#her as Anna in ouat? she KILLED IT

[ourfandomcrazyuniverse]

I am so excited that not only do we have Vanessa in the fnaf movie, but that Elizabeth Lail is playing her. Freaking amazing and underrated actress. She BODIES every role she’s in. I can’t wait to see this film

[send-me-a-puffalope]

It's so funny that Elizabeth Mitchell is also in Dead of Summer.

She played Ingrid the Snow Queen in ouat and her character is also Anna's and Elsa's aunt... 😂

Both actresses being called Elizabeth is also a funny coincidence!

HFIAJJFJS i know Elizabeth Mitchell from First Kill as Margot Fairmont (god i was in that fandom for so long, i still can’t believe it got cancelled). THATS SO FUNNY THO FNSHDJSH passing around the Elizabeth’s from show to show to movie to movie

[vyrulent]

this is a multimuse roleplay blog with muses that i’ve rp’d from over the years. due to working a full time salaried job, i am a primarily queue based blog. i’m 30+ and have been rping since like 2014/15.

i'm foxxy. she/her. selective. no discord available.

( rules ) ( memes )

muse list beneath the cut:

TV

Chloe Decker ( Lucifer ) Ebenezer Scrooge ( OUaT ) Frederick Chilton ( Hannibal ) Hadley Rockefeller ( TWD ) Jack Frost/Snow Miser ( OUaT ) Jolene July ( NOS4A2 ) Lisa-Marie Andrews ( TWD ) Russell Edgington ( True Blood ) Santiago ( Interview with the Vampire ) Simone Grove ( Why Women Kill )

MOVIES

Aleera de la Fuente ( Van Helsing ) Abigail Samuels ( IT deleted scene ) Amy Peterson ( Fright Night mythos ) Anna Valerious ( Van Helsing ) Ariel Triton ( The Little Mermaid ) Baroness Lynnette Von Claire ( TNBC/Halloweentown ) Count Lowen Baker ( TNBC/Halloweentown ) Damien Thorn ( The Omen mythos ) Deacon Frost ( Blade mythos ) Harper-Lee Smith ( Texas Chainsaw Massacre mythos ) Kristof Lazar ( Abigail ) Lawrence Talbot ( The Wolf Man mythos ) ( HIATUS ) Lena Dupree ( Scooby Doo on Zombie Island ) Lord Lorenzo Franco ( TNBC/Halloweentown ) Lydia Deetz ( Beetlejuice ) Prince Leopold Von Claire ( TNBC/ Halloweentown ) Sibella Dracula ( Scooby Doo & the Ghoul School ) Simone Lenoir ( Scooby Doo on Zombie Island ) Tiana Broussard ( The Princess & the Frog ) Winnie Talbot ( Scooby Doo & the Ghoul School )

NOVELS/MYTHS/LEGENDS

Amber Davies ( Wolf Creek: Desolation Game ) Hades ( Greek mythos ) ( very low activity -- ask interaction only ) Jack Seward ( Dracula ) Lucy Westenra ( Dracula ) Micah Nicolescu/The Big Bad Wolf (The Company of Wolves/Little Red Riding Hood) Minthe ( Greek mythos ) Psyche ( Greek mythos ) Virginia Dare ( Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter & The Last American Vampire ) Zeus ( Greek mythos ) ( very low activity -- ask interaction only )

FANDOMLESS/OTHERS

Anita Bergese

[emilyrox]

ouat for the ask game?

OUAT!!!

Favorite Male: Killian Jones. There's no contest. Just Killian.

Favorite Female: Emma Swan. There's no contest. Just Emma.

Favorite Pairing: Ok I'm gonna list both my favorite main pairing and favorite side pairing.

Favorite Main Pairing: Captain Swan. You all knew this was gonna be my answer don't lie. Finally watched the Captain Swan wedding for real and it is the best thing ever. Also started season 7 officially and THEY'RE HAVING A BABY!

Favorite Side Pairing: Mr. Hyde x Mary Lydgate (I don't know what the ship name is someone plz help). Gonna be honest I don't exactly know why I think about them as much as I do. Maybe it's because Hyde is also a favorite, or because of their dynamic in general, or because I wish we saw more of them, but I just think about them a lot and what they meant to each other. I'm attached to a pairing that was together for ONE episode??? It's more likely than you think.

Least Favorite Character: uhhhhhhhhhhhh I got a few

Fiona "The Black Fairy". I did not like her. Yeah she's a villain so she's meant to be rooted against but other villains in the show are at least ENTERTAINING. Regina was an entertaining villain (and the og). Zelena was fucking hilarious (and still is as a hero I'm glad they kept that part of her). Cruella de Vil is a cruel dog murderer but I was always interested when she was on screen. But Fiona? She was just a bitch, and not an enjoyable one. I just wanted someone to finally end her. Was so satisfied when Rumple killed her for good.

Mother Superior/"The Blue Fairy". Just because I don't like Fiona and she and Blue were foils doesn't mean I like the Blue Fairy. I agree with the rest of the fandom that she was shady as fuck. She does some good things but also a lot of rude and shady ones. The way she treated Tinkerbell was awful, and her overall "I art holier than thou" attitude was just unpleasant. I could never really tell if she actually wanted to help the heroes or not, which would have been an interesting thing to think about during the show if not for her over-the-top self-righteousness.

Rumplestiltskin (Season 4, Season 5B-Season 6A. Season 7 TBD). He has had many opportunities to redeem himself and be a good person, which he claims he wants to be, but over and over again he kept clinging to "muh power." He is entertaining as a villain overall, and I do like Rumbelle, but not when he is being borderline abusive and possessive of her. I specified specific seasons where I don't like him because those are where he fucks up the most imo. 5A could have been his perfect redemption arc, and he was finally free of the Dark One Curse, but he willingly chose to take that power back. Which makes his actions more irritating in 5B. 6A Rumple was god awful. However, I am glad that by 6B he got his shit together (most of the time) and ultimately did the right thing. *I will say that I enjoy Rumple the most when he is in full-on Dad mode. Which is part of why I like him again in 6B. He genuinely cares about his sons, and I believe him when he says he would do anything for them.* Rumple in Season 7 has yet to be determined as I have not finished it yet.

Who's Most Like Me: Ok imma be completely honest I don't actually know. I feel like my answer, if i have one, would just be me projecting myself onto the character and not actually looking at canon.

Most Attractive: Killian is the obvious choice but ngl more than half of the entire cast slays. The costume department is a big reason why. I agree with the idea that most of the budget went towards the costumes and honestly that is 100% valid of them to do.

Three More Characters I Like: Here ya go:

Elsa. Fuck y'all the Frozen arc was great and Elsa was great and she cares about Anna and Kristoff and becomes besties with Emma and doesn't understand talking phones with Killian and she's great and I may or may not have shipped her with Liam (the first) at one point even though there is literally no way that could ever happen but consider this: it'd be cute.

Zelena (Season 5B and onward. Season 7 TBD). I mentioned how she was a very entertaining villain but ngl I think she's even more entertaining when she's on the heroes' side. She still has 100% of her sass, it's just now directed at people who deserve it. Like Fiona for example :D. I also love when she and Regina work together and help each other. I also believe, like Rumple, that she genuinely cares about her daughter, and seeing her go mom-mode is great. Overall, I think she became a much more likeable and enjoyable character after 5A, and especially by mid 6A. Zelena in Season 7 has yet to be determined as I have not finished it yet.

Lily Page. So from what I've seen online I'm not the only one that was hoping to see more of her after Season 4, right? I thought she was an interesting character, and I'm happy she finally reunited with her mom, Maleficent. Lily being her daughter was a plot twist I don't think anyone expected, but I really liked it! I would have honestly loved to see an episode where Lily and Emma, and maybe a few others, go searching for Lily's dad. They introduced that arc for Lily in the Season 4 finale, but then it didn't go anywhere. (Ok so I have been spoiled that it's revealed in Season 7 at the very end but I wish we got more than that ngl). I like Lily, I just wish we got to see more of her.

[warriorprincesstramp]

and why would I care about fnaf you ask. well sometimes you are a pre/teen and every single night you want to kill yourself except at midnight on the dot everyday this guy and his partner livestream and it not just personally made you feel comforted and calmer it also gave you a very real practical distraction from your thoughts and by the time the stream was done you would be so exhausted you would just go to sleep. and that guy also happens to not shut the fuck about fnaf. and so while I personally have no stake in it I Know it more than I should and have a modicum of nostalgia for certain parts of it. I've said too much 😐 anyway. josh hutcherson and matthew lillard are literally there. AND anna once upon a time... well to me she will always be the girl from countdown but I think we all know her here as anna from ouat. and it's a horror movie idc if it's bad or not horrory you think I'm not going to watch a big new horror movie are you crazy. I watched the boogeyman I watched prey for the devil you think I'm not gonna watch five nights at freddy's. get out of here. FURTHERMORE. I have no more points. just wanted all this to get out there it's a preemptive defense from anyone who will cry cringe I am cringe but I'm not a fnaf fan just to make myself clear....

[sorcerymuses]

Queen Anna of Arendelle, the Unwilling Ruler (OUAT During/post curse)

Height: 5'5" Hair: Waist length strawberry blonde hair Eyes: Teal FC: Julianne Moore Birthday: April 13

Unable to leave the kingdom, Anna was named queen and she was quickly married to the strange Prince Hans. For a long time, she was unhappy with her new role, having never planned to be queen. Her annoyance was made stronger when her husband made his intentions in their marriage clear. She bore twins and he tried to kill her. Unfortunately for him, it was a New Moon and one of the trapped dignitaries caught him.

The king was dead. And shortly after his death, the twins died of illness. Eventually, she met an Ice Harvester named Kristoff and a slow courtship began between them. After ten years sealed from the rest of the world, the frozen kingdom of Arendelle celebrated a new king, as the pair were wed. Queen Anna was much happier in a truly loving marriage.

[ladystrallan]

Once Upon a Time season 4A thoughts

I’m rewatching OUAT and I wanted to share some of my opinions on each season!

- Funny story about this season, back in the day when I was watching OUAT for the first time, me and my dad watched it on netflix, and when we finished season 3, season 4 wasn’t on netflix yet, so we bought a box set and then a week later (no joke) it was put on netflix lol

- It’s beck from You!

- That cgi ice…

- I mean marian is a little bit right (even though I don’t like her)

- I feel like Regina’s redemption was a bit fast, and her only motivation for being good is Henry (not her having actual remorse for her actions)

- Rumple visiting Neal’s grave :(

- The ogre wars are the funniest thing in this show

- How long did they last? How did they start?

- I guess we’ll never know

- Regina… girl… just turning evil at the smallest inconvenience

- RUMBELLE HONEYMOON

- They are so adorable omg

- Him trusting her with the dagger… awww

- Aaaaaaaa! The beauty and the beast dance

- This is too cute

- “Maybe we should have gone with baelfire” yeah if you want him to get bullied

- Sidney is so thirsty for Regina lol

- THE SORCERERS HAT

- I’m sorry but the enchanted forest also being called misthaven??? I kinda hate it

- “Anna, I will find you” would you say… you will always find her? Lol

- LONG HAIR DAVID

- Omg he looks like he should be riding a horse on the cover of a romance novel

- “They call her bo peep” aka the least menacing name ever

- What are your intentions with my daughter???

- I forgot they made bo peep a lowkey mafia boss

- Not David calling her a warlord lol

- “When I was six years old, one morning I woke up hearing my father and mother going at it” yikes

- Ohhhh they were fighting… I thought they were doing something else

- Nooooo he died from drunk driving

- Ok I think I’m a full on captainswan shipper now

- “I don’t like to say such a name out loud” he’s not voldemort

- I’d know that giggle anywhere…

- INGRID

- This is the frozen 2 we deserved

- Oooooooo she got the white streak

- Ponytail Regina looks kinda fruity ngl…

- That painting clashes so bad

- Marian looks like she ate a blue popsicle

- Why don’t they disguise Elsa? She’s not exactly looking inconspicuous like that

- WILL SCARLET (For some reason I called him will roland for the longest time)

- Wait but didn’t he literally switch it out with the real dagger though???

