#1x20 politics

[jadelotusflower]

Stargate rewatch: 1x20 Politics

We pick up right where the last episode left off, Daniel getting his shoulder wound treated and trying to explain the alternate reality to his sceptical team.

It’s funny to see the team not really believing Daniel because it’s still early in the run, whereas later on any of them could say the weirdest shit happened and the rest of them would just roll with it no questions asked.

Jack: “And you were there, and you were there, and there’s no place like home.” Daniel: “As a matter of fact, you were there.” Heh. Is Daniel just frustrated or did he not get the Wizard of Oz reference? Works either way.

I’m curious how the team thinks Daniel got shot by a staff weapon if it was all a dream though.

“Yes but the defining event, the death of Ra, took place in both worlds.” A bit of a logic leap by Daniel but hey, it’s what he does.

This is a clip show. I give SG-1 a lot of credit for actually making an effort with their clip shows, always building them around an in-universe plot to give context and cause. They’re still annoying to watch in these days of binging, but they’re as successful as they can be.

Written by Brad Wright (not including excerpts) and directed by Martin Wood.

“How’s our boy?” I find this very cute? Hammond really is the mama duck to SG-1’s ducklings, the epitome of restrained affection.

His absolute and obvious disdain for Samuels is also a real treat. He rolls his eyes!

Samuels is played by Robert Wisden, who was also briefly in Smallville as Chloe's father Gabe. Both shows were based in Vancouver, and both ran for ten seasons, so there's quite the guest star crossover.

In a private meeting with Jack, Hammond goes from “this is what I look like when I’m not laughing, Colonel” to almost laughing when Jack cracks another joke. I love Hammond so much.

I think Ronny Cox as Kinsey is actually the longest running villain in the entire show? Apophis finally bites it in season 5, but Kinsey makes it all the way to season 8.

“And this must be the drain through which the money flows” is such a great line for a pontificating blowhard politician, as is his hypocritical speech. You immediately know who Kinsey is, and you hate him even though he’s actually right about a lot of stuff.

“Oh you’re right, we’ll just upload a computer virus into the mothership.” lol, the shade at Devlin/Emmerich here.

We get a date for the Chulak mission - 10 February (presumably) 1997. The computer in the previous episode indicated it was December 1997 so assuming time was the same in the alternate universe, it's been approximately 11 months since the pilot which seems about right.

The purpose of the mission is described as “to rescue both Dr Jackson’s wife and her brother, and determine the Goa’uld threat” which is the first mention we’ve had of Sha’re and Skaara in a while.

lol, Jack looking to Sam to give the correct pronunciation of Goa’uld because he doesn’t want to.

Lt Colonel “secondary objective” Samuels being the one to read from Jack’s report about Skaara being chosen really twists the knife.

“Because what is right cannot be measured by strength.” Great Teal’c line.

Argos gets discussed and it’s mentioned that SG-2 made recent contact with them - a nice little background aspect of the show that they do check in on the worlds they’ve visited from time to time.

Much is made of the lack of benefit to the Stargate program - guess that wonder drug from Emancipation didn’t pan out? Or maybe everyone just wants to forget that episode happened.

Sidebar - with all the clips it’s obvious that Daniel’s hair has been getting longer throughout the season - irl because Michael Shanks’ hair was shorter and was growing it out as filming progressed to get that Daniel look, but my headcanon in universe is that Sha’re used to trim it for him on Abydos, and since her abduction he can’t bring himself to get it cut

There’s an ongoing metaphor by Kinsey for the Stargate being a Pandora’s Box that’s kind of apt, the box (jar) being a gift from the gods intended to punish mankind after Prometheus gifted them fire, with humanity as Pandora, eternally curious and unable to resist peeking inside.

The show never had a Goa’uld character who took on the persona of Prometheus, Epimetheus, or even Pandora, which was kind of a missed opportunity.

Samuels the slimeball is “sorry it had to end like this” and Hammond rightly tells him to gtfo.

Nice crossfade, Mr Wood.

The Stargate shut down, the threat of an imminent attack - all in all, a good setup going into the season finale!

[goodwhump-temp]

SG1 Whump - Daniel Jackson

1x01 Children of the Gods - Knocked out 1x04 Emancipation - Regressed to primitive state 1x07 Cold Lazarus - Killed 1x13 Fire and Water - "Dead" 1x17 Enigma - Thrown out of gate high velocity, concussion, weak 1x18 Solitudes - Mind controlled, raped, catatonic 1x19 Tin Man -Consciousness & body duplicated 1x20 There But For The Grace of God - Quantum mirror, shot 1x21 Politics - Shot, blinded 2x01 The Serpent's Lair - Shot, badly wounded 2x02 In the Line of Duty - Zatted/hostage 2x03 Prisoners - Strangled unconscious 2x05 Need - Captured, almost dies/unconscious, addiction, extreme withdrawals, passes out, mental breakdown 2x13 Spirits - Tranquilized 2x17 Holiday - Mind transferred, in pain, coma, almost dies 2x19 One False Step - Induced anger, headache 2x22 Out of Mind - Captured, fake memory simulation device, manipulated 3x01 Into the Fire - Caught in explosion / shrapnel 3x02 Seth - Hit by ribbon device, mind controlled 3x04 Legacy - Schizophrenia, mental institution, drugged 3x06 Point of View - Shot 3x07 Deadman Switch - Runs into forcefield 3x08 Demons - Struck by lightning 3x09 Rules of Engagement - Shot by an intar 3x10 Forever in a Day - Ribbon device injury 3x13 The Devil You Know - Drugged/tortured 3x14 Foothold - Drugged/doubled 3x19 New Ground - Tortured, unconscious 3x21 Crystal Skull - Invisible, shocked 3x22 Nemesis - Appendicitis 4x03 Upgrades - Strength virus, fever, passes out 4x10 Beneath the Surface - Amnesia, enslaved 4x11 Point of No Return - Drugged 4x13 The Curse - Ribbon device injury 4x17 Absolute Power - Unconscious, learns consequences of knowledge 4x18 The Light - Addiction to the light, extreme depression, flatlines 5x04 The Fifth Man - Zatted 5x07 Beast of Burden - Zatted, tortured 5x09 Between Two Fires - Knocked down 5x13 Proving Ground - Shot by an intar 5x16 Last Stand - Crash landing; knocked unconscious 5x19 Menace - Thrown, head/wrist injury 5x21 Meridian - Radiation poisoning, dies, emotional 7x06 Lifeboat - Mind overwhelmed, headaches, life at risk 7x12 Evolution pt 2 - Beaten, tortured, shot 7x15 Chimera - Dreams manipulated, shot 8x03 Lockdown - Zatted twice, shot, passes out 8x06 Avatar - Dies in video game, shocked multiple times 8x07 Affinity - Zatted 8x10 Endgame - Zatted 8x12 Prometheus Unbound - (zatted + shot + kicked) by Vala 8x17 Reckoning pt 2 - Pierced with sword 8x18 Threads - Captured 9x01 Avalon pt. 1 - Passes out from Jaffa bracelets 9x02 Avalon pt. 2 - Passes out + restrained 9x03 Origin - Almost dies in fire with Vala (of course) 9x04 The Ties That Bind - Passes out x2 9x06 Beachhead - Almost passes out/adjusting 9x16 Off the Grid - Captured, beaten 9x19 Crusade - Body controlled by Vala 10x02 Morpheus - Sleep virus 10x07 Counterstrike - Choked 10x09 Company of Thieves - Zatted by a smuggler 10x11 The Quest pt. 2 - Merlin powers, extreme knowledge (pain) 10x14 The Shroud - Zatted, exhausted 10x16 Bad Guys - Stunned 10x17 Talion - Unconscious 10x19 Dominion - Suffocating 10x20 Unending - Emotional (same)

[beyondtheravens]

One Tree Hill - 1ª Temporada (22 episódios)

1x01 - Pilot

1x02 - The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most

1x03 - Are You True?

1x04 - Crash into You

1x05 - All That You Can't Leave Behind

1x06 - Every Night Is Another Story

1x07 - Life in a Glass House

1x08 - The Search for Something More

1x09 - With Arms Outstretched

1x10 - You Gotta Go There to Come Back

1x11 - The Living Years

1x12 - Crash Course in Polite Conversations

1x13 - Hanging By A Moment

1x14 - I Shall Believe

1x15 - Suddenly Everything Has Changed

1x16 - The First Cut is the Deepest

1x17 - Spirit in the Night

1x18 - To Wish Impossible Things

1x19 - How Can You Be Sure?

1x20 - What Is And What Should Never Be

1x21 - The Leaving Song

1x22 - The Games That Play Us

[subbyfoxelf]

[tv review] ds9 1x19-1x20 (1993)

1x19 “duet”

i find it pretty hard to write about this episode because it’s just so straightforward, like it’s another one that’s just all about having nana visitor give a great performance across from an equally good performance by an old guy. that’s kinda it? but that makes it sound kind of underwhelming when in actuality it’s anything but.

this episode is rough to get through at times, there’s a lot of big feelings & traumas on display w/r/t war & occupation, and for a lot of the episode kira & the cardassian prisoner are just trying to verbally wear each other down, doing everything they can to get under each other’s skin.

this is not a fun episode, or one i go out of my way to revisit very often, but it’s honestly quite remarkable that season 1 of ds9 was able to wring two episodes this good out of “nana visitor yells at an old guy for 40 minutes.” a-rank

1x20 “in the hands of the prophets”

this episode is largely about introducing the principal candidates to replace the departed kai opaka. vedek bareil is the one we’re supposed to like but he’s gonna be super creepy towards kira next season, and vedek winn is the one we’re supposed to hate.

and i mean yeah okay she’s super gross & manipulative & toxic. but.

look. her mannerisms get super dommy next season like she just starts calling everyone “child” & being hella condescending and just… yeah… i’m not proud of it, but i feel some kind of way about it.

don’t get me wrong, i know she’s vile. i just… yeah. ahem. anyway. moving right along.

this episode gets pretty heavily into bajoran religious politics (aka… bajoran politics), and although it doesn’t necessarily have lasting consequences in & of itself, it’s still pretty important to the show’s metanarrative thanks to introducing these two characters.

i was a bit taken aback by kira initially being on vedek winn’s side, but i suppose that did make her denunciation of her at the end of the episode even more satisfying? and i just thoroughly loved the conversation between ben & jake where jake calls “all this bajoran stuff” “stupid” and ben turns it into a teachable moment about cultural relativism & empathy.

meanwhile, chief o’brien is forming a workplace friendship with his bajoran assistant chief of operations, and when keiko finds out about it we get some The Straights Are Not Ok writing. fun. it does add a nice little twist that the assistant ends up being the assassin that he’s helping investigate, and we get some pretty awesome star trek investigation bullshit where he figures it out at the moment of maximum drama and warns them, a la data in “the mind’s eye.”

this is a pretty action-packed episode with lasting consequences for the rest of the series, which is a pretty good formula for a season finale. now that we’ve come to the end of it, i do have to agree with the general consensus that season 1 of ds9 isn’t great, but it’s for sure no tng season 1 and i really do always enjoy revisiting it even though a lot of it is fairly mediocretacular. b-rank

[c-m-li]

My current aesthetic is Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord verbally sparring with her political opponents and then them looking at her in grudging respect.

