#feel aki has had much connection to power either tbh but...I get it I get why lol-

[dapperrokyuu]

Read ~60 chapters of Chainsaw Man today, WHEWWWWW-

#dee p thoughts #overall review so far: pretty good. author's style is very distinct and potentially offputting/unhinged so I 1000% get someone not liking #this for that reason. theres a lot of food for thought to chew on among it so I enjoy it tho. but I do think the plot in terms of arcs and #how they tie into character development/progression can be very...fast and sudden? couldve used more time to make the progressions more #gradual and natural feeling imo which is where I think the anime expanding on scenes enhances this. ex: aki's care for power and denji is #very sweet but it also feels a bit sudden in terms of...well how to word this? like it ultimately MAKES SENSE but the turning point makes i #feel like his care stems from them almost dying reminding him of himeno as opposed to. caring about them afdadljbkndlkj- yes its establishe #that aki views denji kind of as a little brother but they couldve had the trio cook a little longer imo like at that point I dont really #feel aki has had much connection to power either tbh but...I get it I get why lol- #THO I WILL GIVE THAT THE SUDDENNESS FEELING MAY STEM FROM ME READING ~60 CHAPTERS YEAH. just like? denji's relationship with makima has mor #gradual progression than the trio's imo which makes sense but we should strengthen the trio bond for extra impacttt- #thinking deeper I do think aki has individual moments with denji and power has individual moments with denji so its probably the lack of ak #interacting with power that makes me feel the trio isnt fully baked lol. kind of just shown annoyance and then happiness at her not throwin #vegetables and now you dont want her to die I guess thats what makes me feel something is missinggg #which makes sense at the end of the day I guess? whats important is their relationship with denji not each other? but eh still I guess we'l #jot this down as a personal preference of mine

[keii]

Random long update post about my life i guess? LOL

Been enjoying messing with tamagotchis lately!!! I’ve always wanted ones with a colored screen, so I caved and bought some Tamagotchi On and it’s SO fun! Like, I just play with a lil pixel friend and can marry them off. It’s a commitment, but also, easy to just take a breather from my day to see how they’re doing and then continue working on whatever I was doing. I also downloaded the MyMeets thing bc I kinda want to try and make my own pixel bg bc wouldn’t that be cute??? Would also want to commission Poo for one as well bc I always liked their pixel works. I’ve also wanted a Sanrio Meets one, but they’re SO expensive, so I’m going to wait a bit before buying one. I really want to marry Sanrio meets tamas to my On and I think it would be cute to see. The blue one is technically my fiances (though I’m the one that mostly looks out for it) and the other one is mine. I named my first tama child Denjitchi, after Denji from Chainsaw Man bc I read that a couple weeks back and FELL IN LOVE. I really love the characters and world, and it’s how I felt with Dorohedoro, where the world seems so dire? But the character relationships are so fun and you get attached to so many. I also really love how it’s violent, but also fun??? Not only that but the concept fo their abilities are weird in a cool way, the devils are kinda freaky too and I love that. Also love the entrance of the Darkness Devil and the name itself made me laugh bc u know. LMAO-- I like the sense of dark humor it has. After that, I made sure to preorder both Denji and Power nendoroids bc I love their relationship the most! I wonder if there’s gonna be a part 2... I need it, after the heartbreak I experienced with Aki...

I also figured out how to buy nijisanji goods, so I caved and bought chronoir kuma rubber charms and they’re so cute, I don’t want to take em out of their plastic-- I have no idea where I want to hang these either bc I don’t want them to get dirty or lost bc they’re expensive. I also preordered two Kuzuha nendoroids from different sites (bc they have different preorder bonus LMFAO) along with Himawari nendo bc I like her too and I swear nendos NEVER really caught my attention before, but for SOME REASON goodsmile started coming out with REALLY good ones that appealed to me and now I find myself wanting a new one every month??? Smh, calm down!! Anyway, Idk why I like vtubers-- something about watching someone with a cute anime avatar just doing something so mundane such as playing video games or singing is a nice comfort to me ever since quarantine happened. Like not only that, but all the Holostar goods I ordered months ago are all finally being shipped and idk where the heck I’m gonna put those either LMAO.

Hmm what else, in February, I got a instax printer thingy and I’m having fun testing out how my art works look on it! I think it would be cute to make personalize polaroid pics for others too as a commission, though I’m a lil hesitant atm because it’s kind of hard to not have the colors too washed out. When I was testing it on Kii, I had to bring the brightness down along with increasing the saturation and contrast just so that his colors wouldn’t be so washed out! 

