[Keb]

BEST EPISODE: The Outsider
Belle + Mulan — two of my favorite Disney Chars, teaming up in the fairyback, filling in gaps in the story and building Belle’s character as a hero who uses brains and books as well as compassion to save the day. I just loved it and it gave me something to cheer for, and while the story itself was pretty simple, it connected threads everywhere with Phillip, Dreamy, Regina & Claude all tying into other episodes and events, which is my favorite thing that Once does.

And the SB side was also fun–Belle got to be heroic again, with lots of Hook and Rumple, and the whole plot actually set up the main plots for the rest of the season–finding Bae, the outside threat, the inner struggle between good and evil, and (sadly) the whole Belle’s memory arc. I found it riveting and pivotal, and, honestly, that’s when my affection for the show became scary obsession where I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I love/hate the ending because it was so powerful but so sad. I found it brilliant.

Best Runner Up: Tie: Manhattan or Lacey
This is hard for me–Manhattan was incredible. But the Belle-centrics are all my favorites, and Lacey’s fairyback was incredibly fun to watch. I didn’t really like Lacey or what she did to Rumple, but I didn’t like them in the same way I didn’t like Belle getting shot in the Outsider–it was the good kind of not liking, if that makes sense. The kind that makes you want to find out how the characters will deal with this obstacle and what happens next and come up with 90 million scenarios in your head. And the sass between Gold and Regina–they need more scenes together. Many more. And Hook came back. And we got acknowledgement of the relationship between Gold and Regina and actually got her REACTION to it which I thought we wouldn’t. Also, adorable Henry + Neal bonding. Honestly, it was a pretty much perfect episode.

I kinda want to put in a word for Tiny, too–a lot of people hated it, but Tiny was a much needed happy story in the midst of a lot of tension. Tiny with the dwarves just made me melt and I actually watched that one over and over a lot because sometimes we do need a happy ending in there somewhere.

WORST EPISODE: In the Name of the Brother
Partly I think my dislike for this episode is because it was the followup that I’d been waiting for after The Outsider, right when my obsession started to get scary and I needed to know stuff. I don’t fully hate it–the SB side had some great moments (and heartbreaking ones–the cup!), but when I rewatched it, I kept skipping a lot of the scenes because they were either to painful or just…not worth the time to rewatch. I like Victor, but the stuff with his father felt flat and badly acted, and while I want to hug Gerhardt so much, I couldn’t deal with the scene where Victor tries to kill him. Hurt too much to watch. The SB plot of not even knowing where the only doctor is was…annoying at best, though I did appreciate Ruby’s saving the day and perhaps a real start to Frankenwolf. Something about Greg rubbed me the wrong way from the start, though–I don’t actually enjoy watching him, and it’s more irritation with him than anything else; the other villains of the show tend to inspire emotions other than irritation most of the time. Oh, and better forgotten entirely: Cora kissing Gold. Ew. The good moments in that ep were really good–Gold’s insistence that he is insane, Emma and Hook chatting in the hospital, Gold’s desperate attempts to bring Belle back, and Gold’s announcement/threat at the end; also little things like Ruby encouraging Whale and Leroy’s everything and Rumple’s amazing red coat against the Black and White of Victor’s lab–but the problem was having to skip all the stuff that hurt too much to get at the good stuff.

Worst Runner Up: Tie for me between Lady of the Lake and Selfless Brave and True.
Lady of the Lake brought back George as a villain, being exceptionally villainous, and that I appreciated. But killing off Ruth hurt, especially when they could have found another way to reverse the effects of the potion, surely? And the secret marriage felt like a negation of the Big Marriage in a way–I know it’s not really, but that’s kind of what it felt like. The fairyback really didn’t do anything except tell us Nostos was dried up due to the Siren’s death, and the division between past, present FTL, and present SB was a lot for one episode. I did like the Four Princesses’ Adventures a bit, and the Jefferson stuff that wrapped up his story a bit was beautiful, so I didn’t completely hate the episode…it just wasn’t as strong as many others.

