#like 4 episodes in it still feels like this is an elaborate and expensive hidden camera prank sometimes KLFDSKL

[seokmatthewz]

its still so weird seeing hui on this show 

[theonceoverthinker]

OUAT Rewatch 4x12 - Darkness on the Edge of Town

I hope my knowlEDGE on this episode will make for an engaging review! XD

...Yeah, this was a hard one to make a pun for. I miss the ice puns already.

Anyway, as I said, just below the cut, there’s an honestly fairly short review by my regular standards. If you feel like checking it out, go below the cut!

So, if you’re at all familiar with my reviews, by now you know that I usually post my main takeaways here, but this time, I don’t really have them and what I do have to say is small enough to not need a ton of elaboration. So instead, we’re gonna skip it this time and just go right to the Stream of Consciousness! With that being said...

Stream of Consciousness

-”Tried to impregnate.” Not even one minute in and we get a hentai joke!!! XD I love this series!

-You know, the music that play in the Storybrooke owner sounds like a somewhat harsher version of what is later the happy endings montage in Season 6, as if to say a lot is right, but not everything.

-I would honestly love more Snow and Bird interactions! XD

-Wait, so is Granny’s just closed, or is she babysitting WHILE running a popular diner! This woman is a freakin’ superhero! Also, where’s David?

-I love how Belle actually thinks to reach out to people outside the fairy tale world.

-”How could I have been so weak?” MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY.  

-”You -- you should’ve been stronger, but you weren’t, and well...neither was I.” No. I love Killian, Belle, but there was a difference between Killian being sort of manipulated (sort of -- the present segment of “The Apprentice” just sucks) and being straight up lied to.

-”I just hope he’s found whatever it is he’s looking for.” Umm, considering when you last saw him, he was looking to kill people and take over the world, you probably shouldn’t hope that! XD

-I repeat what I asked in the last episode: WHY are all of these fairytale creatures living in New York! I love my home state, but it is EXPENSIVE!

-You know, I just feel really bad for Ursula. We don’t see enough of what she did as a villain to hate her in any way and in this world, apparently all she can afford to eat is RAMEN! That is so fucking sad! This woman does not deserve this!

-”What you do is complain.” And what you do is mooch, Rumple! Don’t bitch at the person who is hosting you, especially when she’s pissed! See, the one thing about being a coward (And I am a big fucking coward) is that we’re not confrontative when we don’t have the power! XD

-I love the implication that Cruella just went around our land AND landed a rich husband with the name “Cruella.” XD

-You know, CAN Cruella kill in a land without magic? Because no one else’s magic works, so maybe she’s been free all along! ...But then again, she probably would’ve killed her husband, so I guess it’s more of a reverse Weaver situation. Actually, to serve my point, at the end of the scene, Cruella drives down and like by all means, should’ve killed this guy but instead gets flung back into a bush! The universe is conspiring against her!

-”Aren’t you tired of feeling ordinary?” Please, even in this world, Cruella’s far from ordinary! Besides, for the wham line that this is, Cruella’s problem wasn’t that she was ordinary -- it’s that she couldn’t kill!

-Okay, so apparently Regina has a weakness for root beer! I hate the stuff, but good to know!

-I love how Killian smiles at Belle as she tells them that she did it! He’s so proud!

-Cruella’s power is so fucking cool! She can not only control animals, BUT she can have her commands spread from one animal to another. Like, how did this woman not at the very least take over a whole town with an army of rhinos?

-How come Mal’s staff absorbed the fire instead of just...Mal? She’s a fire breathing dragon! Give her some extra fire!

-Or...CAN Cruella kill? Because Rumple knows she can’t kill, but is still afraid?

-I know that Blue and Regina are far from friends, but it’s weird how much focus is put on their dynamic in this episode. There’s a lot of hesitation whenever they interact and given how little they interact on a regular basis, it’s odd.

-Why wouldn’t Blue not know or even not think about the possibility of the Author working for The Sorcerer, or vice versa?

-When did Isaac have the time to leave these “hidden clues?” And how come neither Merlin nor The Apprentice had anything to say about them if they were rumors?

-”This isn’t our first monster bash.” I honestly love how freakin’ well oiled this town is at times!

