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Just curious about everyone’s thoughts about Regina’s love for Henry. I know that in many interviews Lana has said that she plays Regina being very aware of Regina’s love for Henry. So far the show really hasn’t spent a lot of time addressing this issue. There was some brief discussion about their relationship when they introduced that Henry has been seeing Dr. Hopper and then Regina got all over Archie because his “methods” weren’t working to Regina’s satisfiaction. Other than that, in my opinion, all we have really seen is a single working mother being a parent to her child. We haven’t been given much of an opportunity to see the two of them spending anytime alone and the instances we have been shown have focused on Henry’s book or operation Cobra.
After the last episode where we saw the horrible role model Regina had for a mother, I am especially interested to learn more about their relationship. Malificent told Regina that if she enacted the Dark Curse it would create a void in her heart that could never be filled – yet, so far I haven’t seen any truely hideous parenting from Regina. Most of what we have heard about Regina’s parenting has been from Henry – and I don’t think his assessment of his mother’s parenting is much different than most 10 year old kids’ would be (except of course, that he TRUELY thinks she is an evil witch). Any instances where she has been “evil” and overboard have happened away from Henry. The worst I have seen from Regina in terms of her parenting seem to come from a fear of her ability to be a “good enough” parent now that Emma has shown up 10 years after giving him up for adoption. Which, let’s face it – if this were the real world – this would be a creepy situation. Your child’s birth mother shows up ten years after she gives your child up for adoption and then decides to permanantly stay in town and to start hanging out with your child. That’s weird in, like, a restraining order weird kind of way. So I can’t say that I blame Regina for acting strange in regards to Henry and Emma’s relationship – even aside from the whole curse issue. And then Archie implies to her that one day he might testify in court that Emma is the more suitable parent?? I just don’t find it realistic that a woman who gave up her child for adoption 10 years ago and then decided to move into town after her child found her would suddenly be considered to be a more suitable parent just weeks after moving into town – especially given the past Emma has!! Thoughts?
[adrotate group="5"]What…Regina loves Henry…I didn’t catch that episode 😆 Just a little sarcasm…
I don’t especially think that she is capable of loving anyone. I do think that it is interesting that she chose to adopt. And her choice of names interests me. You would think that she would have named her son Daniel after the love of her life, not Henry after her father. I found that odd. She is clearly very controling, like she is trying to make Henry love her and she had these issues LOOOONNNGGGG before Emma showed up. Did you see how think that kids file was when Emma got it from Dr. Hopper. That kid had been in therapy a while. I think knowing that Henry loves Emma makes Regina dislike him and treat him badly. I also think she is going to loose it big time when she figures out her child is the grandson of Snow White. She is going to go crazy on that kid for sure!
we haven’t seen Any Glaring signs that she’s bad parent but she doesn’t show him any affection . I do wonder what Achie’s file says, it is thick, I can see her LOOSing it with Hennry though. I know it’s Proably UnREALIsT BUT I hope EMMA does GET cousty of Hennry
I actually believe Regina really loves Henry. However, it’s probably a twisted kind of love. I’m still curious as to why she wanted to adopt a child and name it after her father who she murdered herself. Strange mathmetics. 😆 😯
I think that Regina loves Henry as much as she is capable of love. She has already proved herself to be a far superior parent than her own mother (just by not using freaky magic on Henry — so far as we have seen). It seems to me that I have seen what looks like genuine hurt in her eyes when Henry clearly favors Emma over her. And honestly, why would Henry NOT favor Emma? She is hip and cool, and has never told him to eat his vegetables or clean his room, has never taken him to the doctor to get a shot or made him release the snake he caught and decided to keep as a pet. Emma is a buddy while Regina has done all of the nitty-gritty parenting stuff for the past 10 years.
As rumplegoldfan pointed out, in the real world, where we all didn’t know that the mother is an evil queen who has cursed the entire town out of spite and vengeance, the situation would be viewed much differently. Archie’s threat that Regina was going to somehow be in a custody battle holds about as much legal water as Mr. Gold magically making his assault charges disappear. Emma has zero rights to Henry. If it was determined that Regina was an unfit mother (which being cold and manipulative doesn’t even come close to sufficient), Henry would go into foster care and it is doubtful that Emma, with no permanent residence and little job history, would be very unlikely to be considered as a placement for him.