1x1 “Pilot”

1x2 “Another Benghazi”

1x3 “The Operative”

1x4 “Just Another Normal Day”

1x5 “Blame Canada”

1x8 “Need to Know”

1x10 “Collateral Damage”

1x11 “Game On”

1x12 “Standoff”

1x20 “The Necessary Art”

(honorable mention)

5x1 “E Pluribus Unum”

[naivesilver]

eternal youth

The Adventures of Pinocchio, Carlo Collodi // Dark episode 2x6, Ein unendlicher Kreis // Power Politics, Margaret Atwood // Pinocchio, dir. Matteo Garrone // Longing, from Bells in Winter, Czeslaw Milosz // Pinocchio Vampire Slayer, Van Jensen // PEDROUÇOS, from A Little Larger Than The Entire Universe: Selected Poems, Fernando Pessoa // Pinocchio miniseries, dir. Alberto Sironi // Winter Of Our Youth, Bastille // Once Upon A Time episode 1x20, The Stranger // Peter and Wendy, J.M. Barrie

[abednadir-barnes]

Community Episode Guide: Season One

hi everyone! so, i lied ab posting this on halloween, i’m posting it now because i am extremely bored and just finished compiling the final lists!

Genres

Happy/Sweet episodes:

1x06 “Football, feminism, and you”

1x12 “Comparative religion”

1x14 “Interpretive dance”

1x18 “Basic geneology”

Funny episodes:

1x01 “Community”

1x02 “Spanish 101”

1x03 “Introduction to film”

1x06 “Football, feminism, and you”

1x07 “Introduction to statistics”

1x10 “Environmental science”

1x11 “The politics of human sexuality”

1x12 “Comparative religion”

1x16 “Communication studies”

1x17 “Physical education”

1x18 “Basic geneology”

1x19 “Beginner pottery”

1x20 “The science of illusion”

1x22 “The art of discourse”

1x24 “English as a second language”

Parodies/Meta episodes:

1x03 “Introduction to film”

1x21 “Contemporary American poultry”

1x24 “English as a second language”

Dramatic episodes:

1x03 “Introduction to film”

1x05 “Advanced criminal law”

1x09 “Debate 109”

1x12 “Comparative religion”

1x17 “Physical education”

1x19 “Beginner pottery”

1x20 “The science of illusion”

1x21 “Contemporary American poultry”

1x23 “Modern Warfare”

Holidays/Special episodes:

1x07 “Introduction to statistics”

1x12 “Comparative religion”

1x23 “Modern Warfare”

Characters

Abed-heavy episodes:

1x01 “Community”

1x03 “Introduction to film”

1x05 “Advanced criminal law”

1x07 “Introduction to statistics”

1x08 “Home economics”

1x09 “Debate 109”

1x11 “The politics of human sexuality”

1x13 “Investigative journalism”

1x15 “Romantic expressionism”

1x20 “The science of illusion”

Troy-heavy episodes: 

1x05 “Advanced criminal law”

1x06 “Football, feminism, and you”

1x10 “Environmental science”

1x14 “Interpretive dance”

1x16 “Communication studies”

1x18 “Basic geneology”

1x24 “English as a second language”

Annie-heavy episodes:

1x02 “Spanish 101”

1x04 “Social psychology”

1x05 “Advanced criminal law”

1x06 “Football, feminism, and you”

1x07 “Introduction to statistics”

1x08 “Home economics”

1x09 “Debate 109”

1x11 “The politics of human sexuality”

1x13 “Investigative journalism”

1x15 “Romantic expressionism”

1x20 “The science of illusion”

Britta-heavy episodes: 

1x01 “Community”

1x02 “Spanish 101”

1x03 “Introduction to film”

1x06 “Football, feminism, and you”

1x08 “Home economics”

1x14 “Interpretive dance”

1x15 “Romantic expressionism”

1x16 “Communication studies”

1x18 “Basic geneology”

1x20  “The science of illusion”

1x23 “Modern Warfare”

1x25 “Pascal’s triangle revisited”

Jeff-heavy episodes: 

1x01 “Community”

1x02 “Spanish 101”

1x03 “Introduction to film”

1x06 “Football, feminism, and you”

1x07 “Introduction to statistics”

1x08 “Home economics”

1x09 “Debate 109”

1x10 “Environmental science”

1x11 “The politics of human sexuality”

1x12 “Comparative religion”

1x13 “Investigative journalism”

1x14 “Interpretive dance”

1x15 “Romantic expressionism”

1x16 “Communication studies”

1x17 “Physical education”

1x18 “Basic geneology”

1x19 “Beginner pottery”

1x21 “Contemporary American poultry”

1x23 “Modern Warfare”

1x24 “English as a second language”

Shirley-heavy episodes:

1x02 “Spanish 101”

1x04 “Social psychology”

1x06 “Football, feminism, and you”

1x12 “Comparative religion”

1x15 “Romantic expressionism”

1x18 “Basic geneology”

1x20 “The science of illusion”

1x22 “The art of discourse”

Chang-heavy episodes:

1x02 “Spanish 101”

1x05 “Advanced criminal law”

1x10 “Environmental science”

1x15 “Romantic expressionism”

Duncan-heavy episodes:

1x01 “Community”

1x04 “Social psychology”

1x05 “Advanced criminal law”

1x25 “Pascal’s triangle revisited”

Pierce-heavy episodes:

1x02 “Spanish 101”

1x05 “Advanced criminal law”

1x07 “Introduction to statistics”

1x11 “The politics of human sexuality”

1x15 “Romantic expressionism”

1x18 “Basic geneology”

1x20 “The science of illusion”

1x22 “The art of discourse”

Ships

Trobed

1x02 “Spanish 101”

1x05 “Advanced criminal law”

1x10 “Environmental science”

1x11 “The politics of human sexuality”

1x15 “Romantic expressionism”

1x17 “Physical education”

1x24 “English as a second language”

1x25 “Pascal’s triangle revisited”

Brittannie

1x06 “Football, feminism, and you”

1x14 “Interpretive dance”

1x15 “Romantic expressionism”

Jeffannie

1x02 “Spanish 101”

1x06 “Football, feminism, and you”

1x09 “Debate 109”

1x18 “Basic geneology”

1x25 “Pascal’s triangle revisited”

Jeffbritta

1x01 “Community”

1x02 “Spanish 101”

1x03 “Introduction to film”

1x05 “Advanced criminal law”

1x08 “Home economics”

1x14 “Interpretive dance”

1x15 “Romantic expressionism”

1x16 “Communication studies”

1x20 “The science of illusion”

1x22 “The art of discourse”

1x23 “Modern Warfare”

1x25 “Pascal’s triangle revisited”

Deanjeff

1x17 “Physical education”

Abedison

1x17 “Physical education”

1x04 “Social psychology”

Jabed

1x01 “Community”

1x03 “Introduction to film”

1x08 “Home economics”

1x12 “Comparative religion”

1x13 “Investigative journalism”

1x16 “Communication studies”

1x21 “Contemporary American poultry”

Troybritta

1x14 “Interpretive dance”

1x18 “Basic geneology”

If there is a category you would like added, send me an ask!

[myfandomrambles]

Azula Character Analysis

Born a princess with a high position

Was favored by her father and second in her mother's eyes

Deeply skilled bender from a young age

Attended the royal girl Fier Nation academy and had private tutors

Was around severe abuse emotional and occasionally physical

Abandoned by mother due to political intrigue which affected her

Aware of her parents' murder of her grandfather

Rose to crown princess after her father coronation and brother banishment which she watched

Was used as a weapon by her father against her uncle and bother by age 14

Had a few friends who became partners in hunting the avatar her brother

Was a skilled tactician able to infiltrate the heart of the earth kingdom

Overthrow the earth king

Nearly killed the avatar

Achieved high status for this but shared it with her brother is a skilled protective manner

Had a tumultuous relationship with her brother

Betrayed by her friends 

Attempted to kill her brother

Became fire lord but felt rejected through this as she was unable to claim victory along with her father

Suffered a mental health breakdown 

Was beaten by Zuko & katara in an Agni Kai losing her status 

Overview:

Azula is a complex character who is gifted, clever, beautiful, and deeply psychologically injured. Her story is one of abuse, manipulation, and war. She was raised by abusive people in a cult of power and supremacy; by the age of 14, she was being used to put the same trauma out on the entire world. 

The prime driver for Azula’s character is the necessity to retain control over her situation and due to her status as the princess of the world’s dominant power, this is control over everything. Control and power are the only things Azula truly understands as valuable. This control also equals safety, safety from physical harm during a battle, and emotional harm by others. We can see this control manifest in her emotional distress at having even one hair out of place during her training (2x01). She uses her place of power to hold fear over other people, those she considers lesser than her, by invoking the fear of losing their place and physical harm. Her social power and skill in bending back up the threats. 

