#plus its dumb as FUCK for literally ANY of the companions to call him stupid. like you FUCKING RAISED HIM

[marshymarge]

screaming crying puking shitting pissing why doesnt anybody love farkas why does everyone shit all over him why do they agree with his baseless self-deprecation why why why why why

[rock-and-compass]

Rock and Compass Watches Once Upon A Time – 6.15: A Wondrous Place

Overview

Emma struggles to come to terms with Killian’s apparent departure from Storybrooke. Despite her reluctance, she is tricked into a girl’s night out at the local bar that ends up having some serious consequences. Meanwhile, in the Enchanted Forest, Killian desperately tries to find a way home but gets a little side-tracked when he runs into Jasmine and Aladdin

Discussion, Thoughts & Speculation

Another episode that seemed to elicit very mixed feelings. One thing for sure is that this fandom is very passionate about Emma Swan! I love that she is the character that gets a reaction and causes conversation. Personally, I enjoyed the episode and found Emma’s reactions very understandable and very in character.  It provides a fascinating character study of a particular aspect of Emma Swan – something we don’t get nearly enough of. The show should do more of this kind of thing; the characters are the absolute strength of the show and sometimes it feels like depth of character exploration gets sidelined in favour of plot contrivances and maintaining the thin veneer of peace and harmony between characters who have a lot of unexplored baggage that could be mined for a wealth of narrative gold. The adventures in the Enchanted Forest and Agrabah were fun, a little convoluted at times but, well, this is Once Upon a Time – why go for simple when you can hit up needlessly complicated. The episode has a strong, reoccurring theme of lost and found, but perhaps most interesting, is the undercurrent of manipulation that seems to be swirling just beneath the surface…

Emma reaction – During the previous episode, Emma clearly and concisely lays out her requirements and expectations for her relationship with Killian:

·         Trust is mandatory

·         Secrets are not on.

·         It must be a partnership of equals

·         They must be able to lean on one another and support one another

·         The must face issues (both internal and external) together.

Emma sees this relationship as a partnership built on mutual love. She is very realistic. She doesn’t expect it to be all rosy and rainbows all the time, but she does expect them to be each other’s support system and be for each other the one person they can always depend on no matter what. It was a powerful thing to see her vocalise and be very clear about what she needs from their relationship and what she wants as the foundation for their marriage. Emma wanted Killian to think on this - which he does – and then for him to return home to talk things through with her - which he doesn’t, thanks to Gideon.

But Emma doesn’t know that.

And so during this episode we see Emma fall back into some old habits and, indeed repeat the mistake that Killian made – she doesn’t trusting him. Not that Emma doesn’t have cause to doubt – she has a missing boyfriend and an eye witness account. People have been prosecuted with less. But where it gets really complicated is when we venture into Emma’s head and the complex mix of emotions and feelings that are literally doing her head in. We know Emma Swan well enough to make a pretty educated guess as to what these are. The episode lets us use that knowledge to interpret her actions rather than hit us over the head with obvious emotional exposition.

Front and centre to Emma’s response is the ingrained fear of abandonment that has been with her since childhood. For her, the promise of connection and constancy has repeatedly led to rejection, so much so that she developed the strategy of withdrawing behind protective walls, trusting only herself and never allowing anyone access or opportunity to hurt her. In turn, she has no expectations of other people, they are held at a distance and should there be a risk of breach, then she runs and avoids the danger. All of this functioned to keep her protected. We know that her time in Storybrooke, her parents and Henry have helped her start to break down these emotional crutches, but it is with Killian that she has achieved real success. You will notice that those stipulations she gave Killian last week are the absolute antithesis to her former emotional strategies; isolation is replaced by partnership, mistrust becomes trust, walls become a shared home and self-reliance has become connection. She has opened herself to love because the benefits outweighed the risk.

