 AM, Camera One said:

I love how Lana looks at that arrow. It's such a tiny little thing but it's why every single writer on staff loves writing for her.

Guh.  No wonder the writing forRegina sucks.

On 3/27/2017 at 7:50 AM, PixiePaws1 said:

https://bromfieldhall.tumblr.com/image/158880958137

 Brigitte Hales responding to the question of Killian leaving without leaving Emma a message.

"He didn't know he was leaving.  He packed his bags and headed to the pier but he didn't know he was leaving."  TSTW

19 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I was going to make a joke about her cover of "I'm Every Woman" (instead of "The Greatest Love of All") and then I remembered these lyrics:

Too bad neither Regina said "let's dance" before their battle:

[KingOfHearts]

Quote

Yay! A version of Robin who doesn't have children, and a clone of Regina who was happy to leave her son behind are together in a Realm where they're both wanted criminals, and the Dark One is after them. Happily Ever After, indeed! 

I have a feeling whatever Robin and EQ do in the Wish Realm will be infinitely more interesting than the rest of 6B. 

[Mathius]

Quote

I love how Lana looks at that arrow. It's such a tiny little thing but it's why every single writer on staff loves writing for her.

All the writers having a perma-boner for Lana / Regina confirmed.

Not that we needed the confirmation at this point, but still.

[Camera One]

I don't remember how she looked when she looked at that arrow.  How about it, everyone... we all do a rewatch tomorrow?

Edited March 29, 2017 by Camera One

[InsertWordHere]

12 minutes ago, Camera One said:

I don't remember how she looked when she looked at that arrow.  How about it, everyone... we all do a rewatch tomorrow?

I just remembered, I have to uh clean the inside of my toaster tomorrow. It could take a long time. What a shame. You guys have fun though.

[Shanna Marie]

2 hours ago, Camera One said:

How about it, everyone... we all do a rewatch tomorrow?

I have to torture small children on Wednesday nights. I'm planning to actually watch the episode without tornado warnings Thursday night. (Posting this while monitoring radar during yet another bad storm -- and guess what the forecast for Sunday night is?)

[Rumsy4]

3 hours ago, Camera One said:

I don't remember how she looked when she looked at that arrow.  How about it, everyone... we all do a rewatch tomorrow?

Sorry--I can't rewatch because I haven't watched the episode yet. Another time, perhaps.