TVGuide: Ask Matt (Opinion Article)

[RumplesGirl]

I’m posting this because it’s “news” and about ONCE. I am not trying to start something. Ask Matt is an opinion article. Take it. Leave it. Whatever. It says ONCE so I’m posting.

*goes to hide behind a rock*

Question: What are your thoughts/opinions on the Captain Swan goings-on in Season 3 of Once Upon a Time and the poorly handled “character development” of Hook’s character? A lot of people (myself included) believe it to be “fan pandering.” Hook went from being a person who wanted to destroy Storybrooke, kidnapped Regina to be tortured, and in a way helped get Henry kidnapped (all in the Season 2 finale) to some kind of hero? All in the time span of (according to the Neverland arc’s timeline) five days? As opposed to Rumpelstiltskin and Regina’s redemption arcs which have taken multiple seasons. In Season 2 Hook was a sociopathic pirate out for revenge over the death of a woman he loved for 300 years. And since then, he’s suddenly let that all go and we’ve had no mention of Milah since then. All because he’s suddenly and supposedly in love with Emma? I just can’t buy that thanks to the sloppy writing/storytelling. What are your thoughts on it? — Rebecca

Matt Roush: It’s a sign of how far removed I am from this show’s spell that I initially wondered if “Captain Swan” was a new character, until I realized we were in “shipper” territory — never my most comfortable turf. Fan pandering, indeed. So while I don’t have an actual opinion on how things have played out this year, having bailed midway through Season 2 and only peeking in on occasion, I will say it doesn’t surprise me when producers discover a new fan fave (and when I bailed, Hook was one of the few characters besides Rumpel whose company I was enjoying) and then find ways to make him more palatable and redeemable. If the process takes some of the edge off of such a colorful character, I think I’d be annoyed, too.

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Ask-Matt-Justified-CSI-Person-Interest-Resurrection-1078105.aspx

[obisgirl]

This is just an opinion column and nothing really spoilerly. And Adam’s already stated a few times CS is not fan service.

So…

[Sarah_TN]

Well too, in regard to the question, I disagree with the premise that bad people have to remain bad, in order to be entertaining. In real life, if I made a lot of mistakes, I hope nobody would only expect the worst of me, and never give me the benefit of the doubt for having any redeemable qualities; that there would be a better side of me which nobody can see yet. Sorry, but if the story were saying that all bad people have to be bad and stay bad, and all good people stay good, and it’s all black-and-white, us versus them, I don’t think I’d be interested. That’d just be too shallow (and unimaginiative), in my opinion.

My tumblr page is http://cs-in-tn.tumblr.com/

[RumplesGirl]

I moved this out of spoilers and into Gen S3 discussion. Sorry about the misplacement.

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

[Jenna_B]

One of the best parts of OUAT is that none of their characters are completely good and completely evil.  Hook’s decision to turn the page and start acting like a better person can seem quick, but if you really think about it, they showed he had misgivings from the very beginning (ex: Cora wiping out an entire settlement in the EF so she can start executing her plans).   Yes, he snaps back and forth in S2, but I think the reasons for this include 1) S2 was all over the place with every character & 2) someone had to go and break his stinkin’ leg 🙂 so I think they had to do a lot of backtracking and reworking the already messy storyline.  I know, people are going to argue some of his actions (Belle) but again, #1 & #2.  I do believe, when you stop concentrating on the timeline and focus more on the story and characters themselves, the writing does appear tighter.  (If you try to follow the story and figure out the timeline, you’re just going to give yourself a massive headache because it’s impossible to follow. )

I think A&E always had some plan for CS to take shape; whether it be, or will be, romantic or platonic is unknown at this point.  But sometimes storylines and relationships can change, especially when it turns out certain characters/actors have unexpected chemistry.  Jen and Colin are two actors that generally have great chemistry with most of the other characters they interact with, so it’s not surprising they’re going to naturally develop some kind of chemistry with each other.   So, no I do not think CS is ‘fan pandering’ any more than OQ, SQ, SF and so on is.

I don’t believe A&E take too much of the ‘feedback,’ for lack of a better word, from any ‘ship, group, person, etc, when writing the story.  I mean, when you think about it, imagine what Adam sees when he goes onto something like Twitter – it’s a loud, noisy mess.  *Insert Charlie Brown adults-talking here.*  How can you possibly weed through the commotion to even figure out who wants what and how can we write to make the fans happy because Suzy Q is going to stop watching if we do this, but Jim Bob is going to stop watching if we do that?  It’s ridiculousness to think anyone has control of the story other than the storytellers themselves.

I follow Matt’s article, and I generally respect his opinions on shows he follows – he’s one of the more eloquent tv critics out there.  However, he does tend to provide opinion on shows he fully admits he doesn’t even follow, which doesn’t really make sense.  So when he says in his response that he doesn’t really follow the show, I pretty much tune out.  Unless RG posts here.  😉

[obisgirl]

Love your post, Jenna! Everything about it is perfect.

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