#but thinking about that 2x08 mari van scene again | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

stahlop · 5 years ago

Text

Once Upon a Time 2x20 “The Evil Queen” 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 2x17 2x18 2x19

Well, Hook is back, and he pulled one over on Regina, so that was a highlight of this episode. I liked the flashback much better than Storybrooke because Greg and Tamara suck. Like can someone tell me how Tamara managed to get Hook into a moving van? Was he still unconscious hours later and did no one notice her dragging around a guy who looked like a pirate around (because there’s no way she could have carried him)? We’ve lost the bean fields thanks to Regina, and we saw a really weird zombie Maleficent.

Summary: In the Enchanted Forest the Evil Queen wants to see what the villagers really think of her so she magically changes her appearance and ends up rescued by Snow White. In Storybrooke, Tamara and Greg recruit Hook to help them with their plan, while Regina recruits him to help her get the fail-safe. Emma doesn’t trust Tamara and drags Henry into her plan to find out what she’s really up to.

Opening: The Evil Queen’s castle

Character Observations:

Evil Queen/Regina:

If you were on the fence about whether the Evil Queen was evil before, then this pretty much solidifies it. She kills an entire village just because they won’t tell her where Snow White is. AN ENTIRE VILLAGE! Who does that and still thinks they are beloved by their people? Before she kills the village she tries to play the victim again by telling them Snow killed her father, but of course they don’t buy that and that’s how they all end up dead. The Evil Queen is very delusional. She talks to Rumplestiltskin, not understanding why the villagers won’t take a reward for information about Snow White. She feels that since she is the queen they must love her. Um, that’s not how it works. Seriously, you hated your mother and now you’re acting just like her; why would you think that would mean your kingdom would automatically love you when you treat them like shit? The Evil Queen actually tells Rumplestiltskin she’s not evil, that they only call her evil because Snow calls her that. I think the slaughtered villagers would disagree there. Once again, Regina doesn’t know how to take any responsibility for her own actions. It’s always someone else’s fault. Anyway, the Evil Queen decides that if she kills Snow that the people will then love her, since Snow won’t be around anymore (what the hell is that logic, they’ll probably love her more). The Evil Queen wants to learn Cora’s shape shifting spell to find Snow as a peasant. Rumplestiltskin tells her that it took Cora months to learn that spell, but he can transform her, but she’ll be without her magic until she transforms back. He changes her to look like a peasant with a different face. Of course, the first thing the Evil Queen sees in the village is someone using a life-sized doll of her to throw darts at her heart for a prize. The Evil Queen is appalled that no one is standing up for her. The villagers say that Snow White should be their queen, even though the Evil Queen points out that she’s a bandit and a murderer. You can see the villagers nodding their heads no in disagreement with her. They decide to burn the doll of the Evil Queen and she tries to stop them, but that’s when her guard comes and tries to arrest her for treason (for burning the likeness of the queen). She tries to tell them she’s the queen in disguise, but she has no magic to prove it (even though she knows their names and other things about them), so they arrest her and decide to cut off her head in the town square. Luckily, Snow shoots some arrows and fights the guards and saves her, but not before she gets cut by a sword and then faints after the whole thing. The Evil Queen wakes up to Snow taking care of her. She says her name is Wilma and that her family works in the mills. She’s shocked when Snow tells her she knows how to kill livestock, but she covers it by saying that she was a princess. The Evil Queen is confused as to why Snow is helping her when she’s essentially being hunted and she’s a stranger. Snow tells the story of the Evil Queen saving her when she was a child (without mentioning who it was), and how that changed her as a person because she saw the goodness in this person who saved her. The Evil Queen actually starts crying when Snow talks about how there can be a genuine, selfless connection between strangers. Snow most likely thinks she’s crying because of the pain (she’s dressing her wound), but the Evil Queen is shocked that Snow thought so highly of her as a child. Maybe she even feels a little guilty? The Evil Queen wonders what happened to the stranger, most likely expecting to hear that it was the Evil Queen, but Snow just tells her she’s gone but she hopes she comes back someday. The Evil Queen is visibly moved by this statement. After two days the Evil Queen is healed enough for them to leave. Snow gives her a sword just in case and the Evil Queen is conflicted about whether to go through with her plan to kill Snow with the sword after the kindness she’s shown her. She asks Snow if she would kill the Evil Queen if she were in front of her right now. Snow says some things that makes the Evil Queen realize that Snow knows her pretty well, even if she won’t admit those things even to herself, and eventually Snow says that she wouldn’t kill the Evil Queen. The Evil Queen doesn’t think anyone can be that good, but Snow’s opinion differs from that. The Evil Queen realizes that Snow still thinks there is good in her. Snow tells her that she’s seen it and that she could be that person again. The Evil Queen is really thinking about what Snow has said and maybe she could change. She asks if Snow would forgive the Evil Queen and be a family with her if the Evil Queen changed. You can see young Regina in her face; the hope and innocence on her face of possibly having a relationship with Snow where they don’t hate each other. Snow says she would, but puts it in the realm of having a feather bed, things that won’t be happening. The Evil Queen, sincerely, tells Snow that sometimes people can surprise you, and Snow is surprised by the village of dead people that she comes upon that the Evil Queen had killed during her earlier tantrum. The Evil Queen tries to comfort Snow, telling her it’s not her fault, and Snow realizes that. She also realizes that she wouldn’t forgive the Evil Queen. She’s gone too far. The Evil Queen’s face when she realizes that she’s lost Snow’s faith is heartbreaking. Lana Parilla does a great job in this scene. She brings up the story from before, about the Evil Queen saving her life, but Snow never mentioned who it was. The Evil Queen tries to back track by saying she read between the lines, but Snow knows something is up and points an arrow at her. The Evil Queen tells her there is good in her, but Snow doesn’t believe her, so she immediately tries to conjure a fireball, which of course doesn’t work. She calls for Rumplestiltskin, to no avail, realizes that the sword will do her no good, and runs off. The Evil Queen limps into Rumplestiltskin’s castle and he pretends not to know her. He finally tells her he did tell her to call him when her little adventure was done, but he never said he’d answer. The Evil Queen is frustrated. She demands Rumplestiltskin change her back, but he wants her to not only admit he was right, but what he was right about (the kingdom never loving her). She looks absolutely devastated about that. Rumplestiltskin wants to know what she’s going to now, and she gets her normal evil grin on her face and tells him she’s going to punish them. So glad to see she learned a lesson throughout this. Rumplestiltskin changes her back, and she finally acknowledges herself as the Evil Queen.

