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So now that we know that killing the original also kills the doppelganger, do we still think it’s Emma’s worse half under the hood? That would amount to the doppelganger commiting suicide. Not that that’s out of the question, but from what we’ve seen, the split personalities seem to have a keen sense of self preservation.
[adrotate group="5"]The show seems to suggest the following: A) If Jekyll had not been so repressed and so determined to squash his own inner sexual desires (what he calls the beast and what Hyde manifests as, all swagger, confidence and virility) then he would not have killed Mary, he would not have created his serum and no one would be in this situation (including our heroes). Men of the world: be more like the Hyde persona!
My interpretation is quite different. Although Hyde is supposed to be the beast, I thought he was surprisingly gentlemanly in his scenes with Mary. Not once did he come across as agressive (correct me if I’m wrong, as I’ve only watched it once). He was simply himself, and Mary found that attractive. I actually found Jekyll more creepy – his comment about “owning” Mary rang alarm bells. So, what did I take to be the message in all of this? That repressing part of yourself, whether it’s sexual desire or something else, is more harmful than the impulse you are trying to repress. That’s not to say that any desire can be acted out indiscriminately; learning to control and express these feelings in a healthy way is the ultimate goal here.
But at the same time, B) If Mary had chosen her duty over her own sexual desires, Jekyll would have gotten what he wanted–Mary–and while their union would have been miserable, Jekyll’s would have manifested in affairs which the show goes to a weird length to show as common in Victorian England while Mary’s would have manifested in personal misery because she’s denying an aspect of herself. Women of the world: Don’t make the wrong choice like Mary did!
Yes, this is a disturbing message, although my initial reaction was to just see Mary as a victim, rather than infer any meaning from her actions and their consequence, since the focus is on Jekyll and Hyde.
I wonder if TLK cures #SaviorShakes
I’ve been trying not to think about that actually. Because, if it does, I’m sure we can see where that’s headed. And I suspect you (and many others here) won’t like it any more than I do.
Also, anyone wondering why Jasmine took a fake name? Why is she trying to hide her identity–no one in SB knows about Aladdin and his #SaviorShakes or about Jafar.
I’m sure someone from TLoUS knows though. Also, I’m guessing Aladdin has powerful enemies, so it’s probably just a precaution to hide her identity amongst strangers.
I reckon he’s either in the hospital or wandering around the woods. He didn’t look too good in the premiere, although the nature of his affliction is still unclear. There is a strong liklihood that he’s suffering a temporary loss of memory. There is an even stronger likelikhood that he and Jasmine will share a TLK at some point.
We learned that the only way to kill a doppleganger is to kill the original. What do you think of this revelation? And what does this mean for Regina? Is she now destined to die as well?
When I watched the episode, it didn’t strike me as counter-intuitive, but now that I’ve read your argument, I agree with you. Maybe it’s got something to do with the fact that they don’t share bodies anymore, like they did with in the Jekyll/Hyde flashbacks? So essentially, we’ve got these personalities inhabiting bodies that materialised out of nothing. If you really wanted to, you could try to make some pseudo-scientific argument about the new body drawing its life force from the original, or perhaps being a sort of reflection of the original. But if this was the case, you’d expect the doppelganger’s body to disappear after he/she dies. So no, I can’t make sense of it.
It strikes me as completely bizarre that not one of these characters has thought of the idea of reintegrating Regina’s dark side. They need to head over to Storybrooke library and check out some books on psychology. But seriously, Snow’s always going on about “being who you really are” and we went through a whole arc where Emma learned to accept the magical part of herself. You’d think they’d be able to extrapolate these lessons to Regina’s dark side.
But there’s no way they’re killing off Regina. No, not even at the end of the series. Look at what happened with Robin. Just three episodes later, they were backtracking about what really happened to him (obliterated, but apparently not) and now they’re bringing him back in some capacity, probably to placate the fans. Regina is about a million times more popular than Robin. They wouldn’t dare.
Rating: 8/10
General thoughts: I really enjoyed this episode, I think it’s the best I’ve seen from OUAT in a long time. Good writing, brilliant acting and interesting exploration of the duality of the human psyche.