Selfless Brave and True wasn’t completely awful, either (and I’ve been somewhat won over by the idea that August would have wanted to be little Pinocchio again), but what I hated most about it was that it completely failed to resolve some of the issues between August, Emma, and Neal. It seems like Neal’s picked up the slack some, but there were a lot of things that needed to be said between them that they closed the door on prematurely. Oh, and Tamara’s more likeably evil than Greg, but boohissboo. Also, is it just me, or was some of the dialogue just completely, er, wooden? So what I hated about the episode was more the wasted potential than anything else. (Also, the complete dropping of Rumbelle at a time when Rumple really, really should’ve been following up with her and/or his son–a week passes and he doesn’t talk to EITHER? What was he so eager to be doing when he was stuck guarding Snow instead then? Plus, episodes with minimal Regina/Rumple are just never as good–they’re the backbones of the show, and Regina had like two minutes, Rumple was absent entirely, and you didn’t even have Hook to make up for it.)

[Keb]

I’d considered putting cars on the character spreadsheet but I suck at identifying cars :p

and I guess it is comforting to know that my level of insanity isn’t entirely alone.

That sounds like an awesome project if you ever get it done enough. (it’ll never be done, I think…)

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 keep adding to the spreadsheet. Right now I have the 1613 entries on the full timeline, though I haven’t gone through and done connections or what individual characters are doing in each entry completely…plenty of stuff to do there alone! Then I’ve got my episodes chart and I still haven’t rewatched enough to catch all the title screens (I’d like to link/shove in gifs of them. Wonder if Excel can handle that?) and then there’s Timeline Light (how the heck do you know what’s important when stuff that seems insignificant can turn out to be any time later?). And then…

Cast
Characters (I separated them because sometimes you have 2-4 people playing the same individual character and it got messy)
Deals with Rumple
Magic Rules
Curses & Spells
Henry’s book (another one where inserting images would be a +, since I’m cataloguing what images/moments are in the book)
Magical Artifacts
Deathcount
Ships
Kingdoms
Quotes
Repeated Phrases (cuz the parallels they do with echoed phrases are brilliant, but I’m still working out the best way to organize this page)
Official Clues (stuff from twitter, interviews, podcasts, etc, that seems relevant to me)
Blood Feud (back in 216 I was trying to trace who all had hurt whom in the families. It’s messy.)
Songs (a few songs I think would make awesome Once vids…)
Jailbirds (have you actually sat down and thought about how many times pretty much all the main characters have been locked up? Henry’s from a whole freakin’ jailbird family. Of course, like Belle, not all of them were justly locked up…but still! Anyway, I went and cataloged it.)
Once Foods (definitely added some entries from the thread around here)
Gold’s Collection (really haven’t put much work into this one though)
Headcanon Stuff (mostly just a page of notes. Have had to erase a few recently.)
Open Questions (a little out of date.)
In-Show Summaries of Ridiculous (this is when the show calls itself out on how silly things get, like when David and MM try to work out Henry’s family tree. Love those moments.)
Random Notes (what the label says)
Locations (I tried to distill the locations from my timeline some time ago. With some work, it could be a useful list.)
Rumbelle Dates (was trying to figure out if they’ve ever had an uninterrupted date on screen. Depends on how you define “date” though.)
Vocab List (also have been swiping entries from the list around here…but yes, our fandom has its own language. As a linguist, I’m fascinated.)
Once Princess Talents (this is an extension of another spreadsheet I did comparing the various talents and abilities displayed by the Disney Princesses…yes, I’m hopeless.)

You, um, see why I haven’t published this full mess of a spreadsheet workbook?

I think I might have a problem.

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]

As you probably expected if you pay any attention to me, I’ve updated my timeline to conclude Season 2.

This version has a few little tweaks–moved Cinderella’s first meeting with Rumple to the day after George gave him the info on the fairy godmother, corrected some dates that I think were slightly off (I’m pretty sure lots of them are inaccurate, but some are more accurate than I think they were), things like that.

Bigger change is that I added my episode list and my half-finished Timeline Light, in which I was attempting to focus on the most major events and now am simply attempting to sum up each episode in no more than 2-4 entries per present/fairyback section, as appropriate. It’s much less cumbersome and doesn’t have quite as much data, obviously, but may suit your purposes better than the scene-by-scene breakdown I’ve got in the regular timeline.

