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So maybe this AU starts in 610, and ends around 614-616?
Hmmm…then maybe that’s when Jafar really steps in as the Big Bad? I can’t believe they’d bring in the final “BIG” Disney move, go through the trouble to recast Naveen, and not have Jafar be a serious threat to the Charmings in present day. In other words, Jafar becomes the Home Office of S2 (without the confusing unsatisfying storyline); the bonus being that they set up Jafar as a villain since the beginning of the season.
[adrotate group="5"]"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"I’ve been debating on whether or not I’d weigh in on this…it seems sort of pointless for me to wrestle with the Hook question. Everyone knows how I feel about Hook. I think what it comes down to is the writers hearing vs the writers listening. I do agree that the redemption Hook is currently undergoing is A) fast and B) because the writers have only HEARD that a good portion of their fans do not like Hook (and yes a good portion of them also love him).
The “Fast” part of that two-part almost goes right over my head. Of course it’s fast. Everything on this show is nowadays. The writers don’t take their time with anything. Relationships develop in one episode; villains are gone between 4-10 episodes; long standing-mythological questions get answered in the span of a current arc with little to no foreshadowing to be found in past arcs. Characters forgive others after one heart to heart, and are resentful of their peers after one fight. Everything is about fast drama that gets people talking. It’s buzz, not story.
Do I like that Hook is being redeemed this fast without having to *really* go down the paths other villains have had? Nope. Do I think he’s being given a lot without working for it–a brother who forgives him almost without any arguing, a literal resurrection–? Yes. Did I expect anything less? Nope; the writers didn’t even think Hook needed this redemption arc. They’ve been calling him a hero since S3. And this brings me to part 2.
Part two is that the writers are hearing what people are saying (tweeting). They hear that fans do not like Hook’s toxic masculinity, rape culture persona. But what the writers do not do–is listen. Take Hook out of the equation and insert another problematic element in OUAT. Let’s look at the PoC’s of the show. For quite some time, the writers HEARD that fans (and even some critics) were questioning the treatment of PoC’s on OUAT. Their solution? To change the traditional depiction of legends like Guinevere and Merlin to Latina and African, respectively. In the writers mind, that solves the problems. Look–PoC’s! Well, no. Because the writers did not LISTEN. Look what they did to Gwen and Merlin; one was roofied by her husband and then given no development outside of a white man’s pain, and the other was killed only to further a white man’s story without fleshing him out in any meaningful way, to only serve as an exposition prop before being done away with and never mentioned again. In short, they were treated like previous PoC’s on this show.
Hook is the same way. The writers went through the motions; they want to make Hook tolerable to those who do not like him without fully understanding the cultural and social reasons behind the dislike. So, he apologized to Belle (in a non snarky way); he put Henry before his romance with Emma and so far he’s made very little flirtatious jokes with other non-Emma entities. All of these things are GOOD (and more on this in a second) but on top of being quick, it does little to erase the message of his overall toxic masculinity which is not a position the writers are ever going to understand because of their own privilege position; the same way they can’t understand how PoC’s read their treatment of PoC characters, the same way they can’t understand how LGBT read their treatment of any LGBT characters and the same way they can’t understand how uncomfortable it is for me (a woman) to watch women be sexually aggressive and either be punished for it or it be part of their “evil” makeup. It’s hard for the writers to see Hook as anything BUT a swashbuckling romantic hero because–by and large–that’s how TV culture has presented “bad boy” romantic leading characters. It’s not A and E who are at fault, not solely–it’s our culture that’s also at fault.
NOW! Having said all of that… let me say something else. So far, this season, I have very little mean things to say against Hook. Do I like him? Not even a little bit. But right now, I don’t have a lot to say about his current actions that are repugnant. In other words, if the goal of the writers was to make Hook more tolerable to those who do not like them…they (somewhat) succeeded. I will never like him, I will forever be rubbed the wrong way but the entitled bro, rape culture characters. But right now…when Hook is on my screen, I don’t want to claw my eyes out. I just sit, watch, take notes (sometimes even positive ones!) and move on to the next scene.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"The EQ and Zelena have a fun dynamic. I like that the EQ can’t walk into a room without checking herself out in some sort of reflective surface.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"I wonder how many episodes this AU story will span. I’m guessing that it may be more than two if they opted not to do the usual and make something like this the two hour finale.
It’s interesting that they’re doing this AU now–the winter finale. The past few “AU” type of stories have all been two hour finales so easily resolved at the end. It makes me think that the spring part of S6 will still be an AU, only righted by episode 620(ish)
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"I actually have a far-fetched theory that the shears have to be used willingly – i.e. you can only use them to cut away your Sav-estiny, which is why Jafar gave them to Aladdin, instead of, you know, just waiting for him to fall asleep. So Belle would have to want to cut away her destiny, and I think that if she discovered this “romance,” she would be pretty motivated to do so.
This is a good point, because otherwise, wouldn’t Jafar have just used to shears on Aladdin himself?
Agreed, excellent point
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"Who came up with that?
I think @Gaultheria was the first one who coined it and it stuck with us.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"Being marketed as a family show does entail some higher moral standards but I’m not sure that Henry cursing is the straw that breaks the camels back. This is a show that, even since S1, has had: adultery, rape, black magic, murder, mass killings, drinking, swearing, sex before marriage, senseless violence, ect–all things a great many people would consider to be amoral. And there are other social issues like LGBT representation, PoC color representation, ageism, classism, and other -isms.
The show is promoted as a family show but it stopped being that awhile back, if it ever was at all and that’s a problem with marketing or with the writers or–as I think is the case–with both
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"Oh there’s August. I was wondering when he’d show up
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"So. Umm. I wonder what he’s been up to since deleted scenes are no longer canon which means he wasn’t chained up in the mines and completely forgotten about.
Shhhh. Your questions are pointless.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"My money is also on Charming/GrandpapaCharming
Actually given the news that King George is set to return, I’m positive this is about Charming/his family.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"