Meanwhile, Regina is disguising herself as a fisherman down at the docks to eavesdrop on David and Mary Margaret’s conversation about giving Regina a choice when they return to the EF. Either she comes back with them and lives the rest of her life in Rumplestiltskin’s old jail cell or stays behind in SB. Well, she can’t have that (and go check out what she says in the blooper reel, because it’s hilarious). She goes to Henry and lays out her plans to him (she tells him they’ve been hiding the beans, she has a fail-safe that will destroy SB, and they’ll escape to the EF while everyone else dies). She does the blame thing where she says Mary Margaret, David, and Emma made her the Evil Queen (no, trying to kill them all with your mother made you the Evil Queen again). She says only Henry sees the good in her, and that going to the EF is her chance for a fresh start and to be a hero. Henry is horrified that she wants to kill everyone just so they can be together. She thinks if they don’t have anyone around Henry will truly be hers and she’ll be a hero. What in the what? How in her twisted mind does this make any sense. First of all, Henry is not an object. He doesn’t belong to anyone. Secondly, how does destroying SB and killing everyone make her a hero? Henry tells her she’ll be a villain if she kills everyone. And Regina, of course, blames everyone else for keeping them apart (again, you tried to kill them). He tells her he could never love anyone that did that and why would she tell him her dastardly plan anyway? Regina shows her hand by telling him she has no one else to talk to. Henry swears he will stop her, but Regina erases his memory of the talk so he can’t; once again proving that Regina is a villain because she thinks of no one but herself. Back in her office, Regina is admiring the bean plant she now has in her office, lit very nicely in a terrarium, when Hook comes to pay her a visit. He explains about Greg and Tamara’s plans and how they want him to betray her, but he’d rather skip that and just work with her and Cora. Regina gets sad when she tells him Cora is dead. He plays on her emotions about Cora to convince her to work with him so he can help her with his revenge. She shows him the beans and he again compares her to Cora, so she wants him to help her get the fail safe, if she can trust him. She has him at total destruction of SB because that will include Gold, so he’s in. They go down the elevator in the library to underneath SB. Hook tells Regina that getting revenge will leave her empty, and that it’s an end, not a beginning. She reminds him that she will have Henry after it’s all said and done. Regina notices the magic cuff on Hook’s arm as Cora’s and wants it. Hook tries to keep it for himself, but eventually lets Regina take it. She seems very happy to have a small trinket of Cora’s, even though she has all of her stuff in her vault still. Or maybe it’s just because she’s planning on leading Hook to his doom. They are in the caverns under SB and Regina says the fail safe had to be well hidden and well guarded. Hook doesn’t understand who is guarding it, until Regina pushes him down a cliff as a distraction. While he fights zombie Maleficent, she goes to Snow’s glass coffin and gets a jewel needed for the fail safe. Regina comes back up the elevator and is surprised to see Hook up there, as a) the elevator needs someone else to bring it up if you’re not using magic, and b) zombie Maleficent was supposed to kill him. Regina looks really confused as he explains how he almost stopped his plan when she told him about killing everyone, taking Henry, and moving on. She’s even more confused about ‘his plan’, as she thought she was the one in charge. Hook brings in Greg and Tamara and now Regina’s just angry that Hook was stupid enough to fall in league with two amateurs, until she tries to produce a fireball and it doesn’t work. Greg tells her that won’t work anymore, and Regina finally has the good sense to look scared. She figures out it’s the cuff blocking her magic and blames Hook for giving it to her, and he reminds her she rather insisted that he give it to her. Regina mocks Greg for using magic against her, but he’s quick to tell her it’s science, not magic. Regina reiterates that she doesn’t know where Greg’s father is, but he doesn’t believe her. He also tells her he has another mission, and when Regina asks what it is, Greg is smart and doesn’t monologue about it. Instead, he has Tamara bag her.

