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theonceoverthinker · 6 years

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OUAT 1X121 - An Apple Red as Blood

This title giving anyone an “Into the Woods” vibe?

No? Just me? Okay. Well, we’re twenty-one episodes in. You you what to do if you want to read my thoughts.

General Thoughts Past There’s not a ton to say about the storyline here. It’s incredibly simple, but also incredibly fun with a LOTR-style fight and a super dramatic confrontation between Snow and Regina. However, I do want to point out the great show of the community Snow has built around herself over the course of the season as demonstrated throughout the flashback. Until the climax of the episode, Snow is never without her supportive group of friends. Through the way they talk to each other and fight, we see their cooperation and just how much they care for each other. We get to see Snow as a ruler, but now one who has fully embraced the kindness and willingness to accept love within herself and from others. Present So a big part of this and the last episode (Enforced by Henry, Mary Margaret, and August’s speeches) was that Emma needed to help not just Henry, but everyone in Storybrooke get their happy endings. However, this isn’t something that enforced by the narrative. Emma’s actions through this episode are done with only Henry’s well being in mind and while she’s making the wrong decision as to whether to stay or leave, that’s only a matter revolving around Henry (enforced by the ending). I wouldn’t have minded a narrative solely based off of Henry, but for this to be a major point brought up by two of Emma’s closest companions and for their not to be any effects of Emma’s looming departure (Other than the worsening of August��s condition and an admittedly AMAZING scene between Emma and Mary Margaret) serves as a disservice to the narrative. They try to bring it back at the end of the episode after abandoning it for a while by having Emma bring up that all of her actions have hurt others, but I can’t help but feel that it rings a little hollow.

I wish that as a counterpoint to the past, Emma’s community would’ve played a bigger part in this episode as it pertains to her. It was set up well enough through the fantastic dream sequence, and thankfully, we get a bit more of it in Seasons 2 and 3, but that crowd rallies more around Snow and Chraming and this was the only chance to have a group rally around Emma. Again, if they just wanted to focus on the story in this episode revolving around Henry, that’s fine, but there was this buildup between this and the last episode that this conflict was more than just about Henry and Emma would need to look at it that way and it just didn’t deliver.

