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With certain aspects of 5A seemingly influenced by the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which coincidentally Jane Espenson collaborated on, I wonder if CS is actually Once’s imitation of the Spike/Buffy pairing (reformed villain/main hero), only A&E completely missed the point of Spike/Buffy.
Spuffy was not written to be viewed as an ideal relationship. It was completely unhealthy for both people involved and was played as such. Spike became obsessed by Buffy whilst Buffy’s attitude to Spike blew hot and cold to the point where he didn’t know if he was coming or going. One minute Buffy would sleep with him, the next she’d tell him to leave her alone. Buffy would say he disgusted her then she’d seek him out for sex to make herself feel better only to then be disgusted by it and the cycle went on and on culminating in Spike attempting to rape Buffy.
Spike was meant to be killed off in season 2, however he proved so popular that he was kept on. He disappeared for season 3, guest starring in one episode before returning full time in season 4. Since realistically Spike wouldn’t be able to last if he was still in villain mode and killing people, the show came up with a plot device that enabled Spike to transition from villain to anti-hero and stick around for the rest of the series.
Spuffy didn’t actually get together until season 6 and the “romantic” relationship didn’t last the season. It was shown to be unhealthy from the start. Buffy was in a bad place after being dragged out of heaven and brought back to life and she latched on to Spike because she wanted to feel something. It wasn’t love. Emotions were toyed with, and the lines became dangerously blurred on what constituted consent and what didn’t. Buffy and Spike somewhat mended their relationship in season 7 although it was in a non-romantic sense. When Spike was about to die and Buffy declared “I love you” to him, Spike turned around and told her “no you don’t but thanks for saying it”. The characters recognised that what they had wasn’t real love.
How does this compare to CS? Hook appeared in season 2 as a villain, got “reformed”, became obsessed with Emma, started a “romantic” relationship with Emma, etc. Basically A&E are writing their version of Spuffy but are displaying it as this “great romance” instead of showing how unhealthy it really is. Whereas the Spuffy dynamic evolved naturally, CS has been rushed through. There is no reason why Emma is interested in Hook other than poor writing and the fact that A&E need to shoehorn Hook into the story somehow.
If A&E hadn’t caved to fan pandering, CS could’ve been a golden opportunity. They could’ve shown that “strong” women can and do find themselves in unhealthy relationships through no fault of their own. They could’ve shown Emma struggle to get out of that situation and played it as realistic even though it involves two fictional characters. As it is, A&E are displaying it as a “true love” story and that is wrong on so many levels. Emma is a shadow of her former self, yet supposedly this is considered an ideal for her.
Impressionable young people watch this show, and actually it is partly through the media that they learn to distinguish between what is considered a good relationship and what is not as that is where they’ll get exposed the most to “romance”. Spike was a good looking guy, but the relationship he had with Buffy was not good, and Buffy was shown getting out of that and calling it quits when Spike went too far.
CS on the other hand, is worrying. There is no denying that Hook is good looking even with the Hook, but nobody is calling him out on his manipulative behaviours. He obsessed over Emma to the point where he had to “win” her. He was confident he would as he told her “WHEN I win your heart, and I WILL win it” instead of using words like “if”. In season 4, Hook put on the nice guy act for Emma and her family but was shown to be blackmailing Rumple for his own gain. This came to bite him in the arse, but rather than portraying both men for being in the wrong, Rumple for controlling Hook via his heart, and Hook for trying to blackmail Rumple in the first place, the show tried to absolve Hook of all blame while completely vilifying Rumple. In season 5 Hook deliberately said some very nasty things to Emma because he wanted to hurt her. The show wants to make out that it was the Dark One talking rather than Hook, but the thing is we’ve had 4 seasons of Rumple as the dark one, and not once has the show excused Rumple’s actions as “it was the dark one, not Rumple” so why is that excuse now being used for Hook?
As weird as it may sound, it’s almost as if the actual unhealthy relationship is between Hook and the show itself. Hook does less than stellar things and the show goes out of its way to make excuses for his actions. “He was upset”, “He was controlled”, “It was the dark one talking when those hurtful things were said, not him”, “He didn’t mean it!” The show needs to get out of its unhealthy relationship with Hook because until that day, CS is going to be displayed as this paradigm of virtue rather than the mess it actually is.
[adrotate group="5"]All magic comes with a price!
Keeper of FelixI’d be annoyed if Emma and co started dictating what Rumple should and shouldn’t do in the Underworld. They already demonstrated in 5A that they would be willing to throw Rumple under a bus so long as they benefitted from it, it was only Belle who called them out on it.
