by Julia Lawson
Once again, ONCE put a new spin on a classic this week, delving further into Maleficent’s history, reintroducing Aurora and several cases of finger pricking, but also Regina’s early days of villainy. In the Storybrooke present, villainous plans were beginning to be revealed one card and kidnapping at a time…
Once again, ONCE put a new spin on a classic this week, delving further into Maleficent’s history, reintroducing Aurora and several cases of finger pricking, but also Regina’s early days of villainy. In the Storybrooke present, villainous plans were beginning to be revealed one card and kidnapping at a time…
Starting in the past, we learnt that Regina was partially responsible for Aurora’s sleepy fate. Feeling disheartened by her lack of progress under Rumplestiltskin’s instruction, our future evil queen went in search of Maleficent. Discovering the iconic villain as a shadow of her former self, addicted to sleeping potion mixed with mushrooms following her failed revenge on Briar Rose (Aurora’s mother), she found herself driven to help the dragon lady regain her fire for revenge. In doing so an alliance, even a tentative friendship, was formed; Regina was even inspired to use a sleeping curse as a means to halt Snow White’s rising star on the horse show scene…
This backstory reflected well in the present as Regina went undercover amongst Storybrooke’s dark criminal underground mingling with Rumplestiltskin and the Queens of Darkness to find out their villainous plans. This involved the former mayor of Storybrooke taking shots, smashing glasses, sitting in the Cruella-mobile on an active railway line, burning a police car and kidnapping adorable little Pinocchio. And you thought sports initiations were tough!
This backstory reflected well in the present as Regina went undercover amongst Storybrooke’s dark criminal underground mingling with Rumplestiltskin and the Queens of Darkness to find out their villainous plans. This involved the former mayor of Storybrooke taking shots, smashing glasses, sitting in the Cruella-mobile on an active railway line, burning a police car and kidnapping adorable little Pinocchio. And you thought sports initiations were tough!
This turn in events has been a bold character development move, particularly as Regina has come so far from her Evil Queen days; the kidnapping of Pinocchio was the culmination of this as she was obviously conflicted about using a child to further the villains’ plans, particularly when he was returned to his adult form as August. The almost incompatible aims of being a good person and her desperation to find the author are going to be a driving element to this season, particularly as the villain’s route appears to be faster due to the continuous breaking of rules. At least they have discovered the power of teamwork in their shared quest to shift the entire balance so the villains can win.
Emma’s concern for Regina emphasised how much the characters have changed since their war for custody of Henry; little does Emma know however that she herself is teetering on the edge of the dark side. It is clear her friendship with Regina will be an important part of where her ‘potential for darkness’ goes and who says that the author hasn’t already planned out what will happen?
Finally, Rumplestiltskin regained ownership of the Dark One’s dagger tricking Belle by disguising himself as Hook, but we still learnt nothing new of Will Scarlett’s purpose in Storybrooke. Please can we have that next week?
Emma’s concern for Regina emphasised how much the characters have changed since their war for custody of Henry; little does Emma know however that she herself is teetering on the edge of the dark side. It is clear her friendship with Regina will be an important part of where her ‘potential for darkness’ goes and who says that the author hasn’t already planned out what will happen?
Finally, Rumplestiltskin regained ownership of the Dark One’s dagger tricking Belle by disguising himself as Hook, but we still learnt nothing new of Will Scarlett’s purpose in Storybrooke. Please can we have that next week?
RSS Feed