Emma/Henry: Emma runs into Tamara at Granny’s, literally runs into her, with the intention of looking through all the stuff she dropped. She notices a paper with everyone’s names and alter egos on it. She asks Tamara how she’s doing with all she’s learned. Tamara says she’s okay and that Emma should understand that it’s a lot to take in. Emma insists she had Henry to help and Tamara says she has Neal to help her. Emma, as subtle as a hammer, brings up what it would mean for Henry or Neal if people were to find out about SB. Tamara assures her she’ll keep the secret, but Emma detects that she’s lying. Emma has figured out that Tamara is the ‘She’ August was warning them about, but Mary Margaret doesn’t think so. She has an excuse for everything Emma brings up, including knowing that Tamara lied to her. Mary Margaret points out that her superpower doesn’t work when she’s emotional and Emma is offended that Mary Margaret thinks she’s jealous of Tamara because she’s with Neal (well, maybe if you told her what he did to you she wouldn’t think you were jealous!). Mary Margaret pulls out the Henry card, that if Emma accuses Tamara of something, that Henry will see it as a way for his parents to get back together with Tamara out of the picture. Henry has overheard the whole conversation (that’s what happens when you live in a loft and the only doors are to the outside and the bathrooms). Emma recruits him to help, but looks pretty guilty about it. They go on a stakeout to watch for Neal and Tamara leaving Granny’s (it’s raining out, why would they leave?). They try to come up with code names but Henry doesn’t like any of the ones Emma comes up with. Henry talks about how he thought they’d be in the EF doing EF type stuff and Emma asks if he wants to go there if there was a way. Henry figures out pretty quickly that there’s a way back, despite Emma telling him there isn’t (she’s a terrible liar), he figures out Anton brought beans with him. Henry thinks he, Emma, and Neal should all get a castle together when they go to the EF. Emma starts sputtering over that scenario, but Neal and Tamara exit Granny’s so they have to duck. Emma is breaking into Neal and Tamara’s room and Henry is subtly trying to get his parents back together already. Emma straight up tells him that she is not getting back together with Neal. Henry thinks that under the right romantic conditions it could happen. Emma reminds him that she is not after Tamara because of Neal, she has suspicions outside of her dating Neal. She finally gets the door open and makes Henry the lookout and tells him to just hit the door if he sees someone. Emma starts searching and comes across a creaky floorboard just as Neal comes back up. Henry does his best, but he’s clueless when it comes to hitting the door. Neal taught Emma that move so he knows she’s broken in. Emma first tries to lie, but then tells him her theory that Tamara is who killed August. Neal isn’t buying it. Emma tells him that Tamara lied to her, but Neal says he never believed in that. She finally brings out that she saw Tamara’s list, but Neal apparently helped her make that list so she could know who the townspeople were better. Emma swears she’s not jealous. She tells Neal about the loose floorboard and promises to drop it if there’s nothing there. And nothing is there. Neal comments that he knows Tamara being there must be hard, but Emma isn’t playing into it. She takes Henry and leaves. Henry and Emma are lamenting over ice cream at the loft. Henry tells Emma he believes her about Tamara. Emma’s glad because she knows she’s right, even if she couldn’t prove it. Henry says when they do prove it, they can all go back to the EF. Emma still doesn’t seem too happy about that idea.