Azula’s need for control started as a child who grew up being taught through the iron hand of Ozai who demanded perfection. Her status as a prodigy with fire bending, physical aptitude, and intelligence gave her positive attention from her father but also led her to be inculcated even stronger into the idea that fear is the only way. Her father taught with the fear of retribution for failure as much as any positive attention. The more blatant abuse Zuko suffered from their father for showing what was perceived as weakness and emotionality was another teacher that she must always control every part of her. (2x07, 3x06)

This control via strength without understanding was worsened by her other connections. Her mother failed to connect and attune to her daughter so even in early childhood they were always moving past each other. Azula’s failure to show empathy was met with judgment and punishment and we don’t see them ever repair the relational rupture. Their mother then abandoned them accompanied by their parents murdering their grandfather and threats against her brother. Leaving her with only Ozai as a point of influence and even more surrounded by violence. (2x07)

Azula also gained little perspective outside of the pure ideology of the fire nation royal family and royal academy for girls. She carried the beliefs of fire supremacy and nationalism with no outside input which left her with the schemas of power in her nascent socio-political awareness and added to the stunting of her ability to gain empathy. She was taught to view the world as nations and people only worth understanding to beat not for its own sake. (2x07, 2x19-20, 3x05, 3x06)

This pain leaves her spending the whole second season [spanning months] as a weapon of her father. She is forced to travel around the world, originally with only staff, with the goal of hurting her own family in the name of not being shamed. To prove she can do it she gives herself the task of stopping the avatar. Azula is able to escape a fight with some of the strongest benders we see in the show easily and is persistent to a fault. (2x03) We see her skills of strategy and combat shine here as well as many of her trauma responses. The biggest one being she is acting in a mindset that can not shift from using the world and not experiencing it. (2x01, 2x03, 2x07-8, 2x13, 2x15)

 Azula’s pure genius shows in her ability to take over Ba Sing Se on her ability to read other people, manipulate court games, and her sheer belief in her infallibility. We see her play the Dai Li and Long Feng with only the backup of her two friends. She has an iconic moment of power “Don’t flatter yourself you were never even a player” and invokes her belief in the divine right of kings or lords. (2x18-20)

Once she proves herself and can bring her brother and uncle home, if in a way not planned, putting her back in a secure place of princess she longs to keep. We see her try and maintain control by being the one who understands both her father and Zuko. We see her struggle greatly with normal life but thrive within the system of the place. (3x05-6, 3x11)

However, we see her set world start to collapse when Zuko leaves and her only two friends choose to take a chance for love versus staying in her control bubble. This challenges her sense of safety she works so hard to maintain. It also goes against her understanding of interpersonal relationships and her innate power. (3x11, 3x13, 3x15)

This causes a breakdown in the end. However, this leaves her without a throne and a sense of safety. After the show, we see her mental health stay in a deteriorated state, struggle with the past, and joins a group that wants to harm the new age of peace. (3x18-20, Comics: The Promise Part Three, The Search. Smoke and Shadow)

Relationships:

Zuko

Zuko and Azula are one of the key family dynamics within the story. Azula acts as a foil to Zuko during their childhood being the golden child to his scapegoat. She was Ozai’s favorite whereas Zuko was closer to Ursa. They both suffered severe trauma as young people but Azula spent the time trying to not be viewed as poorly as Zuko. (3x07, The Search) Something she directly tells their father, to not be treated like Zuko (3x18). Building your relationship with your sibling as wanting to prove you are better than them sets them up too but heads, something she acknowledges was also going to come down to them deciding who is the right one to succeed their father. 

During the main plot, we see them start as the predator and the prey (2x01, 2x08). Both of them lived in the mindset Ozai Taught them, she was born lucky and he was lucky to be born (1x20, 2x07). She is the long arm of their father only claiming some autonomy when she chooses her team and attacks the avatar as well (2x03, 2x08). 

Azula brings Zuko back into their fold because next to Iroh she understands Zuko the best. She knows easily the only thing he wants is to feel in control of his life and craves the respect of their father, these are things she also needs. We see her also offer the double-sided act of letting Zuko take credit. It is partially protective as should he live Azula is protected, Suko would be the one who failed. It can also be some degree of kindness for her brother because she does like the system the way it is and Zuko being in pain causes worse stress. 

They continue to bump heads as we see Azula feel most at home within the bureaucracy whereas he struggles to feel as if it was right. Zuko still carries the pain of shame for his actions at the same time Azula pushes much of her emotion down. Part of this is Azula knows where she stands and as long as others play the part she has no worries. Zuko breaks this steady normal as a child when he wants to be empathetic to soldiers and again when he feels the need to save the earth kingdom she wanted to kill in total war. (3x01, 3x05, 3x16)

Their reactions during The Day of Black Sun (3x11) set them on their paths for the end and they mirror each other. Azula uses the time to play her role and waits for the fire bending to turn on to win. Zuko uses the time to pull away from their father for good. They continue to be antagonistic and Zuko is an axle in her relational rupture with Ty Lee and Mai. (3x14-16)

Their final Agni Kai for the title of Firelord shows how much Zuko has learned in his complex bending style and ability to hold control while we notice Azula loose form entirely relying almost completely on her raw power. Her very body language giving off how sick she is currently in her movements now disjointed and lacking precision which conflicts with the controlled fighting we see from Katara and Zuko. (3x18-21).

They have spent their whole life used as pawns by their parents and stuck in the milieu of war and suffering. Azula’s status as her father’s favorite offers her the status Zuko wants but she also lacks the time and ability to grow Zuko earned through his relationship with Uncle Iroh. Their understanding of each other is strong but Azula fails to offer sympathy to her brother when he chooses things she wouldn’t and treats him poorly. And Zuko needs to be able to challenge her so he can properly heal, along with team avatar, the fissures in the world.

Ursa

We see that Azula and Ursa do not understand each other and the abuse they both suffer disallowed them to properly attach. Ursa didn’t understand Azula’s natural predispositions or her trauma which left Azula often being told off by her mother or treated as separate from the bond Ursa had with Zuko. I wouldn’t go as far as to say Ursa was forming a scapegoat golden child dynamic more so she couldn’t bring herself to look past her trauma. (2x07, The Promise, & The Search)

During the fire nation teens' conversation at ember island, we see that Azula generalized her mother's view of her as a monster as much as the other conditioning she had as a kid. This whole where her mother’s attunement should be opened even more space for what Ozai taught her. Azula lack’s a full ability to process this but it is the one time we see Azula even come close to verbalizing painful emotions other than paranoia and anger. (3x05)

If we are to believe the memory we see from Iroh (1x12) she was already immune to violence as a pre-teen believing that Ozai’s assault of Zuko was justified and even taking gratification from it. This play into her relationship with her mother as the gentleness her mother might have displayed towards her child was missing making the hardest part of the indoctrination become the most prevalent. Worsen when Ursa abandons her children and seeks out her new life. The effects of this are her willingness to be cavalier with life, and failure to attach to others (3x17).

Azula’s relationship with her mother ends up being the breaking point in space after the betrayal of her friends. When we see her experience hallucinations and paranoid thought they center around her mother and their relationship, rather there was love or not being the central question. (3x19) 

Paranoid delusions around her mother continue in the comics where we see Azula unable to interact from a clear headspace. (The Search)

Ozai

Ozai is Azula's main force of identity shaping her internal and external perceptions to the point of making her more of a human tool than a real daughter. The craving for her father's need is just as strong as Zuko’s but instead of trying to restore it her job is to keep it and not rock the boat. This is seen in her letting Zuko take credit for the killing the avatar which brings her brother back in (3x01) and when she asks Ozai to not treat her like Zuko when he becomes the phoenix king (3x20)

Throughout the show, everything she does is to please her father from going after her brother and then succeeding in killing Aang. (2x01-2x20). She also parrots her father's belief about weakness, fears power, and the might of the fire nation. Examples include naming the city New Ozai, demanding the divine right of kings, and her obsessive focus on acting and appearing perfect. 

Ozai’s abuse permeated everything Azula was and is leading to her becoming the shadow of a person we see at the end of the series. 

Ty Lee & Mai

Next to her blood family Mai & Ty Lee are her most influential relationships. She considers them generally friends starting when they went to the same school (2x07). We see that even as a child she had the highest status in the group and already needed to win. However, they do seem to have some genuine care for the princess even if it is never balanced. For example, when recruiting Ty Lee she uses manipulation and fear to force her back into serving the fire nation. (2x03). Mai and Ty Lee are skilled fighters making them useful to Azula, something she values more than anything other than loyalty. She has trouble conceptualizing their emotions as validly seen in her calling their emotions performances, however in the same episode we see her care about making Ty Lee cry and experience very human emotions of envy herself. They bond over their traumas and their shared love of destruction (3x05).

None of the three of them are particularly well adjusted but what Azula has on her side is an utter belief in her competence and her belief that their friends will fall in line with that ambition. For the most part, they do; Ty Lee often flatters her and Mail generally does as she’s told when Azula is around. However one of Azula’s most pivotal moments comes when this obedience falls through. Mai loves Zuko more than she fears Azla’s wrath and Ty Lee can’t bear to see them hurt each other. Earning one of Azula's most characterizing lines ``You should have feared me more”. This betrayal and shift in her stable world put Azula over the edge and fuels paranoid thoughts and a slip into worse mental illness. (3x14)

To consider Mai and Ty Lee to be the manipulative ones or otherwise treat them as the bad or abusive party to Azula is unfair. They are doing what they can as they believe Azula has the right to be in charge and suffer consequences when they step out of line. However, it’s equally unfair to assume everything Azula does is machiavellian; she too is acting on sincerely held beliefs and as a daughter of abusive or neglectful parents. I think Azula has a hard time conceptualizing others as full people objectifying them in her schema of the world but unlike some of her behavior to Zuko, I doubt it’s intentionally cruel. 

Developmetnal Trauma

Adulti-fication (2x01,2x03, 2x07, 2x08, 2x13 2x19-20, 3x01-2, 3x05, 3x15, & 3x18-21)

Anger (3x13-20)

Control fixations (2x01, 2x03, 2x07, 2x7, 2x13, 2x19, 3x01, 3x05, 3x15, & 3x18-21)

Conditioned Value Systems (2x01, 2x07, 2x19-20, 3x01, & 3x05)

Empathic Deficits (2x03, 2x07, 2x15, 3x05, & 3x11)

Harm to Animals (2x07 & 2x15)

Hypervigilance (2x01, 2x03, 2x07, 2x08, & 2x19-20)

Obsessive Thoughts (2x01, 2x03, 3x05, & 3x18-21)

Locus of Control breakdown (2x01,2x07,  2x15, 3x05, 3x14, & 3x18-21)

Paradoxical Arousal, [Functions best during high-stress situations and worse under normal or positive] (2x03, 3x05, 3x13-5)

Paranoid Thoughts (3x18-21)

Perfectionism (2x01, 2x07, 3x05, 3x13, & 2x17-20)

Positive & Negative Psychosis Symptoms (3x18-21)

Recklessness (2x03, 2x07, 2x08, 3x05, & 3x15-16)

Risk Seeking Behaviors (2x03, 2x13, 2x15, & 3x11)

Social issues (3x05)

Trust Issues (2x13, 3x01, 3x11, 3x13, & 3x18-21)

Violent Play Behaviors (2x07 & 3x05)

[elenathehun]

Watching the Clone Wars, Part 5

Hey, I’m actually being prompt this time, and not letting this sit on my desk for the rest of the week.  Good for me!  In this viewing session, we watch one “good” arc, and one terrible one.  Guess which is which ;)

“Storm Over Ryloth” (1x19)

Aw, the fourteen year old is going to engage in very dangerous dogfighting?  For those of you old enough to remember X-Wing: Rogue Squadron, remember how leery Starfighter Command was of letting sixteen year old Gavin Darklighter join Rogue Squadron?  More innocent times, for sure.