Likes:
– Sam Witwer stole the show with his brilliant performance. It’s the first time since his appearance that I really enjoyed watching him.
– Rumple and the EQ were superb as usual.
– Snow and Jasmine teaching and forming a friendship was fun to watch. This is the BroTP of the season. Their name can be Snowin or Snowmine.
– The Charmings at breakfast was a sweet scene. It helped that Hook wasn’t there.
– Finally, I liked some of the points highlighted in the episode’s exploration of splits and duality. It made total sense that the so-called good side retained the capacity for evil while the so-called dark side was capable of love – reminiscent of the ying yang symbol. The dialog also breifly touched on what the “evil” side really was – the more primal side of ourselves, unaffected by societal conditioning. I would have liked to see this concept explored further, as it’s so much more intriguing than the childish notion of “good” and “bad”.
Dislikes:
– “I have to die.” I thought this was extremely silly, but I’ll explain over in the other thread where this discussion is being held.
– For most of the episode, I thought they were making a parallel between Hyde/Mary and Rumple/Belle. I was interested to see where it would go, and disappointed that it went nowhere.
– This is a minor thing, but the scene with Snow and Jasmine where Snow is lamenting her inability to teach Newton’s laws of motion was a missed opportunity for some witty dialogue. Too bad they ended up talking in cliches about being true to yourself – the same stuff we hear just about every episode.
Rating: 6/10
General opinion: An average, filler episode.
Likes:
– The continuation of David’s father’s murder mystery. Oddly enough, this is the storyline I’m currently most interested in.
– Seeing Thomas, Grumpy and Gus Gus.
– The EQ was suberb once again. I loved how she told Henry that SHE was his mother and followed it up with telling him to improve his posture. It really put him in his place.
– Snow White: princess, tracker, match maker.
– Zelena telling Regina to stop blaming her and take responsibility.
– Rumple’s audio recording. The voiceover was moving, and I was amused by the fact that he used a tape. Lol! Storybrooke is as quaint as ever!
Mixed:
– Snow wanting to return to teaching. I thought this was a great idea until her final scene. “Dr Frankenstein and Dr Jekyll” to me sounds like a cheap horror movie. If Snow thinks they should interact with young kids then I seriously question her judgement.
– The key. It seemed a little too good to be true. Besides, we still don’t know how many keys there are, who has them – stuff like that which would flesh out the concept instead of leaving it as a cheap plot device.
– Cinderella’s backstory did have a S1 feel, but it still wasn’t all that interesting. She’s difficult to like as a character, and the twist at the end felt a bit mundane.
Dislikes:
– All Emma, Hook and Henry scenes. Henry seems too keen to help and it comes across as desperate. Hook does nothing but tag along and amuse the youngsters. Emma vacillates between self absorbtion and ineffectiveness, except for the end when her magic miraculously starts working. I don’t get how that happened, and I’m not sure I care.
– Emma healing Ella was an anti-climax.
– Emma barging into Archie’s office. Archie kicking out Grumpy. They both deserve a kick up the whatnot, Emma for being so entitled, Archie for being an unprofessional jerk.
– Emma going on and on (it felt like) about her relationship, and Hook, and her happy ending, and Hook, and her shaking hands, and Hook. Who needs a hooded figure when A & E have already killed the original, likeable character so effectively? The current version is just a dead eyed doppelganger, plagiarised from Stephanie Meyers. RIP Emma.
It wasn’t a bad tale, but neither was it compelling. The only thing I really enjoyed was seeing Snow White using her tracking skills to help Prince Thomas find Cinders. I agree with @AKA about not finding Ella/Ashley likeable. She comes across as dim, short sighted and a major screw up. I mean, the moment she whipped out her mother’s dress, anyone could see where it was going to end up. It’s incidents like that which make it hard to sympathise with her.
why Cindy didn’t believe in magic given she lives in a MAGICAL WORLD!!!!! Its not even like magic is a secret, everyone knows its real, so why would she say that?
I know right! It’s like questioning the existence of the ocean while living next to a beach!
