DigificWriter

I'm not sure what you're referring to, exactly, with your last sentence. Care to elaborate (provided you can without going exceedingly off-topic)?

My first inclination is also to say that they sent her back to Boston, but I don't know if a national database on foster care and adoption existed back in 1998. If one didn't, I'm not sure how they would know she was part of the Mass. foster care system and had come from Boston, since I don't think that's something Lily would've shared with her father or with authorities.

freifraufischer

Oh, just that they insisted and still insist that Regina's adoption of Henry was legal, but when you actually see her adoption it was full of irregularities. No home visits, no social services people. A town that doesn't actually exist.

I basically think they would rather hand wave through a lot of the outside world's bureaucracy.

DigificWriter

Thanks for the answer.

There are definitely some unanswered questions about how Henry's adoption was legalized given the irregularities in the situation into which he was sent, but I don't think that's a situation that you can realistically compare to Emma's because, unlike Henry, she spent most of her life directly subject to the 'outside world's bureaucracy', as you put it.

I'm really interested in finding out for sure whether or not the Snow Queen/Sarah Fisher was a foster parent for Emma or the matron of a group home, as this episode didn't really make that clear. I also can't wait to see what else they tell us about Emma's backstory.

freifraufischer

I'm also really excited about this part of the story. In my mind i'm leaning towards group home matron because the kid she was yelling at described Emma as "the new girl", which implies a certain amount of revolving door. And I just felt like there were a fair number of kids in the background news of the video.

DigificWriter

^ Good point; this might also indicate that she WASN'T sent back to Boston.

As an aside, I'm waiting for some confirmation on something that might disprove my statements about Lily being a one-shot character. I can't really talk about it further, though, because it's spoilery.

Austenphile

I found it rather odd that Will asked Snow if she was married to Emma when he had seen Emma on a date with Hook and he knew there were two sheriffs. It came across like the writers just wanted to show acceptance of gay marriage because they have been given a lot of flak for not having gay characters. Otherwise it was a complete retcon of the prior episode.

And nitpicky but Snow as a mayor cannot pardon anyone. And since Will has not been convicted just tried he wouldn't need pardoning just the charges dropped. And since the DAs office was last held by a man who was imprisoned in the dungeon for committing murder then the mayor's office would be presumably the one who could drop charges so that phrase would make more sense. The comparison of a US mayor to an all powerful Queen is really rubbing me the wrong way and I am a huge Snow fan.

fox24

They also retcon this episode cause Hook and Emma kissed right in front of him

Austenphile

I haven't seen the whole episode and didn't know that but it really didn't make any sense. Will would have known she meant David. And while David has dark blond hair, no one would refer to him as the blonde when compared to Emma. Extremely odd encounter all the way around between Will and Snow. She and Charming look for a long time but just as soon as she gives up and goes home she hears him. No wonder she thought it was a setup. In fact the only way it would have made any sense would have been if Charming and Will had set it up.

And Will was in the first curse. He would have known who Emma was, who Snow and Charming were, and their familial connections. Of course we were also expected to think that Bo Peep had no idea that David was joint ruler in the EF and married to Snow.

Catcollar

I just thought Will was being his snarky self when he asked Snow if she was married to Emma. The knave enjoys irritating authority.

fox24

Or maybe he thought Emma was having Hook on the side. I think during the first curse Will never left the rabbit hole so he didnt know the politics of the town

Austenphile

That is the only explanation that makes any sense. But he still came across as an idiot (and I love Will). It was just a stupid exchange to include.

DR76

That would mean Henry should legally be in the care of some outsider who does not live in Storybrooke or part of a foster care system either in Arizona or Boston.

Emma's record as a lousy and abusive law enforcement officer marches on. Why did she keep Will behind bars for breaking into the library for a book and passing out drunk for so long? And she feeds him a half-eaten Pop Tart? We're supposed to find this funny? I didn't. I didn't find it no more funny than I did the relationship between Vince Vaughn and Isla Fisher in "THE WEDDING CRASHERS". Again, this is Kitsis and Horowitz's idea of law enforcement?