But…

That risk has backfired. Apparently. This man, with whom she ventured forth on an expedition of growth and change, for whom she has risked everything has seemingly let her down in the worst possible way. He’s abandoned her. And he did so just after she has set out her very clear list of expectations. She has said what she wants and he has run. So here’s the mix; she’s partially blaming herself for speaking up; she’s caused this with her demands. Add to this that she’s feeling stupid and embarrassed – she just freaking announced her engagement and now he’s gone! Multiply that by a good dose of her kicking herself for letting this one get beneath her guard and making her vulnerable, plus there’s the worry - she loves him and she doesn’t know where he is, and of course, there’s a huge slice of anger because he fucking left!. So this is the war going on in her brain – she feels let down and she’s sad and it’s all so new and raw because it’s only just happened and she’s not ready to talk about it, not until she’s processed it for herself.

I will admit, the text doesn’t give us much in the way of hope. It asks us to bring all our pre-existing knowledge of Emma to the table and build our own reading of her response. Would it have been nice to have had a scene where Emma momentarily considers that something else might be going on? Sure, a moment of hope would have been helpful . . .  but maybe that’s the point? We’re watching Emma struggle with her instincts, just as we watched Killian struggle with his last week. Sometimes the best lesson is being wrong.

Emma packs up his stuff, knowing full well that these things are important to him – they are literally all he’s accumulated over the course of a very long life – and it makes it all the more confusing to her. But she packs them anyway. This puts her in control of a situation where she doesn’t have any. It allows her to box up her feelings too. She’s retreating behind a hastily constructed personal wall, she internalises and chooses not to discuss or wonder or even consider any other possibility. This is what always happens to her -she gets abandoned. She’s just feeling like the dumb bunny for letting it happen again. The part of the scene where she examines the ring that Killian gave her in Camelot is, I think, an important one. Henry is occupied with his music, Emma is in the safety of her own home – most of the artefacts are put into the trunk with minimal consideration, except for the ring. The ring is special to her too. He gave it to her in Camelot to ensure her safety, to ensure that she came back to him. It’s a ring he credits with his long survival, or at the very least “It’s a reminder that you’ve got a piercing-eyed, smouldering pirate who loves you.”  It’s the ring that she used as a talisman to find him in the underworld. We remember all this, so of course Emma remembers all of this too! The ring is representative of all they’ve gone through together and its significance only adds to the confusion and sadness. Henry’s question, the call for her sheriff services, they both serve to bring her back to reality, steel herself against the pain and refuel the anger. Cue curt command to have that chest of crap out in the shed before she gets back.

Emma is not impressed to find that the callout is a fake and part of a plot to manoeuvre her into the bar. Its manipulation – even if it is well-intentioned. I’m pretty sure she only stays because of her tipsy Mother’s pleading and immediately she is badgered about the need to “stop holding everything in”. My question here is why is it so important for Emma to share her woes at this particular time and place, and indeed why does she have to at all? These demands are such a gross invasion of her privacy, it’s no wonder she doesn’t yield to Regina’s interrogation! Surely Emma is entitled to deal with things at her own pace – it’s only been a day! It’s not like she’s bottling – she’s just not ready to talk about it yet, at least not to anyone who actually knows her…

It’s often said it’s easier to talk to a stranger about personal things and despite all Regina’s attempts to get Emma to talk, it is to the bartender that she eventually gives a small glimpse of her feelings. And what she reveals is disappointment - it seems like Killian is not the ‘survivor’ she thought her was. She thought it meant stickability but now fears it just meant that he knew the right time to move on. The disappointment and the belief that he doesn’t love her anymore cause the tears. Snow sees her wiping her eyes and is instantly at her side with soothing words. Emma doesn’t want to be seen crying – she doesn’t want this to lead to further discussion of her feelings and so she gives her companions an ending – she says that this is what she needed to see that it’s time to move on. It seems a bit callous, and very premature to be making such a decision – yesterday they were engaged and now she’s talking “moving one”? They’re only words. Words she doesn’t mean, words whose function is to fob off her intrusive friends. The lie of those words is made beautifully clear when she lets herself back into her house and the first thing she sees is the trunk still there, front and centre of the lounge room. Nope, he’s not going to be that easy to forget and there will be no moving on any time soon.

