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And that’s the problem fro me. This is not supposed to be Disney Live Action TV. It’s OUAT. It was sold as your favorite stories come to life–not your favorite Disney movies, which is why we had an array of characters in season one, even those not popularized by the Great Mouse. This isn’t creative or new and fresh. It’s just a Disney carbon copy plopped down, complete with all the trappings. Shouldn’t have to be instantly recognizable. She should be THEIR Mal, not the one I could watch on my Disney DVD

Well, Once now is Disney live-action, ever since they decided to include all the cartoon charcters come to life from Frozen. Sure, Ingrid was a nice adaptation of the original Snow Queen fairytale by Hans Christian Anderson, but her entire back-story with her sisters was pretty much just the same conflict that Anna and Elsa faced in the cartoon. Frozen was a big cash cow for Disney, which is probably the real reason A&E wanted to include it (to try and increase viewership).

So, now Maleficent no longer visually resembles the fresh, original version who appeared in 1×2; instead, she visually resembles Angelina Jolie’s version. We’ll see if her characterization remains original, since as @Watcher pointed out, that Mal was pretty much reformed already. I’m guessing that Mal is going to have fully relapsed as she seeks revenge against Emma for killing her and mostly against Regina for entrapping her as a dragon beneath the town library for 30 years. Since Kristin Bauer van Straten is a great actress who specializes in portraying villains, I have faith she’ll keep her portrayal of Maleficent as distinct as possible from Angelina Jolie’s portrayal; yet, if A&E are going to change the writing of the character and her behavior to match that of the 2014 film version, then there is only so much that Kristen will be able to do as an actress to keep her portrayal feeling fresh and unique.

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To each his own when it comes to personal taste, but to say Mal’s costume simply looks closer to the Disney version seems like a big understatement. It just seems really obvious that Eduardo Castro pretty much copied the costume from the live-action Maleficent Disney film. There is nothing all that original anymore about the Once version of Mal’s costume, except for maybe the red beaded sequence. I’m not saying the new costume isn’t lovely or even an improvement on Once‘s original costume for Mal, but A&E trying to deny the influence of Disney’s costume jut seems silly to me, since anyone can spot the change in style to resemble Angelina Jolie’s costume (which was very similar to the cartoon version). Giving Mal actual horns is more than just a nod to the recent film; it’s a direct copy of it.

Before Disney’s Maleficent, she looked like this back in 2011:

And now, Mal looks like this in 2014

Now compare that to Angelina Jolie’s costume in 2014 Maleficent.

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

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Alternatively: Cruella is the Dark Fairy.

That would be odd in my opinion, since Cruella was simply a fur-crazed mortal woman without magic. So, to make her into a dark fairy just seems wrong as far as I’m concerned, but this isn’t my show. A&E will do as they please.

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

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After episode 311 there was a TVline report in which A and E clarified that Mal wasn’t the Black Fairy and that we had never seen the Black Fairy before. Now, they could go back on that if they wanted, but it is out there.

I think that was just A&E treading water, because back in 2013, it was unclear whether the actress who plays Maleficent would be available again to reprise her role. Now that Kristin Bauer van Straten is free to return to the show, A&E may very well change their tune and make it seem like the dark fairy was always meant to be Maleficent.

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

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This will be a rant. So, according to A&E’s latest interview, the show is now all about villains seeking their “happy endings” –even when those endings don’t result in their redemption. While one could argue Ingrid was redeemed when she sacrificed herself to reverse her spell, she had to go and call it her happy ending. What? So Ingrid’s “happy ending” wasn’t about making amends with her nieces and returning to Arendelle with Anna and Elsa. Instead, Ingrid’s “happy ending” had to result in her suicide. I wouldn’t call that happy by any stretch of the imagination; it’s tragic. When Rumple scarified himself (i.e killed himself and his dad), it was to save his family, and it was heroic, but at least Rumple didn’t try to brand his death as his “happy ending.” No, instead he said, “I’m a villain, and villains don’t get happy endings.”

