CityGal

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Bookworm25

Cora got her HE/Unfinished business finally!

Despite everything she did, I was SO happy to see that she was able to be saved and move on.

Against_all_odds

Is there a Cora/Rumple thread? As much as I hate him,I always shipped those two. It felt more real than what he has with Belle. Cora has always seen him as is and has no illusions about him. Coward,Dark One, Gold...it doesn't matter. He'll never be a hero like Charming and he'll never try to be noble like Hook.

NFL-I was pissed off when I saw the flashback,but when someone pointed out that her being a miller's daughter being brushed aside,it made me think. She's like Cersei Lannister in a way. It looks as if she chose to be evil, selfish or cowardly by removing her own heart,but there's a lot more to it.

-Being emotional and being eager to make her dreams come true got her pregnant.

-I don't know if she actually cared for Leopold,but emotions kept her from dealing with her pregnancy properly. It also made it harder to deal with Ava,who really,really needed a giant ass-kicking.

She was slightly emotional about Zelena,but if she had no heart,she would have had an abortion or just handed the task to someone else.

Had she given in to her love for Rumple,she'd throw away everything she had worked for. She asked him to teach her magic and spin things into gold so she could be a queen and show everyone who she was. If she didn't take her heart out,she wouldn't have been able to break his.

She didn't regret separating the girls because even if her father beat her,Zelena had raw power. She looked more like Cora and took after her as far as her powers went. I refuse to believe that Cora didn't know that Zelena became the Wicked Witch. Cora wasn't wrong and Zelena didn't need Cora to mold and groom her. She relied on herself,she took whatever she wanted and did everything Cora told Regina to do.

It was more than just social politics and how bad having her bastard acknowledged would look It would make Regina weak and Cora was already having trouble molding and grooming her as it was. Imho,Regina took after Henry. Cora had to work hard because it wasn't in Regina's nature to be EQ, Cora just had to bust her ass.

I've never understood one thing,though. If Henry was the King, why is his last name Mills? Cora was the Millers daughter,so if Regina is Mills,it's her mother's maiden name, not her last name. Henry always acted more like Regina's manservant than her father.

CityGal

Yes - HERE








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Koda

GrhmLz

^ I just heard that news about the cancellation. I was actually following the show the first few episodes and saw Barbara in her role.

Against_all_odds: I actually kind of shipped Cora and Rumple in the beginning too as that darker pairing.

As for Regina, I do think she was more prone to having Henry's nature but when pushed in such a direction to be molded, was actually similar to Cora in ways. There was a hidden facet that came out and Regina even admitted to Rumple after banishing Cora through the Looking Glass that she actually liked the use of magic. Something she swore against not liking when her own mother used it against her (aka. Stable Boy).

I think the earlier seasons tried to compare|contrast Cora with Regina a bit more - of course, this was prior to the s3 Zelena retcon and story that made daughter #1 oh so powerful all on her own. I remember pre-EQ Queen Regina's remark to Whale and Jefferson at her mother's vault in s2 (aka. The Doctor). She said Cora was a monster. Cora took so many hearts that she lost count. This was meant to be paralleled to Regina's own admission to David in SB during the same episode that she herself had taken so many hearts that she lost count. Another example is when Rumple offered to teach Regina the magic in the EF (s2 We Are Both) and she was worried about becoming just like her mother to which Rumple asserted that was up to her. In SB, same episode, Regina retrieves the Book of Spells from Gold in his shop to which he snidely emphasizes he could now see the resemblance to Cora, her mother, something he initially denied seeing in the EF as Rumple. I think these examples were meant to exhibit how Cora and her daughter actually did become alike.

I think the main constrast established came from s2, The Miller's Daughter, when Rumple declared that what made Cora dangerous was not having her heart whereas Regina was more dangerous because she did have a heart. Cora sought power in order to spare herself future humiliation or having to be on her knees submissively before anybody and separated that goal from her emotions. Whereas Regina collected the power she was forced to marry into, not for power's sake, but as a needed tool to fire her emotions and enact her revenge against Snow White. I think goals and agenda certainly separated Cora from her daughter Regina.

Now, a compare|contrast for Cora and Zelena is a bit more difficult for me because other than the fact that they both were adept at the use of magic, the origins for Zelena's strong power are never really explored nor confirmed and Cora herself was shown to have the potential to use magic only after Rumple entered her life. This also now would have occurred AFTER giving birth to Zelena and abandoning her. Nothing exceptional coming from Zelena's father is revealed so we are left to assume the magical line, or strong disposition to be able to tap into it, derives from Cora's lineage somehow since Cora, Regina, and Zelena were all able to develop strong magic, and even in Zelena's case, she posssessed the active ability from the start. Did the tornado carrying her to OZ, possibly filled with magical property, spark it in her as a baby? Who knows, that is just possible speculation on my part.

I think the three Mills women share one facet in common which is fate predisposing them into less than favorable conditions. None of them were able to control the circumstances they were born into. Cora struggled in the pheasant life as a Miller's Daughter, Zelena was subjected to a harsh and cruel upbringing with an adoptive father who despised her and her magic, while Regina herself, even though born into a royal line, was being groomed as a pawn to nab position and power, all other desires and wants be damned. Her mother was literally heartless, abused magic against her, and her own father was complacent. From the most recent flashback in s5, you could tell she was even lonely as a child with nothing but her doll and a mother who had no emotional time for her beyond the offical nobility rearing of Regina.

As for the last name of Mills, I am not sure how patriarchial the EF was since I do not recall any of the characters last names being officially highlighted in comparison to their parents. I mean, even Snow was just referred to as Snow, Leopold as Leopold, or Eva as Eva etc. Charming is just the name Snow gave to David and the fans have just taken to referring to the family as the Charmings. That is our own patriarchial indoctrination at play. However, given Cora's strong disposition and authority over family matters and position, it would not surprise me in the least that Cora asserted the use of her own family name that Henry acquiesced to. I also don't believe Henry was the King, didn't Cora say something to Rumple about being 5th in line to be Queen? That it would not happen without an awful lot of blood shed? I think that is why she pushed so hard to make Regina a Queen. They were definitely royal nobility though and Henry was certainly more malleable I believe in going along with what she wanted. So, yeah, I see Regina being Regina Mills. And Zelena would have been viewed as a 'bastard' child had Cora kept her so Zelena could be opting to carry Mills if she does not carry the name of her adoptive parents.

Koda

Yeah, I caught most of the episodes too. It wasn't must-see-tv by any means, but an entertaining little show. Hope both Barbara and Bradley James are going to return to tv in new roles soon.

GrhmLz

Yeah, I think I watched up to episode 6 or 7 in the 10 episode order? It was an entertaining little series based off a cult classic so that's what caught my attention and Barbara Hershey was an added plus.

I wish her and James better luck with their next projects. Ratings are a touch and go thing - you just never know what will pull interest or what type of network scheduling will render success.

Cora's story definitely got closure so it's unlikely Barbara will be on OUAT again unless for some random flashback.

CityGal

+++

CityGal

| 2x09 / 5x19

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scififan2009

Cora really surprised me in 5B. I guess it's possible dying with her heart made her a better person in the underworld. She actually cared about both her daughters.

Miss Cam

The Underworld might also have given her a new perspective on things.

CityGal

She has a great smile here.

CityGal

obisgirl