Besides talking to close friends, I’ve been keeping mostly to myself on social media, not even posting art everyday, which is nice, but also social media has skewed my relationship with art where if I’m not posting it, then I’m just wasting time. I’m still trying to get over the fact that I’m not just an artist and that I’m allowed to venture out into new things and work on projects myself without having to post every single detail about it on the internet. Every since I graduated university, I shifted from just drawing all the time to having more time to find more interests outside of art. Sushi and Poo convinced me to do journaling as well, so I started that in February and it’s been fun to write down unfiltered thoughts, even though it’s a mess, along with making random spreads. I enjoy being able to still be creative without having to post it, you know? I’m still trying to find my flow when it comes to balancing commissions and my own projects and interests-- I have to keep myself accountable with my own schedule.

There are so many things I want to do, but it’s easy to feel so overwhelmed that I end up not doing any of it at all and reverting back to whatever I’ve always done. I enjoy immersing myself in my work, my projects, my interests. I want to do that, but at the same time I do need to be active on social media from time to time because I still need to do commissions. I like sharing my work to have that connection with others, I just don’t like the pressure of trying to upkeep an audience or anything that social media culture pushes onto people. I guess that’s why I still like tumblr because I can just post whatever and not care too much lol. That’s all I can think of from the top of my head in this convoluted, messy, post about my life (I say this as if it's not some essay or some shit lmao). Nothing really eventful tbh??? Just been doing my own thing and then I would have weekly voice calls with Sushi and Poo and then catch up to other friends once or twice a month.

Hope everyone else is doing well~

#x #just a lil update on my life eheh #this is still a personal blog and ya guess i just wanna get a lil personal but not really? LOL

[asocier]

🎰 👀

( five random connections; accepting! )

Cedric & Eric [ their names are similar lmaooo ] 

          ohhh !!!! right away, i can see that they come from a very similar background. cedric is located in france, grew up very wealthy, and was also taken care of by mostly nannies rather than his parents. while cedric kind of has downsized since moving out from his parents, he still has a lot of wealth to his name, so needless to say, he’s living very comfortably. he carries himself in a way that reflects that, acting like he’s better than most people and being all snooty, though it’s really all an act so it’s likely that he could still get on eric’s good side one way or another once eric gets past cedric’s annoying exterior alkjsdlksa — eric being of vampire lineage is also very interesting, and it would certainly add a new layer to this dynamic if it kicks off!

Alison & Yuki 

          oh ,,,, oh poor yuki 😞 this dynamic too, right away i can see that these two share a lot in common ( unfortunately ). alison and yuki both have undergone a lot of misfortune, and while i don’t expect them to talk about their experiences openly with each other right away unless it was in a setting where that was expected ( like group therapy or the like ), yuki seems like a gentle soul, and alison tends to gravitate towards people like that a lot since she also is a very gentle soul. yuki and alison also share a fear of men ( yuki more specifically older men ), and in a way, maybe having each other helps them heal and feel more comfortable in certain situations. overall, i think this dynamic has a lot of potential, though it would all come down to how yuki takes to alison! i imagine it’s hard to trust people after what she’s been through after all.

Aito & Momo

          A BUNBUN? A BUNBUN SHAPE SHIFTER FOR AITO?? absolutely, holy shit — you have no idea how cool aito would think momo is. he’s one of my muses that loves supernatural things, so meeting muses who aren’t 100% human makes for really fun interactions with him. he’s a really nice and relaxed guy, so she has no reason to fear him either if people scare her!! this would be super cute, especially if aito and momo had a dynamic where aito took care of her or gave her a lot of guidance in fitting in or something like that. just some ideas!!! really love this one too wow the generator is giving me some good shit 

Leah & Jazz

          i think a sibling dynamic would make a lot of sense with jazz and leah tbh. leah was an only child growing up, so she didn’t have any siblings, and jazz was super close to yuki, who was like a little sister to her. maybe it’d be a case of jazz filling a void, or maybe it’s a case of jazz naturally being protective, but leah would certainly look up to jazz and admire her if jazz were to take on a protective sibling role. she’d even get really invested in jazz’s mission to find kiki’s killers and yuki. it’s like a really elaborate story you’d see in the movies, except it’s not a movie for jazz. leah’s lived a really boring and sheltered life, she’d find it all super interested!

Nate & Aki

          not a bad pairing tbh! aki in his current life is a complete 180 from nate’s current life, but seeing as how cedric and nate are close friends, nate isn’t inexperienced in hanging out with those who have money, power, and status. what stands out to m as interesting is aki’s high school years where he was more aggressive and volatile, which resembles to how nate can be too when he’s not in a depressive episode. i think it’d be interesting if it was a case of nate reminding aki of his former days before becoming a ceo, a bit of nostalgia maybe? especially because aki is so much older than nate; it could be fun for them to bond over chaos and nate being able to break the ceo out of his professional role during his free time.  

#these were all so good wtf !!!!!! #thank you for sending this in!! #answered; #flxwergxrden

[theonceoverthinker]

OUAT 3X15 - Quiet Minds

What did the doctor diagnose Zelena with when she came complaining about knee pain?

