[Keb]

I still wanna see Belle get to know Roland. She did make it possible for him to be born, after all.

But she hasn’t even ever spoken to Henry on screen and she’s his grandmother by marriage now. So.

[Keb]

Wonder who taught them that spell, Rumple or Regina. (Or someone else????)

Rumple’s got his own reasons for not wanting to stop DQ right away (dangit, Once, what are they?) but he might help capture her, especially after warning her not to hurt those he cares about (it was plural!!!!). Especially if it gives him more leverage to get what HE wants.

Regina, meanwhile, has been in her little post-break-up funk and we even have a scene showing her still moping in her vault. So…I dunno, betting on that being a Rumple spell.

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

[Keb]

What if love isn’t just something that’s either there or not there? What if it’s something that’s built over time? We saw that with Henry & Emma in S1–TLK certainly wouldn’t have worked between them in October, 2011, but it did about six months later when she broke the curse. Maybe sometimes there’s an instant feeling of connection…but it takes work and effort. If Robin was willing to work on his marriage (granted, harder with Marian in a block of ice), he could fall back in love with his wife. But to do that, he has to let go of Regina.

As for Rumbelle…their love has been built up over a long time (most of it sadly separated). The lies are going to be a BIG issue. But if any pair is willing to work to make love work, it’s Rumple (the man who sought his son for centuries just to apologize) and Belle (who has forgiven or deluded herself over just about every crime she knows Rumple’s committed and loves even the parts that belong to the darkness). That’s what might save them both in the end, but yeah, for it to work, Rumple’s gonna have to truly trust Belle and regain her trust in return–and that’s going to hurt like heck.

But at least Rumple doesn’t cheat. (Unlike his first wife.)

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

[Keb]

I definitely think that one’s views of marriage influence how you feel about OQ. Would like to state, though, for the record, that while Cora forced Regina to become engaged to Leopole, Regina sent Cora to Wonderland BEFORE the wedding and had the chance to leave. Rumplestiltskin stopped her and offered to continue teaching her magic (in his usual conniving and manipulative way) and, for some inexplicable reason, perhaps that without Daniel she had nowhere else to go and she had some hope that magic could revive him, she went back and went through with the wedding.

She was forced to get engaged to the king. Cora was not there (and I don’t think Rumple really cared one way or the other about her being queen) to force her to marry him. She chose that, however bleak her other choices might have been.

David and MM’s affair was less squicky for me because we, the audience, knew they were already married. The fact that both slept with someone else due to the curse was more morally iffy, but there we can say that Regina was compelling them in that direction (minimal free will, and she was actively manipulating the situation at the time). Also, we learned that Kathryn was no more a willing participant in the charade than David was–and her own true love was alive, well, and sans curse would have been with her.

Robin IS in a thorny situation, and it’s fair to say that someone who accepted his wife’s death 4 years ago and moved on isn’t likely to love her suddenly returned person with the same ardor he would have the day after she was (supposedly, since the timeline shifted when Emma saved her) killed. To declare he has no love left for her is clearly wrong, though. I don’t think he’d have even tried TLK (pressure notwithstanding) if he hadn’t believed there was a chance for it to work.

But for Marian, it IS almost literally the day after she was supposedly killed. And Robin, who once truly loved her and was willing to sacrifice himself to the Dark One just to help her, recognizes this and cares enough about her and their son to try to make it work…and then goes and digs this hole that just makes him look awful because he’s hurting both the women he loves.

For me, marriage is a sacred thing…so ending it lightly, most especially when kids are involved, doesn’t fly with me. Having Robin or Marian leave the marriage just because of Tink’s little prophecy would be awful. Having Marian die to make OQ work would be worse, regardless of how it happens. I just can’t see OQ working in a way that I would feel good about at this point.

But I think that Regina can emerge from this heartbreak a stronger, more heroic person. And just because RH is or was her soulmate doesn’t mean that he’s the ONLY true love she could have. He’s already the second man she’s truly loved, so that right there says that there is more than once chance for her. Maybe Little John?

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

[Keb]

Heck, I’d love to see them go to the underworld mostly because I want Rumple & Belle to go there, Rumple to face off Death with a game, and win Nealfire back.

BUT.

Sometimes people DO do the right thing even if it puts their family at risk. Sometimes people just can’t believe that, say, the Evil Queen is so evil she’d actually kill an entire village or an innocent woman with a young child just because she wants to get revenge on an equally innocent princess, because they could never see themselves being so evil. (I think that’s part of why Belle can’t help seeing Rumple in a better light–the utter darkness to which he’s succumbed on occasion is just beyond her comprehension, when the smallest failure to be a hero on her own part is soul-shattering to deal with.)

There are, in fact, countless examples in history of people choosing to die for a cause in the hope that their choice might make a difference, and even more examples of people willing to go to prison or otherwise suffer to try to change a horrible state. Marian was living under an evil, murderous queen who cared more about her revenge than about her people (though I will grant that she was good at knowing the names of her staff…you know, before she snapped their necks for the slightest failure). Snow White became a symbol of hope and a chance to change things–she had the right to claim the throne, and as her escapes and thievery against the crown mounted, she showed that she had the strength to fight back (even when she wasn’t ready to yet).

Marian’s decision wasn’t a choice to abandon her son (though it had that effect). It was a choice to try to make a better world for her son by keeping her people’s hope alive in the face of utter evil.

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

[Keb]

I hated seeing them open in Zelena’s ep there. Anna’s ep at least confirmed they don’t care about the curtains one bit. Zelena’s hurt though cuz Zelena’s a jerk to Rumple 🙁

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

[Keb]

Regina gleefully sentenced Marian, a perfect stranger, to death, because Marian chose to be a hero rather than a traitor to her princess and her kingdom.

Also, WR, you mention that death is stalking Marian a few times, but is that true? Maybe it’s just the opposite–the lady just won’t die!

So far she’s been saved by RH, Belle (who made it possible for RH to use the wand and save her life), Emma, and Regina (as you keep pointing out). Maybe fate doesn’t actually want her dead, and her role in fate’s plan is to make heroes out of those who meet or are inspired by her! Wouldn’t it be neat if Regina’s transformation to heroism was inspired by such a brave woman?

You know, if we’re going to look at it from different perspectives, after all.

 

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

[Keb]

Also, setting Skin Deep where it is and then everything else where it has to go relative to it–you get scenes that look like summer when it has to be winter and scenes that look like winter when it would need to be summer……………….

They really don’t care at all whether they’re entirely consistent with that. And part of it is simply the constraints of making this show–I think the curtains are an artifact of putting in the scenery after the fact with CGI, and the CGI department referring in scenes after SD to the later scenes of the SD castle. I think for S2 they significantly redesigned the place anyway. And wanted the lighting effects of open curtains.

Meanwhile, they film a lot of stuff outdoors and they’re stuck with whatever the trees/weather happen to be, more or less, when they film. Their schedule is so tight that they don’t have a lot of flexibility there. They can -make- snow if they need it, but it’s harder to erase snow that’s on the ground or change bright green summer foliage to winter status when you’re filming (doable, just harder and not worth the effort probably when they need the CGI budget for inconsistent castle interiors).

 

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

[Keb]

Yeah. *sigh*

Dangit, A&E, the curtains MATTERED.

Whatever. I just pretend they’re nailed shut in all the scenes before Robin Hood shows up and live in my own little head canon.

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

[Keb]

Yes, yes she should. Can’t easily fix that on the PDF but I’ll fix that on my spreadsheet.

(BTW, the PDF is based off a new worksheet at the end of my spreadsheet.)

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

[Author]

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