Re: Still from the Episode – Snow and Regina

@PriceofMagic wrote:

Regina may have married Leopold before she pushed her mother through the mirror.

If you re-watch 2×2, you’ll see that the day Regina pushed Cora through the looking glass was the day before Regina’s wedding. No one forced Regina to go ahead and marry Leopold in a loveless union. Rumple may have wetted her appetite for magic, but it was Regina’s choice to seek out his instruction. That was her own decision to choose power and magic over freedom and a chance not to make her mother’s mistakes. She might have found happiness with her father, and just maybe, found love with another man and had a family in the EF.

Regina has done many evil things, there’s no denying that, but she was genuinely trying to change for the better until Cora set her up. Before Archie turned up alive and well, Emma fully believed Regina had killed him. Emma basically banned Regina from ever seeing Henry and told her that she’d always be the evil queen no matter what. By the time Emma realised her mistake, the damage had been done. Cora preyed on Regina whilst she was down and offered Regina the one thing she wanted most- Henry Regina is going to struggle with redemption, she was having it too easy at the start of the season, the question is, when does Regina cross the point of no return, what can she do that is irredeemable?.

I was really hopeful at the start of season 2 for Regina to redeem herself and was fully supportive of her effort at real change. Yet, it was obvious it wouldn’t last since she was doing it for Henry’s sake, not out of her own true repentance. I actually have come to like Regina. I even argued back before the winter hiatus that the Charmings needed to include Regina in Henry’s life, because I knew Cora’s return would put Regina’s revolve at redemption to the test and even derail any real reform. For sure, Cora manipulated events to make her daughter more “receptive” –what Regina even recognized was a lie and manipulation. Regina always craved her mother’s love, but since Cora didn’t have a heart, she couldn’t truly love her daughter until it was put back into her. Cora preyed on her daughter’s weakness, and though Regina knew in her head that her mother wasn’t to be trusted, her heart got the better of her. Again, Regina is dangerous because she does have a heart. It’s her blind emotion that prompts her to be ultimately destructive. But that doesn’t excuse Regina from being responsible for her evil deeds

Even as a grown woman and a magical queen, Regina turned back into a little child who would be used and abused by her own mother. That was the effect that Cora had on Regina, and so I actually think Regina is better off now that Cora is dead and gone. Regina might just have a shot at true redemption this time if she can learn what her actions really do to people. She hurts the people she loves, including her father and her son. She needs a huge wake-up call before the damage is done irreparably (which you think would’ve been in 1×22 when Regina poisoned Henry). I’d say Henry actually has a lot of patience with Regina, considering how many times she has threatened the people he loves and even him. (Same goes for Rumple by the way; I’m not just picking on Regina. He needs to choose the path of good and to put love ahead of power, too).

@Gypsy wrote:

I think when Regina killed her own father – the only person who seemed to love her unconditionally – is when she crossed the ‘point of no return’.
You can’t come back from that.

Maybe in real life, but this is a show about hope, and so I think the writers do ultimately have a path of redemption for Regina. It’s just going to be a long a bumpy ride (makes for better entertainment).