#it's just the miata is so cute the end result of that just still looks cute so I just read it as a silly face which I find very endearing

[things-about-cars-in-posts]

To address @zitronenmeer's tags (y'all really should just write a reblog at this point, remember I love to chit chat with you!):

#Oh wow that Lotus does look cute! kind of bite sized You'll be delighted to learn there was a race version, with fixed but equally cute headlights!

Like come on, that's the expression that cute anime girls make before they cut to this shot

"Wait why did you use an OHSHC gif?" Because it's my favorite anime, what about it.

#cause i really really like miatas and I'm glad that the internet has caught on lately Fully agree! I was waiting for an occasion to bring it up but, since somehow my main's profile picture hasn't managed to give it away, the first generation Miata (also known by its chassis code "NA") is my favorite car of all in history ever. Along with the Seven.

And for those curious as to how I would want mine: exactly as below.

Well, not exactly exactly (I do have a three digit mod list after all - yeah, I wish I was joking), but the biggest exterior difference would be the mirror support, so this is pretty damn close.

#i wanna give any kind of miata a smooch and pet its roof "Any" kind? Well, that's certainly more accepting than I've seen in the notes of this post.

For what it's worth, I don't hate that Miata. I in fact approve of all its mods in isolation -those headlights are pushing it but at least the color justifies them- and honestly their combination is fine by me (at least as far as what's visible in that picture goes), I don't want to accept that these cars are becoming too valuable to have a bit of fun with them. Just either raise back one headlight or fully commit to the confused look.

In fact if anything the one thing I don't like there is the color of the stock one. That's right - get bent, @valmillion. I think it's the worst color the NA Miata got (I refuse to consider silver a color) just by virtue of how boring it is and how stellar the others are.

And yet, in the eight years the Miata was produced, every year fantastic new colors were introduced and other fantastic colors were dropped, and Classic Red was the only one to stay in the roster from beginning to end - which to me is downright criminal. I mean, look:

These are just SOME of the colors thousands of people snubbed in favor of Classic fucking Red. Come ON.

(Of course there's more to my love of Miatas than looks -I feel like I have to say it at this point, especially with how aesthetics-focused my posts have been lately- but if you're curious about just what else there's to it you can just ask.)

Links in blue are posts of mine explaining the words in question - if you liked this post, you might like those!

why did mazda make miatas look like fuckable cum guzzling sluts that moan a lil when u put the keys in the ignition

[theonceoverthinker]

OUAT 3X16 - It’s Not Easy Being Green

So, jealousy doesn’t transform Zelena into as much of a green eyed monster as it does a green DYED monster! XD

Who’s ready for the next review? Hopefully you are, so let’s jump right to it!

Press Release

With Rumplestiltskin as her slave, Zelena challenges Regina to a fight to the death and shocks the Evil queen with the reveal of their familial connection, and the town lays Neal to rest. Meanwhile, back in the past in the land of Oz, a jealous Zelena asks the Wizard to send her to Fairy Tale Land after discovering that she has a sister, Regina, and that Rumplestiltskin is training her to become a powerful force to be reckoned with.

Main Thoughts - Characters/Stories/Themes and Their Effectiveness

Past

Before we start, I have to say this: I hate the placement of this flashback. Zelena acts WAY too wicked and mean in the present segment for this flashback to give her the sympathy that the narrative is asking it to. She openly pokes Rumple over Neal’s death in such a cruel way (The entire segment happening right after Neal dies), goes after Regina, and is just the worst. I don’t know if they should’ve exchanged this flashback with the one from “Witch Hunt” or “Bleeding Through,” but the placement here makes the segment struggle to do what it wants to. It ends up hurting the present segment because there are characters who make jabs at Zelena being abandoned that are supposed to hurt, but don’t. Look, I feel for abandoned characters, but when I heard Rumple and Regina making jabs at Zelena in this episode about it, my response was “YOU TELL HER!”