On the more positive side (And believe me, I genuinely liked the present sequence), I loved Regina in this episode. I feel like this was one of the best portrayals of Regina as a sympathetic villain thus far. Seeing her dream sequence gave a both funny and sad way that her mind works. We get to see Snow, Charming, and Emma overact, giving us insight into what she thinks of them, and at the same time, the uncomfortable dinner with Henry and his joy at the thought of torturing her after the curse. It’s so sad that this is what she believes her relationship with Henry has devolved to, and it makes me happier to see that the two of them grow beyond this with respect to Henry. Henry’s feeling on Regina are never positive in this first season, and I’ll talk about this in my review of “Broken,” but he’d never want to really hurt her, and that says so much about his character. Insights -I think that’s corn beef Regina and Henry are eating, and it looks so good! ...I needed something to distract from the utter creepiness that was that dinner. Also, Regina, don’t eat with your mouth full! -I am dying from this opening scene! It’s so beautifully, majestically over-the-top and I live for it! I know it’s supposed to be serious, and when taking it serious, it’s an equally beautifully creepy scene that gives such a unique thing of having the villain dream, but oh my Merlin it is so much fun to crack up at the hamminess of it all! -I’m pretty bummed to see that the nuance surrounding King George was just abandoned here, exchanged for making him a simple villain. -”Perhaps it’s your fertilizer.” Gold, you beautiful bastard. On a side note, this is my favorite suit of Rumple’s this season. Red and black are just his colors. -Very interesting insight into Gold. Gold could’ve killed Emma at any time after she arrived in order for the curse to be broken, but he never did. That could be contributed to so much. (1) He just didn’t want to kill her, starting off in this world on the right foot for Bae. (2) He didn’t want the curse broken before he could get his magic back. (3) He was unsure of the repercussions of the schematics of the curse breaking through Emma’s death and wanted to avoid that possibility. For me, it’s a combination of all of them, but probably the second one the most. -I love seeing Snow large and in charge of her people. She has the warmth and kindness so closely knit with this character with the weight to her words the likes of which Dumbledore would shrink at (I guess I have HP on the mind). -I said this before and I’ll say it again. *ahem* Jefferson? Jeffie? YOU DON’T HAVE TWO LIVES! REGINA KEPT YOUR MEMORIES INTACT WHEN YOU CAME HERE! Fuck! It would be one thing if we heard about another life that he lead, but we didn’t. He was just a crazy guy who lived in a mansion! I have a couple problems with Jefferson’s presence in the finale, and this one just irks me. -How much control does Regina have over the memories of others? Thankfully, it wasn’t something that needed to be dwelled on since there was no one she wanted to wake up during the curse’s run, but it’s pretty interesting to think about all the same. -This battle is just really cool! We get to see the strength of Snow’s army and just how powerful and supportive they all are of each other! And the music is so cool, particularly the strings! Also, Keegan’s war cries make me laugh so hard! I think people underestimate how great things are when they’re hammy, and a bunch of multi-colored fireflies giving war cries and throwing dust makes for a scene that is hammier than a bacon convention. -August and Henry had the best conversation. Damn, I’m really going to miss these two together! -Hold the front door! If Snow didn’t know that Regina blamed her for Daniel’s death and the true circumstances behind it, then why did Snow say that she knew why Regina hated her in the “Snow Falls” flashback? -”Dreams formed of your own regrets.” I wish we had seen that. What would Snow’s regrets for that time in her life have looked like? That could’ve made for a really avant-garde “Five People You Meet in Heaven” esque flashback where Snow thinks about a bunch of the people from her life (Regina, Charming, her parents, the dwarfs) during the time that she was under the sleeping curse. -Emma’s red jacket looks the best above a black shirt. -There’s a great contrast to how both Emma and Regina react to circumstances using the best of their knowledge, and both come from fascinating places. Archie’s right in how Regina’s moves are more defensive, but they’re defensively offensive. Her moves are made to protect her way of life, but they intend to and do succeed in scarring worse than anything Emma’s done. And Emma’s moves have more directly flown in the face of Regina’s wishes and require more outright initiative on her part, but her moves take into consideration Henry and everyone else’s feelings as she’s performing them. Arcs Emma’s journey of belief - It’s interesting that in this episode, we get kind of a crackdown. Emma has been building up an illusion - sort of. She’s been considering herself the hero, and that’s right, but with the knowledge at her disposal, she’s also seeing the harm she’s done to Henry and Regina. This causes any faith that she has built up to be if not gone, then repressed. It’s an interesting turn that doesn’t invalidate her progress, but lets her reach her lowest moment in a clever way. Favorite Dynamic Emma and Mary Margaret. Earlier, I briefly touched upon their amazing scene, but let’s take a closer look because all of the things I love about their dynamic in this episode come from it. I feel like this was expertly given as the point of culmination for these two given the straight up business of the next episode. Here, it got the time, attention, and characterization needed to show this bond. We see how much Mary Margaret has transformed. As Albus Dumbledore once said, “it takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to your enemies, but just as much to stand up to your friends.” I think this line perfectly speaks to Mary Margaret and her journey here. Mary Margaret has had to learn this lesson the hard way. She had to get mad and actually show that anger towards both David and - in this scene - Emma. And considering where we saw her start off, that’s hard to do. And yet she did. And Emma is genuinely affected by this encounter, as she goes to Archie afterwards to see fairly where both she and Henry are at from an unbiased POV. Her approach has become calmer as a direct result of being friends with Mary Margaret. Writer It’s our final episode of the season for Jane and David! Their writing was especially solid and dramatic here. While I take issue with some of the story and plot elements they used, it doesn’t take away a lot from the really nice stories they told here. Rating 8/10. As I said before, I had some trouble with the initial buildup for this episode. However, when the episode finally decided to stick with the story being about the feud over Henry (Which wasn’t too late in the game, thankfully), the story became incredibly tight. Additionally, all throughout, we saw great insights into our mains and a frankly just fun battle in the Enchanted Forest that culminated in some beautiful scenes. Flip My Ship Swan Queen - “I didn’t come for dinner. I came for...you.” In another universe, this is a sex scene waiting to happen! “We all did.” And theeeere’s the orgy! Also, the few seconds of Emma approaching Regina’s door later on in the episode mixed with Regina baking looks like the two are gearing up for a super cute date, ESPECIALLY when you mix in the first few lines they speak to each other! Snowing - The crescendo of the Snowing theme as Snow eats the apple and both she and Charming feel it is one of the best moments in the entire series for them. There’s also the beautiful mirror scene. It just speaks to how well these two are developed that these little moments together in between and within bouts of separation can mean so much for both the audience and them.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Woohoo!!! We’re almost at the end of Season 1!!! Will it be just as amazing as I remember? I damn well hope so! I hope you come back and give it a read!

