#sure whatever the themes of kei's songs can be more mature than most other prisoners whatever.

[linagram]

[ 𝚔𝚎𝚒 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚎𝚒𝚔𝚘'𝚜 𝚝𝟸 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚛𝚘𝚐𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 ]

it's the idealization duo's interrogation time! these two have a lot to say this time, hopefully it helps you understand their crimes and backstories a little better (especially kei's. btw what's everyone thinking about his crime rn)

Q.001. What would you want to hear from your lover?

Kei: That they accept me.

Eiko: That they want to be the best partner I've ever had.

Q.002. Can you drive?

Kei: Eiji, don't you remember how I used to drive you to school when you were younger?

Eiko: I do have a license and my own car, but I don't really drive. I'd prefer my partner to do that.

Q.003. What's your favorite drink?

Kei: I like milkshakes, especially strawberry ones. I have a lot of nice childhood memories associated with them, haha.

Eiko: Just lemon tea is fine.

Q.004. Your ideal type?

Kei: Someone who doesn't judge me and someone who can keep up with me.

Eiko: Someone who is always honest with me and someone who is willing to do their very best for me. I think I'd like to date someone like you, Eiji-kun~

Q.005. Do you have any fun memories of your childhood?

Kei: My favorite one is when our dad's friend taught me how to take photos with my new camera and he told me to go and take a picture of anything I want. I took a picture of a dead butterfly lying on the ground. He said that I'm very creative and that I have a bright future ahead of me.

Eiko: I remember going shopping with my dad when I was little and he told me that I can have anything I want. I told him that I want to see him smile. He almost cried after that for some reason.

Q.006. Have you ever tried learning a foreign language?

Kei: I can speak English fluently, I mean, our dad is half-American and I've also spent a lot of time overseas. I tried to learn some other languages too, like French and Spanish, but I gave up. I'm not even that good at reading and writing kanji, so..

Eiko: I can speak English and a little bit of Korean, but mostly because I listen to a lot of music in those languages, haha.

Q.007. State the meaning of your name.

Kei: I think it's supposed to mean "gemstone"? Mom said that she named me that because she thought I was so beautiful, she wanted me to have a name that would have a meaning just as beautiful as me.

Eiko: I think it's something like.. "an excellent child"? Haha, my parents must've had a lot of expectations for me.

Q.008. What do you think about your siblings?

Kei: I love you, Eiji, even if you can be really mean sometimes.

Eiko: My little brother is very nice. He does have his quirks, but I think they make him cuter.

Q.009. What are lies to you?

Kei: Something that is necessary to have a fun life!

Eiko: Something that is forgivable only if it's done to save someone. I still won't forgive anyone who lies to me though.

Q.010. What are your parents' occupations?

Kei: Dad's a movie director and mom's a toymaker! Both of them are so creative! There's just something about our family that makes all of us so artistic.. You too, Eiji. Dad always praised you for being so reliable.

Eiko: I don't know actually. And I don't really care. Well, as long as they continue to buy me gifts and help me with money if anything happens, I'm fine.

Q.011. Do you like children?

Kei: I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out that I actually have one, considering my lifestyle.

Eiko: Not really. They're not a part of my concept of a perfect life.

Q.012. What is/was your major?

Kei: Photography, obviously.

Eiko: Fashion design, though I'm more interested in modelling than designing clothes.

Q.013. Tell us about your dating history.

Kei: Um, are we talking about, like, "serious relationships"?.. Then I guess Ruka is the only one that counts..

Eiko: My victim was the only person I've ever dated.

Q.014. Did you have any friends in school?

Kei: I think I had one?..

Eiko: Yeah, but I wasn't really close with them. We talked a lot, but our relationship wasn't that deep.

Q.015. What's the greatest act of love?

Kei: Uhh, if it's from my lover, I think I'd just want them to tell me that they love me even when I don't look so good. If it's from me.. I don't know! Holding myself back

Eiko: Promising to make someone's life as happy as possible and actually keeping that promise.