I also feel like Zelena’s jealousy is just too much. The pacing for this segment just goes from 0 to 80 in a millisecond! And I get that OUAT characters are exaggerated and hammy and normally, I’m all for that. But this is supposed to be a humanizing character and a humanizing flashback and she has more in common here with Cruella and Bo Peep than with Regina or Rumple. The hamminess is supposed to come in their non-sympathetic moments, but with Zelena it’s all the time. Because of that, only the latter half of the scenes in the episode work. There’s no buildup to a crazy jealousy. She’s just already there, destroying the momentum of the segment. And I’m pretty sure this isn’t Rebecca Mader’s fault, but the writing itself. Zelena just spirals early on in the episode

“Put on a good face.” Narratively, I feel like this line never got the solid foundation that it needed. Zelena supposedly rejects the line, as it comes from an abusive situation, but it breeds a negative consequence for dismissing it. Now normally, the character is supposed to initially reject the advice, but be thrust into believing it through desperation, circumstances, and their changing worldview. Look at “We Are Both” for a good example of this. But here, Zelena does eventually follow through with this line after becoming evil, but the rejection of it is what causes her to turn green. There’s a lack of cohesion here.

“Because you couldn’t offer her the one thing she truly wanted -- the ability to become royalty.” This line automatically makes all of Zelena’s planning for naught. Like, even if she goes back in time, for as powerful as she is, Cora still won’t take her in because she’s not of royal blood. And Zelena knows this -- it’s spelled out explicitly in front of her, making her further pursuit of Cora’s love so...fruitless. By not listening to that line, Zelena comes off as kind of dense in her plan.

Now, is the segment bad? No. I think there are good elements to it. While Zelena goes way too far way too fast with her jealousy, some moments do work out really well. The Rumple/Zelena dynamic was spot on the entire time. And Rumple...just EVERYTHING Rumple works. I especially loves when he sees the slippers and he IMMEDIATELY changes to a snivelling suck up to try to get them. What a great acting moment!

Present

I love Regina’s character arc throughout this episode. This is such an important episode for her as she realizes what she has in terms of support from her growing friendships and how she needs to both trust and be grateful for it. “She said I don’t always realize what I have right in front of me.” I like how this is another instance of the villain delivering the moral and it being something that connects to Zelena so well! Not only that, but everything she has to go through in terms of realizing that a big comfort in her life was a lie is utterly heartbreaking!

I also like Robin! He’s a great support character for Regina and while that will eventually be to his detriment, it’s great here!

Insights - Stream of Consciousness

-I just love Zelena’s mum! She just instantly loves Zelena and it’s honestly so cute! And her dad...wow, Zelena just can’t catch a break on the dad/father figure front, can she?

-��Stick to the road.” And she’s sassy too! HOW did we never get to see this woman again?! She’s utterly delightful!

-Fuck. Those moments from Killian dropping the soil onto the grave to the transition to Rumple in all kinds of pain. And the music. That fucking guts me. It really fucking guts me!

-You know, I feel like for as long as it was, I still skimped on my Neal’s death thoughts. As I watch this, I realize that Neal never really interacted with Snow, David, and Regina, the former two having named their KID after them and the latter being a co-parent to his son.

-I’m tearing up from how beautiful that funeral scene was. I love how the music and the shovels were the only sounds heard. It wasn’t drawn out or risked with a speech. It was just allowed to bask in its own sadness.

-”Was he really worth all the trouble?” “Every bit of it.” *Tears start welling again*

-”He was family. Something you know nothing about.” Normally, that would be the ultimate douche move for Rumple to say, seeing as he’s imprisoned and grieving, it just...feels right.

-”To see the one person to help me find a family that wants me!” Zelena, you absolutely SHOULD get out of that abusive home, but that’s a little dismissive of your adorable mum!

-”She’ll get more than a dart when I find her.” YESS! Emma, take that witch down!

-Robin, now that you’re exposed, you just love showing off that tattoo, don’t you? XD

-”So what?” Regina, you know that Henry is the only bright spot in your life. Let’s not kid ourselves.

-”My condolences.” You son of a bitch!

-”I don’t want a gift from you.” “But you shall have it.” ...Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that a reference to the “Pilot?” And if so, holy hell, my Snow/Regina/Cora theory is really freakin’ spot on! Oh my God, it is!

-”It’s the Wicked West.” ...Zeze, the fuck?