Emma takes the chest out to the shed and of course, is forestalled by a small fuzzy voice calling her name. The call on the shell-phone is everything that Emma needs – it arrests every fear she’s had since Killian disappeared. He’s safe. He has not run away. He loves her.  He is a survivor in the way she hoped; he’s steadfast and true and he is working his hardest to get home to her. Oh, and her requirements for a functional relationship, they didn’t scare him off either.  Gideon has made a grave mistake in messing with Emma’s family and trying to blackmail her. He may think he holds all the power in this situation but she is not going to take any of this kindly. Let’s hope she wipes that weasel grin off his weasel face. If Gideon legitimately wanted Emma’s help, why didn’t he just ask for it?

Where’s the patented “Hope Speech”? – It is very noticeable that no one give Emma a hope speech. These things get trotted out at dark moments with stunning regularity to buoy hope, to encourage, to dispel fear, to keep one on a steady path, to resist temptation. They are Snow’s speciality. David and Henry are pretty good at giving them too. Regina may not have given many but she sure has heard a few. But Emma does not get one. Why not? It is tempting to feel aggrieved on Emma’s behalf - after everything she’s done no one can spare her a kind word or express hope that things will work out? But to take an alternative perspective, maybe it’s not that they didn’t want to do it, maybe there was just no opportunity?

·         David – David fares best here. He gets a pass for a couple of reasons – He’s just found out that Hook did kill his dad a while back, so I think he can be forgiven for not coming out with the hope speech right off the bat. Add to this the fact that Emma and David are very close and very similar – he shows instant compassion for Emma when he finds that Hook has apparently left, he puts aside his own feelings to be there for her. He gets why she needs to keep busy and is cooperative with the sudden desire to digitise all the police records. David knows that a ladies night with half-price liquor is not what Emma needs; He knows she doesn’t want to talk about it yet and he gives her the room and space to process in her own time all the while being unquestionably supportive. David is the one to whom Emma would probably willingly open up when she was ready to talk. Hope speech would have followed. I think it is incredibly interesting that David is literally gotten out of the way and sent to sleep in Snow’s place all so the girls night out can proceed…

·         Henry – It is impossible not to compare Henry, slumped on the couch glued to his phone and earbuds in, to the Henry that we saw prepare a care basket for Regina when she was suffering with a broken heart that one time. Why is Henry so detached this time? I don’t think he is. I think he’s just being a teenage boy. I also think it’s an indictment on the kind of relationship he has with his both of his mothers – With Emma he’s the kid in the relationship, with Regina he functions as a pseudo parent to her. With Emma he doesn’t have to worry about her heartbreak resulting in general curse-type mayhem and vengeance. With Regina, he does. Plus, that care package was creepy and weird… happy to let Henry lounge on the couch being fifteen.

·         Snow – Snow was, up until the Girls Night Out under her side of the sleeping curse – she was asleep. Emma does not tell Snow about the situation with Hook herself. David might leave a few details in a handover note but, the fair assumption is that Regina is the one to tell Snow and co-opt her support for drinkie-poos at Aesop’s Tables without Snow having Emma’s side of the story. Surely Snow would be the safe bet for a ‘hope speech’? Nope, no joy there either – By the time Emma arrives at the bar, Snow is very tipsy indeed. She’s in no condition to give hope speeches.

·         Regina – Regina doesn’t usually give hope speeches, she gets them. But more to the point, Regina is very clearly operating on her own agenda that has absolutely nothing to do with trying to instil a little hope into Emma. . .

A Girls Night Out – It’s Regina’s bright idea. A night for the ladies – for her, Emma and Snow – two for one drinks at the local bar. Right from the get-go Regina feels ‘off’. She’s acting strangely and it instantly puts one on alert. Despite the long and winding road that Emma and Regina have travelled in one another’s enforced company, they do not have the kind of relationship that consists of pre-planned commiseration drinks and getting tanked at the local public establishment. They might have shared the odd impromptu shot, but nothing like this.