I might someday add in some of the other pages I’ve got in the works on my full spreadsheet. Like the deathcount page, which I find fascinating for some reason. (I’m trying to figure out who has killed more but it gets really messy when Regina or Cora decide to slay entire villages…or when half the cast is involved in the death, like with Cora.)

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6r8CySCCWd9NzNOek42VEZweVU/edit?usp=sharing

Pft, edit to add the URL. It’s the same but I like to add it.

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]

Oh, she totally still has Lacey in her. I think with her, Belle will be dominant, but maybe she’ll actually call people out on mistreating her when she has a moment–cue telling Regina off for locking her up and screwing with her head and so forth, or Hook for shooting her. (Though, actually, Lacey was a bit cowardly when it came to confrontations, which I think is why she left the hospital before Gold got back, possibly with Regina’s encouragement, and why she left him at the diner. So maybe not.) She’s got to be less than happy about sending Rumple off with Hook and Regina, though, and she barely knows the Charmings.

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]

Oh, I think you could bet GOOD money on more of the Rumple/Cora story being explored next season. There’s SO much more there to explore.

I’d love to see whether Moe can find a way to reunite with Belle. For a show that’s so focused on family, and for a girl who truly loved her family and sacrificed her freedom to save them, it seems kind of tragic for there to be an eternal rift between the two. Since she’s stuck in SB for at least a little while, they have the opportunity to explore that relationship and maybe look at what their lives were like before Rumple–or what Maurice did after Belle left his castle. I’ve also wondered if Belle ever attempted to escape from Regina and what lengths Regina had to go to in order to keep Rumple from figuring out she was still alive in a land where just saying his name seems to summon him. I mean, she could mumble his name in her sleep and he’d pop up and…yeah. But they wouldn’t touch on that unless it were immediately relevant (but Hook did manage to learn where she was and break through Regina’s defenses, and at least some of the guards had to know–Claude did anyway–about Belle–so that could be excuse to explore that time in her life).

Emma as a kid would be fascinating. I wouldn’t be shocked to see more of August as a kid at some point, either. I mean, as a kid in the past, not now.

They might move away from quite so many backstories next season though, to balance out the various worlds better. I think I’d be sad if they did that completely, but it worked for one or two eps this season to just focus on present time in different places.

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]

Are they all truly reformed, though? Their goals currently align with the Heroes’ goals–and they all have an interest in rescuing Henry, a positive interest to do with love for either him or Baelfire and a shared desire to be better and to be part of a family.

But that doesn’t mean that they’re going to agree on how to accomplish their goals, or have precisely the same goals in mind. Regina was willing to sacrifice herself so that Henry wouldn’t be alone, but is she truly able to share his love with the others if she’s around? She’s worked with Emma before, despite her occasional hatred of the woman, when Henry was on the line, so as long as he’s in danger, she can probably be relied upon to work with whoever can help her get him back–but how long will that last once he’s safe? She doesn’t trust or like the Charmings even if they do keep saving her, and her relationship with Gold is in some ways more complicated yet. The pirate’s betrayed her in life-threatening ways at least twice, though she doesn’t seem to dislike him as a result (I think she would’ve done the same thing and knows that full well.)

Gold seems willing to sacrifice himself and give in to the prophecy in Bae’s honor, but when push comes to shove he’s often done the cowardly thing, and he sensibly left behind the only person who ever inspired him to overcome his controlling darkness, so that leaves open the question of whether he will actually do what’s in Henry’s best interests in the end. Remember what he did with Bae, with Henry, and with Belle–people he actually DOES care about (and yes, I believe he cares about Henry and did at least since Emma woke him from the curse, but the prophecy made him scary so he’s tried to distance himself just as he’s done with Belle a couple of times)–when he got scared–choosing power over love, anyone? Still, we know that what Rumple would love most is to be part of a family, and second most would be to be a hero instead of a coward. He knows now that power won’t necessarily get him either of those things.

