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It occurred to me that there was some foreshadowing of Regina’s redemption in her nightmare which we saw in the beginning of “An Apple Red As Blood.” Obviously, the mob coming to her house foreshadowed the similar scene we saw in “Broken” but the earlier part of the scene hinted at the different outcome. Regina was eating that bloody rare meat, symbolizing her blood-thirsty ways. Then, she encourages Henry to follow her example and do the same, with one of those motherly “Eat it – it’s good for you” looks, and he reluctantly complies. She smiles approvingly. So the first part of the dream symbolizes that Regina is getting her way and making Henry more like herself. There is no hint of the “I don’t want to be you” statement which we heard from both Henry and Regina in “We Are Both.”
Then, when Regina is tied to the tree and helpless, she asks Henry for help as Emma raises her sword, but Henry turns his back on her, saying “You did this to yourself.” In making Henry like herself in her dream, Regina guaranteed that he would turn on her just as she turned on Cora. Of course, when Regina was really helpless before the mob in “Broken”, her failure to make Henry like herself is what saved her. His insistence that Emma protect Regina stems from the fact that he has not given in to evil as both Cora and Regina did. So Regina was saved in this instance by her failure to exert influence on Henry. Might she be saved (i.e. redeemed) in the long run by her failure to convince him to stay with her and her willingness to let him go? This was the first time in the entire series that i recall seeing Regina put someone else’s desires above her own.
And speaking of foreshadowing, we also got some in “Desperate Souls” when Regina complained that Emma didn’t set her down gently enough after rescuing her from the fire. Emma said sarcastically, “Fine. Next time I’ll… Next time I’ll do the same thing. And the time after that. Because that is what good people do” Sure enough, Emma saved Regina twice in “Broken”: once from the mob and once from the wraith.
[adrotate group="5"]@Surayya wrote:
Doesn’t a hamburger & coke count for anything?! 😉 😆
Good point, Suryya! Hopefully he also got a cookie for dessert. Of course, the whole conversation about eating at Granny’s reminds me of August’s line in the first season, “I wonder what kind of hell I would have raised if I had ordered a donut?”
@NONNIE wrote:
@cruel_fortuna wrote:
Favorite Moment(s): “I am not a what.” , Regina relaxing her grip on Henry & perhaps moving slowly towards redemption & “It’s off to work we go.” Red being the voice of reason & getting David to stop everyone from leaving SB was pretty awesome too.
Least Favorite Moment(s): Henry really got on my nerves this episode, all his whining was starting to ware thin, thankfully Charming/David showed up & that appeased him. Also, Not enough August!
KIDS really get annoyed when adult do not listen to them; they tend to whine and repeat themselves until they are heard …… Much like a large number of adults… ……
I thought Henry had a point though when he was whining at David in the early scenes. Like he said, he WAS the one working for all that time to break the curse while everyone else, even Emma, ignored his warnings. Now that the curse is broken since he risked his life by eating the poisoned turnover, everyone pretty much says “Be quiet kid and get out of the way.” You’d think somebody would at least say “Thanks” and maybe give him some ice cream!
I don’t know what bad guy would be powerful enough (or dumb enough?) to take on the combined forces of Rumple, Regina, Emma, Jefferson, and the combination of Snow, Charming, and all their allies (including Granny with her crossbow), but “I pity the fool!”
Maybe we’ll see references to !A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court Emma could take the place of Hank Martin and shoot an armor-clad villain.
@Hannah97 wrote:
If Rumple turns out to be Regina’s dad…. I would be really creeped out. Plus it would mean Baelfire was her brother. And if Baelfire is Henry’s dad, then that would make her his aunt. And if Baelfire and Emma are going to end up together, Regina would be her sister-in-law, plus her step-grandmother. Wait, I just realized that Henry is Emma’s step-uncle…. This is very complicated…..
Even without involving Rumple, Henry is the step-brother of Snow White since Regina is the step-mother of Snow and the adoptive mother of Henry. But Henry is also the grandson of Snow, which means as grandson of his step-sister, Henry is his own great uncle! Kind of like the old song, I’m My Own Grandpa at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0s5Kn9QXtUNow that I’ve seen “We Are Both”, I think there’s a whole new dimension to the idea of a new villain. We were concerned the season premier that Regina might be limited in how much harm she would do because she didn’t want to antagonize Henry. But now that she has shown she is willing to let him go to avoid hurting him and she wants to earn his forgiveness, I was wondering just how we could still see her using magic against anyone and then it hit me: What if a new villain threatens Henry? Look at all the things Regina has done in the past just because (A) Snow innocently let herself be fooled into betraying Regina’s secret about Daniel and (B) Emma initially just wanted to spend some time with Henry. Now imagine what kind of wrath Regina would unleash against someone who actually tried to hurt or kill Henry! I bet that would make all of her previous attacks look like an afternoon tea party!
I’m a little late since I just found this thread, but Arjay369 said in this thread a while back,
Is it too early to ask for “Once Upon a Time and Philosophy”?
User avatar
Arjay369Posts: 124
Joined: May 1, 2012, 8:00 pmI would have to reply that, given the heavy use of flashbacks in this show, we should consider the philosophy of Kierkegaard since he observed that “Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.”
@Mike wrote:
Let’s not forget, Regina did go 28 long years without using magic, and during that time she still was manipulative and mean, and to some, truly evil. For her to put down the magic and try to become a better person will take more than just not using magic. She needs a complete personality make-over. How does one atone for the murder of their own father (Henry Sr.), lover – Sheriff Graham, and possible countless others?
I think Crest1994 has a good idea in suggesting that Regina might atone for her actions by sacrificing her life to save Henry. And I like the symmetry of Cora being the one who tries to kill Henry in front of Regina, just as she did Daniel. Henry is, after all, nothing to Cora but another source of “weakness” for Regina. And let’s face it, can we really imagine Regina making a sacrifice for anyone else? As long as Henry gets to tell her he loves her before she dies, she’ll have her “happy ending”.
I agree that by releasing Henry Regina took a big first step on what might become a path to redemption. But I expect it will be a long and difficult path, with many opportunities for backsliding, as we saw in her decision not to burn the book. I thought it was very telling that when she tried to return the spell book to Rumple she said we would never use magic again because she liked it too much. Apparently, magic is like an addictive drug.
In addition to her scenes with Cora, I thought the scene in which she brought Henry home revealed a lot about Regina. Even at the beginning when she had him in the tree and said,”Don’t fight it, honey. You might get a splinter.”, we could hear in her voice a conflict between her desire to use magic to control her son and her realization that she was hurting him. And of course, it was a reminder of when her mother used the tree branches to imprison her as well.
Then, her whole conversation with Henry seemed to be building to the moment when he said “I don’t want to be you”, echoing Regina’s statement to Cora. I think that was the moment Regina realized she had to let Henry go or she would just drive him away from her like Cora drove her away.
Of course, her decision to release Henry doesn’t mean she has automatically redeemed herself. She had almost no choice, but it is still a big step forward for Regina to put Henry’s needs ahead of her own and realize that keeping him prisoner would not “be what’s best for him” (as she so often rationalized in the past) but would have the same effect on him that her mother’s actions had on her. Now, the question is how far will she go in trying to earn Henry’s forgiveness and how tempted will she be to stick to her evil ways? I think the drug addiction analogy is a good one and she will start trying to do good but will often weaken.