Anyway, Ahsoka just got eleven men summarily killed, all to set up a tedious episode on the nature of command.  It’s so wild how Rex and the bridge officer clone actually defer to her.  Maybe, just maybe, GAR would win if they gave a bit more power to the highly-trained war machines the Jedi purchased, eh?  Instead of the barely-trained teenagers with no business in a war zone.

I’m not even going to talk about the actual tactics because they’re superfluous.  It’s a shame the jedi don’t understand the purpose of consolidating their force and utilizing a joint attack.  Maybe Anakin could have saved a ship or two if he, Mace, and Obi-Wan had attacked as a group.

No, you’re right.  That’s too smart.

“Innocents of Ryloth” (1x20)

Obi-Wan’s low-impact strategy is a bit stupid.  Like, the CIS is explicitly engaging in terrorist tactics on Ryloth, the Twi’leks most likely have no homes to return to.  But, whatever, that’s not the point of the episode.  The point of this episode is Waxer and Boil.  I love them, but I also love the casual specie-ism/racism on Boil’s part.  Dude grew up on Kamino, which is basically an isolated military boarding school, where would have learned a word like “tailhead”?

Oh, that’s right, the scum of the earth working as trainers.  Never mind!  I like to think that the clones, while generally very nice and polite young men, also have a very strange idea of appropriate language and conduct outside of their very isolated, insular upbringing.  I do love ye olde culture clash plotline!

The CIS continues to devolve with internment camps, animal cruelty, and yes, weaponizing animals to kill clones in a suitably horrific way.  Good job, guys, way to lower the bar!  With that said, Numa is adorable, and it’s amazing that she managed to survive on her own in this ghost-town while her family and community have been rounded up into camps.  

Obi-Wan may be a subpar general, but he is definitely a very capable psychic super-soldier.  The fight scenes were incredibly enjoyable to watch, and although it’s a bit silly, I did really like the Twi’leks pulling the tactical droid who was their warden out of his tank with their bare hands - they definitely deserved that.

“Liberty on Ryloth” (1x21)

This is a Mace Windu episode, and I am here for it.  What an icon, what a legend.  I do think that he is portrayed as having exceptional control of the Force, and it’s always really interesting to see him use it in a fight.  The episode is a fairly basic one: He’s trying to link up with Cham Syndulla to get rid of the rest of the CIS army; the senator for Ryloth, Orn Free Taa, is more concerned about the disposition of political power on Ryloth after the invasion is complete.  I have...so many questions about how political power on Ryloth is distributed: is Orn Free Taa the ruler of the planet and the Senator, or is there a different kind of power-sharing agreement?  Is Cham Syndulla just the sort or ordinary person thrust into extraordinary times, especially by the abandonment of their people by their leadership and the Republic?  It strikes me as a setting rich with potential plots.

Of course, that’s only a small part of the episode, which is mostly Mace being a badass and basically being a one-man army.  Again, the direction is remarkably good in this episode.  As usual, air supremacy is not a factor in this war.   ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.  Even though AT-RTs really make no sense, I want one very badly.  Lastly, based on the clone trying to pet the blurrg and Boil and Waxer’s treatment of Numa last episode, I believe the clones are going through that stage where they just want a pet of their very own.  It is actually a little adorable.  

Shout-out to the tactical droid obtaining full sentience and ditching his boss and lying to Dooku.  Still wish that a subplot of Dooku’s droids turning against him had been a thing.

Season 1 Restrospective:  It only took five weeks, but we are finally finished with this season, save for 1x22, which is actually set sometime in the third season.  There were some high points, but man, this was an absolute slog mostly.  There were way too many Jar Jar episodes, and the clones were not given nearly enough screen time.  “Rookies” and “Lair of Grievous” were the outstanding stand-alone episodes imho, and the “Ryloth” and “Malevolence” arcs were generally ok, with two of their three episodes being rewatchable.  

But in a series about the clone wars, there is very little character development of the actual clones - like, poor Rex is barely a presence in this season.  And the CIS is just so cartoonishly awful that I can’t take it seriously at all.  It actually does strain my belief that Palpatine could keep these plates spinning for more than a week.  Anakin is just...blah.  And although I know I’m supposed to like Ahsoka, I just can’t help but find her annoying, mostly because she’s a kid.

Well, we’re about one-sixth of the way through.  She’s got another six seasons to grow on me - and hopefully she will, because otherwise this will be very tedious.

“Holocron Heist” (2x01)

No sooner do I say that than Ahsoka reverts to being a dumb fucking kid.  However, is a full Council meeting to investigate the fact that she’s a dumb fucking kid actually a good use of the High Council’s time?  Just curious.  This arc is honestly really stupid, so I’m not going to spend a lot of time on this, only to say that Cad Bane’s aesthetic is very choice for an outlaw, and the Jedi have laughable security.

“Cargo of Doom” (2x02)

Another Anakin & Ahsoka episode where they and Yularen share one braincell, and Rex is the one who holds it most of the time.  Also really love how the Jedi with the list of all the potential Jedi recruits apparently took his sole record with him to a warzone.  That makes perfect sense.  I’m not really going to get into this episode, except to point out that we saw a Jedi tortured to death on-screen, which leads me to my most pressing question: how much money, per episode, did Lucasfilm have to use to bribe the MPA?  

As for the choice Cade Bane gave Anakin at the end?  As @spiraling pointed out, people don’t die of decompression and vacuum exposure immediately.  Anakin could easily take Bane out and rescue Asohka in that time.  She’d need a dip in bacta, but she’d live.  

“Children of the Force” (2x03)

This episode is actually the worst of all, because the Jedi (who, by the by, are an actual government entity with access to priority comms and lots and lots of computer space) don’t have backup lists of their recruits, nor do they, say, call ahead with the address and have the local government set a trap before they arrive.  Poorly done, Obi-Wan, poorly done.  

Anyway, the kids are rescued from the unspeakable horrors that later children will be exposed to, children like Mara Jade and Lumiya.  Good for Anakin and Ahsoka!  However, I’d like to present a more awful possibility:  If it weren’t for the need for a holocron, Cad Bane (and by extension, Palpatine) would have gotten away with it.  Like, Palpatine is a Sith Lord, trained by a Sith Lord, and his putative apprentice is a former Jedi who had access to the temple and the various Jedi stores until about a year ago.  Do you really think he doesn’t already have a holocron ready to go?

So instead of stealing a holocron to start off with, Cad Bane just... targets and captures Bolla Ropal under the guise of a CIS attack.  He steals the kyber crystal.  The Jedi are very, very worried, of course, but it takes time for them to realize it’s gone missing.  in the meantime, however, Cad Bane just takes it to Dooku, they pull and copy the list, and the harvesting of Force-sensitive children can continue.

This is, I think, one of the great disappointments of TCW.  For a show that likes to use the model the Justice League cartoon of the early 2000s pioneered, they haven’t quite figured it out yet.  This is the sort of plot that could fuel an entire season of investigation, but instead they have these little three-episode arcs that never connect to the rest.  It’s a real shame.

Next week: We continue Season 2 with “Bounty Hunters”, “The Zillo Beast”, “The Zillo Beast Strikes Back”, “Senate Spy”, “Landing at Point Rain”, “Weapons Factory”, and (time permitting) “Legacy of Terror”.

[stargatevp]

Tuesday 30th of June SG-1 1x20 Politics. Host: @dorothyoz39​​ | Time Thursday 2nd of July SGA 2x03 Runner. Host: @angelblaze​​​​ | Time Sunday 5th of July SGU 2x06 Trial and Error. Host: @arrowsbane​​​​ | Time

Tues/Thurs: 3pm EST / 8 BST / 9 CEST ||| Sun: (+15mins)

DM a MOD ( @arrowsbane​​​​ @1989nihil​​​​ @dorothyoz39​​​​ @angelblaze​​​​​) for the password.

Links: Episode List | Watch HERE | Subscribe to Calendar

[jadelotusflower]

Stargate rewatch: Season 1

1x01: Children of the Gods

1x02: The Enemy Within

1x03: Emancipation

1x04: The Broca Divide

1x05: The First Commandment

1x06: Cold Lazarus

1x07: The Nox

1x08: Brief Candle

1x09: Thor's Hammer

1x10: The Torment of Tantalus

1x11: Bloodlines

1x12: Fire and Water

1x13: Hathor

1x14: Singularity

1x15: Cor-Ai

1x16: Enigma

1 x17: Solitudes

1x18: Tin Man

1x19: There but for the Grace of God

1x20: Politics

1x 21: Within the Serpent's Grasp

[kinetic-elaboration]

October 25: 1x20 Court Martial

Now that Chopped is done I am free to watch TOS again. Today’s ep: Court Martial, a wonderful combination of two of my favorite things: Captain Kirk and Legal Stuff.

Look at that backdrop. I forgot how many Very 50′s backgrounds they had in this show.

The Intrepid is here for repairs! Such a lost opportunity to show more Vulcans in Starfleet.

I don’t entirely get why the Commodore has his own special transport pad. I guess it must allow him to beam himself places without the use of a ship but like... to where is he beaming?

Lol that absolutely terrible sailor suit outfit on the little girl. I can only assume it’s a school uniform as it’s the only thing she ever wears.

Can you believe how this whole episode is based, essentially, around allegedly broken regulations? I mean I know it’s more than that and they do a good job explaining why it’s bad to eject the pod early (”when there is no emergency”) but like, essentially, the underlying conditions of emergency are not in Kirk’s control. It’s possible to just skip officially calling the emergency while nevertheless acting in a way that is appropriate for an emergency, and so it comes down to “did he first declare the emergency officially and then act in accordance with the declared emergency or did he just skip the first step?” rather than “did he act too quickly?” since HE was the one who determined if the conditions warranted an emergency.