Legal realities aside, it will be interesting to learn the why and how of Regina getting Henry in the first place. My guess is that she was looking for someone to fill that void in her heart that Malificent predicted. And as we discussed in another thread, I think Regina will only be able to truly love Henry when she lets go of her hatred of Snow and learns to forgive. I am really hoping for some redemption there and not just Henry and Emma riding off into the sunset together. I would love to see them add some complexity (layers, if you will) to the Regina/Henry/Emma dynamic by having Henry realize that he does have some feeling for Regina and that, in her own way, she does love him. And also for Emma to really blow it with Henry at some point because she sees Henry more in a buddy/big sister way than a responsible adult/parent way.
(Okay, in the interest of full disclosure I should say that I am an adoptive parent and the whole adoptive-mother-as-evil-witch and biological-mother-as-savior narrative is not my favorite!! 😆 )
@EnchantedOne wrote:
What…Regina loves Henry…I didn’t catch that episode Just a little sarcasm…
LOL I musta missed that one too. 😉
Yes, she gives him the best things in life and sees that he’s looked after, but as for genuine affection, can’t say I’ve really seen any. She’s great at trying to crush what he passionately believes in, which doesn’t an affectionate parent make, though this is a unique situation and it’s understandable she wouldn’t want him believing what he does. Usually I’ve got nothing but praise for Lana’s portrayal of Regina, but if she’s been trying to show genuine love that Regina has for Henry, it’s just not workin’ for me. I just don’t see the character as being capable of love. I think she wishes she could love, but she’s just too far gone, so it’s not possible for her, which is a sad thing.
@weedith wrote:
Legal realities aside, it will be interesting to learn the why and how of Regina getting Henry in the first place. My guess is that she was looking for someone to fill that void in her heart that Malificent predicted. And as we discussed in another thread, I think Regina will only be able to truly love Henry when she lets go of her hatred of Snow and learns to forgive.
Yes and yes. She was hoping the void would be filled, but the void is still there, and as long as she harbours such hatred, she’ll never be free to feel love again.
@weedith wrote:
(Okay, in the interest of full disclosure I should say that I am an adoptive parent and the whole adoptive-mother-as-evil-witch and biological-mother-as-savior narrative is not my favorite!! 😆 )
Wouldn’t blame you for having a bias against that aspect of the storyline. I’ll bet there’s a step mother or two out there who isn’t a huge fan of fairytales. If you’re not the bio mother, you get a raw deal in FTL. 😉 Thankfully we’ve got the whole Evil Queen element to remove it from reality a bit, and I do honestly think that in the end, there’ll be a resolution that will give Regina and Henry that loving parent/child relationship. Even though she’s actually his great grandmother. LOL
Me, me, me. That’s MEEEEEE. I’m a stepmom. There is no hope for us when it comes to Fairy Tales – we are doomed from the start. Society grooms us from childhood to view the likes of me as the scum of the earth – capable of trying to poison her stepchildren with fruit, making her beautiful step-children do all of the household chores in order to deny them access to royalty while allowing her ugly biological children the run of the palace, blah, blah, blah. Yes, that pretty much sums up an average day in my life. Unfortunately I don’t look quite as good as Regina in my standard issue stepmother skin-tight black leather pants and cape.
I think Regina wants to love Henry, may even think she does, but that it isn’t a normal love where she thinks of him. Her mother only thought of herself too, so i think that Regina doesn’t know how to think of Henry. Though she does in some ways seem protective in a lot of ways she is not, she just uses Henry as a way to have control. A way to control Emma.
@rumplegoldfan wrote:
Yes, that pretty much sums up an average day in my life. Unfortunately I don’t look quite as good as Regina in my standard issue stepmother skin-tight black leather pants and cape.
😆
Well, Regina did name Henry after her own father who she loved very much. Mr. Gold brought Henry to Regina because somehow with his magical ways he knew that Henry would bring Emma to town. But why did Regina want a son? I think she was lonely and longed for companionship. Her relationship with her mother fractured her ability to love others fully.
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