Snow White/Mary Margaret: Snow rescues a shape shifted Evil Queen from the royal guards when they try to execute her. She’s a pretty good swordswoman and archer. She has brought the Evil Queen to a lean-to that she is living in to help her heal after she was injured during her rescue. She basically talks to the Evil Queen about how she thinks the Evil Queen could be good again. She has seen good in her and she would forgive her if the Evil Queen asked for it. Snow would even be willing to have her as family again, but she never believes it will happen. You can see, though, that Snow would really like to have her stepmother back, as she’s the woman who raised her after her mother died. But then they come across the village the Evil Queen had slaughtered. This must be the first time people have died because they helped Snow, because she blames herself. The Evil Queen tells her it’s not her fault. Snow knows that and doesn’t think she’ll ever be able to forgive her now, because there can’t be any good left in her if she could do something like that. She now believes that there never was any good in the Evil Queen. Then the Evil Queen messes up, and Snow figures out that Wilma is the Evil Queen in disguise. She holds her captive with an arrow, but she still can’t kill her and when the Evil Queen runs off, Snow lets her go.

Mary Margaret still feels bad for Regina. When she and David are discussing going back to the EF, she feels guilty about leaving her behind, but David says they can’t bring her. Mary Margaret says that Henry won’t like it because Regina is still his mother. David begins to say that every time Mary Margaret gives her another chance, and Mary Margaret finishes it with Regina slips. No, she doesn’t slip, she doesn’t even take the chance. David wouldn’t even give her a chance when she did try to change in SB. No wonder she went to Cora’s side when no one believed in her. This is the one time I feel others are at fault for Regina’s backslide. At the loft Emma is trying to convince Mary Margaret about Tamara being bad news. Mary Margaret is in complete mother mode, trying to make sure Emma doesn’t tell Henry about her theory and also pointing out that Emma’s superpower doesn’t work when she’s emotional. Honestly, I’m a bit mad that Mary Margaret doesn’t believe her. Emma has given no indication that she has any feelings towards Neal, and she tells Mary Margaret as much. Mary Margaret just turns it into Henry thinking that if Tamara is out of the picture then his parents can get back together. Which, she’s not wrong, but at the same time, give Emma a little credit in explaining that’s not going to happen to her own son. Also, why is Mary Margaret treating Emma like she’s a teenager who is telling her about the gossip at her school. Because that is exactly what this scene reminded me of. At the end of the episode, Mary Margaret, David, and Leroy discover the bean fields have been burned down. Mary Margaret doesn’t know who would do this. Seriously? You can’t think of anyone who could discover the beans by magic and destroy them?

