[identity profile] chloris.livejournal.com posting in [community profile] abc_onceupon
I wrote up a long review of We Are Both and now I have my questions and discussion points for episode as well.

1. Once again let's start with the end. With CORA. Now that was a twist! Why is she locked up? I don't think her evil was widely known so did she make a power play and get slapped down? Also, how did she get back from the annoying little world Regina sent her to? Did Jefferson make a hat that worked or was it the curse that sucked her back in? If she could have gotten back on her own I believe she would have done so.

2. Relatedly, who else is now completely on board with Cora being sent to Wonderland and becoming the Queen of Hearts? She did go through the LOOKING GLASS, both she and Regina were taught by Rumpel and both have a heart vault, and it was clear in Hat Trick that the QoH and Regina had a history. Being in post curse FTL does not mean anything about where she was before. This is about 12-15 years of elapsed time later. There is nothing saying she could not have gotten back!

3. So Rumpelstiltskin WAS Regina's teacher in magic! Fascinating. It seems as though Regina had a great deal of magical potential of her own and Rumpel provided the knowledge to use it. This bit of backstory also makes it clear that Regina did not have to marry Leopold. Only Cora was forcing Regina to remain and marry him and Regina (with Rumpel's help) pushed Cora through the looking glass before the wedding. (They are discussing the upcoming wedding in the scene when she does it.) Now I want to know why she turned around, went back, and married him anyway. Just for revenge? Also, I'm curious as to WHEN she marries him. Did she leave to learn magic and then come back later? Was being free not enough with Daniel dead and she couldn't let it go? (like Snow when she forgot Charming)

4. Another piece of Regina's backstory was revealed, or at least strongly implied to the point where I'm considering it canon, which was that Regina was indeed The Baby Who Got Away from the original tale. In Stable Boy Daniel mentions that Cora was a miller's daughter and now Rumpel talks about how he held Regina as a baby and how they were supposed to be together. Cora is definitely evil but I can't wait to find out how she tricked him out of his price. Maybe that's why he never changes his terms now. (Oh, and I've seen speculation that Regina is his daughter and that's why he held her as a baby. I think there is no way he is. We've seen him with Bae and we know what he would do for his child. Not buying it for a minute.)

5. Now, I know that the show is all about evil being made not born but I wonder how Cora was before she met Rumpel. He tells Regina that she looks nothing like her mother and wonders how they could even be related. (We're not talking looks here - we're talking personality.) This makes me think that Cora, while she might not have been evil at the beginning, was still most likely power hungry with a big ruthless streak. Will Cora be shown to be sweet and innocent, corrupted by Rumpel, or bad from the start?

6. I've seen some discussion of Bae's age and of Rumpel's age recently that I want to mention. First Bae - Rumpel talks about Bae crossing the barriers of time and space and tells the Blue Fairy he has all the time in the world to make the curse so I'm not sure why people keep trying to figure out how old he is. He will be as old as the plot requires! *g* All we know is that he will be older than 14 since that is how old he was when he fell through the portal. Second Rumpel - the flashbacks with Regina are not even close to the oldest flashbacks we've seen with him. These were 12-15 years pre-curse and we already know he well established as the Dark One 50 years before that with hints of many more decades or centuries. (Which is also why figuring out Bae's age is futile. If the curse couldn't move through time he's long dead.) His makeup was off in the episode but as far as I can tell that's a production issue. As for his voice, I found it in the normal range of Rumpel-voice especially since he tends to change it depending on who he is talking to.

7. So Rumpel planned everything EXCEPT the bit where breaking the curse meant he would lose his FTL memories if he left town. He seems to be quite confident that he aimed the curse at the approximate time and place Bae ended up (see maps of only the northeast US in his pack) but left out a crucial detail. Being Mr. Gold only was not going to help him at all so he's stuck. Also, what was everyone else thinking? If they lost their memories of FTL and of Regina the Evil Queen wouldn't they simply turn right around and go back home to Storybrooke? Like Sneezy! Where they have jobs and homes and friends they remember.

8. Hey, August is alive! Or alive-ish at least. We got to see him blink his eyes this episode and he somehow got out of the bed. On his own steam (if he moved his eyes it's likely he gained control of the rest of his body as well) or did someone take him? Also, I'm thinking he could not have sent the note in episode one. If he just now soaked up enough magic to move his eyes then he was in that bed for the first day of the curse breaking. (Remember it's only been 24-48 hours since the curse broke.)