Having said all that I still don’t get what an ion pod is or where it was or why it had to be ejected at all. Or how Finney got out of the pod if it was ejected.

Vulcanian expedition?!?

Kirk’s default voice is just flirty; I’m sorry but it is. Even talking to his old school classmates, who are VERY quick to judge him harshly and hate on him, implying they were probably never friends, he’s All Charm by default. And he doesn’t drop the charm even when he starts politely fighting with them.

Bones using Jim to flirt--with Jim’s ex-girlfriend! “Did you see that guy over there, he’s pretty famous, and we’re friends!”

I love Areel Shaw and I’m just gonna say I think she’s my favorite Kirk girlfriend.

Charged with culpable negligence. As opposed to...not culpable negligence?

When he was a midshipman...

What’s with all these professor & student friendships??

I cannot believe part of the Finney & Kirk backstory is that he literally named his daughter after Kirk. Like that’s so intense! I feel like it kind of changes everything but I can’t entirely untangle how.

This “I can’t believe you filed a report about my error” backstory is literally the beginning of STID except Kirk is the Spock of this scenario.

Star Trek: Law and Order. Bum bum.

This whole idea of pitting Kirk against a computer is clever in that people to this day are like “but computers are infallible?” but also dumb because Kirk >>> Computer obviously.

Having drinks with the ex and he turns the charm up to 11.

All of this is wildly unethical, from her telling him about the prosecution’s case, to her BEING the prosecution.

I actually read an article recently about this isn’t, or shouldn’t be, her job as prosecutor, to drum him out of the service in disgrace. Her job should be to find the truth in a more neutral way.

Wtf are all these totally useless federal reporters doing here?

I’m a pro-book person but this is a HILARIOUS anti-computer speech. Like--the law is in the computer dude! It is! It’s the same law as in the books. Intergalactic Westlaw is available to you. And then he goes off on this weird rant about Moses, like--dude, Moses isn’t in the reporters OR Westlaw OR whatever Starfleet code is actually at issue here.

Kirk likes him though.

Shaw in the dress uniform with the long skirt hot damn.

Not even the computer can pronounce Spock’s full name. And he’s been demoted again.

Vulcanian Scientific Legion of Honor.

Spock isn’t having any of this. “I don’t dispute it. I just... actually I do dispute it because it’s nonsense.”

His entire testimony is the equivalent of “You don’t have all the facts.” / “Which are?” / “I love him.”

The defense doesn’t need to question him because he’s already testified for the defense.

This is such a hilarious use of McCoy. For the first time ever we’re told he’s actually a psychologist on top of being a surgeon and GP and then his whole testimony isn’t even really medical? It’s just like wild speculation, which being a doctor and an “expert in psychology” somehow qualifies him to provide?

I love how Kirk’s service record just goes on and on and on. Areel doesn’t do herself any favors objecting to it; that just draws attention to it. As the defense lawyer knows by insisting it continuing and then cutting it off for being comically long.

Kirk: “I can be level-headed in an emergency. This wasn’t my first rodeo.”

This chair design is SO BAD. I know it needs to be like this for the plot but omg putting the pod release button on the chair at all (like does the captain have to jettison pods a lot?) and then especially directly under the red alert button, and then putting both of them just out there without any kind of cover or anything--that’s just waiting for someone to lean on his chair arm and make a deadly mistake.

Also nothing else is even labeled lmao.

This is a very impressive deep fake.

This whole ion storm does not really seem like a scary emergency situation lol. It seems like Kirk and everyone else are basically keeping their heads.

“You may be able to beat your next Captain at chess” Kirk as chess master confirmed.

“I didn’t realize how close you and my father were even though I was literally named after you.”

Obligatory Bones accuses Spock of not caring about Jim scene.

“Why thank you, Doctor, my blood is very cold.”

I can’t believe Spock programmed the computer to play chess with him. Probably so he could practice for Jim.

The lawyer’s outfit is hilarious: little pocket for a pen in front. Is he... a civilian lawyer? Is that even allowed?

Here is talking about the Bible again. And the Magna Carta. First, it’s always funny when a bunch of real things are followed by some fake science fiction things. And second, he’s pretty obviously just talking about the Constitution, and like maybe a very tiny bit about the Magna Carta. There’s no right to counsel in the Bible.

Really glad to know the Martians care about the right to an attorney though. And that the Alpha 3 Colonies protect the right of confrontation.

I bet Spock is unimpressed with this Drama.

Why did they change out of their dress uniforms?

How convenient that Finney was one of only three people who could change the computer. I mean I guess this is a permissions thing--but why would the records officer have that? Not that I know what a records officer is.

“White noise device” you can’t fool me, that’s a microphone.

Also another hilarious use of McCoy. Do they really NEED the ship’s surgeon to put a microphone against people’s chests? “Don’t mind me, just stealing your heartbeats.”

Like the general concept of this is nifty story telling but some of the details are....uh.... funny.

Captain’s log: “We brought a young girl onto the ship even when it’s in a dangerous position so we could use her against her father.”

Finney really was playing the looooooong game of revenge lol. And yet it still doesn’t seem well thought out. What was the next part of his plan? Somehow get back OFF the ship once Kirk’s career is ruined, and then live the rest of his life under an assumed name? Never seeing his daughter again? No Starfleet career even though it’s allegedly so important to him? Seems a little bit like everyone loses.

Lol not letting Spock leave the bridge because the court martial’s not ever. “Sorry, we all might die, but court IS still in session.” Even though they ALREADY KNOW the alleged victim is still alive!

I love that Uhura is essential personnel. They didn’t keep the navigator on board, even though they apparently need one, but they did keep Uhura.

Oh no, Kirk’s flimsy shirt, falling apart again!

“Beaten and sobbing, Finney told me how to fix the ship.” Bitter much?

Kirk, being a badass, fixing the ship all by himself.

Honestly I just really love a narrative in which an upright man plays by the rules, does the right thing, and behaves in good faith and is ultimately vindicated and rewarded.

Now everyone agrees there’s no crime and thus no point to continuing the court-martial.

He’s defending Ben Finney! Good luck with that.

I love how Kirk’s face goes from full-on-romance to slightly-embarrassed-serious-Captain as soon as he remembers, hey, I really AM on the bridge!

“She’s a very good lawyer.” / “Obviously.”

This was such a good Kirk episode, both for showing off all his good qualities, and for getting some interesting insight into his character. He strikes me as the kind of person who, because he’s so by-the-book, and because he’s smart and successful, inspires jealousy in other people, and thus has a lot of strained acquaintanceships--like with the other men at the bar. But he also has these really, really strong friendships and relationships: Areel Shaw, Spock and McCoy, and even Finney. I feel like he’s probably rather awkward with most people, but then when the relationship is established, he’s ride or die. And, he doesn’t hold grudges. I don’t think he really knew how upset Finney was about what happened literally 10+ years ago--especially if he had any say at all about Finney serving on his ship, and I suspect he could have at least vetoed him. And even after Finney tried to disgrace him and then actually kill him, he still didn’t seem to upset about it, or about his lawyer turning around and defending Finney.

I think Kirk likes the military in part because it gives him this very strict set of rules about interacting with other people, so he doesn’t have to make up his own. I bet the intensity of the service also allows him to form these stronger relationships, which do seem to suit him better. And when he doesn’t have anything else to fall back on, he INVARIABLY pulls out the charm: he does it with old classmates, random 21st century pilots, immortal teenage girls, and actual love interests. It’s his default mode. I think that makes sense for someone who’s very ambitious, very precise, very nerdy, very rules-oriented, and whose default mode as a young man, by his own admission, was “grim.”

Wow it is so much later than anticipated... I need to get to sleep!

Next ep is Return of the Archons, which I’ve only seen once and don’t remember super well. I think it’s a ‘society ruled by computers’ thing, which is fine. Maybe not as much of a classic as some other S1 eps, but it should be fun anyway.

[mimik-u]

Facets → Season One

A rewatch of Steven Universe told in 100-word drabbles.

S1 Start: June 12, 2020 | S1 End: July 12, 2020

Shield → 1x01, “Gem Glow”

Wanted → 1x02, “Laser Light Cannon”

Monument → 1x03, “Cheeseburger Backpack”

Parenting → 1x04, “Together Breakfast”

Kids → 1x05, “Frybo”

Catastrophe → 1x06, “Cat Fingers”

Choice → 1x07, “Bubble Buddies”

Haunt → 1x08, “Serious Steven”

Wrong → 1x09, “Tiger Millionaire”

Dream → 1x10, “Steven’s Lion”

Explanations → 1x11, “Arcade Mania”

Together → 1x12, “Giant Woman”

Change → 1x13, “So Many Birthdays”

Vibes → 1x14, “Lars and the Cool Kids”

Hero → 1x15, “Onion Trade”

Sticky → 1x16, “Steven the Sword Fighter”

Lie → 1x17, “Lion 2: The Movie”

Accomplishment → 1x18, “Beach Party”

Safe → 1x19, “Rose’s Room”

Capable → 1x20, “Coach Steven”

Same → 1x21, “Joking Victim”

Selfish → 1x22, “Steven and the Stevens”

Friend → 1x23, “Monster Buddies”

Deluge → 1x24, “Indirect Kiss”

Mirror → 1x25, “Mirror Gem”

Possibility → 1x26, “Ocean Gem”

Memories → 1x27, “House Guest”

Repairs → 1x28, “Space Race”

Bubble → 1x29, “Secret Team”

Fish → 1x30, “Island Adventure”

Happy → 1x31, “Keep Beach City Weird”

Answer → 1x32, “Fusion Cuisine”

Here → 1x33, “Garnet’s Universe”

Funeral → 1x34, “Watermelon Steven”

Moments → 1x35, “Lion 3: Straight to Video”

Us → 1x36, “Alone Together”

Belief → 1x37, “Warp Tour”

Success → 1x38, “The Test

Afraid → 1x39, “Future Vision”

Miracle → 1x40, “On the Run”

Rest → 1x41, “Horror Club”

Perspective → 1x42, “Winter Forecast”

Junk → 1x43, “Maximum Capacity”

Decision → 1x44, “Marble Madness”

Inheritance → 1x45, “Rose’s Scabbard”

Truth → 1x46, “Open Book”

Irony → 1x47, “Shirt Club”

Fence → 1x48, “Story for Steven”

Transitory → 1x49, “The Message”

Unknown → 1x50, “Political Power”

Displaced → 1x51, “The Return”

Consumed → 1x52, “Jail Break”

[stahlop]

Once Upon a Time 2x17 “Welcome to Storybrooke” Review

Reviews 1x01 1x02 1x03 1x04 1x05 1x06 1x07 1x08 1x09 1x10 1x11 1x12 1x13 1x14 1x15 1x16 1x17 1x18 1x19 1x20 1x21 1x22 2x01 2x02 2x03 2x04 2x05 2x06 2x07 2x08 2x09 2x10 2x11 2x12 2x13 2x14 2x15 2x16

First off, hope everyone is holding up well during this troubling time. On the plus side, it’s given me more time with my kids. Ha, okay, couldn’t say that with a straight face. I love my kids, but being with them 24/7 is tough, okay. So let’s move onto one of my favorite episodes. I love that we get to see how Storybrooke is from the beginning, although it does raise a lot of questions. I feel like we’re in Westworld, but Regina’s the only one who can change anyone’s path. And the characters can change their clothes and tiny little details. But it’s great to see Storybrooke’s origins and how needy and unhappy Regina was even though she thought she’d won.