Rumplestiltskin: He’s not making the Evil Queen feel any better about what she’s been doing. He points out everything she’s been doing to make her kingdom not like her, but the Evil Queen is not having it. He also points out that they’ll never love her, but she doesn’t believe that either. She thinks she can make them once Snow is dead. She also decides she’s going to have to find Snow herself. Rumplestiltskin points out that it won’t be easy in her outfit (since it’s obvious she’s the queen), and that gives her the idea to shape shift. Rumplestiltskin tells her it would take too long to learn the spell, but he can change her himself. His price is for her to cut off trade from King George’s kingdom, which we all know is because he needs George bankrupt for the future to get the ball rolling on the curse and Snow and Charming to meet. The way his mind works is just so dazzling sometimes. It’s like a chess board and he has to move all the pieces and anticipate what his opponent is going to do to get everything in place. Rumplestiltskin warns The Evil Queen that she might not like what she hears while strolling about, but she doesn’t care. Rumplestiltskin does not come the three times The Evil Queen calls on him to save her. She eventually travels to his castle and he jokes about not knowing her and that he already has a promising maid. He says he told her she could call, but he never said he’d answer. The Evil Queen wants him to change her back but he wants her to not only tell her he was right, but what he was right about (the kingdom never loving her). His manipulation of The Evil Queen would be so magnificent if you didn’t know what it would bring in the future, and the fact that he’s doing it all for his own gains. When the Evil Queen tells Rumplestiltskin she will punish them all, he just giggles.

Hook: He is back and is completely sated by the fact that he finally got rid of Gold. Unfortunately, Greg and Tamara show him that his crocodile is, in fact, still alive, so they offer him a job. They offer to help him kill off Gold if he helps them. They tell him they can kill magical creatures. Hook wants to know the price for taking the job. They want him to help him find Greg’s father. He seems angry that they want him to help with something so mundane, but they tell him it’s Regina who took him, and he looks like he’s going to at least think about it. He goes to see Regina and tells her about Greg and Tamara’s plans and how they want him to betray her. He wants to just form an alliance with her and skip the betrayal part. Regina doesn’t know if she can trust him. He tells her he took up with her mother for a reason and damn if him talking about forming an alliance between the three of them doesn’t sound like he’s aiming for a threeway with all of them. Anyway, Regina informs Hook that Cora is dead, and he actually looks upset, but most likely he’s thinking he’ll have to change his plans since we know he’s going to betray her. Or maybe he just feels slightly more guilty about setting her up for betrayal. He gets all solemn and tells her that all Cora wanted was for her to win, so he’ll help her with her revenge, and Regina is still reeling over her mother’s death so she buys this. She buys it so much that she shows him the magic bean plant. He calls it an escape plan and evokes Cora again by saying how much she’d have loved that and how she wanted to take her back to the EF and start over. Regina says she’s going to do that with Henry and Hook can help her escape from the total destruction of Storybrooke. Hook is ecstatic to learn that the total destruction means Gold will also be killed, so he’s all in. They go to the elevator and he thinks Regina needs him to lower her down, but she has magic, so she’s going to need him for something else. They get to the bottom and Hook goes on about how their need for revenge has left them lonely and that it will be their end, not their beginning. Regina disagrees since she has Henry. Hook moves his arm to let her lead the way and Regina notices the beanstalk cuff on his wrist. And how she manages to notice a black leather cuff on a pirate who is wearing all black is beyond me. But she does and she wants it back. He tries to make it seem like he has some claim to it as he and Cora were friends, but Regina wants it so he gives it to her. Hook comments on the precarious place she has hidden the fail safe (underneath Storybrooke), but Regina says she needed it to be well hidden and well guarded. Hook is more concerned about who’s guarding it, and decides that he needs to look over the side of the precarious ledge they’re standing on. Regina simply answers a friend and then tells him she’s the reason why this mission is a two-man job, she needs him to be the distraction. And then she pushes him over the ledge. I’m seriously questioning how Hook managed to live for so long when he puts his back to another villain so easily. And down Hook goes, most likely breaking those ribs of his again. Definitely making his limp much more worse. Maleficent reconstitutes herself into a zombie of sorts, and Hook’s beginning to think he may not make it out. But then he gets his cocky swagger back, recognizing that it’s Maleficent. She comes after him a few times and he does manage to get her with his hook, but she just goes back together due to Regina’s enchantment. And this time she comes back even bigger. Hook looks a little scared again. Regina comes out of the elevator and is surprised to see Hook there looking all sexy (okay, maybe that was just me). He does comment on his good looks, saying he’s startling, some would say striking, and I agree. Regina’s shocked because he shouldn’t have been able to survive zombie Maleficent, but Hook says he excels at surviving. He almost believed everything she said to him about a fresh, clean start, and he keeps moving closer and closer to her and his eyes are just so blue! Regina is starting to get a little twitchy, especially when Hook says he almost put a stop to his plan, which confuses the hell out of Regina because she thought she was the one in control. He confirms it was ‘their’ plan (Greg and Tamara’s), and that they saved him from whatever Maleficent was. He introduces Greg and Tamara and tells her they have a way against magic. Regina is looking at Hook like he’s the stupidest person in the world until she tries to use magic and can’t. Regina figures out that the cuff Hook gave her is blocking her magic somehow. Hook reminds her that she rather insisted that he give it to her. He tells her that Greg and Tamara rigged it with something that blocks her magic and that it’s rather impressive. Hook just sits back and watches as Greg and Tamara take her down.