Snow is included in the scheme as bait. Snow’s presence is dangled enticingly to make Emma feel more comfortable and inclined to accept the invitation. Emma and Regina don’t spend a lot of time together unless it has specific purpose; this invitation to go drinking together is odd but would be even odder if Snow wasn’t also there. David, as mentioned earlier is dismissed also to ensure Snow participates. Despite all these machinations Emma rejects the whole idea. She wants to keep to herself, keep busy and deal with this in her own way and thinks that Regina should be busy trying to break her parents curse anyway. But Regina is not so easily swayed from her mission and goes for a more direct approach – “I know you’re hurting and I know you’re trying to hide it because you’re….Emma, but you can’t just run from this!” Emma’s reply is glib and dismissive “I didn’t run. Hook ran. So there’s nothing more to say.” Regina makes a bold and unreasonable demand to be granted access to Emma’s feelings and Emma reacts with flippant hostility. She does not enjoy being pushed and she won’t be forced into discussing what she does not want to discuss. She’s not looking for sympathy or to commiserate. She wants privacy. I must admit that I loved the last shot of this scene – Emma sitting at her desk finished with the conversation, Regina standing beside it looking way more peeved than the situation warrants, before Emma finally shoots her a look that dead-pans ‘you’re still here?’ Love it!

Emma is tricked into the night out despite her refusal. And once there she is prodded for revelation. But it’s not done via natural conversation – we don’t see the three ladies sitting together having a drink and talking like friends do. For people who know each other they seem like strangers – it doesn’t help that Snow is having trouble keeping her alcohol-fuzzied head off the bar, but neither does coercion as a method of invitation. Boundaries are being over-stepped and for me, the big question is why? Why is Regina being so pushy and demanding with Emma’s thoughts and feelings? Why is she so determined to get Emma to open up that she would resort to manipulation and trickery? The simplest answer is that Regina is trying to be a friend. I have difficulty with this explanation because I can recall precious few occasions where Regina has been genuinely interested in the feelings of another when there is no benefit to her. And those odd occasions usually involve Henry. So what gives here? What does Regina stand to gain by poking at Emma’s wounds? What’s in it for her?

Regina’s actions are overbearing and manipulative, which in turn, invites suspicion of her motives.  Why is she so keen on getting Emma to this particular bar that she would go to the lengths she did to get her there? Logic says that if she was genuine, she would accept Emma’s disinterest and try another tact (I don’t know, take Snow and a bottle of wine around to Emma’s house later in the evening?). But she doesn’t. She concocts a bar-brawl and gets Emma bought here on false pretences. So WHY?

Okay, I’m going to put it out there – What if Regina is invested in making Emma cry. Gideon’s plan is convoluted and has zero chance of succeeding without some assistance. In the other side of the story we’re watching Killian fighting to get home, he’s going to get there sooner rather than later. This gives Gideon-as-Aesop a very limited window of opportunity to get Emma to visit the bar and to cry – neither thing she shows any inclination to do without some very pointed manipulation. Regina fulfils that duty, gets her to the bar, gets her drinking and then proceeds to interrogate

Regina: I’m trying to figure out what it will take to get you to open up.

Emma: Open up what? I’m open. Hook left. It sucks

Regina: How do you feel?

Emma: Like it sucks.

Regina: Right, but are you mad, sad. Do you feel like throwing things or…crying your eyes out?

Emma: I don’t know – neither, both, all of it

Regina: I thought I was tough to crack.

Well firstly can I just observe that Regina has never been ‘hard to crack’; she loves talking about herself and will do so whenever given any opportunity. And secondly she never actually engages Emma in natural conversation. She is merely musing aloud about what it will take to get Emma to cry and seeing that saviour’s tears are the object of the game then I’d say that makes Regina’s motives here pretty darn suspicious. Add to this, when Emma does get her melancholy on and tear up for the bartender Snow comes over to offer comfort, Emma is embarrassed at being caught wiping her eyes and says “well you got what you wanted” and Regina, who is beside Snow, looks directly at the serviette (see picture below). Emma even reiterates the point “Regina, you got what you wanted.”

The obvious question is why would Regina be doing this? Why would she be helping Gideon? At a guess, he’s threatened her… or more likely Henry and she’s offered him an alternative? I personally think it would have something to do with that newly refreshed darkness in her heart – it was not a gradual build up like the first time, when each horrible thing she did slowly blackened her heart over many years – nope this was one big hit, an overdose if you will, and it will be interesting to see exactly how this affects her behaviour. I suspect that Regina wants her town back and that she will do just about anything to get it. I know this is just speculation but honestly, if this show misses the opportunity to explore the effect of that influx of darkness on Regina in order to pretend that all is sunshine and lollipops then it will be very disappointing. She can’t have got her darkness back for nothing.

