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Characters on Once are generally static. Any improvements (Rumple gives up his life to save the town) are quickly undone and never spoken of again.
Yes exactly. Like I said some page or so back, A and E expect us to reset our memories and mind with every new arc.
[adrotate group="5"]"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love""He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"I’ll never understand what the mentality of the writers is now on this show. Is their intent to dismantle all of the relationships save one (looking at you, pirate bird)? Because seriously, that’s all they’re managing to do. Every relationship, except that one exception, is on the rocks (especially given this most recent episode in which RB and OQ seem all but sunk).
"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
What’s funny is how much the writers either consciously or unconsciously recycled elements from Season 2, and Neal’s storyline.
We have a lost “child of darkness” the offspring of an iconic villain (Neal was Rumple’s son, Lily is Mal’s Daughter) wandering around the land without magic who forms a significant bond with Emma the child of “light”, the daughter of iconic heroes, Snow and Charming. They two meet without knowledge of their heritage, and that story is told in a flashback that illuminates Emma’s present-day decisions to take the opposite path with an iconic fairy tale villain (she leaves Hook behind because she had trusted Neal and got burned emotionally, she practically begs Regina to be her BFF because she’d rejected Lily after being hurt by her lies). It seems like the lost child is just a real world person in the episode we first meet them, aside from a small hint otherwise (the typewriter that convinced Neal, the star birthmark for Lily). The lost child grows up, and comes back into Emma’s life in a big way, after Emma goes on a quest to find them for the Iconic Villain parent. This tale gets told half a season later after their introduction. The timing of the field trip happens just as there’s a looming threat from a big iconic villain (despite Cora and Regina being “out there”, Gold uses leverage of his deal to force Emma to go with him, this time, despite Gold being out there, Mal and Regina persuade Emma that it is really the best way to thwart Gold). Both times, there’s a chase (one on foot, one in a car) before Emma “apprehends” the lost child. There’s conflict and an argument about something that happened in the past (Lily ‘s upset about the fairytale evil transfusion and banishing, Emma’s upset that Lily wants to kill her parents. Emma’s upset that Neal left her the way he did, and he’s upset she’s brought his father there). They call a truce, and return to Neal’s apartment where BAM some huge baby mama drama unfolds (for Lily, its nothing to do with her, but is all about Regina/Zelena, but for Emma and Neal it was about Henry).
Goes without saying really that there are also huge differences, which is why I’m not saying “parallels” and implying some sort of intentional foreshadowing or anything like that but just calling it recycled plot points and mechanics. I have no idea what they intend to do next, which is what the writers seem to care most about these days, making sure the audience is continually blindsided and shocked, but they forget that if the characters don’t much care about half the stuff that happens to them, then increasingly, neither will we. It’s no joke that the show had a huge lift in ratings from Frozen yet managed to shed most of that bonus audience–without even the excuse of erratic scheduling that affected Season 2 B.
“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?” -- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
What’s funny is how much the writers either consciously or unconsciously recycled elements from Season 2, and Neal’s storyline.
RIGHT?!
Like could Lily and Neal have shared more in common in what we’ve seen thus far. JEEZ
It’s no joke that the show had a huge lift in ratings from Frozen yet managed to shed most of that bonus audience–without even the excuse of erratic scheduling that affected Season 2 B.
All in the course of one arc as well. We were already down to about a 1.9 at the end of 4A. They came for Frozen but quickly learned that they didn’t like what they saw.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"I have no idea what they intend to do next, which is what the writers seem to care most about these days, making sure the audience is continually blindsided and shocked, but they forget that if the characters don’t much care about half the stuff that happens to them, then increasingly, neither will we. It’s no joke that the show had a huge lift in ratings from Frozen yet managed to shed most of that bonus audience–without even the excuse of erratic scheduling that affected Season 2 B.
The problem is what appears to be an incredibly skewed set of priorities for the writers, whether it’s at the level of A&E or further “down” the food chain, I don’t know. It seems that, as you point out, what they care about is ratings, but in a deeply cynical way (such as riding on the coattails of Frozen). And yet, when the fanbase comes up with genuine criticism — whether small and plot driven, such as “the characters seem inconsistent” or serious and “social,” such as “You’re making a mess of consent issues” or “Your handling of race is problematic” the response is a defensive dismissal along the lines ‘You can’t please all those crazy shippers.” I hate to say it, but really, OUAT as it stands now is written from a place of pretty egregious white male privilege. Even their handling of gender, which, in S1 was quite progressive for mainstream TV — and was one of the show’s strengths — is becoming increasingly normalizing of very problematic dynamics and cultural assumptions (for ex. Emma’s evolution, and Belle’s characterization)
I hate to say it, but really, OUAT as it stands now is written from a place of pretty egregious white male privilege.
Word.
Their handling of some female characters–both heroes and villains–in season three and season four is getting rather squicky in terms of what makes a woman good and what makes a woman bad.
Ingrid is sexually harassed by the Duke and turns evil and kills her sister but he is allowed to walk away free of any sort of impunity.
Cora sleeps with Jonathan and winds up pregnant and alone and so desperate that she schemes to steal Leo away from (incredibly light and virginal and precious) Eva while Cora ends up leaving her baby in the woods.
Zelena is denied Rumple’s love and affection and she turns green with jealousy and ends up mind raping him later in time.
Belle has no storyline outside of her two male romantic partners. She’s not even allowed to interact in any meaningful way with her father, let alone with another female except when Belle is supposed to be “Google” or when her life is threatened.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"Belle has no storyline outside of her two male romantic partners. She’s not even allowed to interact in any meaningful way with her father, let alone with another female except when Belle is supposed to be “Google” or when her life is threatened.
Then again, where Belle’s concerned, I don’t think A&E would know the Bechdel Test if it stole their dinner.
Belle has no storyline outside of her two male romantic partners. She’s not even allowed to interact in any meaningful way with her father, let alone with another female except when Belle is supposed to be “Google” or when her life is threatened.
Then again, where Belle’s concerned, I don’t think A&E would know the Bechdel Test if it stole their dinner.
The writers seem to be inexplicably bored by Belle (and looking back, I think they were bored in the end by Neal because they also brought in a shiny pirate who got be their wish fulfillment character, as we’ve talked about before). They love Emma and tout her as a strong female, yet her–what did you call it—evolution has gone from being this strong independent but still fragile woman who was defined by loss and hope and motherhood and being a lost girl to being one half of a popular ship (both with Hook and Regina cause LAWD they have turned up the queer bait this season). I mean, her goodbye with Henry was 5 second long. Her goodbye with Hook was several mins (and revolved around HIM for crying out loud. All about “I was dark once and I know how this goes but now I have you and I’m so much better. Me Me ME!) And then she spent the entire episode with Regina in which, at the climax, it was Regina who talked Emma down. Not Emma’s own sense of goodness, but the more popular half (99% of SQers are Evil Regals) of her second most popular (maybe first most popular) ship!
There is a fab post on Tumblr that I’ll have to find about how this kind of language–“your love saved me”–is actually incredibly not okay.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"There is a fab post on Tumblr that I’ll have to find about how this kind of language–“your love saved me”–is actually incredibly not okay.
Link to the post
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"
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