Why I can't ship OutlawQueen

[PriceofMagic]

I thought I’d create this thread to vent my frustrations about OutlawQueen rather than getting into a heated debate with others who do ship it in other threads. Anyone can contribute to this thread so feel free.

I think OutlawQueen is wrong on a foundational level. The whole “because pixie dust said so” is just a lazy way for the writers to stick two characters together without spending time building up an emotional connection between the two. I’ve always thought that OQ was a bit rushed, especially as upon meeting Regina for the first time, Robin jumped into the “you’re hot” territory without any consideration for her “evil queen” reputation.

Robin is willingly dating the woman that murdered his wife originally. I have no clue as to why the writers chose to go with the Regina murdered Marian reveal since that certainly killed any hope of me ever supporting the ship. It gets worse since it is Regina who is actually showing more care and concern towards Marian in her current predicament than Robin is! Marian’s murderer is more considerate towards her than her own husband.

Robin’s whole attitude towards Marian since she’s got frozen- What the hell is wrong with him? He used to be a decent guy but now all he cares about is banging Regina. The “previously on Once” opening of Smash the Mirror seems to give an accurate representation of the OQ relationship. Regina says “if you TRULY want to save Marian then you need to forget about me”, cut to Robin then kissing Regina which lead to them having sex. Robin does not give a crap about Marian at all.

During OQ’s sex marathon, neither one of them seemed concerned about either of their sons. In fact Regina even ignored a call from Snowing about Henry and when she did finally pick up the message, she arrived to see her son with her shirt unbuttoned. Robin and Regina were in the crypt all night, does Robin not even care to see his son so long as he’s banging Regina?

Also wasn’t Regina supposedly meant to be out all night looking for Emma? Instead she was in her crypt with Robin all night. Already there’s been a lie told unless Regina can suddenly be in two places at once.

Let’s not forget the fact that Robin CHOSE Marian over Regina, breaking Regina’s heart, yet just because his first choice hasn’t worked out too well for him, Robin then goes crawling back to Regina and Regina is happy to accept him. What sort of message is that?

OQ is a very unhealthy relationship. I know there was a thread about how all the relationships on Once seem to have something unhealthy about them but OQ seems to be the unhealthiest of them all.

[RumplesGirl]

This will end well.

 

*sigh*

 

I can’t in good conscience shut this down when the same arguments are being made in other threads.

But..for the love you all bear me…keep it civil

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

[obisgirl]

Adam and Eddy have certainly written themselves in a corner when it comes to OQ and they had a beautiful start in 3B.

I would have preferred to see their relationship develop a little differently this season. I think Regina’s come a long way as a character (but the gist of why this love triangle) is being explored now is to test, the kind of person Regina is becoming now.

But when you boil it down, it’s really a no-win situation for everyone. Robin is meant to be with Regina, he chooses Marian, he looks like a jerk for abandoning the woman he’s meant to be with. Plus, he’s not setting a good example for his son too. If he chose Regina over his wife from the beginning, he still looks like a jerk. It’s a horrible tug of war. Either way, Robin comes off as looking like a horrible person.

I have to give Regina some credit though. She hasn’t been actively pursuing Robin since Marian returned. She’s stepped back and given Robin the space he needs.

I do wonder what will ultimately happen to Marian? If she just going to be a frozen popsicle for the rest of the season, or will get thawed out eventually? I suppose when Ingrid is finally defeated, Marian will thaw out. But what happens when she is thawed out and realizes that her husband does not love her anymore and wants to be with Regina?

I don’t hate Marian. We haven’t seen enough of her for me to hate her but I do wonder what are Adam and Eddy’s plans for her in the long run.

[PriceofMagic]

I agree that this is a no-win situation for anybody. However, Robin’s character is being destroyed because of how OQ is being written now. I wonder how much of OQ’s issues are because of the two separate 11 episode arcs. There isn’t enough time in each arc to flesh out the relationship in a realistic way without rushing it.

All magic comes with a price!

Keeper of Felix

[obisgirl]

I also have to ask, since Outlaw Queen is an unusual situation, what is the statute of how long are you married after your spouse dies?

When is an appropriate time to move on? Angie made a valid point on twitter. Yes, Robin is still married to Marian but for him, she had been dead and gone for a long while and he had moved on.

[Josephine]

I wasn’t planning on saying anything at all.   All I will add  to the conversation is when you have to start looking for technicalities and loopholes to rationalize behavior then something isn’t right.  It might not technically be wrong or illegal, but somewhere in your own heart it’s going against your personal morals.

Adam and Eddy wrote themselves into a horrible place the minute they brought back Marian.  Whether she’s still legally Robin’s wife, he doesn’t love her anymore, or being dead and then time traveling nullifies and voids your marriage, this single act killed many people’s support of this ship.  Traditionally, the character of Robin Hood is seen to be one of a noble thief who puts the needs of many above his own privileged background.  He has a solid set of ethics and mores he and his men follow.  So this back and forth triangle makes it doubling troublesome for many.