-I’m honestly curious what a 4B where the Queens of Darkness do decide to leave Rumple behind would look like. Because Cruella would’ve at least considered it, let’s be honest. I’m not saying I’d have preferred that, but I would totally read a fic of that universe.

-You know, I like the subtle costume details of just how destitute Rumple’s life has become. Everything from his phone to his cane are of poorer quality and his coat looks like he got it out of Goodwill. It a really good instance of costuming telling a story.

-”The sea bitch.” To my knowledge, you and Ursula have never met! Why are you calling her a bitch?

-”Swallows the heart with the darkest potential.” I’m trying to think about this in regards to Emma, the character we’re supposed to believe fulfills that role. I mean, sort of. I can see her intelligence, ability to detect lies, and connection to her family and friends to have potential to be abused to the detriment of others. It’s an interesting concept. And given how life in Storybrooke, while rewarding in a lot of senses, has made her life complicated as all hell, I can see her having a lot of baggage about it.

-David, welcome to the fucking episode! Seriously, was Josh just sick this week or something?

-”What made you choose yellow?” I love how Regina asks this as a means of not freaking the fuck out that a Chernabog is chasing her! It’s a very Regina thing to comment on and it’s hysterical because of it!

-I like how Emma points out the hypocrisy at play with her parents not trusting these two lower tier villains.

-”Not as horrible as I once was. And if I deserve a second chance, so do they. How can I sit here looking for my happiness and deny two others a chance at theirs?” This is a FANTASTIC Regina speech. It really shows how Regina’s grown to be more self aware and better equipped to help redeem other villains.

-I kind of wish Rumple had more of a scared reaction to the possibility of not being let into Storybrooke. Like, the rest of his life depends on this.

-”Make friends, build relationships.” And NONE of this ever happens! XD

Favorite Dynamic

The Queens of Darkness and Rumple - These guys are the main dynamic and they really do provide the most entertainment value. First, I want to point out how cool it is that Rumple is the one with power (both actual and figurative) in the past segment while the queens are in the present. That’s just interesting storytelling. Second, what I love about them in the present is that they get just as exasperated as we do about how frustratingly vague Rumple often is and that they use their power in the situation to get him to fucking stop to some degree. Their frustration slowly but noticeably builds up in the episode as Rumple continues not really saying anything and finally explodes and that is honestly really cathartic to watch. For as much as I love Rumple for how cryptic he can be, its a quality of his character that can easily be overdone and in a meta-sense, this was pointed out in-universe and almost prevents him from losing his own plan of revenge.

Writer

Adam and Eddy start up our half season with a solid start. Again, there’s not a lot to say here because while these two episodes have stories, they’re not so much rooted in something like theme which can be analyzed. The characters are all in solid form, and Regina’s in particularly great form. I will say though, there is a clunkiness to a lot of the lines. Sometimes, it’s a matter of people giving weird exposition or explaining things in a way that characters shouldn’t be able to understand (Ex. The entire middle of Killian and Belle’s discussion, Rumple telling Ursula and Cruella about being the Oxford professor).

Rating

10/10. I feel like there’s a singular word to describe this episode: Utilitarian. It’s all setup and a bit of tying loose ends up with a really basic ‘working together is good’ storyline in the past and sort of present. That’s not to say that it’s bad -- far from it. It just means that there’s not a lot of story to comment on. But this is a good version of setting up a story and biting off a loose end of two. There’s a lot of fun and interesting dynamics, it’s great to see all of our main heroes working together, and the queens get to show off the bulk of their charisma and intrigue.

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

Captain Swan - I love the bits of domesticity we get with Emma and Killian here. You can see that they’re really gotten the most out of these six weeks and have integrated themselves into each others lives. Like, the sequence at the beginning of the episode implies that this is a normal morning for the people of Storybrooke and Emma and Killian are literally part of each others routines! That shit is just too fucking cute!!! I’mma also plug my fic “Hero,” which is based around this episode. It’s one of my better work in my humble opinion and deals directly with Killian’s doubts in his own heroism that he displays in the hallway scene. Speaking of which, I do like the hallway scene. While I don’t like Emma giving Killian a total free pass, I do think that with the fairies, it’s warranted and deserved given how he very clearly didn’t want to go through with it.