Thanks again to the fine folks at @watchingfairytales for putting the project together and to all of you who stopped by and gave this a read. I know this wasn’t my longest one, but this week was a bit difficult for one reason or another, so thank you for understanding.

Writer Tally for Season 1: A&E (50/70) Liz Tigelaar (17/20)* David Goodman (41/50)* Jane Espenson (54/60)* Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg (38/40)* Daniel Thomsen (8/10)* Vladimir Kvetko (9/10)* (* = Their work for the season is complete)

Tags: ouat, once upon a time, watching fairytales, ouat episode code, ouat rewatch, jenna watches ouat, ships mentioned

Operation Rewatch Archives

#ouat #once upon a time #watching fairytales #ouat 1x21 #ouat rewatch #jenna watches ouat #basically every character in this episode is discussed #ships mentioned #swan queen #snowing

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ultraericthered · 5 years

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Anime Update 6

CLANNAD - The Fuko arc is still going, Fuko herself is still so weird but cute and endearing as shit (she and Nagisa really do have much in common, I guess), Sunohara featured in two scenes that had him getting a comeuppance (giving me that in small doses makes his presence not wholly unwelcome!), and the strange Yusuke guy even showed up again: turns out he’s the guy Fuko’s sister is getting married to! The two things that stood out most would be how that glasses wearing girl accepting one of Fuko’s starfish was played as this big moment of emotional catharsis...but the previous scene with that girl in just the last episode was so brief and underplayed that I’d actually forgotten it had even happened, so I had to go back and look for it when this scene came along and confounded the hell out of me...which makes the scene either really stupid or really brilliant considering that the former scene that led to this one was done mainly through Nagisa and Okazaki’s POV while this one was done through Fuko’s, so of course it seems like a bigger deal to Fuko than it did to the leads, and thus to the audience. And of course, the ending. Fuko really is literally invisible to her sister. Is she really a ghost? Or maybe an astral projection of a comatose girl? If so, then how does everyone else get to see and interact with her? Dammit, this is going to be weighing on my mind all week now!

Dragon Ball - The official start of the Muscle Tower section of the Red Ribbon Saga, thus when things really start kicking into high gear. Not much to say about this one except that Suno is a precious little snowflake, the Red Ribbon Army is so fucking horrible and brutal (they’re seen here menacing an elderly couple and tearing up their house - what the fuck is wrong with these guys?), and General White is no Colonel Silver - his charisma is virtually nil.

Toradora - The first of the two swimming pool episodes. Ami and Taiga’s rivalry dynamic continues to delight, Minori is not only adorable and hilarious but also clearly WAY sharper than she let on, and I felt real bad for Taiga being so insecure about her chest size while at the same time finding her little fake boobs scheme to be ridiculously self deceiving and fruitless, so she kinda had what happened to her in the end coming (the getting fake-groped and publicly humiliated part, not the nearly drowning part). Somehow this has led to Ami and Taiga calling on a competition between them ‘cause Minori said so, but the next episode preview didn’t really showcase that much as it was just a few seconds of footage with those two dudebros whining over it. The episode’s weakest point? The very beginning. The anime cut something HUGE from Taiga’s reaction to walking in on Ami trying to seduce Ryuji, so as a result the very next episode is going to be giving us a payoff to nothing as the big climax.