9. And Jefferson is as crazy as ever! Maybe more so since he seemed to be having a lot of trouble keeping it together when talking to Charming. However, he could have sent the note since he didn't get stuck in his car until the wraith came through, several hours post-curse.

10. Will Regina's desire not to turn into her mother be enough to keep her on the straight and narrow road to redemption? It was enough to convince her to let Henry go instead of keeping him prisoner but not enough to let the book go. Not necessarily to burn it since it could be useful for good purposes as well! But she didn't let it out of her control either. Was anyone else happy that Henry got to talk to her about what she did to him by making feel as though he was going crazy and making sure no one else would ever believe him? Both of them got started on repairing their relationship in this episode.

11. Charming - hotter than David or MUCH hotter than David? He is short tempered, thinks with the point of his sword, and doesn't seem to have learned of the word tact but he is also confident, forceful, and capable of making a good speech when needed. Snow might have been the one who did most of the talking but it's good that he is learning that he can do it too.

12. In the scene where Charming gets the finding potion, note what Gold is holding! Baelfire's ball which we saw in The Return. I think that might answer how he planned to find his son. Thoughts?

Date: 2012-10-10 09:24 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tellshannon815.livejournal.com
Re the Cora questions, I'm actually writing a fic about that right now, and my take on it is that she was always power hungry (my fic has it that she abandoned Henry to marry the king from the Rumpelstiltskin fairytale only for him to kick her out on realising that Regina was Henry's). I don't buy that Regina is Rumpel's daughter at all.

Date: 2012-10-10 09:42 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rpowell.livejournal.com
I couldn't care less whether Regina keeps the book or not. Magic is neutral, as far as I'm concerned. I don't even demand that Regina becomes some "pure" and selfless soul . . . as if such a person exists. I'm wondering if Regina will ever get over her desire for revenge against Snow White. Even if she had burned that book, would she have given up seeking revenge? For me, that is the question.

Date: 2012-10-11 12:44 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tamlover.livejournal.com
3. I, too, am very curious as to the timing of the wedding.

4. Yes, Regina was the baby that got away! I mean, I know we'd all speculated it ever since Cora was a miller's daughter, but it was nice to get a little more info. I loved Rumpel "portable" line. Very funny.

5. I think Cora will be not-evil if we see her young self. Probably not quite ruthless, but very ambitious, very determined in the sense that she wants *out* of poverty, wants a better life, and is willing to do a lot to get it. Very probably desperate, because those are the type Rumpel goes for. But I'm not sure she'll be down with murder at that time. One interesting thing is that in "The Stable Boy" Cora said to Regina she did her deals to "get *us* out of poverty." So does that maybe mean she was still in poverty after she married/after Regina was born?

6. I agree that Bae can be any age 14+. I don't think Rumpel knows his exact age, either. If he knew exactly, he'd have timed it so Bae was still 14ish by time Emma broke the curse. Been there to find Bae within hours of his arrival on the planet.

10. I did like Henry lighting into her about gaslighting him. I don't see her redemption kick sticking at this time (too early in the series). It wouldn't work for me, even if it did. She's doing it to *get* something (Henry's love and trust). She doesn't feel sorry for all the murders, doesn't feel sorry for cursing the world. She doesn't believe she was wrong in the way she treated others and showed no indication to try to make it up to any of them. This is not an unselfish choice made because she realized she was *wrong* and regretted all the harm she caused so many innocent people. It's about getting/keeping something she wants.

11. Charming is MUCH hotter than David!

12. Yeps, that does look like how Rumpel planned to find Bae. Be very interesting to see how it plays out with something *not* going according to Rumpel's plan.

Date: 2012-10-11 04:43 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lorelaisquared.livejournal.com
Oooh lots of fascinating thoughts here. It's funny, a lot of the same things came up in this discussion (http://lorelaisquared.livejournal.com/129950.html) so I think a lot of us must be on the same wavelength (and hopefully therefore correct in our theories?

Anyway, some specific responses to your thoughts here.

1) If Cora was sucked into Wonderland by the mirror and is in fact the queen of hearts, then perhaps she forced Jefferson to find a way to get her out after he got stranded there by Regina? Of course, that also opens up a bunch more questions - like how is it she managed to capture Regina's father in the first place?

2) I'm leaning heavily towards this being what must have happened. There are a lot of clues that point that way, although it could be a mislead but I doubt it. Still where ever Cora is, I'm sure she found a way out somehow. She's pretty ruthless and powerful.