Agrabah’s Hero  - Jasmine’s story is largely about her journey to realise that she is Agrabah’s hero. The flashback to her adventure with Ariel reveals the mistake she made that led to Agrabah’s disappearance while the part set in the present day is all about how she fixes that mistake, becomes a hero and reclaims her name.  Like Jasmine, Killian is also on a quest of identity; it may be involuntary and he may have already decided to go home and face his demons before Gideon intervened but now that he’s here, he’s sort of compelled into it. And it’s looking like its going to be a very worthwhile experience for him…  The predicament of Jasmine and Aladdin and their need to find a way home gives Killian an opportunity to show his quality and be the man that Emma knows him to be – the one he lost sight of momentarily when confronted with the murder of David’s father.  The initial angry panic (due to being pissed off at being trapped in another realm and the fact that he knows exactly how Emma will be reacting to his disappearance back in Storybrooke) gives way to calm determination when he realises that his route home will not be direct and that he needs to help Jasmine and Aladdin find their home first. Jasmine and Killian have a lot in common - they are clearly paralleled as they have been throughout the entire arc:

Both love a saviour and have a romance that is not going altogether as planned, largely due to their own actions. Neither feel ‘good enough’ for their significant other because of mistakes they’ve made in the past and thus feel they don’t deserve to be loved. 

Despite this Jasmine and Killian gain much of their strength and bravery from Aladdin and Emma respectively. They make them want to be better people.  

Both are trapped away from home and are on a journey to rediscover the hero within.

They both have a ring of failure – She the ring of Agrabah as a reminder of how she failed her people. He, a returned engagement ring as a reminder of how he failed Emma.

Both have looked to ‘run away’ from their problems and dispose of items that are connected to their problem, but are not the cause of it – the lamp for Jasmine and the memories for Killian. The unforeseen consequences of a wish are not why Jasmine is stranded and feeling worthless. And Killian’s internal guilt and a refusal to believe that he might be forgiven are the millstones around his neck.

Not confronting their fears has led directly to them losing everything – home, and the people they love.

Both will take risks if they need to – a wish, a chance that they convince Jafar to assist them… showing that the coward thing is not indicative of who they really are but is a temporary setback due to circumstances that they need to address.

It’s not surprising that Killian and Jasmine are shown to have a natural comradery and understanding for each other. Their conversation aboard the nautilus is the most honest and productive that we see throughout the episode – it flows through a give and take of information and experience and there is a genuine desire to help one another through this rough patch. At the end of Jasmine’s story she faces and defeats Jafar, which enables her to see how she can get Agrabah back and sort things out with Aladdin – Love is the answer to both in the form of a true love’s kiss. Killian is yet to get his Hero’s epiphany … in the next episode perhaps – something to do with Neverland and unfinished business there? And, like Jasmine, will the reward for facing his past be something that will help him break Snow and David’s curse? Narrative symmetry screams that it has to be Killian and not Regina who finds the answer.  Emma and Killian’s inevitable TLK has been foreshadowed for such a long time and I’ve always said it would be saved for a big moment – maybe the sleeping curse is that moment?

Transitions – The transitions from one scene to the next in this episode are fantastic. On nearly every occasion they make a deliberate point, that more often than not contradicts the prevailing opinion in the previous. This is particularly evident with Jasmine and her journey to realise that she is the hero of Agrabah but there is also some very effective examples from Emma and Hook too. Particularly good is the transition from the opening scene of Emma telling David that Hook “just sailed away” to be completely contradicted by the scene of the Nautilus getting sucked involuntarily into the swirling great portal. Consistently when Killian gets accused of running we transition to a scene of Hook being desperate to get home. When Emma suggests her mother’s bar room antics are a good thing to distract her “from that thing she would like to be distracted from” we cut to a close-up of Killian’s face. Particularly delicious is the cut from Regina trying to get Emma to dish on “that no good pirate” to Hook and Jasmine talking and with him being anything but ‘no good’.