[rock-and-compass]

Rock and Compass Watches Once Upon A Time – 6.18: Where Bluebirds Fly

Overview

The Black Fairy pays Zelena a visit with the proposal of an alliance of sorts; she has a use for some “wicked” magic and hopes to come to an arrangement. Zelena is not interested, drawing threats and ire from her visitor. Zelena decides to take care of the Black Fairy herself, leading to a mistake that requires a huge sacrifice to correct. Snow throws herself into planning Emma’s wedding while David worries that the big day will be ruined by an evil interloper like his and Snow’s was. In the past, Zelena faces a choice between power and friendship.

Discussion, Thoughts and things of significance

Where Bluebirds Fly again has a strong theme of sacrifice, this time revolving around Zelena and what she’s prepared to do for her daughter. While it is a good character piece for her, it does feel very much like they have set her on a course towards the conclusion of her story – whatever that may be. Elsewhere, we got some lovely Charming-Jones family feels with the wedding under discussion, and the slow-burn problem of Henry’s out of control authoring continues to simmer, almost unnoticed beneath everything…

One stop redemption shop – Zelena has done a lot of bad shit. Most of it motivated by envy and the desire to prove her self-worth to those who have rejected her. And while it’s always been easy to feel a modicum of sympathy for her, ultimately she still chose to do ‘wicked’ things in the effort to prove herself. It doesn’t matter that she has a reason, what matters is that she chose to do them. She’s always been prone to self-sabotage, something the flashback emphasises when she chooses her power over her old friend, even though the net result is always a Zelena who is still alone.  Since becoming a mother, she’s shown the capacity to think of someone else and put her daughter first. It’s hardly been a stunning redemption arc, more that she just stopped doing bad stuff. But this episode goes full throttle with redemption, making her run a gamut of emotions and possible choices all to get her to the noble sacrifice at the end.

The real talking point of her story is her relationship with Regina – and it’s not great. There is a lot of smouldering resentment between the two of them; Regina still unfairly blames Zelena for Robin’s death, something that Zelena finally calls her on. Zelena feels unwanted and marginalised. Regina is nasty and bossy and overbearing, she persists in treating Zelena like she is stupid rather than give her a chance – the Black Fairy visited Zelena and asked for assistance - the very act of doing this signals that she is not as all-powerful as she has been pretending. With Zelena feeling threatened and worrying about the safety of her daughter surely it would have been kinder, more mature, to listen to Zelena, and work with her rather than resort to bickering and one-upmanship? A recognisance mission would have been the perfect alternative to alienating Zelena, making her feel unwanted and triggering all her instincts to go off half-cocked in an effort to prove herself.  Plus, the bickering is annoying and boring; even the entire Charming family think so if their eye-rolls and grimaces are anything to go by.  

Zelena of course doesn’t listen and goes off to track the Black Fairy for herself. Regina is affronted at her audacity and defiance of orders and goes to find her. While there is certainly some concern for Zelena’s safety, there is also the assumption that Zelena will mess things up for the rest of them that over-rides everything. They argue again, Zelena’s temper gets the better of her, they both get so distracted with each other that all sense of caution evaporates leaving them prey for Black and Gideon. Zelena’s magic ends up getting used against her will but they do learn that an all-out magical assault will have no effect on the Black Fairy.

Afterwards, Regina continues to castigate and belittle Zelena, completely ignoring her inclination to fix the mistake. Yes, it was a situation gone horribly wrong, but by zeroing in on her sister’s ineptitude as a result of trying to prove herself, Regina sets out to prove her own superiority. She’s just as bad as Zelena in her determination to be “better”.  It suits her for Zelena to be lesser, to be excluded from the inner circle – she even goes so far as to send Zelena back to Oz, a bothersome liability removed from notice. Well, it worked with the Evil Queen side of herself, so of course she’s try it again with her sister.

But Zelena gets to show her mettle. All by herself. Her own choice. With no influence from anyone else. Zelena chooses to use the crystal heart to remove her magic powers to fix the problem. She takes the hard road for the greater good and her only worry in doing so is her daughter’s well-being– she ensures that Robyn will be protected should anything happen to her as a result of giving up something that was inborn in her. It’s a big sacrifice. She deserves a lot of credit for it. It’s a hero’s move.  I found it very interesting that Regina could only find it in herself to be kind to her sister once she gives up her power. Now she’s full of admiration and hugs and willing to accept her sister into the fold. I find it incredibly curious that Regina has now managed to, purely by chance, nullify another powerful presence in her life, her rival if you will and that of all the parental characters this season, she is one of the only ones yet to face a sacrificial choice between her child and herself. Surely that choice is coming?  

