Like Mother, Like Daughter

[darcyfarrow]

You've got a point, Li'l Red. Your post got me thinking about the difference between "Stable Boy" and "Skin Deep." If you asked me to write a description of Daniel, I could barely write a sentence. The only interesting thing I could say about him is he doesn't care about moving up in social status or career. I have no idea why--there could be an interesting story there, but if so, it wasn't even hinted at.

But Belle--in the first 3 minutes of "Skin" we learned enough about her to write an essay (and hundreds of fanfic writers have-- meanwhile, there doesn't seem to be much Daniel fanfic out there) . Daniel isn't really a character: he's just a foil for Cora.

[darcyfarrow]

Just did a count on fanfiction.net : 13 Daniel stories, 403 Belle stories.

[Midnight Dreary]

Just did a count on fanfiction.net : 13 Daniel stories, 403 Belle stories.

Holy crap!

[Lil'Red]

Might have to read some Daniel fanfics tonight to find out what he's like!

It doesn't even feel fair to compare the Rumple/Belle relationship to Regina/Daniel. 'Skin Deep' spent the FTL time focused on establishing their love and understanding of each other. The majority of 'Stable Boy' gave airtime to the relationship between Regina/Snow and Regina/Cora. Makes me wonder if massive cuts were made of Daniel along the way...

I guess the fairest comparison would be Daniel and Peter. Both serve the purpose of plot devices (Daniel=Foil to Cora Peter=Wolf red herring), love interests set-up to die, and probably the same amount of screen time. However, we learned about the past of Red and Peter's relationship: that they were friends growing up, recently developed into a romantic couple, and wanted to go off and travel/explore with each other. Was it the greatest romance ONCE had to offer? Was Peter Red's true love? No and No. But, for his limited time, I understood the attraction at least.

Daniel is beating Peter in the fanfic range, so maybe Daniel does have more of a personality to work with. Or Regina has a lot more fans than Red.

[hjbau]

I think they successfully showed that Regina loved Daniel. That episode was mostly about Snow/Regina and Cora/Regina though. It worked for me. I actually liked Daniel and wouldn't mind revisiting the character at some point maybe when Regina is younger. Especially if we see something of Cora's past. Who knows though. What they did worked for me.

I do still want Jefferson to be Regina's brother. I don't know why i like that theory so much.

[AntBee]

I'm with you on this AntBee: it's SO not there for me. Daniel just didn't get enough scene time or backstory to leave me invested in his character. Instead of writing a compelling love story, explaining WHY he was her one true love or HOW they fell in love: he just felt like kill fodder the entire time. They didn't even give him a personality to work with: he was just generic and good - and somehow his death was supposed to make me understand/sympathize with a grown woman systematically destroying everyone's lives all to reach her main target: a 13 year old girl (technically not anymore, but still).

Thanks. I have to say that you wrote what I was trying to get at much better though. I guess it wasn't just about lack of chemistry there between Regina and Daniel although that was certainly part of it, but you're right he felt more like fodder than an actual character that the audience could sympathize with. He was just so bland and forgettable.

Might have to read some Daniel fanfics tonight to find out what he's like!

lol, I know on fanfiction.net, I've seen a few pop up, not that I'm really interested in reading them. All but one of them seem to be about Regina and Daniel reuniting somehow, and I did read one of those only because it featured Baelfire and Emma in it. It was interesting, but even in that story, I don't remember Daniel having a personality at all.

I guess the fairest comparison would be Daniel and Peter. Both serve the purpose of plot devices (Daniel=Foil to Cora Peter=Wolf red herring), love interests set-up to die, and probably the same amount of screen time. However, we learned about the past of Red and Peter's relationship: that they were friends growing up, recently developed into a romantic couple, and wanted to go off and travel/explore with each other. Was it the greatest romance ONCE had to offer? Was Peter Red's true love? No and No. But, for his limited time, I understood the attraction at least.

Daniel is beating Peter in the fanfic range, so maybe Daniel does have more of a personality to work with. Or Regina has a lot more fans than Red.

Yes, I sort of figured out what the twist was going to be in "Red-Handed" with either Red or Granny turning out to be the wolf by the end, and that Peter was going to end up being killed by whomever was the wolf, but I did feel sadder about his death than Daniel's because they did give him more of a backstory than Daniel.

I also agree that Daniel probably just has more stories about him right now because Regina has a lot more fans than Red. Plus, it's probably a good and probably easier way to redeem Regina through the romantic love that she had with Daniel rather than trying to redeem her through the love that she has with Henry since that is a lot more complicated.