- The way he hooked her arm!!!

- It’s zoso

- Ooh has rumple not “succumbed to darkness in his heart”?

- Captainswan date!!!

- “I don’t pillage and plunder on the first date” lol

- Awwww that’s cute that he wants to hold her

- But the hook is kinda sexy

- “Captain hand” that’s so funny

- “Is there something wrong with your skin?” Please—

- Wait… granny’s ISN’T the only restaurant in town?

- His old self is coming back to haunt him…

- Those brooms in fantasia used to give me nightmares

- Placebo hand

- Should I watch OUAT in Wonderland?

- LILY

- Awwww they’re cute

- I like how she poofs away in a little blizzard

- Ooh this is like the broken glass curse

- The Neal picture…

- Omg plot twist (I actually remember this lol) Ingrid was Emma’s foster mom

- THAT OGRE IS SO SCARY

- Ogres killed my mom…

- OAKEN

- “I pray you never have to cross paths with that twisted man” she’s married to him lol

- Omg the duke’s moves lol

- Rumple is in every single story

- This man is everywhere

- Ew the duke of weselton is such a creep

- Oh no she froze her heart

- Yikes what happened to focus on your wife???

- Zelena actually could have been the sister Ingrid was look for

- She was born with magic and misunderstood

- Why does Robin dress like a lumberjack???

- I forgot about the whole rumple stealing Emma’s magic thing

- Why doesn’t Ingrid wear shoes?

- Why do they hate happy? What did he do?

- I really like the emma/elsa friendship

- Rumple stop being evil and just be married to belle!!!

- At least for a season

- My plan to resist the curse: wear goggles

- Noooooo the vows before they die

- That is so sad

- Honestly serves blue right

- Hey, at least the curse looks pretty

- Alternate plan: tear out everyone’s hearts (the curse didn’t work on hook because he didn’t have his heart)

- Everyone fighting each other is really funny

- Awwwww that’s actually so cute (Ingrid adopting Emma)

- Why does anyone bother running when they can just poof away

- Henry? More like Kevin McAllister

- And… she ruined it

- That’s sad :(

- Rip Ingrid

- Finally a villain that shows ACTUAL REMORSE for their actions

- “Don’t you sneeze on me, you son of a—“ lol

- Oh, rumple. When will you learn?

How I feel about the characters this season

Love: Belle, Emma, Anna, Hook

Like: Rumple, Elsa, Ingrid, Kristoff, David

Neutral: Regina, Snow, Henry

Dislike: Marian, Robin

Hate: Hans, the duke

Season rating: 7/10

I liked this season more than I remembered liking it! The beginning felt a little slow, but it got really good towards the end. I like Ingrid and I think she is the best ‘misunderstood’ villain in the whole show. Her sacrifice was so sad but such a payoff! I’m just not a fan of the Marian plot and Rumple being evil for the sake of it (he didn’t really have a strong motivation for his actions imo)

[once-upon-a-ouat]

OUATtober Day 22 - Death

One of the most interesting cases when it comes to death is Ingrid, the Snow Queen. OUAT has two patented ways of dealing with villains - 1) redeeming them or 2) killing them. The curiosity in Ingrid's case is that they did both with her. They could have just killed her or instead reconstructed the Spell of Shattered Sight so that they don't have to kill her. But that wouldn't really serve the story, now would it?

Ingrid's story is one of haunting. She's been haunted her whole life by the fact that she's different and later - by the perception that she is a monster. She wants to go back to the happiness she had with her sisters but that's not possible so she haunts the memories of it and they haunt her. She wants to find herself new sisters and so she comes to haunt not only Emma and Elsa but also everyone else in their lives. Her spell is threatening all of Storybrooke just so that she can go back to those moments when she was happy.

And she does. She finally goes back to those moments when Gerda's letter is read to her - the only thing left from her sister(s) after death. She can go back to the version of her that wasn't haunted, to the version of her that wasn't a monster. But the only way to do that is to stop haunting those memories and Elsa and Emma - she has to let go of her need to find new sisters and has to reverse the damage to Emma and Elsa's lives. She has to stop the threat to everyone that the two of them care about, has to save everyone in Storybrooke from the darkest parts of themselves that haunt them. And the only way to do that is to reverse the Spell of Shattered Sight which leads to her death.

It's a beautiful if yet another haunting thing. Because Emma and Elsa forgive her. Anna forgives her. They could have her in their lives even after what she's done to them. They are not going to let her past haunt them too. They want to save her. But they can't. Maybe she can exist outside the memories of her sisters but the only way to go forward is to undo her spell and that very act means there will be no going forward for her. To stop her own haunting and move forward she has to end her own life - not because there's no hope for her, because she cannot be saved, but because she was saved. She was freed and she chose to prove that and do the same for others even when it meant losing her life right after she got it back.

Choosing to make her death the ultimate triumph of her life can appear to be such a tragic fate but the truth is Ingrid was only holding on to her life out of spite and anger and an impossible to fulfill desire for happiness. The only future she could see was a reincarnation of the past. She wasn't alive, she wasn't valuing the life she was currently living. Her death was the ultimate proof that she's learned how to value her own life, her own self. There was no fear or anger at sacrificing herself for others, there was no sorrow or grief over the life she's giving away for the sake of others, there was no regret or terror of her powers, only of how she'd used them. Living is often a braver thing to do than dying. But when you've not truly lived in so long and you've only just gotten the chance to do so and you still sacrifice it just to let others live full, happy lives, that is the most noble thing you can do. Her story went full circle, except this time she didn't lock herself away to protect others for fear of what she can do. She gave her life for others despite all the happiness her future could potentially offer her, and she did it out of selflessness and love, not fear.

[martianbugsbunny]

OUAT Thoughts Pt.33--Episodes 2-3

I have watched through S4E3; spoilers DNI. Also, spoiler warning for anyone further behind than I am.

—I understand the point Anna is trying to make to David, but she’s coming off as oblivious. Her problems with Elsa were backed by the fact that they’re royalty, rather wealthy, with no concern about immediate survival. She speaks from a place from very high privilege, and as a result she comes off as condescending.

—lol David with long hair

—I can’t believe Bo Peep is a warlord! Only in this show….

—But her dress is gorgeous. The skirt is above ankle length, so there’s no risk of tripping. There’s a big old skirt with a couple of layers. There’s a rather fetching bodice. The mix of stripes, decorations, and solid colors is balanced just right.

—It’s kinda disconcerting how tall Henry’s gotten. It’s like watching my kid brother grow up, but in extreme time-lapse.

—Love is stored in the Killian Jones. This dude is killing me with how good a boyfriend he is. He’s genuinely affectionate with Emma, and even in their more casual moments it’s obvious how much he cares for her. He gets this beautiful look of desperation in his eyes when she’s in trouble. I could use a Killian Jones in my life.

—Or a Queen Elsa. I tell you, the second I saw her with her hair in that fancy-ass updo, I had *visible sapphic panic* She gives me those pleasant little palpitations 💓

—Archie wandering around town apparently giving random, unsolicited psychiatric advice is hilarious. And these emotionally constipated Charmings definitely need his assistance.

—At this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised to discover that Jack Frost is Elsa’s slightly evil grandfather. Which, btw, would be amazing.

—I’m not sure how confident I am that this other Snow Queen is actually related to Elsa. Her timing is beyond suspicious.

—I kinda wanted to see more of Hans. He’s got some decent potential, assuming he’s not dead, which he probably is. But here he’s a bit more of a threat, and he’s got something to prove, which makes him even more dangerous. I also like the angle where his brothers are in on his schemes to take over other kingdoms. And their dynamic within that new angle, where it seems that Hans has all the ambition but his brothers have most of the power, is intriguing.

—Hahahaaa!! True Love’s Kiss didn’t work! Take that Marian!

—I probably shouldn’t hate her, cause even if she is a little snotty she hasn’t done anything wrong, but still! She’s getting in the way of Regina’s happy ending!

—But the Hood family going for ice cream is adorable. I think the kid’s name is Roland? Whatever his name is, he’s a cute kid. HE WOULD MAKE A VERY NICE LITTLE BROTHER FOR HENRY.

—Hook’s dark sense of humor is awesome.

—I loathe Kristoff. First of all, the hair color, while spot-frickin-on, is the only physical thing about him that works. He’s not stocky enough, and his nose isn’t big enough. Second, Kristoff’s intelligent, good-natured, kind-hearted personality has been replaced with abrasiveness and snark. And frankly I don’t think it works. I also see no reason to give him and Elsa beef; it doesn’t really fit, and while I think maybe some initial friction between them could work, having them legitimately fight the way they have is unnecessary. Part of what I like about the Frozen trio’s dynamic is that they get along. There’s no fighting for the sake of fighting. Basically, because Anna loves Kristoff, Elsa loves Kristoff, because she can tell that their relationship is for real (unlike Anna’s feelings for Hans and vice versa). He just doesn’t work.

—If I ever see Olaf in this show I riot. I don’t hate him; I don’t find him to be the Jar-Jar of Disney sidekicks or anything. And if I am a little tired of Josh Gad, that’s not his fault, and I have nothing against him as a person. I just don’t want to see Olaf in OUAT. Flat-out.

—Charming’s father trauma was a lil hard for me. I have previously written a post regarding the use of alcoholism in media, which kinda but not really skirts around my issues, but here we go: about two years ago at this point, one of my grandparents, who isn’t the healthiest person to begin with, fell down the stairs. And lo and behold, it was a fall apparently influenced by alcohol. That grandparent was in the hospital and then a rehab center for a decent chunk of time (and, being the height of the pandemic, and also my being hundreds of miles away, I couldn’t exactly visit). So, I’ve some alcohol-related trauma, although I think compared to what a lot of people have, and what it could’ve been for me, I got off easy. Suffice it to say, I appreciate the serious, realistic tone Charming divulged that information with. That kind of thing wins me over quick.

—Kinda disappointed there has been neither hide nor hair of a Yen Sid character. I love both the Sorcerer’s Apprentice and Kingdom Hearts, in which he played a fair role, and seeing Yen Sid in my new favorite show would slay me.

—Seriously, is Rumple doing evil things again? He needs to chill for a couple seconds.

[wizardysseus]

i finally finished ouat celebration

seasons/arcs RANKED (by personal enjoyment)

my only guideline for this show is “it’s fine to kill and hurt fictional people but illegal to bore or annoy me because i’m real” so with that said:

12. season three part one (neverland arc)

i hate this fucking storyline so much it’s excruciating. every time i have to look at peter pan, rumpelstiltskin’s father, i feel like the show is actively egging me on to hunt down the writer’s room and serial kill them

11. season four part two (author arc)

the cruella/ursula/maleficent alliance was a fun idea but the execution was not as entertaining as i hoped it would be, mainly because isaac was a little bitch

10. season six part two (black fairy arc)

i kind of liked the fucked up rumpel family drama in this season but it took such a long time to get anywhere and charming family drama is. so slow and boring

9. season two part two (greg/tamara... arc? was that an arc?)

i don’t really like or dislike this arc – i really like neal and gold, but the villains are kind of nothing so there’s not that much going for it. ultimately i remember it as the arc where the show first lost the plot.

8. season six part one (jekyll/hyde arc)

i just like sam witwer

7. season five part one (camelot/dark one!emma arc)

if you're going to make king arthur evil it is very valid to introduce scottish characters in the same season

also i’m pretty sure it was dark one!emma that took jen morrison’s will to live because she really stopped acting at all from this point on and i can respect that.