Excel Saga - The episode wasted no time with introducing Misaki Matsuya, who it turns out has fourth wall awareness! Tiffany Grant was voicing Sandora and Kumikumi before, but she is really recognizable as Matsuya, to the point where I think of her as being basically a more cold-blooded version of Asuka, which includes a more subdued vocal performance. She’s a fun character, as are her co-workers and their boss Kabapu, who is a lot more of an oaf than the last episode’s semi-menacing portrayal of him would suggest. The ACROSS antics were also super fun here. Was Jason Douglas just improvising a lot of his performance as Lord Ilpalazzo? His voice and line delivery just keeps getting sillier and hammier far beyond what I think the original Japanese VA ever did. I loved the whole angle of him sending Excel, Hyatt and Menchi out into the wilderness to gather RESOURCES!, without ever specifying what “resources” entailed and which they needed, only to really just set Excel up for setting off a weapon that could decimate the city, which only got stopped due to a freak collision with the laser blast fired by Iwata during training, and there might’ve been some lesbian energy between Excel and Hyatt on the side at some point. Also, the moment that ex-soldier guy started recalling his past, I knew he had to have known Nabeshin, that Nabeshin was going to appear, and that the old friend was a goner. Sure enough, it happened. But oddly enough, the part that cracked me up the most (aside from Excel casually asking Hyatt “where the fuck are we?”) was the eyecatch part: Excel shoots Menchi by accident, so as the show goes to commercial break, Excel just tosses the dead Mechi into the Will of the Macrocosm like laundry so that she can be revived, and then when it comes back from break, Excel just pulls Menchi out good as new. The sheer amount of mood whiplash there was just hysterical.

Ace Attorney - This case is not going the way I’d thought it would. Was not expecting that Jack Hammer, the actor who played the villain on Steel Samurai, was actually a bigger actor than Will Powers, having played the hero in many other samurai films, and that might have played into the circumstances leading to his death. Not only that, but he was killed while dressed as the Steel Samurai, traumatizing the poor kid who saw that! Dee Vasquez is now clearly the culprit and she is by far the most menacing one we’ve had yet - I don’t expect her to crack under pressure like Sahwit and White did, so Phoenix is going to have to pull out some really strong, hard-hitting evidence to indisputably prove her guilt or get a confession out of her (which is suspect will be in part owed to Oldbag deciding to help given the build-up we got here). The one major complaint I had with this one? Edgeworth wasn’t in it, like, at all.

Nadja of Tomorrow - Oh my God, that was awesome! After two episodes I was kinda lukewarm on, this was easily the best one yet. I immensely enjoyed the way Kennosuke and TJ clashed with each other and how their family background did so much to make sense of why they do so and why they are how they are, I loved seeing how intimidating an angry Nadja can really be, I of course was glad to see Harvey again even if in flashback form, it was nice to hear Tchaikovsky music yet again, and the whole section of the episode where they’re searching for the lost little girl’s mother was great. Whoever voiced the little girl did fantastic with the moment where she breaks down in tears, it sounded totally authentic and when followed by Nadja’s lullaby to soothe the child, it got me emotional. The only problem I had was how the mother ended up getting found with a guy who just happened to be the painter from Colette’s diary that Nadja was looking for to start with. Come on, really? But overall it was an all-around excellent episode and a reminder of why this show is worth sticking with.

Mobile Fighter G Gundam - So the story finally comes out. Wow. I said last time that I found Neo Russia to be awful in how they did things, but the Neo Japan guys are just the worst. With what they subject Domon to here, it’s not at all surprising that they turn out to be the true enemy later on. At the moment, the Dark Gundam seems like just a super weapon that Domon’s crazy brother took out for a ride to Earth, but it’ll of course prove to be so much worse than that. And Rain really needs more credit for how brave, resourceful and badass she is in a tight spot in addition to being compassionate and beautiful and hot. But while the backstory here was undeniably tragic and I wanted to be more invested in it, the dub shot dead any emotional resonance that it was trying to accomplish with Domon going “I’ll get him. I’ll get Kyoji. Kyoji! I’ll catch him! I’ll catch him!” in some of the worst line delivery I’ve ever heard in voice acting. I was just cracking up at that part, it was soooo woodenly acted! XD

#Anime Update

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