Summary: Mary Margaret is not doing well with her choice to kill Cora. Regina attempts to enact a spell that will make Henry love her using Mary Margaret’s heart. In 1983, Storybrooke appears and an unsuspecting father and son are caught up in its first days.

Opening: A tree falling on Kurt’s truck

New Characters:

Kurt and Owen Flynn: The father and son duo are camping out by what becomes the T(r)oll Bridge when Storybrooke literally drops on top of them. Kurt is confused about where this town came from, whereas Owen doesn’t really question it. They run into Graham who welcomes them to Storybrooke. They meet Regina in Granny’s Diner and Granny tells them she can get them a room. Kurt seems to be a little wary of this town that just popped up out of nowhere, but Owen is seeing it as an adventure. Owen is also quite precocious as he’s sitting in the seat at Granny’s (later that day?) that Regina always sits in and Owen tells her he’s already sitting there. Regina let’s them know she spoke with the mechanic and they’ll be able to leave within a week instead of two. Kurt thanks her and tells her they’re from New Jersey (home of The Boss). Owen gives Regina the lanyard he made as a gift for letting him sit in her seat. Kurt is happy that his son is so kind. Regina invites them over for dinner before they leave. Owen isn’t that happy about being there and tells Regina that he doesn’t like her lasagna. Regina asks him to pick some apples out for turnovers. Kurt tells Regina Owen’s mother passed away six months ago. They bond a little about starting over and new lives until Owen calls for Regina about making dessert. Owen asks Regina why she’s not a mom, he thinks she’d be a good one (well, Owen is really not a good judge of character, is he?). Owen talks about how he hated New Jersey and how his friends all treat him weird since his mom died. He and Regina bond over dead parents (she doesn’t tell him both her parents are dead, but Owen’s supposed to imply). Regina asks Kurt to think about moving to Storybrooke, but Kurt tells her their life is in New Jersey. He is completely polite about it and doesn’t call Regina out on her crazy whatsoever. Owen seems upset about it though. Kurt comes to thank Regina the next day before leaving town, but he catches her talking to Graham’s heart (he doesn’t know what it is), about keeping them in town by making him seem like a drunk driver. He also hears her say to bring Owen to her. Regina, of course, tries to make him think that he heard incorrectly. Kurt is freaking the fuck out so he tries to leave. Regina is still trying to convince him he heard wrong but Kurt isn’t buying it. Graham comes into Regina’s office and tries to arrest Kurt for drunk driving. Kurt tells him he’s being controlled somehow by the glowing thing shaped like a heart. Graham questions him about not being drunk. Kurt somehow realizes that however Regina is controlling Graham is in that box, so he pushes it off the desk and it makes Graham let him go. Kurt gets in his car with Owen and hightails it to the border. A high speed chase between the Flynns and the sheriff (and Regina in the passenger seat) ensue. Kurt is scared for Owen and Owen is just scared in general that the nice lady is coming after them. They almost make it to the town line when the sheriff’s car comes from a side street and blocks them. Kurt tells Owen to make a run for it and to call his uncle when he gets to another town. Owen obviously doesn’t want to leave his dad, having just lost his mother a few months earlier, but Kurt is practically begging him to get away. He tells Owen that the lanyard he gave him (when they were camping at the beginning of the episode) will mean he’s always with him no matter what. Graham pulls Kurt out of the car and they struggle. Kurt tells Regina he can never have his son. Owen stops right before the town line to see his father. Kurt tells him to run again. Owen asks Regina why she’s doing this to them. She promises she’s not going to hurt him, she just wants them to be together. She reminds him that he liked the town and wanted to stay here, but Owen tells her he didn’t want to stay like this. Regina immediately backs down and apologizes and lets Owen go. Owen runs off with Kurt in the cop car telling Owen to run. Owen comes back with two state troopers but there is nothing at the town line indicating there is a town there (Owen recognizes the boulder at the border). For some reason, they don’t go any further down the road that is there to investigate. Owen vows that he’ll find his dad and never stop looking for him. 

Character Observations:

Regina: She has made the curse work and landed in 1983 Maine. She’s so happy that she has ‘won’. She obviously has also had all the knowledge of this realm’s stuff downloaded into her head, because she doesn’t find anything she is wearing or seeing strange. She goes out into the town and observes the ‘chaos’. Geppetto is always fixing the sign on the store, Rumplestiltskin is walking obliviously down the street, Red and Granny are fighting, Archie is walking Pongo. Regina is overjoyed. She goes to visit Mary Margaret at school and takes her to the hospital to visit the John Doe (David) who is there. Regina is absolutely ecstatic to see that Mary Margaret does not recognize her true love. Regina goes to Granny’s and gets apple pancakes and meets Owen and Kurt Flynn. She is understandably confused when Kurt says he needs a room for the night as she doesn’t expect to have strangers in their town the first day they are there. Regina speaks to Graham and tells him she doesn’t like surprises, they make her feel threatened and that bad things happen when she feels threatened. Later that day Regina discovers Owen sitting in ‘her’ seat when she goes to get food. She seems very confused that Owen still won’t move after she tells him she always sits there and Kurt just laughs about it. She tells them that their car will be finished by the end of the week and that she is the mayor. She’s just as subtle about wanting them to go home as Emma and Ruby were to Greg in past episodes. Before they leave Granny’s, Owen gives Regina the lanyard he’d made during their camping trip as thanks for letting him sit in her seat, and Regina honestly doesn’t know how to react to his kindness. She awakens the next morning happy again with what is happening in town. We go through the same walk she did the first day, but this time she runs into Mary Margaret who is as timid as a mouse around her. We also see that when Regina is at the hospital, Mary Margaret is now a volunteer, instead of Regina introducing her to John Doe. But her happiness quickly fades within the next few days (see Timeline Issues below). Regina is no longer getting joy out of seeing Mary Margaret unhappy and she’s upset that Mary Margaret won’t even fight back when Regina gets in her face about their run in on the street. She goes to Gold about how she isn’t happy but he can’t help her because he isn’t Rumplestiltskin. He wants to know what’s wrong with the life she has. Regina is upset because everyone does what she wants them to because they have to, not because they want to. So what was Regina expecting, that everyone would come over to this new land and treat her like the queen she thought she was and that they would just be okay with it? That she would be accepted? That she would be forgiven for all her past misdeeds? Because I have no idea how she thought this was going to work otherwise. So, Regina calls up Kurt and invites him and Owen over for dinner because they are the only two in town she can’t control. And she’s so genuinely happy when Kurt accepts her dinner invite. Owen is in a mood when they are eating dinner. He tells Regina he doesn’t like her lasagna, and she just plays it off as not being the best cook and asks him to help her make dessert. Kurt apologizes for Owen’s behavior and tells Regina that his wife died six months earlier and that the camping trip was kind of a fresh start. Regina empathizes, saying coming to Storybrooke was her attempt at a fresh start but it hasn’t worked out as she’d hoped because she has no one to share it with. Owen interrupts their tender moment by asking about dessert. She and Owen make turnovers and both of them are extremely happy. Owen says she’d make a good mother and they bond over lost loved ones. For some reason, this makes Regina ask Kurt if they’d be willing to move to Storybrooke (she does preface it by saying it’s a crazy idea). Kurt says they have a life back in NJ and can’t and Regina is obviously hurt that Kurt is ruining her plans at having a child in her life (also, if she has the knowledge of cheesy romance movies in her head, then this isn’t a complete out of left field question). The next day Regina goes into Evil Queen mode trying to sabotage Kurt from leaving town with Owen. First she attempts to have Billy keep his car longer at the mechanics, but he’s already picked it up. Then she tells Graham (through his heart) to pick up Kurt for drunk driving and bring Owen to her. Unfortunately, Kurt overhears this. Regina tries to explain that it wasn’t what it sounded like, but Kurt knows it’s exactly what it sounded like. And I kind of get Regina’s reasoning for all this; Owen said he was unhappy and she wants to make him happy by replacing his mother. She would have liked to do it with Kurt there since they kind of had a spark, but now he’s just in the way of making Owen happy. Since Regina doesn’t understand how family dynamics work, I can see why she’d think that she was ‘saving’ Owen by keeping him with her. But after she tries to have Kurt arrested and a car chase throughout town, she realizes she is hurting Owen when he tells her he didn’t want to be with her like this. And instead of letting both Kurt and Owen leave, she keeps Kurt and only lets Owen go. We last see her on the other side of the town line barrier which keeps the town invisible crying as Owen brings the authorities to try and find his dad.