Hook was inspired by Emma and Bae the same way that Rumple was inspired by Belle and Bae–but is he truly over wanting revenge? He’s also shown a tendency to switch allegiances faster than lightning when whoever he’s working with doesn’t seem as advantageous as a different path; he even switched up with Bae three or four times in one episode, despite his affection for the kid. That doesn’t make him the most trustworthy of comrades. I think we still have much to learn about Hook, honestly, and I think he does aspire to be a hero and a family man as much as Rumple, but never learned how to do it.

And then there’s Emma and the Charmings, who seem to have figured out how to function as a family at this point and work pretty well together, even if David is more of a hit first, ask questions later type, Snow’s desperate to be truly Good to ease her conscious, and Emma’s dealing with all sorts of conflicting stuff between the coping mechanisms she adopted as a youth and all the changes she’s been through in the last two years. And she’s just lost the one man she ever admitted she loved, believing him dead, and her son (okay, the one boy she loves…) in the same day. And she’s working with the people who separated her from her parents as a baby, the parents who sent her to another world alone, and a pirate who once compared her to a dried up bean and left her in a cell to rot (and who also keeps flirting with her…).

Even David and Snow don’t always see eye-to-eye on how things should be accomplished; can you imagine all six of them agreeing on something? They agreed long enough to get on board that ship and go to Neverland, but the tension was already there–“Are you finished trying to kill me?” “I believe so.” “Then you can live.”

Yeah, this will go well. (I can’t wait. As long as we get some good SB stuff with Belle, too. And more Neal.)

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]

@RumplesGirl wrote:

I may hug you. LIke actually find you and hug you.

**NOTE: RG is not a creepy person, she just has a lot of feelings*

I’m like Rumple. I like hugs.

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, Oz! I’m okay with that!

Honestly I’d totally watch a show of Rumple and Belle worldhopping. Just saying.

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]

My favorite moments:

1. Grumpy giving Gold the potion. Belle’s friends love her too! Also, Grumpy, you are awesome. (and I love how all my ships ship each other.)
2. Belle comforting Gold. Man gets like one hug per century and he NEEDS them. (As a hugger from a non-huggy family…it hurts to go too long without.)
3. The Charmings AND Regina all being family and heroic all at once.
4. Mom? Dad? Didn’t know how much I was waiting for that till it happened.
5. MAP finding Neal, but I wish there had been a tiny bit more of that.
6. Daddy Hook. Awwwwwww.
7. Hook + Charming Broship. I think Rumple may have left Believe or Leave for a new band by the end of the ep. (omg the best broship guy teams working together…sorry, having a fangirl moment here, need a swooning couch)
8. CHIP! Mayor Belle will totally keep Chip close. Yay! And protect the shawl too.

Least:
1. Belle staying behind. *whimper* But if Librarian Mayor Queen Belle happens, or at least Neal + Belle teamwork, it will be okay. Also, the magic scroll gives me some hope for some reason.
2. Rumple almost killing Henry and then learning that Neal’s dead and blaming himself. I mean, it was BRILLIANT but also painful to watch. I still don’t believe he would really have done it–even A&E said in the podcast that even if he had, he’s got the ability to heal and might have changed his mind when the reality hit–I mean, Snow nearly let Regina get executed and stopped it literally at the last possible second–but he was definitely inching towards doing it. I think he was going so slowly because part of him was fighting it hard. Oh, and suspense. But yes, painful.
3. Henry getting kidnapped without a word–it’s a mine–there are echoes. Also, Henry being kidnapped 🙁 But it is impetus for all the good things that could come in S3 so…we’ll roll with it. Poor Henry.

Um. that’s about it. I loved it as a package and it did manage to seal up some of the loose ends that have been flapping around while setting up something to look forward to. Justpleasedon’tforgetBelle.

Oh, other least favorite bit. So, I’m doing the Virginia Renaissance Faire right now, and I knew there was no way I’d be home in time to see the show yesterday live. Travel time, see. I was resigned to not logging onto any of my Oncey sites (I was going to be dead tired anyway) for the evening, and watching as soon as it was up in the morning. My mom’s doing the faire too, so I suggested taking her out to eat after the show at a close restaurant for Mother’s Day. All good and well.

The restaurant’s TVs are on ABC. No sound, no captioning. It was 8:15 before we left. This was a special kind of torture, let me tell you.

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]

Posts