-I actually love this table scene of everyone coming together and theorizing what the fuck is up with Zelena!

-I LOVE Walsh’s Wizard voice. It’s so powerful, but ha a gentle softness to it too.

-Also, as we watch this episode, I have to say that Walsh wasn’t such a well designed character. In “New York City Serenade,” he’s a Hans-like villain who is supposed to be irredeemably bad. But in this flashback, the worst he does is lie. Not only that, the whole time he DOES lie, he’s kind, supportive, and takes Zelena’s feelings into account! He’s a bonafide sweetie!

-I’m pretty sure Rumple spent a hot second thinking Zelena was his kid. Okay, show of hands: Who thinks Cora and Rumple boned?

-Damn, paternity tests are REALLY easy in the Enchanted Forest! I now HC that Rumple played a part in sorting out the whole Lily debacle!

-”I don’t think a sleeping curse is good for the baby.” You’d be surprised, Snow!

-Wow! Look who has a personality, Robin! A nice bit of sass you’ve got there!

-This scene with Regina, Robin, and the letter is utterly magnificent! Lana’s acting here is just so great as she slowly paints this picture of how this letter was a comfort to her, only for that to be ruined by the realization that the first born described was not her. It’s a beautifully tragic sequence.

-”I foresaw that that curse could only be cast by Cora’s daughter.” Now WHEN did you see this? If it was after Cora broke things off with you, that would be one thing, but if it was before -- and narratively, before does make more sense -- that causes some trouble. Because if you saw this before you met Cora, and you were planning to run off with her and presumably have a kid, then it would be the Zelena problem all over again: You’d just have another magical child who can’t cast the curse because the thing they love most would be Rumple (That or Rumple would have no problem with killing Cora, the woman he loved, to enact the curse).

-I like how Zelena sort of made Rumple a better teacher by asking for something to reference!

-”Some spinsters took us in.” It’s weird. He kind of jumps to the royal “we” for like half of this speech for some reason. It’s a really weird writing choice.

-”The moment you decided to train me.” Look at Rumple’s face! He knows he went to far with being kind to her and fucked up!

-Emma! This stealth mission involves a lot of yelling! Maybe you should cut that out!

-I love how Rumple SO doesn’t want to deliver that message from Zelena, but still puts every bit of passion into it!

-”Like a GPS?” “Aye.” The beat between those two lines gets me every fucking time! XD

-”The more things you guys tell me about my dad, the less things make sense.” Welcome to OUAT, Henry!

-”I’m not an amateur. I’m the Savior.” What a badass line.

-I love how Regina’s first instinct is not to use magic, but slap a bitch! XD

-WHAT’S UP WITH ZELENA AND FUCKING SHAVING?!

-”You’re insane.” “Besides the point.” XD What an underrated quip!

-I kind of want to see some fanart of Rumple getting his sparkly little hands on those slippers!

-”My Miata.” Doc, I feel for you. I really do, but you KNEW there was gonna be a fight here. You could’ve moved your car. That’s on you, bro!

-Like seriously! #Walshdeservesbetter! The dude’s not a villain and I don’t like his portrayal in “New York City Serenade” retroactively as a result!

Arcs - How Are These Storylines Progressing?

The Wicked Witch - Okay, my issues aside, I think Zelena is still a great villain. Look at how everyone reacts when she enters a space! Everyone backs the fuck away, terrified and she gets to go on her funny rants because few have the balls to say anything about it. And the arc itself is moving at an engaging pace and has a good establishment of setting a narrative with questions that need to be answered while also setting the groundwork for those answers with Regina rising up to take on Zelena.

Neal’s Death - So, while Neal dying isn’t an arc, per se, I feel it is important to keep track of how the narrative handles Neal for the rest of the season. The after effects of a death can be just as earth shattering in a story as the death itself and it’s a show of how the writing team respects the character. And this episode thankfully, handles it nicely. Neal’s passing follows everyone throughout the episode and is a strong presence in everyone’s action, most notably Emma’s.