6. season five part two (hades arc)

idk i just thought viewing this show through a constant sepia filter was kinda wacky and fun, and also i get a lot of entertainment value out of hook’s terrible choices and he made a lot of them here.

5. season three part two (wicked witch arc)

a lot of batshit stuff happens in this arc. we’ll get to that later but i think it’s good when the dark one is locked in a cage and out of his mind

4. season seven (soft reboot)

i did just finish this, so it’s very fresh in my mind, but the thing i liked about the show in the first place was the juxtaposition of the magical with the mundane and the people not knowing their true identities. henry and jacinda’s storyline lost me pretty quickly but regina, alice, and wish!hook were (somewhat surprising) standouts, and drizella and gothel made for entertaining villains. the actual finale i thought was not as fun as the drizella and gothel parts, and, god, the way they half-assed anything involving tiana, naveen, and dr. facilier was downright insulting but i finished it in a week so on the whole, a win

3. season four part one (snow queen arc)

fuck it i thought the stuff with anna and elsa was REALLY funny

2. season two part one (queen of hearts arc)

cora was one of the best villains to me. her backstory/death ep is still one of my favorites in the show

1. season one

it’s good and i stand by it.

FAVORITE and MOST BAFFLING choices that i will hold in my heart forever

i was put on this earth at the same time as ouat for a reason. and that reason is to inflict knowledge on you.

dwarves hatch out of eggs

mr gold hates nuns

red riding hood’s granny shoots a bullet out of the air with her crossbow

emma’s flying monkey fiance owns a furniture store because he’s actually the wizard of oz

the wicked witch of the west turned green literally out of envy

at one point zelena curses hook’s lips so that if emma kisses him, he takes her magic away. emma goes, “that is.........really stupid, next time try cursing someone i actually want to kiss” so zelena gets mad and drowns hook and emma has to give him mouth to mouth. this counts as a kiss

snow white casts a dark curse and has to crush charming's heart to do it, but he doesn’t die, because at the last second snow white says “okay regina, now take my heart out of my chest and split it in half and give one half to my husband's corpse”

bo peep was not only a villain but a warlord

anna frozen besting rumpelstiltskin almost by accident. anna vc: as long as i have this WAVY KNIFE,

also how one of the first things anna said to rumpel was “is there something wrong with your skin??”

you can guarantee you will not have evil kids if you put all the evil into a different kid (snow white and prince charming did this to emma by putting all her potential to be evil into maleficent’s baby egg)

in storybrooke ursula walks on two legs but also has two tentacles

cruella de vil is a sorceress who can control animals with her breath. not her voice. her breath

when hook is going on his first date with emma, he goes to mr gold, who has been keeping his severed hand in a jar in his shop. gold warns him that if he reattaches his hand, it will turn him evil. hook is like “you are messing with me!” and goes on his merry way. on his date, hook does a couple of angry things and then stares at his hand in horror while the music swells. he is convinced he is evil(TM). he goes back to gold begging him to reverse it. gold uses him to do some crime first. at the end of the episode gold reveals that he was, in fact, fucking with him the whole time.

in one of the curses, if you step outside the storybrooke town line you turn into a tree

in the underworld, everyone has a grave, and if you pour magic ale (from dunbroch) over someone's grave (in the underworld), you can find out where they are. in the underworld.

king arthur escapes from storybrooke jail because while snow white is in the underworld, merida puts sleepy the dwarf in charge of guarding him. arthur is then immediately killed at the beginning of the episode, goes to the underworld, and over the course of a day decides that rather than move on to a better place he would like to stay there and fix the system. this is treated as a redemption

there’s an episode whose focus character is, for the first and last time, the count of monte cristo

regina swordfights her evil doppelganger, and then to make peace she rips out both of their hearts and shares the “light” and “darkness” between them

charming enlists hook’s help to solve the mystery of his father’s murder and lay his ghost to rest. this is how hook realizes that he murdered his fiancee’s grandfather. instead of telling her about this, he is reliving the memory by watching in play out home-movie-style in a dreamcatcher when emma comes up behind him and, somehow, recognizes the face of her grandfather who died before she was born

lady tremaine’s tragic backstory is that when her daughters were young she was trapped in a tower by a witch, and when she escaped her husband had remarried and had a new stepdaughter. lady tremaine’s first name is rapunzel.

mother gothel is a tree nymph who caused the first great extinction of humankind and thereby created the only realm in the multiverse with no magic

remy ratatouille is a human man who works in regina’s bar

i asked kaitlin what the most baffling things i had told her about were and she just sent me these screenshots back

[firelxdykatara]

once upon a time for the ask game! not sure if you’re deep in the fandom still but i remember seeing you post about it so i’d love to hear more of your thoughts

oh man ouat at its height was my LIFE, it was my main fandom along with tvd for years lmao, so LET'S SEE HERE

blorbo (favorite): EMMA FUCKING SWAN, HANDS DOWN. I love her so much, she's everything to me, which is a huge part of why I still haven't bothered with s7--no Emma, no point. She was dealt such a raw fucking hand by the series, she kept being torn down and kicked while she was low, especially in the later seasons, but at the end of the day she had Killian and she had Henry, and her parents when they weren't too busy coddling Regina to remember their actual daughter, and she got her happily ever after which is the really important bit. The rest is easily fixed in fanfiction.

scrunkly (my baby): Henry, I think. I don't normally care much for child characters, and he did frustrate me a little when he seemed to forget the fact that Regina abused him for the first ten years of his life so badly that he readily convinced she was the Evil Queen and fled to Boston to find his bio mom to bring her back to KILL SAID EVIL QUEEN, but he was also young and Regina kept abusing him and I prefer to believe that a lot of his later attachment to her was more a defense mechanism than anything else. And anyway at the end of the day I love him, he's baby. (And it was so funny to watch him hit puberty between seasons with the show scrambling to come up with reasons for timeskips to catch up.) Honorable mention goes to Ruby, who I love so very much and I'm still mad the wrote her off like they did. I maintain that she and Belle should've been ouat's central queer romance and the real Beauty and the Beast storyline but ABC were cowards.

scrimblo bimblo (underrated fave): Elsa, I think. The Frozen arc tends to get a bum rap in fandom, but I actually quite liked it and I think it was the last half-season arc that was generally consistent all the way through and stuck the landing (the less said about s5 and s6 the better, and 4b still makes me incandescent with rage), and I loved Elsa and her dynamic with both Anna and Emma so much. She's the only character I really shipped Emma with aside from Killian (and Graham, but he'd died long since), and she was so perfectly cast I'm still in awe.

glup shitto (obscure fave): Ariel. She only showed up in a couple episodes, but I thought Joanna Garcia was wonderful in the role and I always loved seeing her show up on my screen. Honorable mentions go to Jasmine and Aladdin, who I remember nothing about in terms of their ouat storylines but I do remember Karen David and Deniz Akdeniz were literal perfection and their chemistry was FANTASTIC and if I could I would sell my soul to have a live action Aladdin remake starring the two of them.

poor little meow meow (problematic fave): I'm sure Killian still counts (as problematic/controversial, not particularly unpopular, but still), given the narrative the SQ fandom tried pushing about him. And pre-redemption he was absolutely my problematic fave, he was the epitome of if evil bad, why sexy??? and there are a few people he absolutely SHOULD have killed and it would've been sexy af of him (mostly rumple ngl). And anyway yeah Killian Jones, 100%, I love him so much and I'd have happily been pre-redemption Killian's pirate queen.

horse plinko (punching bag): Probably Neal. I don't actively hate him as much as I used to, but I'm reminded of my loathing every time I rewatch s2 and s3 and I still fucking hate that we were FREE OF RUMPLESTILTSKIN (and he actually went out on a decently high note! making one single, selfless choice, and saving storybrooke, and gods damn it all he should have stayed dead smfh), and Neal had to go and be a fucking idiot trying to get back the father he'd spent 300 years hating for abandoning him akldjghlkdsjfhg (granted, it was some truly, ridiculously awful writing, but I already didn't like Neal so it's not much of a stretch to just blame him for committing suicide by stupidity). So yeah I'd love to kick him around just for cathartic funsies.

eeby deeby (superhell bound): Regina Mills and Rumplestiltskin. (I refuse to pick just one.) I hate them both SO MUCH and their 'redemptions' were utter shit and the show would've been much better if Rumple stayed dead after 3a and Emma kept getting to punch Regina in the face for attempting to use her as an emotional punching bag all through the later seasons. But since that didn't happen, Regina can just go right to superhell with Rumple's scaly ass.

ask me about blorbos from my shows!

[spookberry]

Wait, no, keep talking, HANS was done dirty?? I'm not judging I could care less but I am intrigued

LOOK, Anna and Hans had a lot of chemistry!! And literally every reiteration ive seen has just made him better and made their relationship more wholesome(except ouat lmao) And im not saying they had to stay together or even that he truly loved her but his 180 into villainy just isnt good writing!!! Its 2am idk how good im gonna be at words but

In the broadway version they spend even more time showing him to be a good and kind ruler, that couldn't be an act! He had no reason to be nice to these people and to be kind. For all he knows Anna just left to get herself murdered by her sister. The jig is up, he isnt getting shit out of this now, they weren't even really engaged cuz the Queen said no. And he even calms Weselton down at first!! Like the guy thinks the rulers are evil and need to be killed(musical has him suggest Anna is in on it but even in the movie Hans still focuses his efforts on helping Arendelle rather than bothering with Elsa at first). That is until he discovers in some way or another that something bad befell Anna (her horse returning/someone finding her frozen and soaked clothing out in the woods). Its only then that he goes to avenge her and kill/capture Elsa(note he doesnt actually go to kill her at first because he still believes he might be able to talk her down) and only decides its best to kill her later.

Which leads me back to the fact that he has NO reasons to be doing this!!! If Anna is dead and Elsa has commited treason, he isnt getting shit!!! The second he thought Anna was dead is the moment his role here became moot. Arendelle is a whole kingdom! Its gonna have its own line for next in throne should something happen to Elsa and Anna which something did! And Hans isnt on that list, because he isnt from Arendelle. At this point he's just doing what he believes is right and helping this kingdom out in whatever way he can.... potentially because he is very much stuck here now that Elsa has frozen the fjord.

The issue crops up when Anna turns up alive still but on her way out if she doesn't get this act of true love. And here's the thing I could 100% believe that Hans had ulterior motives and wasn't actually in love with Anna, what I CANT believe is the way his personality changes so abruptly into someone so cruel and uncaring. Like?? Dude has 12 older brothers who are all assholes to him? And he meets Anna and they get along and she's a little naive but he sees a way out. A way into the life he believes he's always deserved.

He never looks or reacts to Anna like he is irritated or thrown off by her. The camera even stops to show him watching her fondly when she can't see him!!

So here's my idea of how it'd be better. When Hans reveals he doesn't love her. Just have him say sorry, maybe they even do kiss but nothing happens!!(Personally i think the build up of the kiss but then nothing happening eould be cool) It'd be so easy! Basically nothing would change. He just says sorry and comes clean to using her, that even though he likes her he isn't actually in love with her. She’d still be heartbroken over it, maybe she even angrily shouts at him to leave. And the window bursts open later anyways so bump it up a bit sooner and her hands are too frozen over to open the door to grt out herself til Olaf saves her.

And like! The rest of the movie would play out the same, he'd just be doing everything with the genuineness that he had the entire time before the Reveal. He goes to punish Elsa for committing treason and killing the Princess. He tells her Anna is dead because she probably is seeing as he couldn't save her. (Also i just dont see why anyone would believe him about them managing to say their wedding vows like?? Aren't there rules to that kinda thing? Vows dont mean shit if there isnt someone there to be like "yeah this checks out theyre married now." Tho idk maybe cuz theyre royalty? What do I know)

Then rather than punching him Anna just breaks up with him lol.