The “heroes” annoy me so much because we’re meant to believe that they’re a force for good but they are so self-centred, they don’t give a damn about anyone else so long as they’re okay. If there came a choice between saving one of their own and dooming the town, they would doom the town because they don’t care about anyone outside their inner circle. This has been going on since the end of season 2 when the “heroes” were ready to bean hop out of a disintegrating Storybrooke yet were happy to leave behind RumBelle, Hansel and Gretel, Jefferson and Grace, Pinnochio and Gepetto, etc. Emma and co were willing to leave CHILDREN to die rather than try and save as many people as they could because all they cared about was saving their own skins.
All magic comes with a price!
Keeper of FelixI dont like this reporter very much mostly bc she is very anti neal and very pro SQ, but her articles are in some way funny
I thought that report actually sounded positive towards Neal.
All magic comes with a price!
Keeper of FelixSo the show is showing more about OZ this season than actually showed at the arc that was all about Oz? okay then, i will say 2 things and many of you will say im wrong bc of the love that Adam and eddy have for Bex, but just saying , Zelena will die for real this season or she will stay behind with Hades and before that she will make amends with Regina and will ask her to take care of her daughter bc she wants her to have the best chance and a family and the baby will be called Zelena or Cora.
It would be a shame for Bex to leave as Zelena was one of the highlights of 5A which says a lot about the quality of the season so far.
I actually don’t think Bex will leave because she seems quite happy with the show. Contracts are up at the end of this season so, if Once does get another season, A&E will have to renegotiate with their cast to continue. It would be foolish to get rid of someone who would probably be happy to return on a gamble that everyone else will return.
A&E could lose some heavy hitters this year: RC, Lana, Ginny since she’s pregnant and doesn’t seem happy with the direction the show has taken with her character. EdR might decide to take some time out for her baby. A&E would be idiots to get rid of Bex when they might need her to fill out the ranks.
All magic comes with a price!
Keeper of FelixI don’t think Roland would’ve been ring bearer for the fact that he’d be terrified of Rumple considering Rumple aimed an arrow at his face. Sure, Rumple was being controlled but Roland is hardly going to understand that. As far as he is concerned, Rumple tried to hurt him.
All magic comes with a price!
Keeper of FelixI did many times. If you are talking about how Zelena fooled Snow about her identity, then you are wrong. The witch fooled all of them, because she had their memories of the first year erased. No one would really know or remember her.
Sure, but you don’t really trust a perfect stranger with about a zillion red flags of “Stranger! Danger!” with your unborn child.
Also, the dumbing down of Snow continued well past the Oz arc. Most recently was Zelena’s “oh no! My pregnancy is going wrong! Help me!” *Snow, stupidly, think something is wrong and gets kicked in the stomach*
You can call it being too trusting, I suppose, but it’s too trusting to the point of stupidity in many cases.
Snow responding to Zelena’s claim that something is wrong with the baby isn’t necessarily dumb. Sure, it wasn’t a bright idea but it says more about Zelena stooping to that low level rather than Snow trying to help a pregnant woman whom she believed to be in need.
3B Snow though, Charming would’ve been better off without her. She was a millstone around his neck. You’re looking for the wicked witch you know has never been in Storybrooke, a random stranger who has never been in Storybrooke suddenly takes an intense interest in your unborn child. Rather than being creeped out that a complete stranger is suddenly all over your pregnancy, Snow invites Zelena into her life with open arms because there was a chance they “might’ve” been friends in the missing year. Zelena’s wardrobe could only be described as witchy, how could Snow not connect the dots that this complete stranger in witchy clothing might just be the wicked witch they were all looking for?
All magic comes with a price!
Keeper of FelixOld Disney animations are always kind of creepy and disturbing.
All magic comes with a price!
Keeper of FelixI hope they won’t go with the switch. Let’s not make Snow dumber than she already is.
She is never dumb fool. Only the villains most of the time. And sometimes Emma as well.
Did you not watch 3B?
All magic comes with a price!
Keeper of FelixBaelfire coming back would actually be an interesting idea. Rumple gets a second chance not to repeat the mistakes he made with Bae before but you also get the heartwrenching element where Henry gets his dad back but Bae has no clue who he is.
3B was terrible for both Emma and Regina in terms of characterisation as their arcs were all about their ships. Regina has managed to pull it back with OQ as Robin is more an accessory that Regina wears on her arm rather than an actual character but Hook has been and continues to be bad for Emma’s character. If the show was trying to make a commentary about how even “strong” women can end up unwittingly in unhealthy relationships and they actually had Emma realise this, then CS would’ve actually been a clever idea. However that is not what they are doing, instead CS is being presented as this straight-up romance and it is so very wrong. Hook has not changed one iota for the better, his motives are not selfless but selfish, he helps not because it is the right thing to do but because helping puts him in favour with Emma which means she is more receptive of his advances so Hook benefits in terms of sexual gratification. His comment about returning Milah to Rumple “soiled” was disgusting. That can’t be blamed on being the dark one as Rumple was the dark one for years and never viewed women in such disregard.
All magic comes with a price!
Keeper of Felix