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Thank you all for reading this pretty relaxed review. Sorry for all the delays lately, but I’m hoping I can pick up the pace from here.

Also, shoutout to @watchingfairytales and @daensarah. See you all next time!

Season 4 Total (105/230)

Writer Scores: Adam and Eddy: (34/60) Jane Espenson: (20/40) David Goodman and Jerome Schwartz: (30/50) Andrew Chambliss: (14/50) Dana Horgan: (6/30) Kalinda Vazquez: (14/40) Scott Nimerfro: (14/30) Tze Chun (8/20)

Operation Rewatch Archives

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[mwendesunstar]

JAKE IN SCANDAL AT!

I can talk for weeks about this episode! Another thought:

The results of the Olitz break-up in S5 lead many Olitzers to rest on misconceptions about it's demise. Olivia was blamed for everything, and if she'd only given them a chance, she would have been very happy in wedded bliss with Fitz. They greatly believed that Jake and her father's presence in her life pulled her out of the light to help create the Olitz problems and prevented her return to Fitz. As we know, Shonda has been shedding a hard light on the core of people's nature and the nature of their relationships. It seems to me that part of the motivation for this is to finally address misconceptions, and this 100th episode did just that. Shonda gave Olitzers all that they have been begging for and complaining about, WHILE staying true to her own intentions for the story.

Shonda presented our Scandal characters at their core being the exact same people shed of Defiance; drastic, external lifestyles didn't alter that. However, the one important person missing in Olivia's what if imagination was Jake. Yes, he had a moment with Fitz, BUT, for Olivia's ride-or-die partner in real life, who has been by her side the entire time, a man she shanked for and boldly faced her father as COMMAND for, for the very first time in her entire life, it was interesting that he was seemingly a blip in his own partners thoughts, nearly nonexistent. In a promo released the day of the episode, where tons of scenes were flashed, it ended with Jake and Olivia talking about standing in the sun, together. We also saw the island scene of them with Olivia wearing her natural hair proud and free! Now, the episode opened up with Olivia caught between idealism - Fitz, and Jake - realism. Fitz says, it's my way or the highway in choosing Cyrus, but Jake doesn't give her a rigid ultimatum, he simply provides his OPINION to his partner, which motivates Olivia to think on her own and eventually come to her OWN decision/opinion in choosing Cyrus. Even though we are witnessing the struggle between the men on the decision of Mellie or Cyrus in the WH or how to remove the power players, the underlying decision of Olitz and Olake is THERE! Shonda put this there purposely. She is always speaking on this struggle since it’s a great metaphor in highlighting the struggle between Olivia's own two sides of idealism and realism, power and normal. Olitz and Olake reflect Olivia's own personal journey. And, here we are at the decision episode.

So, how does this underlying decision transfer into Olivia's thoughts after both men leave the office, when Jake is seemingly a blip in it? So little a blip, that you might as well say he was not there at all, not even interacting for a Nano second with Olivia in some random but telling path cross or something. WELL, I believe Shonda DID have Jake all up and through there in hidden, most subtle ways, functioning under the radar of Olitzers who would find a way to blame Jake for any negativity expressed between Olitz, missing Shonda's point in wanting us to focus on Olivia and Fitz's OWN problems. Not problems caused by outsiders or other external factors, but their OWN internal problems. But, if we can watch closely with an open and unbiased eye, we can see Jake is subtly there. Shonda has to find a way to isolate Olitz in allowing people to see the truth of the fantasy allowed to run its course, but also stay true to her desire to speak on Olivia’s internal struggle, mirrored through Olitz and Olake. You can’t have anyone else who is questionable around the uber fantasy play out, giving viewers the opportunity to attach blame when they see things don’t work out as expected between the love birds. Scandal media history has faithfully shown, it will happen since Olitz is simply too much soul-mates in love not to be fabulous, lol!!! At least, not to experience a very happy marriage filled with being IN LOVE. 

