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This is something new we’re going to try here at ONCE podcast to help with negativity and praise of the show and trying to be critical while not overwhelming the rest of the board who are still enjoying the majority of the show. Be forewarned, if you’re in this thread, there is going to be a lot of analysis and critiquing of the episode, the writers, and the characters, the plot, ect ect ect.
Feel free to post links to reviews of the episode and discuss them. (If there is strong language, please let people know. And if the review is obviously anti-a certain ship, let people know that as well, please).
Let’s just see how this goes and we can decide if we like this idea or not.
To start off: I want to talk about “baiting” because having slept on this episode and having read some comments this morning, I think there is a lot of agreement that much of “Breaking Glass” was fanservice to different ships, pairings, friendships. And it came across as “baiting” the audience to keep watching because they finally got what they wanted.
The biggest one of these is pretty obvious : SwanQueen. The episode pretty much put Regina and Emma together, alone for the most part, and let them explore how they are similar and unique. I have a lot of issues with what Regina said in this episode, but maybe the biggest is that she’s done a lot for Emma. I know Regina defenders will want to speak up for her, but there’s no denying that Regina wanted to kill Emma as a baby, she plotted to cast a curse to sent Emma to another world where she was obviously alone and raised in foster care, she tried to poison Emma. But in this episode, they make it sound like they’re really just secret best friends who have had a few tiffs and nothing more.
There was an almost unnatural amount of Neal-fan and SF baiting this episode. And as someone who is both, I’m not sure how I feel about it. On the one hand, it was highly emotional and did exactly what the writers wanted which was to assuage some of my criticisms. On the other hand, it will most likely never happen again and it was forgotten about within seconds.
Apart from the baiting, I question if Snow really is back to being like herself because instead of writing her like the amazing Bandit she was, she’s coming across as a big-ol-goofball. This might be due to Ginny having just given birth but the moment with Will, while funny, didn’t seem very Bandit Snow to me.
And then there’s Emma’s backstory. Guess what? Emma has walls! And has been hurt! And betrayed! Raise your hand if this revelatory for you. Unless Lily is going to factor into this show more heavily then the flashback didn’t really serve a purpose outside of paralleling Regina and Emma.
[adrotate group="5"]"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"Also on the ship baiting, there was a nice, clear shot of Graham’s bootlace on Emma’s wrist in that final scene too. Don’t recall having seen it recently but it was suddenly impossible to miss.
This might be due to Ginny having just given birth but the moment with Will, while funny, didn’t seem very Bandit Snow to me.
He was a criminal who had broken out of jail, he had the shovel which could be used as a weapon, alone on the beach, at night…and she just strolled up with her hands in her pockets and had a chat…and he totally played her and got himself a pardon. I know WE know that Will’s not a dangerous criminal who’d attack her, but SHE didn’t know that, and frankly she acted like a bit of an idiot. I can still appreciate the scene on account of GrumpySnarkyWill being precious and I love him so, but Snow really wasn’t at all the savvy, take care of business Bandit of yore.
Isn’t that what we want from this show? Fan service? Since the writers have chosen to propel Emma with Hook, don’t they have an obligation to also acknowledge the Neal fans? We are a huge part if their audience. I want them to service my desires to have At least the memory of Neal shown in meaningful ways. He’s no longer in our story, but he made a huge impact on Emma’s life and in my personal enjoyment of the show.
Personally, I respect the fact that they give me a cookie now and then. And I’m grateful that they did it in a meaningful way last night.
Isn’t that what we want from this show? Fan service? Since the writers have chosen to propel Emma with Hook, don’t they have an obligation to also acknowledge the Neal fans? We are a huge part if their audience. I want them to service my desires to have At least the memory of Neal shown in meaningful ways. He’s no longer in our story, but he made a huge impact on Emma’s life and in my personal enjoyment of the show. Personally, I respect the fact that they give me a cookie now and then. And I’m grateful that they did it in a meaningful way last night.
Yes, their Jedi Mind Trick worked on both of us Cinders because I see all the criticism about the INSANE amount of Neal and SF references in this episode and I’m unable to fully critique myself because it felt good to have him acknowledged.
However, no, I don’t want fan service. It was very clear what the writers were doing. It wasn’t organic. Neal was randomly inserted all over the place–like Snow finally saying the baby’s name over and over and over–but it didn’t feel natural. The fact that Lily was some sort of Neal/Regina hybrid for Young! Emma was odd. The photo moment was glorious, but it literally can’t be a thing because that was a private moment between Emma and Neal and no one was around to take that photo! It was incredibly clear what the writers were doing: getting the critics who have wanted to see the people in the show deal with Neal’s loss to shut up. “Here’s Neal! We are giving you what you wanted!” And I can almost guarentee, it will be forgotten in the coming weeks. In fact, it was forgotten by the end of the episode.
