Discussion Questions for In the Name of the Brother

[chloris.livejournal.com]

It's time for questions and discussion points for In the Name of the Brother!

1. Our Outsider has a name: Greg Mendell. In tv shows names have meaning and they have even more meaning on this show so the question is: what meaning is there to name the outsider after Gregor Mendel? Is he perhaps a scientist of some sort? All we know about him so far is that he is from Pennsylvania, has a 'her' who he calls honey, takes pictures of food, and has been traveling. Do you think he has been looking for Storybrooke? Maybe heard a rumor or a story (perhaps August got drunk at some point) and decided to follow up on it?

2. I thought they were being more consistent about Emma's lie detecting ability this season but, unless she was only pretending to believe him, she has been fooled again. And could she have been any more weird and unprofessional in her questioning of Greg? If he wasn't suspicious before he would have been after their talk. I guess she is more off-balance about the whole magic and fairytales thing than I realized.

3. Was it smart to save Greg's life? Does the fact that they even talked about it tarnish the 'heroes' at all? Or maybe not since Emma, Snow, and Charming were all quite firmly in favor of saving him.

4. Did Charming and Snow talk at all since she came back or have they spent all their time resting? I would think Daniel coming back to life, attacking Whale AND Henry, and having to be dusted by Regina would be something you'd want to share when asked if there was any news.

5. So...Rumpel and Cora had more than a professional working relationship. Is this just another aspect of Cora's attraction to power or were there feelings involved? Based on this do you think Regina is his daughter?

6. And where exactly is his son? It looked like North Carolina or maybe Virgina to me on the globe but that could be just a poor grasp of geography on the part of the special effects crew. Also, let's note that Maine did not light up. However, we don't know if it works on blood magic or if blood is the price and it then finds whatever/whoever you will it to find.

7. Who is the better mastermind: Cora or Gold? In a few short episodes Cora has let loose Hook on Rumpel to throw him off balance, reconciled with Regina, gotten Emma and Gold out of town, and made a deal for protection. Not bad!

8. Why do you think Belle was in the hospital and wearing a hospital gown? She lost her memory (or rather had it replaced by curse memories) but she was otherwise perfectly healthy since Gold healed her gunshot wound at the beginning of the episode. They wanted her for observation maybe?

9. She smashed Chip. I guess that is the issue with having a relationship memento made out of delicate china. Do you think it will be repaired or is it gone forever? And True Love's Kiss didn't work to bring her back. But then we know it can't work if the other person doesn't remember and isn't ready to love you back.

10. Did you see Gold's threat at the end as a specific threat against the Charmings or more of a more general statement of fact. 'Protect her or I will kill everyone.' And Storybrooke becomes a war zone.

Comments

[katiemariie.livejournal.com]

1. Gregor Mendel was famous for his research with peas. So maybe he has something to do with the Princess and the Pea? If that's the case, does Disney/ABC own the rights to Once Upon a Mattress? Because I'd love me some Winifred in Storybrooke.

[sweetnessarose.livejournal.com]

They aired Once Upon a Mattress one time, so they had the rights at least at one time.

[sweetnessarose.livejournal.com]

Bae looked like he was in Georgia to me. It's a pretty long trip from Maine to the south, so this arc I think is going to last a while!

I was actually really excited for Belle to lose her memories. It forces Rumple to actually earn her back, rather than her hoping one day he'll be better. I think Chip has gone for good, which is sad, but will hopefully lead to even better memories between the two of them.

10- I saw it as a threat against the Charmings, but it would be interesting if he just went on a flat out rampage and started attacking random people.

[verseblack.livejournal.com]

Oh my goodness I can't *believe* that I didn't make the princess and the pea connection. That makes so much sense and I'm now going to be disappointed if it isn't true :)

8. I'm really curious about functional Belle is. Is she really just a blank slate, does she have a name for herself at all, does she know what a parking meter is ;)? Even if she is physically fine, I just don't see how Emma could let her start wandering the streets with no place to go. I'm guessing with all the chaos of the evening it was just simpler to stick her in a hospital bed and deal with her later. I'm wondering if her father (who I'm guessing she also has no memory of) will be allowed guardianship. That might be especially troublesome in light of Gold's threat to magically carpet bomb the town should any harm come to Belle.
10. Initially I though he was just talking about everyone in the room, but the more I think about it the more I believe that there is a part of Gold that meant he would destroy everything that his magic could reach. (I'm reminded of the line from the Florence and the Machine song that goes "I've come to burn your kingdom down...") But I also think that when it came right down to it, Gold would find it difficult to harm a child (Henry) at close quarters.

On a lighter note, his threat has me wondering if Charming is going to openly assign guards to Belle or if he will try to pretend that he just happens to be in the neighborhood with a huge sword wherever she goes...

[ladynomad915.livejournal.com]

9. maybe hopefully gold grabbed or orb'ed the pieces and returned the cup into his reginal form. I was sad when she did that, but Gold should have wait till there was time whee she could trust him and then try the cup.

10. I was shocked at Gold;s threat not at the charmings, but towards Henry to. I thought that he liked Henry. He was always helping henry and seemed to like him.

[kattahj.livejournal.com]

What, "How much do you ship Frankenwolf now?" wasn't one of the questions? *grin*

I like the thought of Mendell as connected to the Princess and the Pea story. We could use a bit of Andersen.

I think Gold is sneakier than Cora, so far (especially in his Storybrooke version), but I'm enjoying the hell out of her too.