[justlookatthosesausages]

Post Frozen 2 prompt: King Runeard’s ghost possesses Anna in order to finish what he started, but first he needs to deal Elsa

P.S. The way I envisioned this is similar to OUAT S3, where Peter Pan switches bodies with Henry. The actual Anna is an “astral projection” trying to find a body.

In a way I feel like it'd be funnier in bullet points instead of written down. Coz like.

Elsa noticing something's up with Anna but not daring to tell her because she hasn't seen her in a while and prefers to rather smoothly find out if something bad happened in Arendelle

Because, Runeard is a bitch who plans, right? He wouldn't just jump on Elsa on first opportunity. He would study her. Find a way to kill her in a 'no witness, no problem' way.

So hear me out: Elsa AND Runeard in Anna's body both staring at each other's during family game night like predators studying the other jdhdhskdjkf

But it gets ridiculous. Like, they skip and miss every time someone else talk to them when they all play ludo or whatever and it's basically a meme of two people staring at each other politely but intensely worried / suspicious on each side of the table

Runeard in Anna's body being both a professional liar and adaptative man (he quickly catches up being in a young woman body, and successfully unfocus from the fact she's his granddaughter) and a disaster at little things that just LOUDLY GIVE AWAY that he's not Anna lmao like, only taking one (1) mid night chocolate treat brought by Gerda, or being irritated by Olaf

Funny fact: Runeard is as competitive as Anna in the game so that's not where Elsa and Kristoff find it weird

Kristoff finds it weird when he notices not only that Anna doesn't hold his hand / cuddle with him the same as usual, but that she doesn't bomb Elsa with questions about the Northuldra life

Elsa finds it weird for... Pretty much everything. The way Anna holds herself. The manners. The rhythm of her talking. The lack of jokes. And of course the way Runeard flinches every time she teasingly uses her magic.

To finish: Runeard was planning to first kill Elsa and then proceed but at some point he's like "I'm never going to be able to do that, uh? Damnit what is up with this generation"

Having so much fun with this haha!

Send post Frozen 2 prompts or a Frozen AU 5 headcanons request!

[cristinablackthornkingson]

My thoughts/comments on roughly pages 700-900 of COI.

**TW/CW**

Alcoholism

Miscarriage

Child trafficking

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Matthew and Elias are more alike than Cordelia thinks, Matthew is just a nicer drunk than Elias. They both have/had their demons and use alcohol as an attempted escape, let's just hope things turn out better for Matthew than they did Elias .

Ahhh I really hope there isnt going to be a love triangle between Matthew, Cordelia and James, unless they become a throuple, but I am more so rooting for MatthewxLucie. Isnt Jesse like 8 years older than Lucie? I mean I guess he's technically forever 17 and doesnt have much more life experience than her but still, I prefer them as besties.

Grace leave James alone!

Uh yeah Grace no duh the Bridgestocks dont like you, you're the woman Charles left Ariadne for, that could have ruined her reputation

GRACE FUCK OFF!

JAMES DO NOT KISS HER, Tessa needs to get back and slap some sense into her son jfc!

DAMMIT JAMES!!!

"I should go" Yes you should! And leave James the fuck alone!

The Famer at the Barrow is Wayland the Smith, calling it now

Yep I knew it!

I want a crossover series where Cortana meets Sumabrander/Jack from Magnus Chase 😂😂

Wayland the Smith wants payment for healing Cortana, uh oh, all magic comes with a price

Wait what is a paladin? Does Wayland want Cordelia to find the killer and stop the killings? Has she not already sworn fealty to Cortana? - Oh no she swore fealty to Wayland, makes sense. Go kick ass Daisy!

Yikes seems as if Lucie's powers might cause some trouble for her

Possible Lucie and Ariadne friendship? Will Lucie help her and Anna get back together?

Okay I fear for Lucie when Grace tells Malcolm about Annabell.

Always thought Malcolm was the one who helped Tatianna preserve Jesse's body, apparently not, new character maybe?

Ooh honey, Malcolm this is so much worse than Annabell rejecting you.

Glad to see Lucie inherited Tessa's sensibility

Ariadne and Anna being Lucie's protective yet kickass lesbian cousins, we stan

Awwww Anna calling Lucie "ducks" 🥺

Oh my God Grace was trafficked??? Tatiana is a child trafficker? As are the Cartwrights? Holy fuck poor Grace!

I hope James is okay, I wonder if he'll tell them about Grace? Or that hes in love with Cordelia? Or that he might be possessed by the killer?

I fucking love Anna fussing over Lucie and calling her pet names, more Anna and her cousins being wholesome please!

But surely Belial cant posses James? He had the spells of protection placed on him as a baby, and he didnt actually die in COG, like Jace did in City of Glass, but maybe its different because he is half Warlock and related to Belial?

Raum venom in my shoe, oh Christopher, never change ❤

"I think he is possessed" said Thomas "He is defacing a book" LMAOOOOOOO throw that shade Tommy!

"He felt an odd sensation, tingling between his shoulder blades, apprehension perhaps?" Jamie, sweetie, I'm demiromantic and have never been in love yet even I know you're feeling love and attraction to Cordelia

"Just wound me then, stab me in the leg if you have to" Ah, young love

Hmmm Cordelia and James spending the night in the same room, sexy times to ensue?

A crack in the gracelet? Perhaps James'true love for Cordelia is strong enough to break it? Could be going a OUAT route here, if they have kids they would be the product of true love, and very powerful, could play an important role in the future?

Lmao Cordelia blue balling James as revenge for him kissing Grace, good for you girl, good for you.

Oh Thomas POV, hope we get some Thomastair interaction, first kiss maybe?

I hope Anna and Thomas dont go in search of the killer, surely Anna is going to tell him to get his ass back inside? Or maybe she's about to talk to him about his feelings for Alastair? Is this gonna be the equivalent of Nora having to confirm to Alex that he's bi?

Nope the dumbass is going on patrol alone, I'm scared for him. Maybe he'll run into Alastair and they'll patrol together and talk about their feelings?

No James you love Cordelia, not Grace. Snap out of it man!

Jamie baby you owe no one anything, please talk to your parents and Jem!

Uh oh killers POV with Thomas out alone, I'm scared

Oh God the killer noticed Thomas and now we have a Thomas POV, I dont like where this is going. Alastair come save your man!

Nooo poor Lillian. I'm still scared for Thomas though, I think the killer is trying to lure him in

Uh oh, Thomas is about to get in so much trouble

Sshhhhiittt poor Thomas. Charlotte can surely help him tho, right? She knows he would never kill someone

Oooh so James has been going out in his sleep to try and stop the killer?

Is Enoch gonna tell them about Thomas' arrest? Will he be able to help Thomas?

I want a brother Enoch backstory!

Alastair was so following Thomas for his own peace of mind, and to protect him because he loves him.

I wonder why Bridgestock has it in for Thomas.

Consul Charlotte reminds me of President Ellen Claremont, I love it.

I think the pithos is what the killer used to remove the runes

I wonder if there's gonna be some Thomastair angst and confessions now they're locked in the sanctuary together for a day.

Why is the mortal sword in Paris? Seemingly with Will and Tessa? Was Charles tried by the mortal sword?

Charlotte and Henry have been TTC for years now with no results, my theory is that the miscarriage was complicated and caused a lot of scar tissue, and now Charlotte cant get pregnant, so once her time as Consul is up (which is presumably soon, given how the merry thieves theorize that Bridgestock is vying for Consul next term) she and Henry will adopt, either twin girls or 2 girls close in age, like 2/3 year age gap at max.

I really like Eugenia and would like to read more about her.

Alastair comforting Cordelia is so sweet, they are such an iconic sibling duo.

James thinking of Matthew, Christopher and Thomas as his brother's is so wholesome and sweet, I adore it!

[hookedonapirate]

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

Summary: Detective Killian Jones took an indefinite leave of absence from SBPD after his brother was murdered in the Line of Duty. Bitter and broken, he resides in a cabin on the beach when his brother's former partner, David Nolan brings him a case he knows the vengeful detective won’t be able to resist. A case involving Liam's killer.  

Dr. Emma Swan makes all of her decisions like she operates on her patients—with care, competence and compassion. But when her colleague, Graham Humbert, is murdered in cold blood by the man who was freed because of a decision she made as a juror, she starts second-guessing herself. To make matters worse, her squeaky clean reputation is being questioned when she becomes a suspect for Graham’s murder.

There is one detective who believes she’s innocent, and he has a plan to protect Emma and find his brother's killer at the same time. When Killian finds himself caught between his duties to the SBPD and his need for vengeance, matters are only complicated by the feelings he develops for the woman he's supposed to protect.

He's impulsive and hot-tempered, and she's methodical and cool under pressure. Despite their differences, can they work together to bring the murderer to justice, or will the murderer get to them first?

A/N: Many thanks go to @ultraluckycatnd for her wonderful beta-ing skills and @onceuponaprincessworld as always for her encouragement and letting me bounce ideas off of her.

So a few things before we get started with this chapter.

You've probably noticed, I made Emma older than she is usually portrayed in fanfics since being chief of surgery requires an extensive medical background, education, training, experience, etc. Basically this is how old she would be ten years later from the OUAT pilot. With that said, I've made the other main and supporting characters older as well. Emma and David are 38-39, and Killian, Elsa, Anna and MM are 32-35. Just wanted to clarify that to avoid confusion, though I do mention some of their ages in the story. I'm doing my best to keep the timeline consistent but if anything doesn't make sense with the timeline, or in general, please don't hesitate to ask me about it either on here or Tumblr.

Secondly, I know some of you, or maybe all of you are hoping Emma will contact the police about Neal, but keep in mind, Emma's a suspect and yes, contacting the police would be in her best interest, but Emma's going to be paranoid about every move she makes because she overanalyzes and thinks everything through. And any move that could potentially bring more attention to herself regarding graham's murder could effect her career she has worked so hard to obtain. So please keep these things in mind before you get too upset with her.

Also, this chapter is in Killian's pov, so we will see the video footage of Emma's interview. To avoid a bunch of repetition this chapter shows different points of the interview so that's why different questions are shown in this one, except for a few that I included in both chapters..

You will find that Killian has to iron out some wrinkles in his relationships with David and Elsa, so this chapter and the next will include some angst, but I think all of you lovelies are going to like what I have planned for chapter 5, so please bear with me until then :)

Okay enough of my rambling and on with the story. Thanks for reading!

Rated: Explicit due to mature language, character death, violence, murder and smut. The scenes won’t be too graphic, but I’d rather overrate than underrate it.

Catch up: Pro I Ch 1 I Ch 2

Chapter 3

“Uncle Killian!”

  With a big smile on his face, Killian watches his nephews charging toward him. He sets down his tackle box and fishing pole and wipes the sweat off his brow as he steps off the dock. “Oof,” he feigns a pained noise with a chuckle as Leo tackles him. Killian picks him up, drawing him into an enormous bear hug, noticing his nephew is heavier than the last time Killian picked him up. “You’re growing too fast. Soon you'll be taller than me.”

  “Nah-ah,” Leo laughs, shaking his head. 

  “Uncle Ki-wi!” Liam wobbles toward him and wraps his arms around Killian’s legs. 

  “Can you tell they missed you?” Mary Margaret asks as she catches up with her children, David hot on her heels, their hair rustled by the wind.

  “No, not at all,” Killian chuckles, setting Leo down to pick up Liam. “It’s been too long. Far too long.” The two brothers are four years apart, and though Killian is not related to them by blood, he’s like a brother to David, thus Uncle Killian to David’s sons. “I missed you too,” Killian says, dropping a kiss to the crown of Liam’s head. 