I wonder A&E thought this through other than, “Let’s shock everyone in the finale.”  These things have long term repercussions and no matter who you ship, or if you don’t, this situation can have no good outcome.

Keeper of Rumplestiltskin's and Neal's spears and war paint and crystal ball.

[PriceofMagic]

I think it’s 7 years or something? How long after their spouse’s death that their widow/widower can remarry.

I don’t have too much of an issue with OQ in 3B. It was a little rushed and I would’ve preferred a little build up before Regina and Robin dived into the romance (though I really didn’t like 3B Regina).

I think part of the problem is Robin’s reaction aren’t how a normal person would react to finding out their girlfriend murdered their wife originally. He should’ve been horrified at finding out Regina murdered Marian and at least struggled with reconciling the fact that the Regina he knew now was the evil Queen at some point. Not be all ” Who cares? I love you Regina”.

I get that Robin had moved on from Robin and, if the writers hadn’t chosen to make Regina Marian’s murderer, he’d be a more sympathetic character in the situation that he’s in. However, ever since Marian was frozen, Robin has been quite uncaring towards her to the point that Regina, her murderer, actually looks the more caring and considerate of the two towards Marian which is wrong.

Robin should at least want to unfreeze Marian so he can do the “honourable” thing and break it off with her so that he can date Regina with a clear conscience and Roland will still have his mother. Instead Robin’s kind of gone “who gives a crap about Marian? It’s you I want Regina, lets bang right here in your crypt several times”

All magic comes with a price!

Keeper of Felix

[Keb]

I initially really liked Robin Hood, so I was annoyed when they made him Regina’s pixie-dust soul mate because I had a feeling it would go poorly. I had no idea that they would make him so unlikeable to try to make this relationship work, or that it was even possible.

Initially, I didn’t like the ship because of Roland. I knew (and I was right) that a kid around Regina was going to find himself in danger. She doesn’t have the best track record with kids she’s been interested in mothering. (And saying this DOES not discount her love for Henry in any way shape or form but she DID hurt him and has put him in danger several times as a result of her being his parent. He told her as much in early S2.) Snow White was also officially her stepchild, and she wanted to adopt Owen & Hansel & Gretel, too. Yeah, that went well.

Still, I was willing to accept that it was going to happen and hey, at least Regina gets some romance, yay.

But that was before Marian came back from the dead and was revealed to have been slated for execution/murder by Regina (I’ll accept that in the present timeline Regina didn’t actually murder Marian, or she’d be dead, but she certainly intended to.)

Now it’s just so ugly and the way they’ve been playing off Robin’s (legit) dilemma is even worse than David Nolan’s horrific blundering. I think the breaking point for me was when he and Regina were standing over Marian’s frozen body more or less debating whether to let her live or not. Yeah, it was about whether Robin would trust Regina with his wife’s heart, but the way they dithered, it FELT like they were trying to decide whether letting her die so they could do what they really wanted would be okay.

That aspect, even more than the fact of the adultery, is what really gets to me.

Also, as far as Regina’s redemption arc (which I realize is far from over), it does NOTHING for her to have her seeing that once again the only way she can have a happy ending is to take it away from someone else (in this case, Marian & probably Roland, who like any kid would probably prefer to have his bioparents together in an ideal world). We have seen NO reason for Robin not to love Marian except that he moved on (reasonable) and now loves Regina (okay, but since when is love mutually exclusive?); there’s little reason he couldn’t fall back in love with Marian if he loved her once. He’s choosing not to do that, choosing to violate both his AND Regina’s moral codes (Regina DOES believe it’s wrong or she wouldn’t have told him it couldn’t happen again).

I know I’m saying very ugly things but I’ve never NOTP’d a ship as hard as this one and I don’t know if that’s what A&E want or not, but that’s what’s happening for me. I realize there are cracks in all the ships, even Snowing, but this one is actively hurting both the people in the ship and people outside it, by its very existence.

 

Keeper of Belle's Gold magic, sand dollar, cloaks, purple FTL outfit, spell scroll, library key, copy of Romeo and Juliet, and cry-muffling pillow, Rumple's doll, overcoat, and strength, and The Timeline. My spreadsheet: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6r8CySCCWd9R0RUNm4xR3RhMEU/view?usp=sharing

[obisgirl]

I think part of the problem is Robin’s reaction aren’t how a normal person would react to finding out their girlfriend murdered their wife originally. He should’ve been horrified at finding out Regina murdered Marian and at least struggled with reconciling the fact that the Regina he knew now was the evil Queen at some point. Not be all ” Who cares? I love you Regina”.

I agree, I wish this had been addressed more in the story.  But that’s probably being saved for 4B. 4A is Emma’s arc, I think Regina’s will be 4B.

there’s little reason he couldn’t fall back in love with Marian if he loved her once.

This sounds really beautiful in theory but sometimes, that isn’t always possible.

[WickedRegal]

The Order of @WickedRegal’s Reaction to the OutlawQueen bashi…oops, I mean “venting” thread:

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

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