Home › Forums › Once Upon a Time › Season Five › General S5 spoilers › AfterEllen 1/12 – Adam and Eddy Answer on SwanQueen Questions › Reply To: AfterEllen 1/12 – Adam and Eddy Answer on SwanQueen Questions
Or should I say, rooting for anyone to stay together. They are writing it as they see fit.
Disagree. There have been plenty of instances in interviews where they’ve said that the end of Snowing would be the end of hope (so they’ll never split them up) or that CS has “been through so much” but they hope love conquers all or that Regina deserves some happiness and Robin gives it to her. And so on and so forth.
I actually would argue that the Regina and Robin story line got zero time this past half season. Regina was just kind of there to help here and there. And Robin did literally nothing.
Well I agree that Robin did nothing, but Regina’s storyline become the baited SQ one because at the end of the day, SQ is more popular in fandom than OQ. Emma giving Regina the dagger to “end her” in case of emergencies for example. Never mind that it would make Regina the Dark One which is one of the single worst ideas I’ve ever heard, the writing team wanted to bait SQ in that moment so, tossing logic out the window, they had Emma fork over the dagger to Regina (all while playing up the CS scenes of Hook coming to find Emma and saving her from killing Merida).
But that’s one of the biggest problems that I’m trying to emphasize. Snow and Charming (and Henry for that matter) played next to no active role in trying to save their daughter. Heck, until the season finale Emma barely had any significant alone screen time with her parents. But god forbid we go one episode without some CS kissing or Emma and Regina having a private conversation. Why? Because CS and SQ are insanely popular and Snowing are not. So A and E write with those two ships in mind, to heck with their narrative. I’ll pass over the fact that Emma’s entire hero journey was reduced to her boyfriend and not her self actualization.
But we did get some good scenes with them clearly caring about their son in Dreamcatcher….
Of course. That episode was one of the better ones because it was the most organic and felt like a return to the themes of this entire show: family. And that’s how A and E write now. One episode out of 11 that feels like it could easily fit back in with S1-S3A to appease the angry rabble who don’t like CS, SQ, OQ, or any other ships that get written to the extreme.
I would also say that in real life, when you find someone you really like and start dating them, everyone else tends to get thrown on the back burner; friends, children, parents. All of a sudden, the world is all about them.
Friends, yes. That’s a common phenomenon. Too bad Emma has none of those that actually pop up and talk to her, help her, commiserate with her. I would sincerely hope that children never go on the back burner. Especially on a show that touts itself as being about family, first and foremost. But ultimately, it comes down to balance. Learning how to balance your love life, your children, your friends,and your family. So Emma waltzing into the Underworld to rip out her heart and split it into two–not knowing if it will even *work*–is her declaring that she’s not balanced. She’s chosen one aspect (read: the writers are choosing one aspect) over the others. The writers might give Emma and Henry some bonding time but they will never–ever–sacrifice CS (or OQ if we’re going to put Regina in for Emma) to do it. They willingly give up air time, development and narrative of Emma/Henry or Regina/Henry for the sake of their romantic ships. And that’s what bothers me about this article and the passage I quoted from A and E above.