Now with A&E saying Ingrid’s death was something that it wasn’t is what really bothers me. Yes, it was a hero’s death insofar as she realized her errors and atoned for them in the end, but it’s really absurd trying to make it seem like that was the happy ending she always wanted. Um, no. Nor was Baelfire’s death a “happy ending” even if, ultimately, it did contribute to saving his family from the Wicked Witch. Uggg.

Now we have more villains seeking to get their “happy endings” at the demise of the heroes who deprived them of what they wanted. It’s similar to the Evil Queen saying the casting of the dark curse was her “happy ending” — something she ultimately realized wasn’t as fulfilling as she’d anticipated. Now Regina is on the road to redemption, but is going to be tempted again by all of the new villains coming out of the woodwork. I’m sorry, but that is just too repetitive. We’ve already seen Regina flip-flop when Cora came to town.

And then we have Hook, who thinks he’s a changed man, but as the fake ‘cursed’ hand was meant to reveal, really hasn’t changed his spots. So it’ll just be more of the same, of the writers making it seem like Hook wasn’t guilty of any crime, making us forget everything bad Hook did of his own initiative before Rumple took his heart, because “pirates are better than wizards” and crap. He’ll continue to be white-washed and to be rewarded by Emma’s continued ignorance of it all.

Who cares if Henry doesn’t like him, because well, who cares about Henry’s happiness when what really matters is what the pirate desires? I thought this story was supposed to be both Emma and Henry’s fairytale. In what world is Emma dating Hook, a man Henry dislikes, going to result in a happy ending for Henry? No. Emma ending up with Graham I could see being a happy compromise for Henry, even if his first choice was his dad being alive. But Emma ending up with Hook, is a big fat nope as far as Henry’s happiness is concerned. He may put on a brave face for his mother’s sake and say he just wants her to be happy, but inwardly, he’s not okay with this decision. And Emma doesn’t seem to care about Henry’s happiness, even though he confided to his mom he was not okay with her dating Hook. Henry is acting more like the parent than Emma is right now.

And we have Rumple, whose idea of a “happy ending” really died along with his son, but who is now regressing by going back on the vow he made at his son’s grave. He’s deluded if he thinks he can get away with murder, with lying, and yet still hold onto Belle while trying to have unlimited power. As of right now, I can only see things ending very poorly for Rumple. All of his beautiful character growth was undone when Bae resurrected his father. Baelfire should’ve left well enough alone and let his father stay dead, because what with the way Rumple is currently behaving, Bae’s death in exchange for his father’s life was in vain. Rumple doesn’t warrant a second chance if he’s just going to squander it by being the darkest version of himself by trying to murder the mother of Bae’s child.

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

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But they’ve also had characters in the show intone that one’s happy ending isn’t always what one expects.

They also had Ingrid’s idea of a “happy ending” be her death at her own hands. Rumple seems to think he can have everything, power and love, but we know that isn’t going to go to plan.

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

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Those tweets from MRJ just make me want to hug him.

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

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I still believe there’s good in Rumple too. I think he’s actually being NICE to Hook…given the situation and the fact that it’s basically the man he has the most hatred for.

Ummm, no. Rumple made Hook his lackey by making him do all his dirty work. Having said that, Hook really should’ve known better than to blackmail Rumple.

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

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How–door—how?!?!

Oh there’s that magical door to Arendelle again. Hmmm. My own guess is that the apprentice gets freed from that hat (as do the fairies, and perhaps the “queens of darkness”). The apprentice then presents the portal to Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff, allowing them to return home.

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

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Just had a thought. The whole stars align thing is very similar to Disney’s Hercules where Hades had to wait for the stars to align so he could free the titans and make an attempt at taking over Mount Olympus.

Actually, in the Disney cartoon, Hades had to wait for the planets, not the stars, to align but, close enough. I don’t think it means we’ll be seeing Hercules, however, since I think perhaps it’s just a borrowed literary device which is added in to make it seem more magical.

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

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