DR76

Actually, Emma, Zelena, Regina, Rumpel, Hook, Snow, and David all have backstories that I found particularly disturbing.

Emma spent her childhood and adolescence as a foster child and a convicted thief. Zelena was abandoned by her birth mother and had to deal with a stepfather who disliked her and treated her like a servant. Regina was raised by an emotionally abusive mother and an ineffective father. She also had to witness the death of her first love. Rumpel was abandoned at a young age by a father who did not seemed to care for him. Hook and his brother were abandoned by their father. And later, Hook had to witnessed the death of his older brother, due to the machinations of some king. Snow's mother was killed when she was in her early teens. Her father was killed when she was in her late teens. And she spent a decade on the run as a wanted woman. David was raised in abject poverty by a loving mother and a father who was a raging alcoholic. Yeah. Crappy backstories . . . all of them.


As much as I liked this story, I do have a few questions. Why did Snow give up being mayor of Storybrooke? How did Rumpel know that the Cherynabog would come out of the hat, along with the fairies? After all, other magical beings . . . like the apprentice . . . got sucked into the hat. In fact, the apprentice was sucked into the hat before the fairies. How did Rumpel know that the Cherynabog would go after Emma and not Regina, Hook or anyone else? He didn't witness what happened. Neither did Ursula or Cruella.

Not all of Emma's choices have been right. Like everyone else, she has made her share of bad choices.

Austenphile

Thanks for pointing out that all of those characters have disturbing backstories. A lot of people miss that point and just assign the rough childhood to some characters and say the others had it easier.

Loved this episode. It was a great setup to exploring that anyone can make a bad choice. Or a good choice.

DR76

And she has the potential for evil. This is a woman who used to be a thief and still drives around in a stolen vehicle. And "Savior" or not, she has the potential for evil like everyone else. Emma has not come across the right situation that would send her over the edge. Even Regina needed an extra push by Rumpel to send her over the edge, despite her anger toward Snow at the time.

Belleislove

This is something minor but it was pointed out elsewhere and it's true.

Why is it they can have Rumple walking around in a bathrobe around Ursula but on his honeymoon with his wife in bed, he's fully dressed?

fox24

Lol

CityGal

Okay, THIS cracked me up!

Belleislove

Just think about it.

Anyway, it's been awhile since I've watched the whole episode all the way through, live, and enjoyed every part of it. Nothing huge happened but it had a lot of sweet/funny moments and was a set up to the rest of the season.

Kelaine

It was C.S. Lewis who said, "It is a stronger angel, and therefore, when it falls, a fiercer devil." Emma's potential as a child of True Love and as the Savior, with the special magic that combination gave her, points her towards a lot of light magic--and, arguably, towards becoming a greater evil if she falls.

That also means that the "Queens of Darkness" may not be so evil (yet). Maleficent in particular has done things like warn Regina against casting the curse (and trying to stop her), saying she is over her grudge with Aurora's mother, and (at the beginning of this episode) going after Ursula for attacking one of her servants.

Ursula can be trusted to come back to rescue Maleficent and (it seems) to keep her deal with Rumple.

Cruella, on the other hand, was more concerned over her (apparently magical) coat and her car than she was over arrest of the man I assume was her husband.

So, Ursula and Maleficent are more evil by rep than by their own actions (so far). Cruella would shoot an unarmed man with no magic in the middle of the street.

fox24

I think Cruella probably married the dude for money lol

Kelaine

Since everyone's been asking how Emma can suddenly have all this dark potential, I thought I'd answer:

"It is a stronger angel, and therefore, when it falls, a fiercer devil," or so C.S. Lewis said.

Which is more devastating to a child? To be abandoned by a stranger or by a parent? Who has the greater power to betray? A person in a position of trust or a compulsive liar? The same skills that make doctors gifted healers can make for some really grisly murders (or so say a lot of murder novels).

The potential good the person can do--as a parent, a trusted leader, or a doctor--is also the measure of the potential evil. It's not that the person will do terrible evil, it's that the person can do it. Chernabog sensed potential not actual evil.

That's just potential harm the person can do. In the same lines, it's also been said that there is nothing so fierce as love turned to hate and no hate so vicious as that which still has a grain of love.

I would bet more on the first option, in Emma's case, than the second. Taken that way, as the child of True Love, the Savior of Storybrooke, etc., Emma's potential for evil if she became corrupted is a lot worse than, say, Pongo's (evil Pongo deliberately piddles on Gold's suit right before he has a date with Belle. Later that same day, Cruella gets a new coat. The end. Not exactly Luke being tempted by the Dark Side, is it?).

Although, if Emma went ballistic on everyone in SB. . . . Sorry, I've got to go off and giggle. Or maybe someone will hit Emma with a variant of the Snow Queen's curse.

CityGal

Or I got the impression more humbler beginnings.



And a little trivia...

fox24

Thanks for the trivia. I actually didnt it was a Lost chain until pointed on tumblr

Kelaine

Rumple wasn't at all surprised that they arrived just as Cruella's husband was being arrested, making her ready to go off with them. I think I know who tipped off the cops.

fox24

Probably or he could have read it somewhere. Wall Street guys who get arrested do get exposure

DR76

Why is it that no one has ever questioned Emma's possession of a stolen car? Why is it okay with A&E that she KNOWINGLY remain in possession of one? What are they trying to say about this aspect of Emma? The manner in which she told Regina that she had originally stole the car(it was Neal, of course) really annoyed me. When did car theft become so amusing or romantic in fiction? Naturally, murder is considered wrong on this show. But why would car theft be considered okay?