3) I'm also curious about Regina's motivations for going through with the wedding and for the timing of it. I think it could go one of two ways... a) she leaves for a while and is lured back later on. Perhaps a slightly older Snow finds her and convinces her? Or she has given in to her desire for magical power at that point and wants the power that would come with leadership? b) She decides to go back for the power of it right away and/or Rumpel convinces her it's a good move? She seems to trust him to some degree at this point.

4) It wasn't until this episode that I started to suspect this (I somehow missed the miller's daughter reference) but it seems pretty much canon after this episode. I agree though that it's not likely he's her father. The only way that would work is if he didn't KNOW he was her father and that seems pretty unlikely to me.

6) I think Bae's age is irrelevant. At least up until the curse, I don't think time ran concurrently between our world and FTL. It's obviously in synch now, probably BECAUSE of the curse, but for all we know, Bae was only here for a few days our time, while years and years passed in FTL. Like you said, he'll be whatever age is convenient for them.

7) I loved the twist of him not knowing this side effect of his curse. It's very rare that we see him surprised by anything and I found it fascinating. Clearly one of the prices of magic in our world is unpredictability.

9) Jefferson seemed pretty fixed on finding his daughter though. Mind you, it wouldn't take long to jot down a note and send it before he headed off in search of her.

10) I hope so. I think it's going to be fascinating watching her try to control herself for Henry's sake while at the same time being constantly tempted. Especially because now that everyone knows who she is, they're going to be out for her blood, and they certainly won't be accepting her authority as mayor anymore.

11) I LOVE Charming! He's like 20000000 times better than David Nolan! I laughed at "So easy David Nolan can do it," though! LOL

12. Ooooh good catch. I totally missed that. I think your'e right though, he's probably planning to use a similar spell to find Bae. I wonder if he might be able to find a way to make the spell work in reverse (ie, lure Bae to Storybrooke...)

Date: 2012-10-11 03:53 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rpowell.livejournal.com
Magic may be neutral but it also always has a price. And the book represents a temptation to use power to control things.


This is the problem that human beings have. We always try to externalize the problem. All one has to do is look at Regina's actions in Season 1. Even without magic, she tried to control people and situations. And her actions came from her continuing desire to exact revenge upon Snow White and to ensure that Emma does not spoil her plans or take Henry from her. "BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER" eventually proved that Willow's problems with magic was not the latter. The problem turned out to be her own nature . . . her personality.

The corrupting factor is human nature, not magic or other forms of power. You don't need power of any kind to become corrupted. What you really need to check is your desires and nature. That is what Regina needs to deal with. If she thinks that resisting magic is going to help her seek redemption, she is in for a big surprise. That is . . . if the writers do this right.
Edited Date: 2012-10-11 03:54 pm (UTC)

Date: 2012-10-11 05:37 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bloodysuicide69.livejournal.com
Let me just say that I wish I was watching the episodes with you! Your questions and review are like a mirror to mine (almost!) :D

1. Yes! :D All kinds of yes! Where did this woman come from, how did she get there? Where was she to begin with? What has she been up to.... and WHY THE HELL DOES NO ONE AGE!

2. I'm completely on board. Though for the last bit of this question. I thought 28 yrs had lapsed in the curse on top of whatever time she spent in (possibly) Wonderland... had to be at least 15 or so. She has not aged, just like Rumple has not aged, even though he is GOD KNOWS how old.

3. I like the idea that she left and then returned because the magic filled her with hate and she needed revenge. "All magic comes with a price". She love magic. She didn't know it would corrupt her. In fact, she blamed her mother for the "bad thoughts" but really I think it was her grief and the magical potential in her all along and not her mother.

4. I definitely think this is Rumple's original story in play. Regina was meant for HIM. As a reward, to bring up as he pleased and do with what he wanted. Cora somehow tricked him out of it. But how? Also, I don't buy that it's his daughter either. I think if anything Regina was meant to be a lover/slave for him. Much like Belle is now/was since she fell in love with her and him her (maybe that's what he truly wanted with Regina). Maybe he mentored her and whens he got stronger then he'd liked, they started becoming enemies than lovers. Something like the pupil surpassing the master. Causes friction.

5. I think Cora was always power hungry but if the story will go down that path then perhaps they will show WHY Cora became power hungry.