  The little lad will be three years old soon, but it feels like only yesterday when Killian cradled the newborn in his arms as the parents announced they were naming him after a man who died a hero—David’s best friend and partner, and Killian’s brother. 

  He sets little Liam on his feet and looks up at David, noting the laptop satchel strapped around his shoulder. He fooled Killian into thinking this was only a social visit by wearing his casual clothes—khaki shorts and a Hawaiian shirt. And Mary Margaret is carrying a tote bag of beach supplies, ready to lounge on the beach.

  “Did you catch anything?” David asks. 

  “Fishing is not about the catch, mate.”

  David grins. “I know. It’s an excuse to drink during the day, right?” 

  Killian scoffs playfully and waves his words. “Like I need an excuse.”

  They share a laugh as they draw each other into a hug and pat one another on the back. They’ve been friends long before Killian joined the Storybrooke Police Department. David’s four years older than him and the same age as Liam would've been—thirty-nine—but the three of them were pretty much inseparable. And after Liam passed, Killian and David shared a heartache neither would ever fully recover from. “I’ve missed you, Jones.”

  “Missed you too.” After they break the hug, Killian turns to Mary Margaret, smiling warmly at her. “Thanks for bringing the boys.” 

  “Of course,” she says, throwing her arms around him. She’s six years younger than David and has been married to him for ten years. They met right after she graduated from college and moved to Storybrooke to take a teaching job. She is now the vice principal at Forest Grove Elementary. 

  “Sorry if I smell like fish and sweat,” Killian apologizes as he wraps his arms around her.

  “Oh wow, you do,” she laughs, pinching her nose but doesn’t pull away. “That’s okay. Wouldn’t expect anything less since you live in this fishing town.” 

  He chuckles. “You know, I could’ve just visited you all in Storybrooke if I had been given more notice. I could’ve saved you a trip.” He didn’t even know they were coming over until last night when David had called him out of the blue.

  Mary Margaret waves off his words as they break the hug. “Nonsense. The boys were dying to see their Uncle Killian, and they've been begging us to take them to the beach, so we thought we'd kill two birds with one stone.”

  “It’s nice to see all of you again.” He looks at David, narrowing his eyes. “Though I have a feeling this isn't just a pleasure trip for you, is it?”

  David gives into a grin and pats Killian on the shoulder. “Is it ever just pleasure with me?”

  Killian chuckles and shakes his head. “Never.” Outwardly he’s relaxed and cheerful, but inwardly, he has a bad feeling about whatever David wishes to discuss with him.

  “Uncle Killian, will you make sandcastles with us?!” Leo asks as his mother hands him and Liam a big sand bucket packed with sandcastle molds and a shovel.

  Killian opens his mouth to answer but David beats him to the punch. “Actually, we have some important things to discuss first. Then Killian can make sandcastles with you.”

  The boys groan their disapproval, Leo gets over it quickly and wastes no time racing off toward the shoreline, Liam wobbling after him.

  “Not so fast, you two! Sunblock, first, then floaties!” Mary Margaret calls out, following their trail of messy footprints in the sand.

  When Leo halts in his tracks and turns around, going to his mother as she spreads out a blanket on the sand and retrieves a bottle of sunblock from her tote, Liam trails behind his brother.

  “Anyone want something to drink?” Killian asks them.

  “Sure, I’ll take some iced tea,” Mary Margaret replies.

  “Do you have Capri Suns?” Leo asks.

  “Of course I do. What kind of uncle would I be if I didn’t stock up on Capri Suns for when my nephews come to visit?”

  “Yes!” Leo exclaims, fisting the air.

  Mary Margaret pulls off Liam’s shirt and rubs lotion over his back and arms. “Thank you, Killian. And you don’t have to worry about Liam, he has his sippy cup with juice in it.”

  “Okay.” Killian turns his head to look at David. “Want a beer?”

  “Sure, you got Lone Star?”

  Killian’s lips stretch into a wide grin. “Any other beer would be treason.” After he grabs his fishing gear and stores it in the garage, he and David head inside the house. 

  Killian goes to the refrigerator and pulls out a pitcher of sweet tea, a fruit punch Capri Sun and two bottles of beer, setting them on the island counter. He pops off the caps of the beers before handing a bottle to David. “What important things did you have in mind to discuss?”

  David holds up his bag. “Take a wild guess.”

  Killian sighs as he pours Mary Margaret a tall glass of tea. “And here I thought you just wanted to catch up on old times.”

  “I do, but I also want to discuss a case with you,” David admits softly before taking a swig of his beer.

  Killian’s jaw twitches as he glares at his old friend. “Then you’re wasting your time. I came here to Port Lavaca to get away from that stuff.”

  “Which is exactly why I brought it to you.” David sets down his beer and places his laptop bag on the counter, unzipping it. “Just give me five minutes, okay?”

  “And why should I?”

  “Because you’ll want your hands on this case, trust me.” David pulls out his computer and sets it up on the counter.

  “How are Elsa and Camila doing?” Killian asks, deliberately changing the subject. He’s not interested in whatever case David is about to present to him, nor is he pretending to be. 

  “Why don't you ask them yourself?”

  “Because you see them and talk to them more often than I do. I didn’t even get invited to Anna’s wedding, which I’m positive the Maid of Honor had something to with.”

  David looks up from his open laptop, furrowing his brows. “Doesn't the bride and groom normally choose the people on the guest list? Mary Margaret and I chose our own guests for our wedding.”

  “True, but even if Anna and Kristoff wanted to invite me, you don’t think Elsa talked them out of it?”

  David shrugs. “Maybe, but if she did, who’s fault is that?”

  “David…” Killian mutters with a pained expression, his heart constricting. “You know my relationship with Elsa hasn’t been the best since Liam passed.” 

  David turns around and plants his hands on his hips, gaping at Killian. “Hasn’t been the best? It’s almost nonexistent.”

  “Aye, because of what happened,” Killian states bitterly. “Since then, she’s only ever let me stop by so I can pick up my niece and spend time with her.” He desperately wants to change that though. He wants his sister-in-law back, he wants the friendship they once had, and he wants to spend time with both her and Camila again. He’s tired of missing out on important milestones in Camila's life all because her mother and uncle prefer not to be in the same room together. He’s just been too much of a coward to tell Elsa that. To apologize for letting his temper get the best of him.

  “Do you blame her? You let her husband’s killer get away with murder,” David scolds.

  Killian slams his beer on the counter, anger surging through him. “I loved him too, okay?! I was only trying to prove—no, you know what?” He raises his open palms in protest. “I’m not doing this with you. Not today, not ever.” He gathers the beverages and storms out, the backdoor squeaking on its corroded hinges as he strides onto the deck and rushes down the steps. He doesn’t need this shite. His nephews are here to visit with him and he’s not about to waste the opportunity.

  “Killian, wait!” David calls out from the deck as Killian trudges through the sand. “I’m sorry, I shouldn't have said that! I know you loved him! We all did!”

  Killian turns around, pinning him with a glare as David makes his way down the steps. “He was my brother. I’m the last person in the world who wanted that piece of scum to get away with ending his life.”

  “I know.” David sighs as he inches closer. “Which is why I’m here.”

  Killian narrows his eyes, his brows knitted in confusion. “I thought you were here to discuss a case?” 

  A pained expression etches David’s features. “I am. A case involving your brother’s killer.”

  Killian’s fists clench around the drinks, his jaw tightening at the thought of another innocent victim falling at the hands of—

  No, he can't do this. He’s not going down that path again; it only leads to anger, bitterness and vengeance. He shakes his head. “I told you, I’m done with detective work. I’m not interested.” He walks away again, heading toward Mary Margaret and his nephews.

  “What if I said there's a good possibility you could catch him this time? Then would you be interested?”

  Killian stops in his tracks, gazing out at the sea as David’s words slice through him. No, he shouldn’t care about catching Liam’s killer anymore. He gave up a long time ago. But somehow he finds himself turning around to face David again, curiosity clawing at his gut. “How?”

  A triumphant grin crawls across David’s lips. “I knew that would gain your attention.”

  “Just tell me,” Killian demands ardently.

  David steps toward him. “I'll tell you when you agree to hear me out.” He holds up the five fingers of his right hand. “Five minutes.” 

  “I’m sorry, I can’t,” Killian mumbles and turns around, walking away. This time, David doesn’t holler after him or follow him.

  When Killian brings the drinks to Mary Margaret and Leo, she thanks him and lifts her sunglasses, perching them atop her head and squinting up at Killian. “What were you and David shouting about?”

  He shakes his head. “Nothing important.”

  Mary Margaret frowns, not believing him. “You should hear him out, Killian. He really misses working with you.”

  Killian sighs and sips his beer as he watches Liam filling his bucket with sand and Leo walking along the shore, collecting seashells. “Will I really want my hands on the case?”

  A solemn expression creases Mary Margaret’s features. “Would David drive three hours to ask you if he thought otherwise?”

  “He would if it meant spending time with an old friend… or at least I would hope,” Killian grumbles.

  “Of course he would, but if he didn’t think you’d be interested, he wouldn’t have brought it up.” 

  Killian takes another swig of his beer, pondering David’s offer.

  Mary Margaret puts her tea in the beach cup holder she’d brought with her and gets up to walk toward her sons, giving Leo his drink and sitting across from Liam to help him make a sandcastle. 

  Killian misses spending time with them, but he doesn’t know if he’s ready to head back to Storybrooke. He’d moved here to this fishing town, Port Lavaca, almost two years ago and bought this cabin on Lighthouse Beach. After Cassidy got away with murdering Liam, Killian blamed himself—everyone blamed him—and he couldn’t stand to be in Storybrooke any longer. He couldn’t live in a town that reminded him of his brother, a town that couldn’t bring his brother’s murderer to justice and pointed their fingers at Killian for the reason Cassidy got away with his crime. David knows he has no interest in going back. Not to Storybrooke, not to the SBPD, and yet he made the trip with his family three hours away from home. Nolan wouldn’t have bothered bringing the case with him if he knew Killian wouldn’t take the bait.

  When Killian heads inside and steps through the backdoor, David’s back is leaning against the counter, his arms crossed as he waits for a different answer. Or rather the answer he wants to hear.

  Killian knows he’ll regret this, but he can’t deny his curiosity is piqued. The detective in him is itching to know more about the case, or so he tells himself. He assents with an exasperated sigh. “Five minutes. That’s all you get.”

  David grins. “That’s all I need.” He brings his laptop to the table, and once Killian takes a seat next to him, David plays a video that’s ready to go on his laptop. “This was recorded yesterday.”

  The video feed takes place in the interrogation room. David and Detective Jefferson are sitting at one side of the table and there’s a man in a suit sitting on the other side who David says is an attorney. But what really piques his interest—or rather who—is the blonde woman sitting next to the attorney. She’s beautiful, with long blonde hair pulled into a high ponytail and striking green eyes. She’s wearing a black blouse under a fire engine red, two-piece suit and red pumps on her feet. Bold color choice. She’s definitely not a woman who lacks confidence. 

  “Who is she?”

  “This is Dr. Emma Swan. She’s a surgeon at Storybrooke General.”

  “That name sounds familiar,” Killian comments, more to himself than to David.

  “She’s Anna and Elsa’s cousin. But this conversation and what I’m showing you has to stay between us. I’m only here to visit with an old friend, got it? I haven’t even told Mary Margaret that Anna and Elsa’s cousin is involved in the case.”

  Killian nods. “I understand, but what’s her crime? Dressing too nicely. Being too pretty?” he quips with a smirk.

  David rolls his eyes. “This is serious, Jones.” He reverts his gaze to the computer screen. “Her colleague, Dr. Graham Humbert, was murdered seven days ago in the Storybrooke General parking lot. They were rival surgeons who bickered and teased each other all the time. Both were vying for the Chief of Surgery position he was appointed to just a week before he was murdered.”