Meanwhile, in the current day, Regina is very upset about losing Cora. I’m going to assume magic is what got Cora a coffin and engraved plaque already as it’s been like a day since Cora died. Gold comes by to pay his respects and Regina is pissed since it’s basically his fault Cora is dead. She admits she knows he tricked Mary Margaret into getting her to put Cora’s heart back in, and she tells Gold that Mary Margaret will die for what she’s done. Gold tells her she won’t do it because it will cost her Henry. He tells her to give up her obsession with vengeance as it will never make her happy (um, tell that to your ongoing feud with Hook). Regina thinks it will, but Gold reminds her that she wasn’t happy during the curse and that was supposed to be her ultimate vengeance. He tells her she still hasn’t learned that she can’t get everything she wants. Cora ripped out her own heart to get the power she wanted, Regina will have to either give up her vengeance or give up Henry. Regina says she’ll find a way to have everything. Oh lord, all that work she did at the beginning of the season, gone, because Cora couldn’t leave things well enough alone. Regina starts going through her mother’s things looking for something. I���m not sure if she knows what she’s looking for or just knows her mother had something to help her get Henry (because she kept telling her not to worry about getting Henry), but she gets really frustrated and combined with her grief starts tearing things up and eventually finds a spell in one of her mother’s dresses that will help her. She goes to the loft intent on taking Mary Margaret’s heart, but Gold is protecting her. While contemplating her next move, Regina receives a phone call from Greg about Henry being out in the woods by himself. She goes after him. Regina finds Henry trying to light dynamite by the well. He wants to get rid of magic. He says she’s only trying to stop him because she wants to cast the curse to make him love her on him. She magics the dynamite away and Henry tries to guilt her into not casting the curse, reminding her that it won’t be real. You’d think, after how she felt just days into the curse about everything not being real, that would be what would change her mind, but she apparently doesn’t mind that it wouldn’t be real, as long as Mary Margaret pays for what she did. She tells him they can be happy and have everything but Henry says not like this they can’t, and that reminds her of what Owen said to her 28 years ago. But Emma, David, and Neal come to stop her before she can get too far into that memory. Emma tells her to stay away from her son, but Regina gets to say Henry is her son this time, and that Emma will never see him again after she casts the spell. Emma says Regina will have to go through her to get Mary Margaret’s heart and Regina is fine with that. She gets a fireball ready but Henry gets in between her and the trio. Henry is still insisting on getting rid of magic but Regina tells him you can’t just get rid of it. Emma says getting rid of magic won’t solve anything but Henry disagrees and, besides what it did to Mary Margaret, reminds Regina what it did to her. He says it makes good people do terrible things, which gets a tiny response from Regina, but then Emma has to add in ‘and bad people’ and Regina has her murder face back. Henry begs Regina to help him get rid of magic. She can’t, but she can light the spell on fire so she can’t use it. Henry thanks her and leaves with his family, leaving Regina in the dust, again. Mary Margaret goes to Regina’s and begs her to kill her. Regina is understandably confused (especially since her family just spent the whole episode making sure Regina doesn’t kill her), and doesn’t want to because she knows Henry would never forgive her, but she doesn’t learn from her mistakes, so she takes Mary Margaret’s heart. But instead of crushing it like she’s dreamed of for years, she takes satisfaction in the fact that there is now a dark spot in it because of what she did to Cora. She insists it will only get darker once she’s had a taste. Mary Margaret begs her to crush it, but Regina is reveling in the fact that Mary Margaret is finally suffering due to her own actions. She even assumes Mary Margaret will be the reason her family ends up suffering and falling in the future. And then Henry will be hers and she will have everything she’s wanted. Regina is once again extremely happy as she listens to Mary Margaret beg Regina to kill her and hysterically cry when she puts her heart back in. Regina turns the mean back on and tells Mary Margaret to get off her porch as she slams the door in Mary Margaret’s face.

Mary Margaret: I’m not going to talk about Mary Margaret from 1983, there is no point as she is a static character who can’t change. Now, current Mary Margaret is very depressed. She won’t talk to anyone or eat anything throughout the entire episode. Even when Regina comes to take her heart and Gold protects her, she makes no move to even defend herself. All the fight has gone out of her. She finally speaks when Gold informs her Regina has destroyed the spell. She wants to know how Gold lives with himself for all the horrible things he’s done. He tells her you convince yourself you’re doing it for the right reasons. And that eventually you might believe it. Mary Margaret doesn’t look convinced. She goes to Regina to have her kill her. So, here’s where I have a problem. Look, I get that Mary Margaret did something terrible. She killed Cora, and as Henry points out earlier, Snow White doesn’t kill people. But she did it basically to save her family. While, yes, it was straight up murder, it was kind of a pre-emptive strike at self-defense as well. Is she really willing to sacrifice herself, after everything, just because she can’t live with the guilt? That doesn’t sound like the Snow White or Mary Margaret we’ve learned to love on this show. So it’s a good thing Regina won’t kill her. Regina does pull out her heart because she does plan on killing her, but when she sees that Mary Margaret now has darkness in her heart, she realizes that Mary Margaret may end up destroying her family without any help from Regina. Mary Margaret is begging and pleading for Regina to kill her, but she won’t. Regina’s too happy about Mary Margaret potentially bringing around the downfall of her family all on her own. She leaves Mary Margaret a blubbering mess on her front porch.

Gold: He does help out Regina in 1983, even if he doesn’t realize it, seeing as he was cursed. He helps give Regina some clarification about what the curse actually did. In current Storybrooke, he goes to the Mills crypt to pay his respects to Cora. Regina scoffs at this as he used Mary Margaret to kill Cora to save his own life. He tells her that desperate times call for desperate measures. Gold tries to convince Regina not to move forward on her revenge against Mary Margaret. She had a whole curse worth of vengeance and all it left her with was a gaping hole in her heart (Maleficent gave Regina this same warning in The Thing You Love Most). Gold tells Regina she can’t kill Mary Margaret and keep Henry. Cora knew this, that’s why she ripped out her heart. Regina vows she will have everything. Gold goes to the loft to warn the Charmings about what Regina is up to. David tells him he needs to find out exactly what Regina is up to. Gold doesn’t want to, but David reminds him that, not only are they now family, but Mary Margaret saved his life, so he owes her a debt. Gold doesn’t seem too happy about that, but he always pays his debts. Gold and David go to check out Regina’s crypt for clues. They notice the mess Regina made and Gold discovers that some of her potions are missing (how?). Gold figures out Regina is going to cast the curse of the Empty Hearted, which would make Henry think he loves Regina, but Regina needs the heart of the one she hates most to complete the spell (because, of course the final ingredient for a love spell would be to kill someone). Emma implores Gold to do something, but Gold points out that his debt is fulfilled by giving them the info. David and Emma don’t agree, but Gold tells them that wars have costs, and as this is a blood feud, blood is the price. Gold tells them that Cora was dangerous because she didn’t have a heart, Regina is more dangerous because she does. While David and Emma are out trying to figure out what to do about Regina, Gold is playing watchdog over Mary Margaret. Once Regina has given up her quest for Mary Margaret’s heart, Mary Margaret asks him how he can live with himself after all the horrible things he’s done. Gold tells her that you tell yourself you did it for the right reason and eventually one day you’ll believe it. It does not seem like Gold believes it yet. Maybe if Neal ever forgives him he’ll find it was worth it.

Henry: He’s kind of annoying in this episode. I get that he’s tired of everyone lying to him, but he still doesn’t believe Emma when she tells him that Mary Margaret is partially responsible for Cora’s death. He doesn’t think Snow White would do something like that. Did he not read the book? Snow and Charming had to fight a war to get their kingdom back. Does he think no blood was shed in order to do that? And Henry is still mad that Emma is lying like she did about his dad (I really wish Emma would tell Henry the truth about why she was protecting him from Neal). When Henry finds out that Regina is going to use the love spell on him, he’s obviously upset, especially when he finds out Mary Margaret’s heart is the final ingredient, and that apparently killing Regina is the only solution. Henry wonders what happened to them being the heroes (even heroes have to kill people sometimes). Also, David was always in favor of killing Regina, it’s in the damn book! Henry runs off with Emma following. Emma brings Henry to Granny’s to talk to Neal, who invites him to New York until this whole thing blows over. Henry thinks if they can just get rid of magic then all their problems will be solved (like father, like son). He pretends to go to the restroom but runs off instead. We see him running through the forest. He runs into Greg, who was taking a hike (although neither one are on an actual trail), and lies about being in the woods for a boy scout merit badge (oh, so it’s okay when Henry lies but not when anyone lies to him, got it). Regina catches up with him at the Wishing Well with dynamite he stole from the dwarf mines. He’s apparently decided the Wishing Well is the source of all the magic in Storybrooke and is going to blow it up (wouldn’t the fuse go out once it hit the water, or does dynamite not work that way?). Regina magics it away and basically tells him that even if the spell doesn’t create real love, it will be enough for her, and they can have everything. Henry says not like this, which harkens back to what Owen said, and maybe Regina would have changed her mind right then and there, but Emma, Neal, and David show up. Regina is about to fireball them when Henry gets in the middle. He’s still insistent on destroying magic, but Regina says it doesn’t work like that. It’s not until Henry says that magic is what makes people do bad things, specifically Mary Margaret and Regina, and that it’s destroying their family, that Regina finally backs down. Henry is relieved, and goes off with the Charmings. Look, I get that Regina isn’t trustworthy, but how come every time she does something to change for Henry he barely acknowledges it? It’s like ‘Thanks for not killing everyone, I’m going to leave you now so you can get so upset again that you’ll try to kill us all again soon and we can do this all over again.”

David/Emma/Neal: Most of their stories are intertwined. David is trying to save Mary Margaret from Regina and herself. Emma can’t stop lying to Henry until he calls her out on it (to be fair, no kid needs to know his grandmother was partially responsible for killing his other grandmother/step great-great grandmother). I just wish she’d tell him the truth about Neal instead of hiding that from him. Why has no one asked either Neal or Emma why they broke up and why Henry was born in jail?  They all know these two things happened, why haven’t any follow up questions been asked now that Neal is in town? David and Emma discuss possibly needing to kill Regina in order to protect Henry and Mary Margaret, but this makes Henry upset so he runs off. Emma follows him and apparently calls Neal to meet them at Granny’s, as they already have a plan set up when she and Henry arrive. Neal invites Henry to come back to New York with him to wait out Regina’s plan, but Henry thinks they just need to get rid of magic (I’m sure if the situation wasn’t so dire Neal would be beaming with pride that his son hates magic as much as he does). When Emma comes back over Neal is patting himself on the back for convincing Henry to come with him, but Emma points out that his backpack is gone when he’s just gone to the bathroom, and berates Neal since Henry is their son. They realize he ran. They enlist Ruby to help them find Henry, which leads them to the mines. David figures out that Henry must have stolen some dynamite, and Neal realizes that he wants to use it to get rid of magic. Neal wonders where Henry thinks he can blow magic up. Luckily, Emma knows because that’s where she and Mary Margaret came out from their trip to the Enchanted Forest. They get to the Wishing Well and see that Regina is already there. David gets his gun out when Regina threatens them with a fireball (really David? When are these people going to learn guns don’t work against magic?), and Emma makes a lot of pointed comments about how bad of a person Regina is (not helping right now), before Henry gets in the middle and Regina finally backs down. Seriously, stop antagonizing the Evil Queen people!