Killian’s Redemption - I love Killian’s role in this episode. He’s working hard to become a better person, quell Emma’s lust for revenge, and most importantly, help comfort Henry. He knows he majorly fucked things up with Bae and helping henry see the kind of person his father was is such a step in righting that wrong because he’s honoring Bae’s dying wish. I also like that for Henry’s sake, even if it goes against what he knows Emma wants, he argues that Henry needs to know his father. I think this shows how Killian’s redemption is more serious than it initially lets on and is more motivated than just by Emma.

Regina’s Redemption - Even though Regina know she can’t win, even when she feels so at a loss and helpless. she goes to fight for everyone! She grits her teeth, comes up with a plan, and ultimately wins more than she loses. This is Regina at her peak! She’s snarky, sarcastic, cool, smart, and she’s gonna kick your ass!

Favorite Dynamic

Henry and Killian. Once again, in an episode filled with sad moments and dark things, this dynamic was a well needed reprieve. Killian comes in, fulfilling both a character and a story purpose. The Henry/Killian subplot was just sweet and kind. Seeing Killian understand what Henry needs to hear about his father and delivering it in a way that keeps everyone’s dignity and respect intact was great. Also, I have to appreciate the difficult position that the characters are in here, and how the writing did a very genuine and natural job of improving Henry’s memory-influenced relationship with Neal.

Writer

Andrew Chambliss is once again on his own this time. And yeah...I felt like some of this was rocky and lacked cohesion over what over what we were supposed to feel.

Rating

7/10. The past segment of this episode is really flawed, but not to the full detriment of either the present segment or even itself. There are good qualities to it, especially when we hit the forest scene going forward, BUT there are some narrative issues that are more than just nitpicks and hinder whatever emotions the audience tries to attribute to Zelena. But enough about the bad. Let’s talk about the good. First, Regina’s just marvelous in this episode. Her struggle with dealing with Zelena is so good and angsty and how she performs during the witch fight is just awesome. Second, the Killian and Henry subplot was so touching. This isn’t an easy situation to write considering the unique positions of any of these characters, but what is written is just gorgeous. Finally, Rumple just rocks. He’s the highlight of the flashback and in the present, the whump is high and appropriately desolate and sad and I am here for this!

Flip My Ship - The Home of All Things “Shippy Goodness”

Swan Fire - Emma’s sadness and rage at losing Neal gives me fucking life and makes me weep like a lil bitch! She loved Neal so much. And he’s gone! Like, the fact that someone had to intervene shows how angry she had gotten and I like how the narrative plays up how hurt she was. And then Snow and David show up, and you see just how saddened she is at Neal’s passing.

Captain Swan - I think this is some of the most lowkey Captain Swan stuff, but it’s also really effective. Seeing Killian step in and stop Emma from focusing so hard on revenge is really touching after she introduced him to a new path. It’s also amazing how Killian’s not only willing to help Emma with Henry right now, BUT to actively help him grieve and you see how this is the kind of personality that Emma responds to more than anything. He focuses on her needs (“Nothing will happen to the boy while he’s in my charge.”).

Outlaw Queen - Okay, the entire scene at Granny’s is just plain adorable, from Regina and Tink “gossiping about boys” to Robin making sure Regina was okay to Robin just FUCKING FLAT OUT asking her on a date. And their banter and trust as the episode continues to progress is so delightful! It’s fucking cute, if you couldn’t tell my thoughts, and I’m happy that I’m falling for these two again! I also just love how Robin knows that Regina’s an utter powerhouse and while not being afraid, does respect both her power and consent.

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Whoo-boy! This week has been intense for me wit OUAT stuff! Thank you so much for reading and to the fine folks at @watchingfairytales, as always! Love you all and I’ll see you next time!

Season 3 Total (152/220)

Writer’s Scores: Adam and Eddy (39/60) Kalinda Vazquez (26/40) Andrew Chambliss (34/50) Jane Espenson (20/30) David Goodman (20/40) Robert Hull (30/40) Christine Boylan (20/20)* Daniel Thomsen (20/30)

* Indicates that their work for the season is complete

Links to the rest of my rewatch will no longer be provided. They take posts with links outside of searches and I spend way too much time on these reviews to not give them that kind of exposure. Sorry for the inconvenience, but they still can be found on my page under Operation Rewatch.