FAVORITE AND LEAST FAVORITE MOMENTS from 5 x23 UNTOLD STORY . . .

[nevermore]

I have mixed feelings about this one. Only You I wasn’t at all crazy about. Untold Story was a lot better, but I think it still suffers from a lot of the problems OUAT’s been suffering from lately: random plot devices, illogical or erratic character behavior to fit with the plot, hand-wavy and poorly developed cosmology that must constantly retcon itself to make any sense.

Liked:

There was some amazing acting (mostly from Lana, who stole the show, and RC who seems to be back in the swing of things, very Season 1 Gold-esque), and some really good dialogue with rich themes embedded in what is otherwise a long string of nonsensical camp.

Regina and Emma’s dialogue. These two are so much more interesting together than with their respective significant others (RIP Robin, though).

I adore the Rumple/Regina dynamic. Despite the utter ridiculousness of the rain of MacGuffins that otherwise peppered this episode, those two just knock it out of the ballpark. I had to re-watch that scene where they are walking together down the street and discussing the nature of darkness and light.

Some of the themes. The question that Rumple raises with Regina: is darkness best repressed or balanced out? Does being good/light make you weak? Is Regina destined to be miserable unless she literally kills off a part of her (the EQ), and if so, where does that leave the rest of us who don’t have access to such nifty tools? We know Rumple’s wrong, from OUAT’s perspective — liking the darkness isn’t a good place to be, because The Dragon says so — but is there a way to acknowledge what he is saying without dismissing him? I don’t love how Rumple’s written these days, but he’s got a point. Trying to shove it all under the rug isn’t the way to transcend the duality.

Mixed:

Good grief, but the MacGuffins. It’s like MacGuffins should be their own category of people at this point, who get their unfinished stories. OUAT as a post-modern study of agency and materiality. Let’s see: there’s the Dark Grail, presumably the illegitimate love child of the Sorcerer’s Hat and the Holy Grail; Pandora’s Box; the Crystal Tip from Zeus’s Olympian Tool; the Spinning (BPA-Free) Water Lotus; the assortment of wands of which I have lost track; the Syringe of Red Doom; and the utterly useless Silver Tray. Did I forget anything?

Jekyll/Hyde. I didn’t necessarily mind the story in and of itself, but I have this vivid memory of seeing the 1990 adaptation with Michael Caine when I was a kid, and being utterly utterly terrified. In comparison, this is so silly and Marvel-esque that I can’t help but feel sad over the loss of the horror of the initial novella, and some of the really brilliant screen adaptation.

Disliked:

I cringe when OUAT decides to do its potpourri cultural appropriation. I like The Dragon’s character, but it’s also a bit offensive in how much of an over the top cultural stereotype they made of him. Also, I do hope he’s not really dead.

Snow and Emma talking Regina into killing her alter-ego. Isn’t there a moral quandary over this? I mean, if, once separated, EQ becomes her own person, that seems rather anti-heroic. But this is one of my biggest dislikes about this show — the absolutely naive self-centeredness of the Charming clan. It works like this: if anyone who isn’t the Charmings takes the realpolitik approach, they are villains and sliding into evil. If it’s Snow or Emma, they’ll have a nice hopeful talk about family, pat each other on the back, and that’ll be the end of it. I just wish, for once, that Emma or Snow would actually acknowledge that sometimes they make ugly decisions and give ugly advice, and that doesn’t automatically mean that it’s all good because they’re heroes.

So Gold’s default persona/role is sort of the Henry Kissinger of OUAT. He’s a realpolitik kind of guy, and makes no bones about it. And that’s just fine. But where there is a new villain on the scene, the writer’s favorite trick is to somehow make Rumple subservient to that villain. Either through the dagger, or through a deal, or through some silly plot revision we’ve never heard about before. That’s their shtick. And honestly, it’s getting old, because it requires for Rumple to act out of character, i.e. be dumber than he is. But he’s asked to do both for the sake of the plot: to be the master manipulator who tugs at all the strings and somehow knows every single character in all the realms, and also make idiotic and short-sighted decisions for the sake of drama (going after the crystal) and plot (making a deal with Hyde for something that sounded like a wild goose chase if I’ve ever heard one).

Can Henry be more of an idiot? I understand that he’s a teenager, and prone to black and white thinking, but good grief. Also, while I understand the intent of the wishing fountain scene, it was a cringe fest. Lana, RC, and Emma carried it, but it fell pretty darn flat.

