Killian punched back on Emma’s behalf and reminded her of everything that she is, and just how much he believes in her by telling her parents’ story that also happens to be her story.
For me, this was the most important part of the episode. Snowing moved the plot where it needed to go by finally addressing the split heart, and a twist on the good ol’ sleeping curse, but Emma and Killian got the meat of the story.
As always opinions are personal, speculations are subject to change and below the cut we go!
I might also add some things at some point. I haven’t rewatched the episode yet.
No, this is not a negative post, but this girl is still trying to wrap my brain around the timeline (I saw Chambliss’ tweet) which fine, I also don’t care about either versions of the Liams, so there is that, and they mixed in some dark curse stuff. This stuff kicked me right out of the story.
And who knew pop tarts were more powerful than anything magical the Evil Queen might have done to create angst between Killian and Henry!
As always these are all personal opinions, speculations are always subject to change with new information, and the rest, and the rest.
Since this is fresh, I might add things along the way.
Sorry about the typos and incoherent sentences (I’m not drunk, I promise), but this has been a day and it’s not even over yet.
I’m still recovering from this episode. It’s like a hangover and not the good kind.
I had high expectations for this. It’s an episode that I was looking forward to since the title for it was released, and it did not meet my expectations (because I only speak for myself here).
Besides being dissatisfied with the episode, it’s one of those that left me with a lot of questions.
As always, everything on here is a personal opinion, speculations are subject to change with new information, to be taken with a grain or a truck of salt, and so on, and so forth.
I don’t even know where to start to be perfectly honest. I might add other things to this during the week. This is probably all over the place.
I
just want to start by saying that this was one of the best episodes we’ve seen
in a long time, and I credit it all to Jane Espenson and Jerome Schwartz. They’re both amazing writers individually,
but hot damn are they even more amazing together!!
All of the CS/Swan-Jones family scenes possessed major amounts of
foreshadowing and symbolism, which I’m going to be discussing as I analyze most
of the scenes regarding either Captain Swan, Captain Cobra, or the Swan-Jones
family.
Quick
disclaimer: None of the gifs used in
this meta were made by me. I have
provided links and blog names under each gif in order to give the creators
proper credit. If one or more of your gifs has
been used and you would like me to remove them from this post, please let me
know.
Now,
without further ado, let’s get to the analysis!
I just want to start by saying how much I loved this episode. This is an episode that felt like it really went back to its season 1 roots. It was genuinely fairy tale, and it didn’t have the bleak undertones, or wasn’t just plain bleak for a change and that was good.
The writers truly delivered, and I’m really happy to see the ratings bounced back even though a lot of this episode was already spoiled.
I would have given you edits, but Tumblr sucks so you will have to read through a lot of stuff.
As usual, this is solely my opinion on the episode. And speculations are what they are, speculations. I cannot stress that enough.
I might be adding some things in. I’ve watched the episode just once, and I might have more to say about this when I watch the episode again.
The stuff is below the cut.
Nimue: Don’t go back to being Nothing! (5×07)
Regina: I want you to see how pointless you are. (6×03)
I think this line sort of summarizes where Regina might be at right now. It’s a nice correlation between the poison you ingest and the one that lives inside, especially in the way the EQ talked to Regina after Edmond’s death.
I actually didn’t think 6×02 was that bad an episode.
Like 6×01 though, it was an episode that was setting up the story. There was a
lot of exposition.
Six seasons in and it’s remarkable how Once Upon a Time continues to shine in its ability to portray realistic characters and situations amidst the backdrop of fairy tales. The show may have a formula, but most do, and what I love is how these patterns show consistency and bring forth the idea that this is simply one book filled with many stories. And the premiere did just that – it set up the stories for every character and in beautiful and intriguing ways and raised the question: is the end of our story inevitable, or can we change it? And when it comes down to it, we are reminded that good and evil, love and hope are all choices. These intangibles make us who we are and shape our lives and our stories. And we see that similar to what was first established in season four, but in more psychological ways, that fight for a happy ending remains the centerpiece of the series.