Greg: He’s seemed pretty innocent up until now, with the exception of filming Regina doing magic. Here he’s eating at Granny’s and goes on a hike (although nowhere near the hiking trail). He seems like a pretty nice guy when he calls Regina about Henry being in the woods. But we find out at the end that he’s actually Owen! And he’s there to find his father! So he didn’t accidentally crash his car, he came there with a purpose and he had to have recognized Regina because she looks exactly the same.

Questions:

How can Regina already have a seat at Granny’s, they’ve been there for one day? Did she build that into the curse as well?

Why did Regina wait 17 years before adopting Henry if after interacting with Owen she realized a child was what she was missing in her life?

How did Henry learn anything at school if the teachers taught the same thing everyday? And how did Regina not think Henry wouldn’t notice this?

How did Mary Margaret leave school while her children were at recess and make it back in time for them to be back in class when Regina took her to the hospital to visit John Doe? Or did Mary Margaret just not go back to school?

Did Regina know Cora had brought the spell with her, or was she just looking for something that she could use to help her? Cora had kept telling Regina not to worry about Henry when plans started going awry. Was that always Cora’s backup and Regina knew it?

Why doesn’t Regina have a protection spell around her crypt, or even to the hidden chamber below? Why wasn’t Cora’s stuff in her secret room where no one could get to it?

I get that Gold was helping protect Mary Margaret, but why is there no other protection spell on the loft? Between Emma and Gold, Regina should not have been able to get in there.

How was Regina planning on explaining to Kurt and Owen why everything was the same every day if they stayed. I get them maybe not noticing it for the first week, especially since whomever they interacted with would have gone off their set path, but if they’d moved there what would have happened?

Does Regina know who Neal is? I’m assuming she figures he’s Gold’s son, since that’s who they went to find in NYC, but does she know he’s Henry’s real father? Does she not wonder why he is trying to protect Henry?

And on that note, did Emma ever explain to Neal about Henry being adopted by Regina and how she was the Evil Queen? I’m assuming she shared the whole convoluted story on the way back to Storybrooke, but that would’ve been nice to see.

Why did Regina only let Owen go? What was the point in keeping Kurt there, especially since no one else could see the town?

And how does not seeing the town work? Couldn’t people just continue driving through the invisible barrier on the road that you can see? Or is it like how the people of Storybrooke never had the desire to leave; for some reason people won’t go past a certain part of the road because of a bad feeling?

Also, how does Storybrooke get outside supplies if no one can see the town? Like, I get that everything resets itself every night, so I guess they normally wouldn’t need anything, but where are these car parts coming from?

If Mary Margaret got a dark spot from helping Cora die, why was Cora’s heart all red with no dark spots? Is it because she didn’t have it in her chest when committing her horrible deeds?

Observations:

Regina’s haircut in 1983 is the same as her current cut, not the cut she had in the Pilot. Although, since Regina had the capability to change, she could have had it cut, but it should have been a more 80s style.

In the school scene, Regina and Mary Margaret are wearing the exact same outfits that they wear when Emma comes to town and they’re looking for Henry after he ran away, which again, doesn’t make sense because they should have been wearing 80s style clothes in 1983.

The Daily Mirror Headline reads: Reagan: Soldiers Will Be Staying Beirut. 

The accompanying headline on the dog article reads: Shelter Dog Adopted by Couple That Stole Him.

Regina moves into Owen’s seat after he leaves.

Love the juxtaposition of Gold and Regina with Emma’s glass unicorn mobile between them.

The dress Regina finds the spell in is the dress Cora was wearing when she and Hook came over on the Jolly Roger and the dress she wore when she first revealed herself to Regina.

Mary Margaret has a quill of arrows hanging near the front door of the loft.

So much for the lock August made for Mary Margaret’s loft. It doesn’t work against magic.

Regina used to keep Graham’s heart at her office instead of in her crypt.

Two Tron references made. The last name Flynn is also the last name of the main guy from Tron, and the bench with the computer ad on it is for Encom, which is the computer corporation from the film.

Greg gets Regina’s number off of Henry’s backpack tag. He apparently hasn’t changed it since moving in with Emma.

Timeline Issues:

Including the first day and the montage scene, I think that’s supposed to be 3 days. We have the first day where Regina realizes the curse worked and she observes everything going on in her new town. She also meets the Flynns on this day. Then we have the montage which shows her waking up with Graham, bringing Mary Margaret to see John Doe (although Mary Margaret is a volunteer starting the second day), and then Regina walking Main Street and running into Mary Margaret right past Granny’s. The thing is, running into Mary Margaret has to take place before going to see John Doe because it’s early morning (as evidenced by the Ruby/Granny argument), so, for some reason, we’re seeing the day out of order. Regina wakes up, she walks down Main Street and runs into Mary Margaret, and then she’s with Mary Margaret when they go see John Doe in the hospital. So, Regina starts getting bored on the third day (unless we’re missing some days), but it still has to be within a week because the Flynn’s are still there and attempt to leave after a week since Regina asked Billy the mechanic to get them out of town quickly.

So that was an intense episode! We got to see early Storybrooke, the reason Regina decided to adopt Henry, and discovered that Greg is really Owen! I really liked seeing early Storybrooke and I liked that Regina pretty much figured out that the curse still didn’t make her happy after such a short time. No wonder she’s still mad as hell, every time she thinks she’s ‘won’, something happens to take her happy ending away. I’m still not sympathizing with her, but she’s not going to change if no one believes in her. And now we have to wonder what happened to Kurt. I can’t imagine that he’d still be around, but I guess we’ll find out soon. And what is he planning on doing with all the videos he’s been taking?

Please leave comments and reblog! Let me know if you’d like to be tagged in future reviews.

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[xswestallen]

Can I politely ask how can you like Caitlin after everything she did? She is not redeemable and I don't think they can fix her character.

I don’t understand what you mean by “everything she did”. Are you referring to what Killer Frost did? Caitlin had no control over that. Her powers have been poorly explained, but basically, it’s like another person posses her body. She didn’t want to do all the horrible things Killer Frost did last season. In fact, Caitlin would have rather died than become Killer Frost, and she would’ve in 1x18 but Julian ripped her necklace off against her wishes. 

I know a lot of people are pissed because they want to see Caitlin apologize to Iris. I would’ve liked an apology scene too. But, I think the writers just didn’t find a good place to stick it in so they let it happen offscreen. I fully believe Caitlin has apologized to Iris. I mean, the first thing Caitlin did when she saw Joe again was apologize to him, even though she wasn’t in control of her body’s actions at all. 

Iris still likes Caitlin and chose Caitlin to be maid of honor at her wedding. Caitlin has always been supportive of Iris. In 1x20 Barry is telling her and Cisco how the three of them can stop bad guys without Wells, and Caitlin reminds him that “Actually, it was the four of us.” because Iris helped too. Caitlin also helped Barry and Iris get together by giving them both advice at different times (another reason I don’t get SnowBarry at all, Caitlin is clearly a WestAllen shipper lol). She also supported Iris when Iris became a speedster in the last episode.

A lot of Caitlin fans are shitty. But, I’m not going to let some assholes ruin my enjoy of her character. I honestly don’t even think they’re real fans of Caitlin, because they ship her with Barry (who always put her at the bottom of his priority list), were happy when Ronnie (the love of her life who she finally got to marry) died, romanticize her sexual assault just because it was done by a guys impersonating Barry, and constantly trash Iris (her friend).

Caitlin has suffered from bad writing the past two seasons. Her powers were never properly explained. It was so stupid how they made her give the cure back to Julian in the season finale only to have her take it during the hiatus in between seasons and claim it doesn’t work. Now, instead of Killer Frost taking over her body the more she uses her powers, Frost just shows up whenever Caitlin gets angry or scared. So, ok, whatever, what was a major cop out. Caitlin is definitely not perfect and she’s not as well written as Iris. But, I still like her.

I’m not a hypercritical person and I don’t seek out reasons to dislike things. There aren’t any character on the show I truly dislike. Ralph can be annoying at times, but again, that’s more the fault of the writers. They keep giving him the same plot over and over.

[super-lad]

Favourite supergirl episodes from any season?

1x05 thru 1x07: Livewire is the earliest episode where I was like “huh... they got real emotions” and then they really leaned into character-centered narratives for the next couple episodes. I think it’s these couple episodes that really got people hooked. Also, I miss Thanksgiving episodes.

1x13 and 1x16: For the Girl Who has Everything and Falling... staples of the show. Need I say more.

1x20: It’s just a very sweet ending. Kara gets to say what she wanted to say on Krypton. And James gifts a very normal, unsuper photo to Kara that just means a lot to me, personally lmao

2x06: Alex begins her journey of putting herself first and it starts big. It’s always empowering to see queer people take that almost impossible first step.

2x10 thru 2x11: The Martian Chronicles episodes... I watch these for M’gann and J’onn... the visuals with the forehead press??? stop

3x01 thru 3x06: Really really good writing and diving deep into Kara’s psyche. The Faithful remains my absolute favorite from this series. It’s just such a good story. And the Hallelujah sequence at the end with Kara’s narration? Truly poetic cinema. Also, other characters confront their feelings of anguish and loss.

3x09: Reign... The fight choreo for this episode is top tier and that Christmas party fiasco scene is one of my fav moments in the series

4x03: Man of Steel... okay not to be controversial, I think it’s always nice to see our beloved characters from another POV. And understanding how people get radicalized is important because duh why the heck would you plug your ears and pretend it happens for no reason? Gotta find the source before you solve the problem.

4x14: Stand and Deliver... a lot of people never like when Supergirl has political messaging, but she’s inherently a political character that was truly a stark contrast to the US administration at the time. S4 in general is one of my favorites because it does a great job being a vehicle for discussing immigrant/refugee struggles. And it’s not just in a metaphorical sense, they wrote it in a way that was a genuine reflection of the real-world.

4x16: Red Daughter was such a highlight of S4, I loved her. And this sort of starts the Lex plot that was very fun and interesting in S4 (tho followed us for a bit too long)

5x13: The 100th episode does a good job staying in the season’s plot but also getting back to the roots of the series

6x??: I’m ready to love more. :)