6. Good conclusion. I've always thought this because otherwise the plot falls apart. Silly time and it's stupid constraints! I also don't think they will bother discussing the time and age thing as it suits them to never have a percise linage. I mean come on they already have so much to account for. FTL Post Curse, FTL before Curse and Storybrooke. That's enough! lol Here is how I think everything is going to play out with Baelfire. Maybe Bae (we all assume he's bae right?) comes to Storybrooke. Rumple is all teary eyed over him, yada yada yada. This won't happen for at least several more episodes. Emma and Snow are in FTL... but we assume they will be back before the season is over. Then as the season finale CLINCHER Emma comes back from FTL, sees BAE and says "What the hell are you doing here?!?" This is at least in my mind. ;)

7. I was thinking the same thing. Told my husband "where did they think they were all going? They would cross the line, forget who they were in FTL and then remember they need to drive back home and continue with life in Storybrooke. Perhaps they would be a little befuddled as to why their belongings are on the roof. LOL

8. So it's unlikely August sent the note. That means it could still be Rumple (sent a magical Dove to find Bae even if he doesn't know exacty). Or Jefferson. Perhaps HENRY sent it. I doubt Regina did as she has no idea Rumple has a son.

9. Jefferson could have sent it and then tried to speed off to find Bae. I'm also wondering if the note wasn't meant for someone else and the Dove just "happened" to whisk it away to Bae. As you know, Divine Intervention. :)

10. My thoughts exactly. She kept the book, why? Because like an addict, she's not really ready to kick the habit. She just knows it's not good for her. She should join Evil Magic Anonymous. ;) Also I think she knows that the sides would be very swayed with Rumple (a nemesis to her) only holding the magical cards.

11. I will just leave this here --> Charming can think with his sword all he likes with me! :)

12. Good idea. I'm going to have to watch the episode again and possible The Return again to match the balls together because i'm drawing a blank but... it is good evidence.

Date: 2012-10-11 08:36 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] seldonp38.livejournal.com
You still that giving up the magic is going to help Regina? You're still externalizing her problem. Regina managed to nurture her hatred of Snow White for 28 years without magic. She even tried to destroy Snow White last season, without any use of magic. Which leads me to wonder how giving up magic is going to help Regina? I don't see how it can, when the bigger problems are Regina dealing with her personal demons and her hatred of Snow White. In fact, I don't think magic is the problem. If the writers are trying to tell us that magic is her problem, then as far as I'm concerned, Regina's story is over and done for me.



I like the idea that she left and then returned because the magic filled her with hate and she needed revenge.

The magic filled her with hate? I never got that impression. Judging by Regina's vision of killing Snow White, I got the impression that despite her behavior, she still hates Snow White for revealing her secret to Cora. She's trying not to give in to her emotions. In fact, I doubt very much that Regina has yet to get over her negative feelings toward Snow White.

I don't see how giving up magic is going to help Regina. She needs to look within herself and deal with that problem.
Edited Date: 2012-10-11 08:37 pm (UTC)

Date: 2012-10-12 08:25 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lorelaisquared.livejournal.com
I love talking about it too! It's possible I spent a good chunk of today talking about it to a friend of mine who hasn't seen it before. And possibly convincing her to watch it. Her kids seemed interested too. LOL Seriously, this show is slowly taking over my life (not that I'm complaining!!!)

1. True, having the hatter there is probably going to be an asset for Cora if she is indeed the Queen of Hearts. I really quite love the non-linear storyline. I love fitting all the pieces together. It's fun and interesting. I agree though that how Henry got trapped in Wonderland in the first place is most likely going to be explained at some point down the road.

2. That is definitely true.

3. Yes, it makes you wonder about what their relationship actually was. And we know she doesn't kill him until Snow is grown up, so they were presumably married for at least 10 years or so. I wonder if their relationship was always rocky or if there were times, especially in the beginning when Regina and Leopold were close.

4. I really don't think Rumpel is her father... that's a bit too contrived. I think their true relationship is probably something a bit truer to the original tale.

7. It's true. He seemed to know every aspect of the curse including when it was going to be broken and all of that. I don't think he anticipated not being able to leave, it's almost like he could stand being trapped in Storybrooke because he thought that eventually he'd be able to leave.

10. Yes that's true. People will listen to Charming for now I think - although I'm not so sure about people like Doctor Whale - there could be some real trouble there I'll bet. And everyone in town has good reason to be angry. I wouldn't be surprised if she was forced to step down as Mayor.

11. LOL I love Gold's dialogue also. Especially now that everyone knows who they really are, I think we're going to get some more great zingers from him.

12. I d3efinitely think he needed magic. That's totally why he brought magic back - he needed it to find Bae. Also, I'm sure he probably missed the power of it.

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