  “And you think she offed him for his job title?” Killian asks, unable to take his eyes off her. She doesn’t look like your typical suspect by any means. She’s calm and still, her arms and legs crossed casually, her face expressionless. Typically, people who were being questioned for a felony offense trembled, couldn’t sit still and would sweat profusely. But not this woman. He can't detect any sign of fear or worry in her eyes, her posture or her behavior. 

  “I think there’s more to it than that, but yes, I think she had something to do with his death. The night he was murdered, Dr. Swan was with Graham at the Rabbit Hole. According to other colleagues who were also there celebrating Graham’s promotion, the two surgeons were having an intimate discussion.”

  Killian lifts a brow. “You think they were lovers?”

  “According to Emma and everyone else, they weren’t. They often squabbled, but it was mostly friendly. They respected each other.” 

  “Ah, I see.”

  “Dr. Swan said he walked her to her car that night, and before she left, she saw him head back inside. According to the bar owner and his employees who were on duty that night, Dr. Humbert left the bar an hour later, around eleven o’clock and went home. His phone records show he received a call at 2:20 in the morning, but it was from a restricted number.”

  “And let me guess, the number was untraceable?”

  “Yep. But whoever called him knew the safety code.”

  “Safety code?”

  “Anyone who calls in hospital staff is required to supply the safety code. You know, like when parents give their kids a safety word for emergencies so they don’t get abducted by strangers.”

  “So, whoever called Humbert was someone who works at the hospital?”

  “Possibly, and either that person had something to do with his murder or it’s a sheer coincidence the phone call preceded his death by only twenty minutes. But no one I spoke with at the hospital knew about the phone call or why he would've been called in. He wasn't on call that night.”

  “Was Dr. Humbert married?”

  “Nope, never was. A few people I interviewed mentioned he once had a fling with Dr. Regina Mills, head of Cardiology, but it ended four years ago. She’s now happily married.”

  “Maybe they still had something together, but kept it secret so her husband didn’t find out? And if so, maybe her husband found out and is the one who murdered him?”

  “The husband, Mr. Locksley owns the Rabbit Hole, and he was closing the bar at the time Dr. Humbert was murdered. One of his employees was there to corroborate that.” 

  “Dr. Mills didn’t take his last name when they got married?”

  “No, I asked her about it during the interview, and she said she wanted to keep her maiden name to avoid confusing her regular patients.”

  “And where was she that night?”

  “She was tending to a patient with cardiac arrest.” 

  “What was the cause of Dr. Humbert's death?”

  David clears his throat and retrieves a folder from his bag, pulls out some photos and spreads them over the table. 

  Killian swallows the sizable lump in his throat. The photos are of the murder victim with a knife lodged in beneath his left arm. 

  “Massive hemorrhaging from the stab wound.”

  Killian picks up one of the photos, studying it. “And the knife’s untraceable as well?” he asks bitterly, though he doesn’t need to. He already knows the answer.

  “Of course. The knife is an average filleting knife that could’ve come from any kitchen. The blade went through clean as a whistle and popped Dr. Humbert's heart like a balloon. And no fingerprints. Whoever did this knew what he was doing. Or she.”

  “Like another doctor?”

  David shrugs. “Possibly.”

  “And you’re certain the cardiologist was with a patient? She would know exactly where to stab a person to make it fatal.”

  “I checked the hospital security footage for verification. She went into her patient’s room at the time of the murder. Her alibi checks out.”

  “Were there any witnesses?”

  “A security guard saw Humbert pull into the parking lot but never saw him go inside. When he left his post to check on Dr. Humbert, he found Graham’s body near his car. The murderer was like a ghost. Never seen, never heard. He left without a fucking trace.”

  The hairs on the back of Killian’s neck stand on end. “Cassidy...” He cringes from merely speaking his name.

  David nods. “Question is, who hired him?”

  “This Dr. Swan… is she married?” Killian doesn’t think Emma had anything to do with the murder, but perhaps a jealous lover who saw her with Graham that night hired Cassidy. He’s drawing straws though.

  “No husband or boyfriend to speak of. She lives alone. No kids, not even birth parents. She was shuffled around from one foster home to another until she was adopted at the age of ten—by Anna and Elsa’s aunt. I’m sure you've heard the story?”

  “Aye, after their parents died in a car accident, Anna and Elsa went to stay with their Aunt Ingrid and her adopted daughter.” Killian points at the computer screen. “That’s her?”

  David nods. “Yep. The aloof cousin.” 

  “Huh.” Why has he never met this aloof cousin? Of course, if he’d known she was so gorgeous, he’d have made that happen a long time ago, but he'd never seen a picture of her, at least not one of her as an adult. If he had, he would have recognized her on the video. Killian shakes off the thoughts and studies the photos again. “I don’t get how a good-looking, successful doctor like this man stayed single?” Or a beautiful, successful doctor like Emma for that matter.

  David shrugs. “He probably was by choice. Maybe he was too focused on his career and thought a romantic relationship would only distract him. Or maybe he was in love with Regina and knew he couldn’t have her, so he didn’t want anyone else.”

  “Or maybe he was in love with someone else?” Killian poses. If he were Graham and had a female friend like Emma, he doubts he’d have only platonic feelings for her. “You said he walked Emma to her car that night?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Was there a kiss goodnight?”

  “When I questioned Dr. Swan, she said they hugged, and he kissed her on the cheek. I asked her if that was normal and she said no. It surprised her. But I checked the video footage in front of the bar. Mr. Locksley set up a camera there after someone tried to throw a rock through the door window a couple of years ago.”

  “To steal alcohol?”

  “Or cash from the till,” David shrugs. “Whatever their reason was, they weren’t successful. Probably got spooked by someone who saw them. Anyway, the hug between the two surgeons lasted too long to be friendly.”

  “How long?”

  “Ten seconds.”

  “How long is a normal hug?”

  “A few seconds, maybe more, depending on the relationship of the person you’re hugging. But ten seconds is too long if you’re only friends. Or frenemies in this case. So maybe, Graham had feelings for her but she didn’t return them? Maybe Graham made her feel uncomfortable or said something to her when he hugged her, and that, topped with him getting the promotion she desired was enough to want him dead.”

  Killian mulls it over for a moment, then shakes his head. “No, it’s too obvious. She’s smarter than that. She’s a doctor and has way more education than both of us combined. If she really wanted him dead, she wouldn’t have hired someone to murder him a week after his promotion. I don’t think she hired Cassidy.”

  David cocks a brow, a sly smirk curving his lips. “So does that mean you’re in?”

  “I didn’t say that,” Killian grumbles.

  “But it’s been over five minutes. Which means I’ve intrigued you. Otherwise, we’d be outside with my wife and kids right now.”

  Bloody hell. 

  David’s right. Killian is intrigued, and not solely by the case, but by the blonde woman on David’s computer screen. He wants to know more about her; he wants to find out more information. He has a gut feeling about her; he knows she didn’t murder Dr. Humbert. He doesn’t believe the whole rival surgeons scenario is a motive for murder. He and David also bicker and tease each other, but he would never murder David over a job promotion. “Okay, fine. I’m intrigued. But as I said, I don’t think she had anything to do with Dr. Humbert’s murder.” 

  David makes a noise of hesitance and appears to be unsure about Killian’s assessment. “There’s something else you should know that might change your mind.”

  Killian cocks a brow. “What’s that?”

  “Did you hear about Cassidy’s most recent trial?”

  Killian shakes his head. “I stopped watching the news or following any media regarding that arsehole,” Killian mutters. “Not knowing there’s yet another victim left in his path of destruction is the only way I can sleep at night.”

  “He was acquitted from another capital punishment.” 

  Killian scoffs. “So he got away with another murder? What else is new?”

  David sighs and fast-forwards through the video. “Just listen.” He hits play.

  “Dr. Swan, did you recently serve on a jury that recently acquitted an accused contract killer, Neal Gold?”

  Killian’s eyebrow jumps, and he reclines in his chair, crossing his arms.

  “What’s the relevance of the question, Detective?” Mr. Hopper asks, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

  David raises his hand in defense. “I’ll get to that, I promise.”

  “Please do very quickly,” Emma says curtly. “Some of us don’t have time for unnecessary interviews. I have patients waiting for me.”

  David sighs. “The sooner you answer my questions, the sooner you can leave.”

  She expels a tentative breath. “Yes, I served on the jury that acquitted Mr. Gold.”

  “And were you or were you not the forewoman?”

  Killian swallows the lump in his throat. 

  “I was. But you already knew that. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have asked.”

  “Feisty lass,” Killian remarks with a subtle smirk.

  David nods. “That’s for sure. Feisty but polite.” 

  They revert their attention to the video.

  “That’s correct. I’ve already interviewed the other eleven jurors.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I believe Dr. Humbert’s killer was hired. He wasn’t robbed, and he has no known adversaries… other than you, Dr. Swan.”

  Emma narrows her eyes at the insinuation. “Dr. Humbert and I were not adversaries. We were friendly colleagues.”

  “Yes, you were a colleague of his who wanted the promotion he got, and recently let a contract killer back on the streets.”

  Her eyes widen as she lunges forward in her seat. “I didn’t free him. The judge made the final decision. My job was to determine the facts and reach a verdict based on all the facts and evidence. In that case, the evidence was lacking.” 

  Her attorney puts out his hand to stop her from continuing to speak any further. “Detective, Mr. Gold’s crime was alleged and has no relevance to this case.”

  David pauses the video. “Some of the jurors said Cassidy and the doctor kept making eyes at each other.

  Killian quirks a brow. He doesn't doubt any straight, red-blooded male would be attracted to Emma, but he highly doubts a woman of her class, beauty and intelligence would be interested in a scumbag like Cassidy. “Did you question her about it?”

  “Yes, she claimed he kept staring at her, but that his attentions were very much unwanted. That’s as far as I got before Mr. Hopper stood and asked if there were any more unnecessary questions I wanted to ask her.”

  “So, you think the doctor hired Cassidy to eliminate her competition?”

  “The crime scene had his name written all over it.”

  “I’m not arguing that. But I don’t think someone like her,” Killian says, pointing at the paused screen, “would get involved with someone like that piece of scum.” The thought makes him utterly sick to his stomach.

  “He may be scum, but he’s clever scum. That’s why your brother coined his moniker, remember?”

  “Aye.” He remembers very well when Liam began calling him Cassidy. 

  One time Killian asked his brother why he called him that, and he said Neal’s father, a convicted felon Liam successfully put behind bars, was referred to only as his surname, Gold. To avoid any confusion, he didn’t call Neal by his surname too, nor did he wish to call Neal by his first name—Liam never called perps by their first name—so initially, Neal was the clever killer because he seemed to be an exception to Locard's Exchange Principle, which asserts, “the perpetrator of a crime will bring something to the crime scene and leave with something from it,” and that “both can be used as forensic evidence.” Dr. Edmond Locard was the Sherlock Holmes of France who came up with the basic principle of forensic science, “every contact leaves a trace.”  

  While Cassidy always leaves a weapon at the scene, he never purchases the weapons, or at least there is never a trace of the purchase. He also never leaves fingerprints. There was only one single time when Cassidy was sloppy and accidentally left something of his behind and that was when he murdered Liam. But he never took anything from his victims.  

  The name Cassidy was brought up when Elsa became pregnant with Camila and they were deciding on names. Elsa had mentioned Cassidy as a possible name for their daughter, and when Liam looked up the name to see what it meant, he discovered the origins of the name and that it meant clever. So it became Neal’s nickname.

  When Liam’s daughter was born, he suggested they call her Camila, which means perfect , and Elsa was immediately on board with it. Killian’s glad Liam and Elsa didn’t end up naming their child Cassidy. How ironic would it have been if Liam gave his daughter the same name he gave the man who eventually killed him? 