It’s the same with Regina and Emma. @Myril made this point in another thread but there was a lot of ambiguous feelings about last nights SQ episode–and make no mistake, that’s what it was. If last week was mega-CS, then this week was SQ overload, laced with SF underneath and apparently hints of Greema. They say they don’t write ships to which I laugh.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"Isn’t that what we want from this show? Fan service?
Not if it feels disingenuous, like they’re trying to force feed me a random tidbit in the hope it’ll placate me for a while, no. When that happens, it actually kinda feels like they’re insulting me.
I mentioned that we got a shot of Graham’s bootlace and how it felt like baiting. I actually love that Emma wears Graham’s bootlace, I think it’s a really sweet gesture, and I love it because it’s a consistent thing for her character that’s just always there. But its placement in this particular episode just felt like fanservice, given the way this ep as a whole felt like throwing bones to Emma’s various ships.
I mentioned that we got a shot of Graham’s bootlace and how it felt like baiting. I actually love that Emma wears Graham’s bootlace, I think it’s a really sweet gesture, and I love it because it’s a consistent thing for her character that’s just always there. But its placement in this particular episode just felt like fanservice, given the way this ep as a whole felt like throwing bones to Emma’s various ships.
And I know Jo mentioned this elsewhere but the ring Hook pulled out of the box looks exactly like the one Rumple used to wear. And I can recall quite a vocal GoldenSwan ship back in ye olden days, which Adam and Eddy may or may not be aware of, but it’s all there for us to get.
So yes, it did feel like they were placing symbols or writing heavy subtext to drive all of Emma’s ships which have been numerous.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"Rumple still wears it as his wedding ring. I’m going to try to get a screen cap of both and compare.
Edited to add screencaps:
Keeper of Rumplestiltskin's and Neal's spears and war paint and crystal ball.
This is a critique, not of ships, but rather of the revelation that yet another villain is part of Emma and Henry’s family (just like Regina, King Geroge, Cora, Hook, Peter Pan, and Zelena all are/were). Just about the only villain who hasn’t been revealed to be part of their family is Maleficent, though she was a “frenemy” of Regina. So the Snow Queen is Emma’s memory-erased foster mom. Also, all the Snow Queen wants is a family that loves her (surprise, surprise). Every villain seems to want the same thing (with the exception of Peter Pan). Apparently, something happened to wipe away Emma’s memories, and I’m guessing the Snow Queen had something to do with that. Yet, how, since there was no magic in A LAND WITHOUT MAGIC? Also, WHY? Why does the Snow Queen not want Emma to remember she was fostered by her? Also, Emma supposedly met the Snow Queen in S1. This feels like a total retacon of S1 and Emma’s backstory.
"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy
Every villain seems to want the same thing (with the exception of Peter Pan)
And this is why I found Peter Pan and Jafar so refreshing.
Apparently, something happened to wipe away Emma’s memories, and I’m guessing the Snow Queen had something to do with that. Yet, how, since there was no magic in A LAND WITHOUT MAGIC?
The fact that Emma met the SQ in S1 and then had her memory wiped when magic was supposed to be a no-no in this land…yeah that bothers me. Trinkets of magic, maybe, like having to power the hat. But full on magical memory erasure? Eep.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"The fact that Emma met the SQ in S1 and then had her memory wiped when magic was supposed to be a no-no in this land…yeah that bothers me. Trinkets of magic, maybe, like having to power the hat. But full on magical memory erasure? Eep.
It bothers me, too. Maybe the Snow Queen had made a memory-erasing potion in another realm before she came to our world, knowing in advance she would wipe Emma’s memories. I haven’t a clue why she’d want to erase Emma’s memories unless she wanted Emma’s powers.
Yet, then that raises the question of how the heck the Snow Queen even got to A Land Without Magic. Jefferson’s hat couldn’t travel to our world because it lacked magic. All of S1 we were led to believe there were only a few ways to cross to A Land Without Magic: a dark curse, a magic wardrobe, or via magic beans, which all but one had supposedly disappeared from the Enchanted Forest (or so claimed the shady Blue Fairy). That was the reason why Rumple had to resort to the Dark Curse to find his son. Yet in the S3 finale it was revealed that Hook managed to come by a magic bean, something that Rumple (aka the mighty dark one) had failed to do for centuries. Now it turns out that all Rumple had to do was track down Anton the gentle giant for a bean or seek out Geppetto to make him his own Enchanted Wardrobe (something he failed to do). Rumple also tried to track down Zelena’s silver slippers but failed. So how did the Snow Queen travel to A Land Without Magic? Did she also have a bean? Did she borrow Zelena’s silver shoes? Did she come via a magic mirror? A magic green tornado from Oz? A dark curse? Another magic plot device? Unless the Snow Queen came over with the dark curse and found a way to cross the town line (something I doubt), then I think the Snow Queen had yet some other means of getting to our world where she met and fostered young Emma.
"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy
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