 

[PriceofMagic]

When the coins were raining down on Charming and co in Hyde’s world, all I could think was: Isn’t that potentially lethal to them? They tell you not to throw coins or anything else off the Eiffel tower/ Empire state building because as it falls, it picks up speed and can do some serious injury/damage to whatever it hits. Suddenly there are all these coins falling from the sky. Even if it’s not coming at them from a great height and speed, it would still hurt because they’re still having lots of pieces of metal thrown at them.

Screwball Ninja summed up Rumple’s role throughout the seasons well: Rumple switches sides because he NEEDS to switch sides, because his narrative function is to be a POTENTIAL villain. Why is this necessary? Because OUAT runs on villains, and they need a strong pinch-hitter on the bench.

http://screwballninja.tumblr.com/post/143440920516/towards-a-functional-reading-of-ouat-or-move-the

This is actually an interesting essay from Screwball Ninja.

All magic comes with a price!

Keeper of Felix

[RumplesGirl]

When the coins were raining down on Charming and co in Hyde’s world, all I could think was: Isn’t that potentially lethal to them? They tell you not to throw coins or anything else off the Eiffel tower/ Empire state building because as it falls, it picks up speed and can do some serious injury/damage to whatever it hits. Suddenly there are all these coins falling from the sky. Even if it’s not coming at them from a great height and speed, it would still hurt because they’re still having lots of pieces of metal thrown at them

HAHAHHAHAHAA

"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"

[MatthewPaul]

When the coins were raining down on Charming and co in Hyde’s world, all I could think was: Isn’t that potentially lethal to them? They tell you not to throw coins or anything else off the Eiffel tower/ Empire state building because as it falls, it picks up speed and can do some serious injury/damage to whatever it hits. Suddenly there are all these coins falling from the sky. Even if it’s not coming at them from a great height and speed, it would still hurt because they’re still having lots of pieces of metal thrown at them.

My first thought was that the whole pennies falling from the sky thing was a nod to the song “Pennies from Heaven”:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennies_from_Heaven_(song)

[WickedRegal]

Robin hasn’t been dead for all of a two weeks, and some Oncers are already shipping Regina with this Hyde guy!!!???!! Seriously??? They’ve already named the ship Ryde?!!

https://twitter.com/fam_criss/status/732465304710733824

"If you go as far as you can see...you will then see enough to go even further." - Finn Balor

[nevermore]

Robin hasn’t been dead for all of a two weeks, and some Oncers are already shipping Regina with this Hyde guy!!!???!! Seriously??? They’ve already named the ship Ryde?!!

*sigh* Oncers gonna ship.

Are they shipping Regina, or EQ though (the pic looks like an EQ outfit)?

On that note, if OUAT goes with the whole separate out the darkness plot line, and has more than one character affected by it, I can imagine that it would lead to some pretty messy romantic entanglements. (Say, if Hook is divided into Killian and Captain Hook, which one is Emma dating…? It gets even more messy with Rumple.) And what happens if EQ likes Hyde but Regina doesn’t? (I assume that EQ survived because she’s Regina’s psychic siamese twin).

[PriceofMagic]

Belle’s dark side would be interesting to see. Would she be Lacey again or will we see an even more extreme version of Lacey?

I don’t like the name Ryde For a Hyde/EQ(Regina) ship. Some alternatives:

Hygal
Hegal
QueenHyde
Evilyde (sounds better than it looks)

All magic comes with a price!

Keeper of Felix

[AidenXJeffrey]

My favorite part was Henry persuading everyone to toss a penny into the fountain to open a portal and save his family because it beckons back to one of the great themes of the show, belief, belief in that anything is possible, belief in the miraculous, belief in what is not seen, but is still all around us.

 

My least favorite was not only in this episode, but in this entire season, the whole Henry and Violet romance infatuation storyline.

I feel that he’s too young.  Henry is supposed to be 13 as it is 2014 in their time, and the actor, Jared is about 15 or 16, and I feel that it’s too young to be introducing a storyline such as this.  They should have waited another couple of years for this because I feel it’s a bit inappropriate and awkward to watch a tween “romance” (infatuation) unfold and even more awkward to watch two young actors kiss each other.

I feel that their innocence and purity should be honored, not only as characters but actors because this sends the wrong message to the younger audience about what love, romance and infatuation is and should look like, what romantic relationships should look like and when to pursue a romantic relationship.

I’m not a parent and I’m sure everyone would have a different opinion on this, but I do believe this is something that can and should be left on the back burner until the actor and the character are both at an appropriate age to pursue that storyline again.

[RumplesGirl]

I’m not a parent and I’m sure everyone would have a different opinion on this, but I do believe this is something that can and should be left on the back burner until the actor and the character are both at an appropriate age to pursue that storyline again.

Agreed, especially since there are stories from a recent con that Jared didn’t want to do the kiss but had to.

"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"

[Author]

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