So, how does Shonda accomplish all this?  1. Give the uber fantasy, bells, whistles and all in a wedding mirroring Fitz’s uber romantic proposal. 2. Put Olivia in a beautiful, traditional, princess wedding gown, the likes of which many have witnessed in photo shopped images of Oliva in wedding gowns on social media. 3. DON’T bring in any nay sayers to the union, and DON’T delay the dream! They rushed to the dream: Fitz is married, looses presidency, divorced, BAM, at Olivia’s door in no time ready to marry her, they have sex, wedding bells are ringing. Give it to them, and give it to them now! 4. Briefly, and realistically, show her father by being at the wedding, unhappy, to eventually slither out the door, never to be in Olivia’s presence again. Eli is not an issue. 5. Mellie has nothing to say until the wedding is already underway. She’s miserable, kicked to the side, can’t believe he did it, it’s over. 6. Jake is NOWHERE in plain sight. That’s it. It’s smooth Olitz sailing from her on. As one Olitzer tweeted, it was so wonderful, everything they always wanted, in the beginning. 

So, where is Jake’s hidden presence? In 3 major places: 1. Olivia’s natural hair (which many of you talked about). 2. Marcus 3. The fact that Olivia did not want to travel like a rock star and live in some “huge and expensive” (as she put it) Vermont like home somewhere on Mt. Olympus, depending on Fitz’s money. Fitz wanted to blow off work and play in the upper crust sandbox, but Olivia wanted to go to work! Money is no object, Fitz informed her, but Olivia wanted normal living, working, earning, and making things happen for herself. She did not want to be a kept wife riding her husband’s riches. Jake left Olivia’s apartment to establish his own base in S4 since he told Liv he will not be a kept man. She liked her own, modest apartment. Olivia wanted NORMAL; what is considered mediocre to Fitz’s way of life. The scene when Abby shows up to Olivia’s cheap looking office area; you can tell Abby looks down on it a bit, but Olivia didn’t mind it at all. 4. The OLAKE SEXY/TANGO scene slightly adjusted for Olitz! It was flipped for Fitz to show up in finding Olivia at her door when it was Jake at the door, Olivia displays the same brush off attitude she gave to Jake - playing hard to get. She acts as if she doesn’t care, and you think that Jake is going to leave on the elevator the way Olivia let the elevator doors close on her, but at the VERY last surprising minute, Olivia flips in rushing to both men! Fitz even lifted Olivia up with her legs wrapped around Fitz’s waste, just like with Jake, ending with the door pound of Olivia’s back against it! It was a nod to JAKE and Olake! Another nod to Jake was Olivia wearing a leather jacket, just like Jake! I remember looking like, wow… Olivia in a leather Jacket. It felt odd but I liked it! But, I now realize it was a nod to Jake.

Elaborating just a bit on #1, the natural hair. We all know Olivia only wore that with Jake. There was one time she was in the shower with Fitz when her hair naturally wet and hanging due to the water, but I noticed that, when Cyrus burst into the room to find her and Fitz the next day still in bed, it was all straightened out. She put that flatiron to it before going to bed with Fitz since I don’t believe she felt comfortable with her hair dry, a bit puffier, and not hanging with Fitz. How many women has been with their boyfriend overnight, and you make sure your face and hair are on point while in the bed with him! I can see her doing her hair in private while Fitz is in bed waiting or watching television, whatever. But, with Jake, she has no problem wearing it natural and free. The natural has always been associated with Olake.  Lastly, to elaborate a bit on #2, Marcus. Marcus represented Jake in being a partner next to her that she seems most equal to, compatible with. They even had Marcus dance with Olivia! They seemed so compatible and happy around one another that Fitz accused her with sleeping with Marcus. Fitz felt threatened by Marcus just like he felt threatened by Jake in real time. Abby even looks at them questionably when she finds them dancing together; she came to discuss Olivia being a better wife to Fitz. Abby admitted that Fitz was a disaster, but because he is her husband, she believes Liv should try. I felt the Jake qualities within him so much. Liv even did that giddy jumping up and down like when she saw that Jake was about to dance with her. I remember thinking before likening him to Jake that, if Liv weren’t married, I can see her and Marcus getting together. Jake was by her side the whole time in the AT, quietly, as usual. Had Jake played in Marcus’s position, he’d have just been allocated some of the blame for the poor marriage. With Marcus put in the equal partnership-like role, people won’t associate them as harboring romantic feelings, since Marcus and Liv have none of that vibe in real time. He loves Mellie.