Aesop’s Tables –the writers of the episode has gone to the trouble of renaming the local bar and making Aesop the bartender (Yeah I know that it’s Gideon in disguise, but I’m going to assume that Gideon is just making use of an existing situation rather than starting from scratch – that would be too ridiculous!)  Why Aesop?  It has to be for a purpose and I think that purpose is the drinks named for fables. Three fables/drinks are highlighted:

·         The Dog and the Wolf - A starving wolf meets a well-fed dog and compliments him on his healthy appearance. The dog tells the wolf of his domestic life of ease and invites the wolf to his home. As they go, the wolf asks about a bald patch on the dog's neck. The dog tells him that it’s caused by the collar he has to wear at home. The wolf leaves, deciding that his freedom is too steep a price to pay for an easy meal.

·         The Fox and the Grapes - a fox tries to eat grapes from a vine but cannot reach them. Rather than admit defeat, he declares that the grapes are undesirable. (the origin of the saying “sour grapes”)

·         The Ant and the Grasshopper - one version is about a hungry grasshopper who begs for food from an ant when winter comes and is refused. The moral lesson is about the virtues of hard work and planning for the future. But there is a second version where the ant is seen as the bad example. In that one the ant was once a man who was always busy farming but never satisfied with the product of his own labour, so he steals his neighbours' crops at night. This makes the gods angry and so they turn him into an ant. Yet even though the man changed shape and species, he didn’t change his habits. The moral of the fable is that it’s easier to change in appearance than to change one's nature.

So those three stories are interesting and invite some connections and questions. In regard to the Dog and the Wolf, I find myself asking who, in Storybrooke is feeling that their freedom is being curtailed by an easy existence? Regina springs to mind, she’s been on her best behaviour for the last few years – Henry in exchange for “being good”. That deal has bought other benefits too – friends, family and status but has that fresh addition of bulk darkness to her formerly pristine heart made Regina change her tune and decide that the cost of not being free to do what she likes in her town is too great? The second version of the Ant and the Grasshopper would also seem to be applicable here.  The Fox and the Grapes could easily be a reference to Emma – not that she’s bad mouthing Killian, but she is showing a determined obstinacy against seeing any other reason for his disappearance. Of course, It could also be a meta comment on fandom and the tendency to demonise what you don’t like – combat shipping and sour grapes are a particularly vile combination. I also think it’s interesting that “Aesop” employs a fake fable – “the Artist and his Wife” - to get Emma to talk. He does what Regina couldn’t do by giving her something to empathise with. But it’s a fiction, a trick – just like this whole scenario in the bar from start to finish.

Back in Black – Some big wardrobe changes in this episode. Gone are Emma’s florals and whites, replaced by a look that is pure season one – tight black jeans and top. The confidence and happiness she’s been feeling of late is gone and she’s back in protective mode. Regina too makes a few changes – she’s back in black too, little bit sexier than she’s dressed of late, much heavier make-up. That darkness that’s back in her heart is making an impression. She wears a new hairdo to the bar, and if that’s not an invitation to take special note of what she’s up to then I don’t know what is.

Angry at the Magic – When Emma thinks that Regina is going to offer her a magical solution to mend her broken heart, she is . . . well, let’s just enjoy the irony that Emma expects Regina to be the bearer of a short-cut. Okay done . . . quite aggressive in her rejection. She’s not happy with magic at the moment. The use of the dream catcher would be the prime target but one has to suspect that wishes, and magically aged up brats must be contributing to the short fuse too.

That pesky curse – Regina says she’s working on it but she doesn’t seem overly pressed by the need to break the curse if she can put it on hold to pressure Emma into revealing her emotions. Shouldn’t the curse be of upmost importance? I can’t help but think of the woodcutter…

A dish served cold – Jafar and Gideon are both shown to be manipulative and deceptive pieces of work with both of them masquerading as another person to get something they want. In Jafar’s case, initially it seems that his end goal is power and the desire to rule Agrabah but once the full story is revealed, it is actually just good old fashioned vengeance that is his true motive. I wonder if Gideon’s big talk of being the saviour of the Dark Realm is really just an excuse to get his revenge on the Dark Fairy....