For the new characters that have arrived, what their stories are and will be are a great mystery and will connect to the stories of our heroes inevitably, especially our main hero Emma. We flashback to Jafar taunting Aladdin who is tired and broken, once a vital man reduced to trembles and hopelessness. And we learn that this is because like Emma, he is a savior, and their fate is all the same – they never live happily ever after. For the new Storybrooke arrivals, their stories seem intrinsically tied to this sad fate. Mr. Hyde somehow knows all about this and leads Emma to this shocking discovery. The question is why, and that is what makes him a formidable villain. What does Mr. Hyde hope to gain by bringing all those people from the Land of Untold Stories, and wanting them to play out? Is this somehow connected to Aladdin and Jafar? A villain that is almost indestructible is scary, but one whose motivations are unknown is terrifying because you never know what to expect. Moreover, it is an interesting set up that these characters are brought to the one place where the Savior destined to bring back happy endings resides. Hyde begs the question which is sure to be the emotional centerpiece for the season – if Emma helps them find their happy endings as the Savior, will this continue to take its toll on her, and eventually lead to the fate she has visions of – her inevitable and untimely death? Will helping others find happiness deny her of her own? Grim as that may sound, this sets up a poignant paradigm that I am truly excited to see play out because Once Upon a Time always portrays that when all hope seems lost, it is exactly the time when we need to believe in it the most. Another thing that is certain is that there is something rotten in the state of Storybrooke. Methinks this “Oracle” with an innocent face, a red bird, and a staff with eyes that glow that showed Emma a vision of her future is truly Jafar and Iago manipulating Emma for their own point and purpose. Before we delve more into Emma’s story, let us discuss the other stories that were set up in the premiere…
Bullet points are encapsulated scene analysis from the top of each act to the bottom. (each act is bookended by a commercial break)
1. I really like the use of the movement through the clouds as
an establishing shot. Gives the impression that whatever action we’re about to
see is taking place a long distance from Storybrooke.
2. Effective use of a flashback to set the
scene for where Rumple is and what’s going on. Short, to the point and with a
definite purpose. If only they were all like that.
In light of what is revealed later in the ep it’s very interesting that Hyde was the one who pointed Rumple towards Morpheus.
3. I realize really good CGI is expensive and time consuming
and as such a certain amount of ‘this is the best we could do with what we have’
acceptance is required when watching this show but the whole look of that temple made it hard not to be
pulled out of the scene.
Were a lesser
actor than RC involved it would have probably been impossible.
4. Oooh ground fog. Always a clue something is being
concealed. A feeling that is only heightened by Morpheus’ cloak-like robe.
Personally I hadn’t read any of the Morpheus spec so I had no
idea what was coming up but they did a great job of using all the visual elements, working in concert, to make it clear there was
going to be a twist of some kind.
Kudos to those who called it.
5. “Would you like to wake her up?” Yeah something
tells me it’s not gonna be that simple.
6. LOVE the shot of Regina heading towards her
house. The framing creates the feel that she’s on a narrow path right now and
the walls are close to closing in. The slow motion walk through the shrubs adds to the
effect. Well done!
I think Regina’s grief was handled very well in this episode starting with this scene.
Bullet points are encapsulated scene analysis from the top of each act to the bottom. (each act is bookended by a commercial break)
1. “Many years ago”. Heh. I think A&E have
finally realized if they try to put an exact number on this kind of thing it just sets off
another round of ‘WTF is up with this timeline?’ that they’d apparently rather
avoid.
Probably for the best.
2. This open is very reminiscent of the Merlin open. They do they love a majestic chase to kick
things off. Can’t complain. So do I.
3. Really nice shot with the shadow of the magic
carpet appearing behind the galloping horse. It creates the idea not only of being pursued but of being pursued by someone with extraordinary capabilities. Helps the viewer feel the rider’s desperation. Well done.
4. As always the music here works perfectly with the
action on the screen. Lots of shows have good soundtracks but OUAT’s is especially
good. It really helps pull the viewer in and in this case get their heart rate
up.
5. Great shot with the view over the edge of the
carpet. Really nice job letting the general audience who hadn’t already seen
this scene as a tease, and maybe didn’t even know what was coming up, in on
what was going on.
6. The lighting on this show is always very telling
and it looks like S6 is gonna be no different. The bright light outside
filtering through the lattice to the darkened room immediately sets the scene and shows the stark contrast between the two locations.
And our first view of Aladdin
has him completely in shadow.
“Taking rum to his grave was heartbreakingly emotional, but top it off with Morrison’s incredibly raw cries, and we’re left ugly crying. It’s always phenomenal to see a callback to their very first meeting with Killian taking care of her wounds using rum, and Emma leaving a flask behind because she feels he’d love the smell more than roses. In this way, she was choosing to heal him. A gorgeous display of how far they’ve come by healing each other’s wounds.” –mgcircles (Once Upon A Time 5×21 “Last Rites” Recap)
cshappybeginning 