Questions:

Why are Mary Margaret and David hanging out on the dock in the rain in what I’m assuming is still winter? Are they on a date?

How can Snow see with that hood over her eyes?

How (and why) did Snow drag Wilma to her lean-to to help her heal?

Exactly how does Regina think Henry will react to her killing everyone? She’s already seen his reaction from just telling him. What does she think will change when she actually executes her plan?

Why doesn’t Regina have her bean plant somewhere a little safer than her office, like say in her mansion? She doesn’t even cover it up when someone comes in.

Why does Tamara’s list look like a cast list for a show? Why didn’t she just put the name with a dash or a backslash?

How does Neal know who everyone in town is to help Tamara make her list? He didn’t grow up with any of those people. Did he ask Emma? His father?

How does Hook know what an elevator is? I know he trapped Belle in there in The Outsider, but did he know what it was? Did he learn from Tamara bringing him down from Neal’s apartment?

Exactly how is Hook supposed to distract zombie Maleficent if he’s dead? That was a pretty far drop and if he wasn’t a magical fairy tale character, he’d be dead.

Is there humidity down in the caverns? Regina goes in with straight hair with barely a curl and comes back with a nice flip hairdo.

Observations:

The glass still hasn’t been fixed in the clock tower from when Cora threw Johanna threw it in The Queen is Dead.

When Hook is looking at Gold and Lacey, it’s still the same night as their date from Lacey, unless Lacey only owns one dress.

If you have someone else perform a shape shifting spell on you, you lose your magic ability.

The book Regina uses to erase Henry’s memory is Cora’s spell book.

The bean pod has 3 beans in it.

Hook has a limp. This is because Colin O’Donoghue had broken his leg (and why he’d been absent the past few episodes).

Tamara’s list has the following people on it: Mary Margaret/Snow White, David/Prince Charming, Regina/Queen, Mr. Gold/Rumplestiltskin, Archie/Jiminy Cricket, Mother Superior/Blue Fairy, Marco/Gepetto.

Snow’s hair looks fabulous for living in the woods. Even better than when she’s living in the castle again with Charming.

I find it hard to believe that Regina would recognize a leather cuff that Cora wore, or that Cora would even own a leather cuff when she was technically royalty.

Hook knows Maleficent from the EF.

Just a few days ago Emma and Henry finally made up and she’s already lying to him about not being able to go to the EF.

Greg and Whale should get together with all their science talk.

Timeline Issues:

The Enchanted Forest portion takes place about three years before the curse based on Rumplestiltskin’s comments about his new maid (when Belle started), and wanting the Evil Queen to stop giving financial aid to King George’s kingdom (so that he would have to ask Midas’s kingdom for help eventually).

Once Upon a Time First:

Hook stating that he’s a survivor.

So, Regina is still blaming everyone else for her failures. She has not learned anything! It’s so frustrating. Hook is as sexy as ever. And that’s all I have to say about that. But seriously, watch Hook’s facial expressions in every scene, they are fantastic! There is no way to get home now that the beans are gone, but I still feel like we’ll be using the beans somehow. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see. Only two episodes left for this season!

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

@searchingwardrobes @thisonesatellite @justbecauseyoubelievesomething @laschatzi @profdanglaisstuff @mariakov81 @lfh1226-linda

#once upon a time #once upon a time review #once upon a time rewatch #once upon a time 2x20 #once upon a time the evil queen

20 notes · View notes