  Liam never mentioned Neal Gold to Elsa, he didn’t like bringing work home with him and he especially didn’t like to cause his wife any distress by talking about a notorious serial killer on the loose. He didn’t want Elsa to worry about her husband, and while she knew the risks that came with Liam’s job as a homicide detective, he made her believe he mostly reviewed old, unsolved cases. 

  After Liam died, Killian promised Elsa he’d find her husband’s killer. While no one was certain of who murdered Liam because there was no evidence, except for a single thread of fabric left behind at the crime scene, Killian and David knew. But Killian botched any chance they had of convicting Cassidy and failed Elsa and Camila in the process. Not only did he fail, but he’s the reason why Cassidy couldn’t be convicted. He acted on high emotions after Liam’s death. He was so angry and vengeful, he was willing to do whatever it took to put Cassidy behind bars. And that’s exactly why he failed. He didn’t think. He made a split decision, and several people have subsequently paid the price for that decision. Now a highly respected surgeon has been added to that list, along with who knows how many others.

  “So, how will you proceed?” Killian asks skittishly, afraid of what David’s answer might be.

  “Not me. Us,” David says. “I need your help.”

  “Why me? Why not Scarlet or Jefferson?”

  “Because I need someone with your instincts, someone good, and you're better than them or anyone else in our department. Besides, no one knows Cassidy like you do.”

  Killian shakes his head. “I can’t. Any case involving Cassidy is personal for me. After he killed—” His voice cracks. He can’t even force the rest of the words out. “I can't.”

  “Come on, Killian. I’m not asking you to come back permanently; just this one case, that's it,” David pleads. “If you won’t do this for me, do it for your brother.”

  Damn it, Nolan. Why did he have to go and use that card? 

  Killian sighs and stands up, pacing the kitchen. When he reaches David again, he stops and places his hands on his hips. “Let’s say I said yes, what would you want me to do?”

  “Search for any clues that will tell us if Emma and Cassidy are in alliance.”

  Killian furrows his brows. “Since you need probable cause, I'm guessing you don't have a warrant for Dr. Swan, so how do you suppose I do that?”

  David shakes his head. “Ah-ah, I’m not telling you until you say you’re in.”

  Killian sighs dramatically as he drags his hand over his face. He has a feeling he’s not going to like whatever plan David has up his sleeve. But he misses working with him again, and he has to admit, he still doesn’t believe Emma had anything to do with her colleague’s murder. So perhaps he can go along with David’s plan to prove that. He looks at David again and with a curt nod, he makes it official. “I’m in.”

  To that, David says nothing, just grins complacently.

  Killian gulps. What the bloody hell did he just sign up for?

Tagging some people who have shown interest so far. If you would like to be tagged or untagged, please let me know.

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[themattress]

OUAT AND ME: SEASON 4

Story - The story for the first half of the season is the Frozen Saga and the story for the second half is the Operation Mongoose Saga. The Frozen Saga is about Elsa from Arendelle crossing over into Storybrooke in search of her sister Anna, bonding with Emma in the process and helping her face another Snow Queen who has a secret connection to both of them, while the Operation Mongoose Saga is about heroes and villains alike searching for the elusive author of Henry's storybook so that he can give them their happy endings.

The Frozen Saga is noteworthy for being the last time that OUAT was big in the mainstream, due to the ubiquitous nature of the Disney phenomenon it was capitalizing on not even a year after its release in theaters. And despite the initial apprehension of many, it's actually the Frozen elements that are the strongest part of this story. The flashbacks tell an interconnecting tale serving as the backstory of the present-day events much like the flashbacks of the Dark Curse Saga did, making excellent use of both Frozen and OUAT's established mythology. And the present-day story is all about the unexpected yet perfectly natural bond between Emma and Elsa, and it's honestly one of the strongest depicted friendships the show has ever had. The way the two of them are further linked through the Big Bad is also ingenious, bringing about a great feeling of cohesion to the narrative.

In fact, rewatching this arc after Frozen 2, it's kind of funny how I actually prefer it as a sequel to the original movie than the actual sequel! Like Frozen 2, this arc deals with why Elsa and Anna's parents left on their fateful voyage, the discovery of a secret from their mother's side of the family, a revelation of what the source of Elsa's power is, Elsa making peace with herself while Anna learns to be more independent and ends up marrying Kristoff, and a location called the Enchanted Forest. But it does so in a way that feels more true to the characters from the original film and avoids all of the pratfalls that Frozen 2 stumbled into. There's no over-its-head political message, no sisterly separation ending, and no Olaf.

Unfortunately, there are two subplots that put a damper on things. The first subplot starts off well enough, with Rumpelstiltskin returning to his former villainous glory as he sneaks and schemes and manipulates his way through a plan to obtain the power of the Sorcerer's Hat of Fantasia fame, but it sadly fails to stick the landing in a way that matches the build-up and there end up being no lingering consequences to it when there really should have been. The second subplot is horrendous, focusing on the increasingly skeevy romance between Regina and Robin Hood while also pushing Regina forward on a ridiculous quest to find the Author of Henry's storybook. Why? She believes some cosmic rule is preventing her from having a happy ending  because she was written as a villain in the book (and not because, y'know, she was actually a villain in the past), and if she's rewritten as a hero she thinks that will change. Yes, that is the absurd idea that this whole subplot is founded upon, and the fact that everyone goes along with it as if there is an ounce of logic behind it is cringe-inducing.

Sadly, that subplot ends up becoming the plot of the Operation Mongoose Saga, which on the one hand gives Season 4 more connection between its two arcs than Season 3 had, but on the other hand it's so fucking stupid. Now, whenever it's Rumple leading around his villainous team, "the Queens of Darkness", to find the Author before the heroes can, things are fun and watchable in spite of the plot's stupidity. But whenever it's Regina and Robin's continued relationship angst or a horrendous new subplot about Snow and Charming having secretly been villains in the past by causing Maleficent to lose her child, it's tiresome and insulting. The finale, a two-parter actually named "Operation Mongoose", is highly enjoyable, but it can't fully wash away the taste of what came before it....or what it sets up to come after it.

Characters - Heroes and villains everywhere, and not always where you expect.

* Remember how in Season 3, Emma had a great character arc in the Neverland Saga but then it came to a halt in the Wicked Saga until the two-part season finale finally picked it up and resolved it? And that the Wicked Saga did her dirty by building her up as the only one who could defeat Zelena only for Regina to defeat her instead? Season 4 does kind of a repeating of these problems, except this time around they are a lot more glaring.

For most of the Frozen Saga, Emma has a great arc that's essentially her and Elsa's shared journey toward self-love; learning from each other to accept themselves and their innate powers without having to always rely on the approval of a loved one. But then, after a huge broo-ha-ha is made about how Emma must be the one to defeat the Snow Queen....she doesn't, and Anna barges in to help the Snow Queen see the error of her ways before Emma can lift a finger. She isn't even the one to save her own boyfriend from Rumple afterward, Belle does it instead. It makes Emma look like the definition of a Boring Failure Heroine.

And things don't improve for her in the Operation Mongoose Saga. Her roles are being subservient to Regina in spite of the abuse Regina had thrown her way in the previous arc, being unreasonably angry at her parents for keeping a secret from her, being vilified for daring to kill a heinous villain in defense of her son, going back and forth between being a friend or an enemy to her "dark half" Lily, and being hyped as the key to restoring reality to the way it was in the season finale...only for Regina, yet again, to end up taking that role away from her. I think it was Disney's insistence that Emma be tied to Elsa and have that arc in the Frozen Saga, because Adam and Eddy clearly couldn't care less about her.  

* Snow and Charming....SIGH. In the Frozen Saga, Snow is the new mayor of Storybrooke...until the Operation Mongoose Saga, where she suddenly isn't anymore and Regina takes up the mantle again. Through both arcs, Snow reaches new levels of bad motherhood toward Emma while continuing to coddle Regina, which is not touching, it's creepy. Charming, meanwhile, is revealed to have been a long-haired coward during his shepherd days and owes his bravery and swordsman skills to Anna, which neuters just about any coolness he ever had. And then, of course, there's the egg-napping subplot from the Operation Mongoose Saga, where Snow and Charming are revealed to have stolen the egg containing Maleficent's baby, transferred Emma's darkness into it while Emma was still in Snow's womb, and then sent it away in a portal. All because of some nebulous prophesizing and interference from Isaac. And this revelation means, according to the show, that they were villains all along and thus all this time have been pious hypocrites who just do things the easy way rather than the right way. Doesn't Regina look so much better in comparison to them now? Because that's clearly the intent behind this fucking writing decision. Character assassination at its finest.

* Henry sucks, Henry sucks, Henry.....doesn't suck? Yes, for most of the season Henry is lamer than he's ever been, still being treated like a precocious kid character even though Jared Gilmore has clearly entered puberty. But then he ends up as the leading character of the season finale, and shockingly rises to the occasion. It concludes with him becoming the new Author, and this marks a turning point in Henry's character that has been a long time coming, which I will go more into detail about when I talk about the next two seasons.

* This is the season where Regina officially crossed the line into Mary Sue territory. She decides that Marian's reappearance means that she is being punished for being a villain...not because she actually was a villain, but because some Author dared to write her as a villain in a storybook, and that he needs to rewrite her into a hero so that she can get the happy ending that she's entitled to. And in true Mary Sue fashion, she warps the plot and characters around her so that nobody objects to this idea and instead whole-heartedly embrace it.

Every good guy in Storybrooke fights to help Regina get her happy ending, constantly repeating that she "deserves it" and has "come so far" even as she continues to act in ways contradicting that notion. In the end, she doesn't even need the Author since she gets Robin Hood back, gets the adulation of being a "Light Savior" who restores reality back to normal, and has Emma sacrifice herself to the Dark One curse in order to save Regina and her "hard-earned" happy ending. I think the scene that best displays the problem is in the flashback of the episode "Mother", where we see Regina in the past remorselessly murder a groom on his wedding day for no good reason, then immediately go cry over Daniel's grave since this is the anniversary of his death, and then we cut to present-day Regina mention how life always "kicks her in the teeth". Yeah, I kinda think life kicked that groom in the teeth WAY more. So where the Hell is the Author who's gonna give his poor widowed bride her happy ending?

* Rumple, for the most part, is great in this season. In the Frozen Saga, we see him going back to his Dark Curse Saga roots as he plays the role of the true villainous mastermind behind the female Big Bad, dealing and manipulating his way toward one single objective - in this case being to use the power of the Sorcerer's Hat to "cleave" himself from the Dark One dagger. And in the Operation Mongoose Saga, he steps up as the direct Big Bad who leads a team of other villains in pursuit of the Author, under the promise that he can give them their happy endings. It helps that Robert Carlyle is clearly enjoying himself; that fun is infectious.

Unfortunately, there is a problem: Rumple fails to stick the landing in his last three episodes of both arcs. In the Frozen Saga, his failure to absorb Emma into the Sorcerer's Hat seems to drive him bonkers because he then rips out Hook's heart, relying solely on commanding him to do his dirty work all while ranting and raving repetitively about how when the stars in the sky and the stars in the hat are aligned, he will cleave himself of the dagger and he will kill Hook to do so, and that Hook better enjoy so-and-so because it'll be his last and blah blah blah. It's boring and silly, and Rumple's arrogance as he keeps saying it just makes his failure that much more pathetic. And in the Operation Mongoose Saga, his suddenly revealed heart condition ends up taking its toll on him and he is ultimately unable to mount a final assault against the heroes on his own, requiring the far less impressive Isaac to do so instead. The "Light One" version of him that Isaac overwrites him with manages to put up a fight, but that's not nearly as good. Rumple as the Big Bad should have gone out with a bang, not a whimper.