[chloris.livejournal.com]

That's a good one! And 'she' could be the princess. *g* He also did work with bees so it could be a bee connection though I don't know what that would be.

[chloris.livejournal.com]

It could have been. It was definitely pretty far south. As for taking a long time, it depends on how they go. Flying wouldn't take long at all so long as the curse gave Gold a proper driver's license.

What I hope is that he doesn't give up on her and instead tries to be a better man to win her back. I don't think he would want to give up on her but he has a lot of self hatred which could convince him to leave her alone.

It was only after I thought about it a bit that I realized it could mean more general destruction. He knows there is no reason to threaten the Charmings that way - they would protect Belle no matter what. But he is so clearly about to snap by the end of the episode that any more and he is going to go BOOM.

[chloris.livejournal.com]

8. Considering she had never heard of ice tea or hamburgers I'm thinking her curse memories are of her cell only. Perhaps there is more since it seems amazing that she is as functional in the episode as she is. At the very least she should be dealing with the aftereffects of solitary confinement for some number of months or years. Oooh, I hope her father isn't involved. I'm still quite upset with him for wanting to do this to her. I don't think Charming would be too quick to hand her over either.

10. He was actually holding it together remarkably well considering he didn't kill anyone during the episode. (And considering he's the Dark One and known to be quite dangerous.) But he was very close to snapping and he knew it.

On a lighter note, his threat has me wondering if Charming is going to openly assign guards to Belle or if he will try to pretend that he just happens to be in the neighborhood with a huge sword wherever she goes...

Hee. Love it.

[katiemariie.livejournal.com]

Ooh, and he did call "her" "honey."

[chloris.livejournal.com]

9. Yes, he should have waited. But desperate people do crazy things sometimes. And I can understand him wanting to fix this NOW and not wait.

10. Threatening Henry was completely out of character for him. And he has always had a liking for Snow as well so he shouldn't be threatening her either. Bad Rumpel! No cookie for you.

[chloris.livejournal.com]

Heh. I figured everyone shipped them. It's hard not to ship Red with anyone she talks to! And Whale isn't already taken or dead so I think he's a frontrunner right now.

Gold is quite sneaky and he has been at this manipulation thing for a while. But Cora is damn smart and I'm sure she will have a few more tricks up her sleeve.

[sweetnessarose.livejournal.com]

I think what will probably happen is that he will be totally and completely depressed (Bae might refuse to come back with him or something), and he gives up, but someone- probably Henry or Archie- will give him an epic pep talk and convince him to win back Belle.

I wonder how Bae is going to react seeing his dad again after so long.

[ladynomad915.livejournal.com]

9. with kissing belle and wanting her to hold the cup you could see in his face and the emotions in his voice that he wanted things back to normal right away.

10. yout right its out of character cause he always helped the charmings in fairytale land and storybrooke. your right no cookies for him he can eat crackers for all we care

[sensitivinferno.livejournal.com]

This episode hurts my soul, so I don't really wanna address everything, but for #2 I do have a theory.

In the moment with Emma and Greg, if you watch her expression, you can tell that she knows he's lying. (I still have theories on why her power never worked on Sidney, but he seems to be the only one who was immune.) Right then, though, Emma has to decide where she stands, morally, on the whole idea of killing him. Because if she went back out there and told everyone that he totally saw some suspicious shit, it would practically be out of her hands. Grumpy would probably go in there and finish the guy off, himself. So I think she makes the decision to lie to EVERYONE ELSE, to save Greg's life.

Did she bring a whole mess of stuff down on Storybrooke by doing that? Probably. But I can understand why she did it. Treating that guy as if his life was meaningless would make them no better than Regina, Cora, King George, etc.

[chloris.livejournal.com]

*hugs* It was a tough one for anyone who loves Belle or Rumbelle.

you can tell that she knows he's lying.

I really do hope that's the case! And she did see through him I would expect to tell at least Snow if not Charming as well so they could keep an eye on him. (Since they had no intention of killing him in the first place.) However, I hoped last season that she was playing Sidney I was sadly mistaken.

Treating that guy as if his life was meaningless would make them no better than Regina, Cora, King George

Oh, I definitely agree with that. Killing him was NOT an option if they wish to have any claim to being good people. You have to do what is right and deal with the consequences.

[ctrent29.livejournal.com]

I think Gold is sneakier than Cora, so far (especially in his Storybrooke version), but I'm enjoying the hell out of her too.


I don't know about that.

[ctrent29.livejournal.com]

Oh, I definitely agree with that. Killing him was NOT an option if they wish to have any claim to being good people. You have to do what is right and deal with the consequences.


Maybe they're not always good people. At least that would make them more believable as characters.

[chloris.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm. I'm okay with them not always being good and not always making the right choices. And each of them (Emma, Snow, and Charming) have been shown to make wrong choices in different situations. However, I feel that allowing someone to die from their injuries when you can at least try to save them is murder and there is difference between not always being good people and no longer being good people.

[kattahj.livejournal.com]

About the sneakiness or the enjoyment?

[rodlox.livejournal.com]

they must have Winifred!

Sherlock Holmes, perhaps? (he wrote about queen bees)

[rodlox.livejournal.com]

they're also monarchs, and thus have a responsibility to their subjects - which means protecting Storybrooke from the rest of hte world.

[rodlox.livejournal.com]

Ruby/Whale is a good pairing. just a little awkward during the curse. :)