Best Scene ever – I can’t not say anything about the pancakes scene! It was the highlight of the episode and finally delivered a nice slice of ‘domestic Captain Swan’ that the fandom has been wanting for so long. It showed for the first time that Emma and Hook have a physical relationship – not that it needed saying; they’ve been together for a long time and they live together. But it is interesting (or should that be frustrating) that the principle couple of the show has never had their intimacy displayed on screen before and they never expressly showed us their ‘first time’. I can’t help but think if they’d shown us a little bit of this physicality from the beginning of the relationship, it might have lessened the impact of the naysayers. I noticed that the salty copmments were much less than usual after they showed Emma and Hook all snuggly-wuggly-morning–after and looking to keep the fires burning, if ya know what I mean. Darn Snow and her inappropriate use of her key privileges! 

So is it only because Emma and Hook are officially engaged that they feel the time is right to show that they’ve done-the-do or is there an ulterior purpose? There is some speculation that the scene was a late addition to the episode. This was mainly due to a picture that Jennifer Morrison posted on Instagram of herself, Colin and Ginny having dinner with the caption that it was the last family dinner for season 6 while they were wearing the same clothes as in the scene (day 87). This was posted on the final days of shooting for the season, suggesting either re-soot or last minute addition during editing. (Of course it could have also been a picture taken earlier). I asked the writer of the episode, Brigitte Hales about it on Twitter but she seemed to dodge the question and even showed a reluctance to share the script when it was requested of Adam on Twitter too. Circumstantial evidence certainly but let’s Assume for a moment that it was a late edition the next question is why was it added? Yes, the episode was slow and not overly exciting and this scene was actually needed to give the episode some life, but even so, they didn’t need to put “Sex” in a flashing neon sign to achieve that – any domestic Captain Swan would have achieved the same goal.  . . And we do have a flashing neon sign what with the reason for the musical episode being a wish that Snow made while pregnant that somehow resurfaces in Storybrooke in the present … it just makes one wonder if there is another, biological reason for giving us #pancakes?  

(Speculation alert: just going on the limited spoilers we have about the final, now I’m imagining Emma finding out she’s pregnant in the asylum, completely mirroring  her finding out she’s pregnant with Henry while she was in prison and it being the catalyst for her to fight against whatever curse Black has concocted)

**Not that I necessarily subscribe to this theory**

A communal effort – so the big question from the Black Fairy’s request for help from Zelena is why she can’t turn her own crystals dark? Oh sure, I know she gave some cock-and-bull story about Zelena’s magic being unstable or some such but it smacks of an excuse. A powerful fairy, with the level of evil that the Black Fairy apparently is should be able to make her own dark crystals. Is her magic not as dark as she’d like everyone to believe? Can I just add that it is a little bit illogical that this woman, who has been mining dark crystals for however long would not have been prepared for “the last battle” before she made her entry into the realm. It is just ridiculous to suggest that this final fight, which has been prophesised, wouldn’t have been prepared for down to the last detail. I just don’t think you’d go ahead with your plans, and make a big song and dance about them, without having the vital ingredient covered beforehand. It really smacks of an excuse to give Zelena a feature episode and rid her of her magic.

No more Magic – So why do they need Zelena to have no magic? Is it tied in to the exit narrative of our departing characters? Or her own death? I’ve said it before, but I wouldn’t be Regina Mills best friend for all the tea in china; it’s a dangerous position to be in.

That crystal heart – The heart that sucked out all Zelena’s magic just sort of vanished when the green force emanated from it after the process was complete. Did the heart evaporate with the magic or did it transport somewhere else, chock full of magic that someone else might be able to usurp?