* Hook remains one of the best characters in the ensemble, forced to reconcile his pirate past with his heroic present in both the Frozen Saga and the Operation Mongoose Saga. In the former, his fears of regressing allow Rumple to manipulate him into servitude, which Hook ends up fighting against until Rumple rips out his heart. In the latter, he contends with the way in which he'd wronged Ursula in the past, and with the help of Ariel (whom he also finally does right by), he is able to rectify his mistake and grant Ursula her true happy ending. I'm not really a big fan of his new modern leather jacket, though. The pirate coat was iconic!

* Following such a good Season 3 performance, Belle looks like she's on track to become even better at the end of the Frozen Saga when she finally sees Rumple for who he is and dumps his ass all the way across the town line. It was a powerful scene with some great lines from Belle, and by all logic it should have been the end of her and Rumple as a romantic pairing. They needed to be done after that, with Belle now being free to develop her character entirely apart from Rumple. But of course, Adam and Eddy would never allow that, so all she does in the Operation Mongoose Saga is date a man she doesn't actually love to soothe her heartbreak, fall passed out on the floor, have her heart stolen by Regina and then have it recovered by Rumple which causes her to inevitably crawl back to him at the end of the finale. As the next seasons will show, this damaged Belle's character beyond repair, turning her into the very Stockholm Syndrome-afflicted abuse victim that stupid detractors of the Disney version always claimed she was. This isn't a love story anymore. It's a horror story.

* Robin Hood is a regular for this season in all but title, being present for many episodes in the Frozen Saga and even getting his own focus episode in the Operation Mongoose Saga. If there was any chance of salvaging this horrendously misused character, it died the moment it showed that he still desired a relationship with Regina even after learning that she was the one who killed Marian, which would have stuck if not for Emma and Hook's time travel adventure. I'm sorry, who does that!? That is not realistic human behavior! And it only gets worse when he ends up deliberately and vocally throwing away his honor code by cheating on Marian with Regina while Marian is frozen solid and could possibly die! Oh, but Marian ends up being Zelena anyway, so all's cool. No! All's not cool! Why did this show make Robin Hood into such a lame character!? It's especially a disservice to Sean Maguire, who's a smooth and funny guy in real life and the Robin Hood he plays utilizes none of his charm.

* And then we have the regular in title only, Robin's former associate Will Scarlet, carried over from Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. Of all the screwed-over regulars the show has had, none can compare with Will Scarlet. He does little of interest in the Frozen Saga except for enticing viewers with various mysteries about who he is, why he's here and what's he up to...and those mysteries get absolutely no pay-off in the Operation Mongoose Saga, where he barely shows up and when he does is mainly just Belle's new boyfriend (whom she scarcely interacts with directly!) so that Rumple can get jealous and more determined to find the Author. In the end, Will Scarlet is a nuisance who has fuck-all to do with anything that's going on in the season, leaving viewers scratching their heads as to why he was included to begin with. I can't believe that in his last speaking appearance, the show actually has him deliver the line "I warn ya, I'm scrappy", to which Rumple replies "All right, Scrappy." It's funny because Scrappy, in the TV Tropes usage of the word, perfectly describes Will here.

So, what went wrong? Well, originally the Wonderland spin-off was meant to take place during Season 2 of the main show, with the originally filmed pilot making this explicit. So Will in Season 4 was to be the Will we have after the Wonderland Saga's conclusion, meaning somehow he'd gone back to Storybrooke and regressed back into a selfish, self-esteem lacking, seemingly heartless thief separated from his true love Anastasia / the Red Queen. Highly unoriginal of Adam and Eddy, but whatever, there were still plans to move forward with him as a character on the main show. But those plans failed to materialize and Michael Socha spent a lot of time on set doing nothing, a miserable experience which he was very vocal about afterward. And what was Adam and Eddy's excuse? "It’s just, you know, there’s just so many…there’s just so many people that it’s like, it’s sometimes hard to do that story and sacrifice Regina’s story. That’s just showbiz." It all comes down to Regina. Of course.

In the end it's for the best that the confirmation of the Wonderland Saga as taking place in Season 2 never happened in the pilot we actually got, since Will's existence in this season only makes sense now if it was happening before the Wonderland Saga rather than after, thus my headcanon will always be that Will's fateful break-in to Granny's was after it closed up on the night "Operation Mongoose" ended on rather than the night of the wraith attack.

* Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Sven, Hans, Grand Pabbie, Oaken, the Duke of Weselton, and the former King and Queen of Arendelle are all lifted from Frozen to OUAT, and for every character that required an actor they got an actor who perfectly brought the animated movie character to life. They are also written accurately as well, with Elsa naturally being the stand-out given how much she gets to do and the bond she forges with Emma. And then there are the new Frozen characters invented for the show: Elsa and Anna's aunts - the deceased Helga and the icy-powered Ingrid, who is also the Frozen Saga's Big Bad, the Snow Queen. Ingrid, played beautifully by Elizabeth Mitchell, is essentially what Elsa might have become if Anna hadn't been so unconditionally loving toward her - her mind warped by her past pain and trauma, embittered toward all normal people, and willing to cross any moral boundary to find a family and place to belong to. Her connection to Elsa and Anna is perfectly exploited, her interactions with characters like Emma and Rumple are fascinating, and her ending where she realizes the error of her ways and sacrifices her life to reverse the damage she's done is the show's most beautiful, emotional send-offs for a villain since Rumple's death.

* The Queens of Darkness are Rumple's cohorts in the Operation Mongoose Saga who also desire the Author to write them a happy ending. The initial group is the trio of Maleficent, Ursula and Cruella De Vil, and it's later revealed that not-so-dead Zelena is also a member.

Maleficent, in spite of being played competently by Kristen Bauer van Straten and having great fashion sense in both worlds, is the weakest of the initial trio, since she is saddled with the mind-bogglingly stupid eggnapping subplot. Ursula isn't actually reflective of the Disney version of the character (Regina already did that in Season 3) and is more like a dark version of Ariel in regards to her backstory. She also isn't nearly as villainous as her peers and naturally she is redeemed rather quickly and easily as a result. And then there's Cruella De Vil, who is not a fairy tale character so everyone feared how she'd come off. Well, she's not only the best of the trio but one of the show's best villains, period. Victoria Smurfit looks, sounds and moves like the cartoon character made flesh, backed up by strong writing that makes her both funny and menacing - especially the latter when it comes to her backstory, a twisted little tale that subverts the show's usual "evil isn't born, it's made" mantra HARD.

Zelena.....SIGH. Like I said before, Adam and Eddy were dropping obvious clues that she wasn't really dead at the end of Season 3, which begged the question why they did a fake-out death to begin with. Apparently, it's because of this season's twist where, with almost no foreshadowing whatsoever, Marian is revealed to actually be Zelena in disguise, having traveled back in time with Emma and Hook and then killed the real Marian in order to take her place. She's revealed to then be pregnant with Robin Hood's child (since he slept with her thinking she was Marian...therefore, she raped him) before being hauled right on back to Storybrooke prison again. It's awful writing, salvaged only by Rebecca Mader's performance.

* We get some welcome returning characters this season, including Sydney Glass, Blackbeard, Ariel, Cora, and against all expectations August Booth. There are some interesting new side characters introduced as well, such as warlord Bo Peep (yes, really), Ursula's father Poseidon played by the great Ernie Hudson, and the Sorcerer's Apprentice, keeper of the Sorcerer's Hat and the Author's boss, meaning he naturally plays a major role throughout the season. The Author himself is Isaac Heller, played by Patrick Fischler, and he turns out to be a surprise villain who abuses his powers to influence events, which an Author is not supposed to do. While I wish he didn't take over the Big Bad position to such a degree in the finale, Isaac is still a very entertaining villain, especially when he's playing off of Regina and Rumple. His sardonic and cynical attitude also make him the perfect foil to Henry.

And then there's this season's biggest waste of a new character: Lilith "Lily" Page. There are three major problems with Lily. First of all, her origin - she's Maleficent's child that Snow and Charming kidnapped, passed all of Emma's natural-born darkness onto, and sent through a portal when she was still in an egg. It's so utterly stupid. Second, she is played by a Latino actress as a child only to have a white actress playing her as an adult. How does that work!? Finally, for all of the build-up she receives, she and her story go absolutely nowhere after she is reunited with her mother. They even make a point of giving her a scene toward the end about wanting to find who her father is, and that never gets followed up on. Even worse, the next story arc is all about Emma going dark, which Rumple had been trying to make happen throughout this arc and Lily was linked to, and yet Lily, her literal dark half, ISN'T involved!? Honestly, Mal from Descendants made a better "daughter of Maleficent" character! MAL!

Atmosphere - The Frozen Saga's atmosphere is very...Frozen-y; I don't really know another word to describe it. At least whenever it's focused on the Frozen characters. The Rumple subplot gets progressively darker to the point of becoming unpleasant, while the Regina subplot is just romantic and existential angst 24/7. These atmospheres don't fit in with the Frozen one at all, which is a testament to how Adam and Eddy are going the wrong direction with this show. Once the Operation Mongoose Saga happens, the atmosphere of the show goes insane, flip-flopping back and forth between family fairy tale wholesomeness to dark and disturbing and depressing to campiness on a level that feels off even for this show.

Episode Quality - For the most part, the Frozen Saga's episodes are perfectly fine and entertaining, although stretching out the 8th episode, "Smash the Mirror", into a two-parter was a horrible idea that cost the show terribly in the ratings. The only two standouts of badness are the 5th episode, "Breaking Glass", which introduces Lily in the flashback story while the present day story is all about Emma just having to sit back and take Regina's verbal abuse in spite of doing nothing to deserve it, and the final episode, "Heroes and Villains", whose only redeeming quality is the scene with Rumple and Belle at the town line, which doesn't even have lasting consequences. For the rest of the episode, we either spend time giving the Frozen cast a rushed, underwhelming send-off, having Rumple continue to abuse Hook while none of the idiot heroes catch on, fixating even more on Regina's angst as she has to let Robin Hood leave town in order to "save" "Marian", and watching a stupid Rumbelle-based flashback introducing the Queen of Darkness trio. In short, the episode is more the start of the Operation Mongoose Saga than it is the end of the Frozen Saga, which feels like a slap in the face to the last thing that made this show relevant to the mainstream.

And the Operation Mongoose Saga's episodes....actually got a lot better on a rewatch!? Don't get me wrong, this story arc is BAD. But when you detach yourself emotionally from the show and its characters, it becomes So Bad It's Good. It's as if the entire saga is Isaac's fanfiction; after all, it truly got started in "Heroes and Villains", and that's the name of Isaac's book in the "Operation Mongoose" two-part finale. Some episodes are unironically fun: "Darkness on the Edge of Town", "Poor Unfortunate Soul" and "Sympathy For the De Vil", but the other episodes are also fun when you just embrace how batshit crazy this whole story is and just enjoy watching how these poor actors are struggling to make something out of the material, and it's just as much fun when they fail as it is when they succeed. "Heart of Gold", the Robin Hood focus episode that reveals the Marian = Zelena twist, is one I have a soft spot for, because between Mader and Carlyle's acting, the scene of that reveal is hilarious.

Overall -  Season 4 is basically the inverse of Season 2. Whereas Season 2 was horribly structured but a lot of strong material in either writing or acting was able to make it stronger than the sum of its parts. Season 4, on the other hand, has a solid structure with two inter-connected story arcs, but the material gets so increasingly shoddy that it doesn't matter. Until Seasons 6 and 7 came along, this was definitely the weakest season the show had to offer. If you don't mind a So Bad It's Good quality, then you should stick with the entire thing. But if you only want something that's actually good, then just watch all of the Frozen material.