I'm still confused about who is supposed to be more powerful. Someone earlier claimed that the snow monster that Regina had destroyed in the premiere was Elsa's creation. Yet . . . Elsa was powerful enough to break free of the Snow Queen's chains and knock the latter off her keister. So was Emma in a previous episode. And yet . . . neither Emma or Regina wasn't powerful enough to destroy this new monster on their own or deal with the Snow Queen? Again . . . inconsistencies.

Speaking of inconsistencies, the screenplay had Regina state that she had imprisoned Sidney behind a mirror twice. Huh? She only did it once . . . in the Season 4 premiere, like I said. HE was the one who had originally imprisoned himself back in Season 1 in order to be close to her.

fox24

I think Henry adoption is supposed to be legal but I don't think AE did research on how to have a legal adoption tv show a ton of unrealistic stuff when it comes to law, medicine, sometimes school. Therefore, I drink the kool aid and accept it

Darley1101

I found this episode interesting. It felt like a "push" episode; not exactly full of major plot points but still very relevant to the story arc. When you put aside personal feelings about whether or not the writers have gone stale, you start putting together little pieces of the puzzle.

-Snow hasn't fully adjusted to the way this world thinks. If she had she wouldn't have "pardoned" will. That is the act of a Queen, not a mayor. I don't think that was over-sight on the writers part but rather the mindset of a character.

-Belle babysitting Baby Neal (I wonder if he will still be known as baby Neal when he is an adult?) while Snow and David have a night out felt like foreshadowing. Perhaps I am reaching, but it wouldn't be completely ridiculous to speculate that a pregnancy or the desire to have a child is the catalyst that pushes Belle into laying it all out there for Rumple: change for me and our child/possible child or else. (Just me speculating here)

-Regina is a favorite of mine so perhaps I am being biased but I didn't feel that she was too whiny. Not in this episode. Not in this season. Even if she had been it wouldn't be completely out of character given what she has faced this season. She found her soul mate, she opened herself up to the possibilities of love, only to lose it all when Emma brought Marian back. Correct me if I am wrong but any woman who has gone through that has the right to be on edge, to complain, to whine a bit. We often forget that the timeline of the show isn't the same as ours. You can have 5 episodes (5 weeks for us) take place in one day. She is still mourning the loss of her relationship. Let her have her pity party. All that aside, this is Regina we are talking about. Has she ever really progressed past the angry 17/18 year old who was physically and mentally abused by her mother, and had to watch that same mother rip the heart out of the boy she loved?

-Emma/Lily. I am rather torn on that front. Part of me thinks/feels Lily is a "push" character, or as someone else put it a one shot deal. I am inclined to think she was a one shot deal. She was used to give us a glimpse into Emma's past. The fact that Emma hasn't mentioned her before is really neither her nor there. It could be something as simple as she just doesn't like talking about that part of her life. Or it could be those memories were pushed aside or lost when the Snow Queen did whatever she did to alter Emma's memory.

-Snow Queen/Emma: I must say I am disappointed that they chose the Snow Queen as Emma's former foster mother. It just feels like an easy excuse to connect the two. That is just personal feelings and if you feel otherwise, I respect that.

-Snow Queen's desire for a family: To be fair we don't know her motive for wanting a family. Or rather children in her life. I don't know how many of you know the story of the original Snow Queen (check out a summary here) but it wouldn't be unrealistic for her to want children for nefarious purposes. She doesn't have to be misunderstood or looking for happiness.

DR76

Has anyone? People . . . even adults . . . have a habit of regressing to childish behavior. Emma still refuses to accept that her change of the timeline was a dangerous and reckless thing to do. Rumpel still behaves very selfishly at times. We have even seen Snow regress to a childish temper tantrum on a few occasions - even as far back as this season's second episode. Regina regressing to mild childish behavior is not something that is unique to her character . . . at least for me.



Or she could be looking for happiness. I thought I saw a brief, tender expression on her face when she finally stated her desire for a family. If the Snow White simply wanted children for nefarious reasons and nothing, she would end up as nothing more than a one-note villain. And I cannot see Elizabeth Mitchell being satisfied in portraying such a character.