What’s coming up – whatever it is, she wouldn’t want to be alone for it. The Black Fairy gives this warning to Zelena regarding whatever she has planned for Storybrooke that is apparently so worrying, so terrifying that the Wicked Witch of the freaking West should be shitting her pants. But the Black Fairy can’t get the thing started without the black crystals – so since, Zelena sacrificed her powers to stop her magic from being used for the BF’s nefarious purpose, who is going to do the dirty work for her? The Black Fairy also tells Zelena and Regina that they, “won’t be around to regret your mistake much longer. No one will.” It sounds like a death threat but then she doesn’t kill them, so that would suggest that her plans for Storybrooke involve something that requires dark crystals and will result in the population of Storybrooke going elsewhere… sounds like a new version of the dark curse to me.

Let’s get this party started – The Black Fairy is very big with the talk that the last battle is coming but hasn’t stated yet. But didn’t Rumple say that Emma would start it by breaking the curse way back in the pilot? So that would suggest that the breaking of the curse was the catalyst for what the Black Fairy wants to achieve with it.

The Neverland wand – Hook tells them that the wand Tiger Lily sent back is only part of the wand and that they need to find the other part. This would seem to be a good directive to be taking. It gets side-tracked by Zelena and Regina’s bickering. Personally, it made me very uncomfortable to see the wand fragment handed over to Regina – the wand was sent back for Emma. A locator spell is hardly rocket-science (hell we’ve seen Bell and David and Hook all use variations of the spell!). It just felt odd that Madam Mills needed to take possession of it at all.

Do it together – Regina tells Zelena to cool her heels and wait till they have the wand and can face The Black Fairy together, as a group activity. Is it me, or was Emma not quite as convinced by this reasoning. She seemed dubious but happy to use it as an excuse to stop Zelena acting rashly. Emma knows the prophecy is for her, it doesn’t seem to be a “together” type of situation.

On the subject of Fairy crystals - fairy crystals are the source of fairy magic. The crystals are mined by the dwarves and crushed to make magic powder that fuels magic. The fact that large quantities of crystals are growing below Storybrooke could be important?

One curse to another – “So you’re the big, bad, evil queen who cast my curse… no wonder it was such a pathetic failure.” The Black Fairy says this on meeting Regina. And it’s interesting on two levels – One, because it functions to diminish the pure act of evil that Regina’s curse was. Black calls it pathetic and a failure and it’s supposed to make us wonder at the level to which her possible version of the curse will take, should she cast it. And two, because we know that Regina’s curse was anything but a failure; it functioned exactly the way it was supposed to for 28 years – for 28 years it exiled an entire population of people, separated people from their loved ones and violated their minds and memories. It was very successful thank you very much and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this episode is peppered with reminders of the curse and it’s huge impacts; Snow and David’s conversation about Dr Whale and the infamous one night stand might be played for laughs, but it has the very real purpose of illustrating exactly how successful Regina’s curse was.  The only reason why Regina’s curse is not still going is because Rumpelstiltskin tweaked the recipe and allowed for the addition of a Saviour into the mix. So no, Regina’s curse was neither pathetic or a failure. And that is precisely why the Black Fairy feels like a fraud; her curse, should she be planning on casting a new one, is never going to stack up against the evil maliciousness of Regina’s. And isn’t it funny that Regina gets offended at the suggestion that hers was not a success….

Holding the baby - Zelena asks Regina to look after Robin if something happens to her. She agrees of course, and then Emma says “me too, she’s one of us. We’ll protect her with our lives”. It all sound very ominous and may be a hint that Zelena’s outlook is not great. Regina’s promise is natural, she is Robyn’s aunt after all, but Emma’s assurance feels… a little out of place considering the minimal relationship she has with Zelena… But maybe Robyn, being a baby, is of some interest to the Black Fairy and the point needed to be made that protection of her would be a priority? And should babies be in demand, what about Emma’s brother (even though he has seemingly been forgotten).

Uninvited entry – We have another example of someone coming into another person’s house uninvited this week when Snow lets herself into Emma’s house without knocking first. It’s not quite in the same vein as Regina’s barge and enter, but it still shows a certain level of discourtesy and freedom. And when you think about it, Henry letting himself into the Loft is another example. David was clearly not expecting him to be there to the extent that he pulled a gun out on entry…but I think in this case, Henry went there to ensure that he would be alone while he experiments with his writing. In short -  the people of Storybrooke need to learn to knock!

Other people’s lives - Regina is incredulous that the Charming family “really want to pick out centrepieces on the eve of the final battle?” She is pissed off and note how she trivialises the wedding/marriage as an unimportant detail. She still does find other people’s happiness hard to deal with. Actually, I found Regina quite odd throughout the whole episode, like she was trying to take control of something that is not hers to control - her sister and “the final battle”. While she’s trying to direct strategy and mesh herself into the fabric of the problem, she is really just a periphery player (or she’s playing a bigger game…) But you’ve got to love Snow here, she won’t be dissuaded by the threat of evil – “I do. David and I went through with our wedding after you threatened us it gave people hope. Why should Emma and Hook’s wedding be any different.” The trend of people being honest with and not intimidated by the “reformed” Regina continues. They just don’t seem to be walking on eggshells around her anymore. Plus the reminder of their interrupted wedding is interesting in itself – a timely reminder of the success of Regina’s curse as culmination of Regina’s vow to destroy their happiness. I’m still wondering about that injection of darkness that Regina recently took into her heart… It must be having an effect. And do our heroes know how she subdued the Evil Queen? Do they know about that darkness?

Writer’s block – Henry has experimented with changing the story or ‘fixing’ the outcome and it doesn’t work. He’s trying to translate his doodles (trust me kid, it’s no good, Google has no answers – I’ve tried) “Isaac said, the author’s powers are trying to tell me something” but he’s having no luck working out what that is and wonders what is the point of the author powers if you can’t help anyone…but isn’t that the point - the author powers were never about helping, they were about recording and completing. I almost wonder if, at the end of the book, the story needs to correct its course for completion – the ultimate villain is not introduced in the final chapter, Snow White and the Evil Queen do not become friends. Maybe this is the problem – with no author for so long (what with Isaac being trapped in a page with no way to write for all that time) the book went off course and the story didn’t unfold as it was ‘supposed to’. What would a “correction” mean to the story? I watched Tangled last night and Mother Gothel (who was villain masquerading as a caring mother) says to Rapunzel after her story has fallen apart – “You want me to be the bad guy? Fine, now I'm the bad guy,” and she lets her true colours show. You can’t have Mother Gothel being sympathetic at the end of the story and you can’t have Rapunzel deluded or torn by her duplicity. Now I really want to see Regina say that line. …And I’m still wondering about that pop-up book in the library.  

A speculative look -  Henry leaves the notebook on the table, open to a different page than the one they were originally discussing, David glances at the notebook then doubles back and looks more closely (and the music changes). It might be just concern for Henry’s problem but, I don’t know – to me it seems like something on the page rings a bell for him.  He doesn’t say anything more about it and goes on with the wedding planning,  but is it coincidence that David has a shift of attitude towards the wedding now – no venue is good enough, he doesn’t want Emma’s day ruined, how many beans would be needed to get us all back to the EF? – Does something in those scribbles connect to his interrupted wedding day, the dark curse or Regina?

Going Meta – I love it when the writer’s go Meta - “If this is about Hook, then that ship has sailed and there’s a pirate on it. Deal with it.”  If this wasn’t a message for a particular section of the fandom then I know nothing about anything.

Emma/Gideon parallels – Again we get a strong parallel between Emma and her parents and Gideon and his. Belle wants their son back. They’ve missed a huge chunk of his life but she doesn’t want to miss more. We also get Snow saying that she has missed all the landmarks of Emma’s life so wants to make the most of the wedding. This also invites comparison of The Black Fairy and Regina, the two people who have caused the situation and also of Rumple who is sort of on the outskirts but at the same time key to the entire story. So this Black Fairy storyline is really curse one rehashed and condensed? But to what point??

Blue and Black - she’s older than him, knew the BF long ago and might have the knowledge about how to defeat her… and he’s feeling bad that he was played into taking Blue’s magic and putting her into a coma that she can’t be woken from. Unable to share her knowledge. It’s the fact that she knows the BF’s darkest secret – one she never wants Rumple to know . . .  the real reason she gave him up. Whatever that is, something noble most likely.  But I can’t help but think that if they make her in any way sympathetic aren’t they undercutting their own ‘most evil of the evil’ discourse? We shall see.