Oz-teoperosis! XD

I wish I could get you to a doctor! I’m actually pretty sad to watch this episode and I’m sure you know why. So let’s get to it. Under the cut is where you want to be.

Press Release

Neal finds himself back in Storybrooke and yearns for a way to reconnect with his son Henry, whose memories of his father are gone, while also trying to find his own father, Rumplestiltskin, whom he has just learned is alive but missing, and Regina discovers a possible connection with Robin Hood. Meanwhile, in the Fairy Tale Land that was over the past year, agonizing over the death of his father, Neal - with the help of Belle and enchanted candelabra Lumiere - attempts to find a magical solution to bring back Rumplestiltskin from the dead.

Main Thoughts - Characters/Stories/Themes and Their Effectiveness

Past

I like how Belle and Neal’s past conversation is almost meta like in their discussion of the nature of Rumple’s sacrifice (Ex. Belle debates that Rumple saved everyone whereas Neal debates that he saved just his family). I like this discussion so much and wish that we had more Neal and Belle moments because these kind of discussions about Rumple’s morality are so interesting! Neal is much more critical of Rumple’s every act, be in kind in nature or not while Belle is more lenient, choosing to believe in him. I can’t help but wonder how these two would’ve worked together going forward had Neal not died. Would they have been able to get along because of those differences? Probably, but I could see the occasional fight break out between them. And it’s interesting to see how in the end, Neal is right. While undoubtedly the thing anyone would do -- save their child over the dagger -- it was selfish for everyone who now had to deal with the consequences of that decision. Rumple saved his family -- not the grander scheme of things. BUT that’s not framed as a terribly bad thing either, and rightfully so, as evidenced by neal calling it a “true sacrifice” during his death scene. It’s still legit.

I like how Neal’s lack of magical understanding -- one of his biggest character flaws -- is what gets him into this mess, as well as his impatience to get back to his family. I some ways, it reminds me of a reverse version of “The Crocodile.” There, Rumple’s need for vengeance, over-reliance on magic, and impatience costs his best chance at getting back to his family and the same happens here.

The dialogue between Zelena and Rumple has much more meat to it in hindsight than during the first go-around. There’s this whole other layer to the conversation that’s completely missed without the context that Rumple was Zelena’s tutor and taught her basically how to be evil and powerful!

Present

The story in the present section is definitely one of those “all come together moments” where the plot is more of the driving force than a story and it works fine enough here.

Because of that...well, let’s talk about Neal’s death, why don’t we?

I feel like when talking about Neal’s death, we have to do it in two parts: The first is how the death worked on its own (I.E. the staging, how it fits into the story of the episode, etc.). The second is how it worked as the death of a character (I.E. what this character’s death left people desiring, was it an appropriate death, why this death happened, last impressions of the character). I’m going to focus on the first part here and the second part over where I talk about the cultural elements of the show.

So within a vacuum, how was Neal’s death handled in the confines of this episode? Eh. Neal is so adamant about getting back to his family and making things right and just leaps at his death without looking for another option. I just can’t help but feel like Neal would be a bit more stubborn with that. He’s giving up his chance to be alive with him family. If this was the only way and alternatives were explored a bit more, that would’ve been one thing, but they’re not. Belle reads exactly one book and they don’t even try to consult Blue or Regina before going to this final resort. It’s not impossible to believe, but it is hard.

But that’s not all there is to a death. Some of it can come down to his goodbyes to other characters and Neal had the benefit of dying beside the two people he was closest to: Rumple and Emma. And while Henry is absent during the scene, and understandably so given the story, his absence of presence and memories creates an extra layer of underlying tragedy to this death that thankfully is brought up in the next episode. But let’s keep our focus on Emma and Rumple. Now, I like talking about shippy stuff at the bottom of my review and I will further elaborate on my points there, but to sum it up, it was honestly so beautiful and touched upon every point it needed to. I genuinely loved it. As for Rumple, it’s perfect. I love the sharp denial Rumple has for Neal’s passing, jumping between every stage of grief and being left so emotional as he finally passes. Every touch is so important and emphasized and I think the staging of Emma holding Neal so those touches would stick out more was a masterful choice.

Insights - Stream of Consciousness

-Zelena, I don’t recommend wearing that Wicked Witch cosplay while trying to blend in!

-”Beautiful one.” Not really selling me on adoring your monkeys when you sound like you’re about to butcher a puppy, Zelena!

-FUCK! Rumple can run! Does Storybrooke have a track team because if so, put him on that track team!

-Oh jeez. While funny (And I do believe that’s what they were going for, and it works), I am so glad Killian gave Belle a better apology later on in the series.

-”What the hell?” What the hell’s right! Lumiere is more than a touch creepy!

-Yay! We’re finally starting to really touch upon the Captain Beauty friendship!

-”I got you breakfast because I am supermom.” I love the way Emma says that line and sinks into that big armchair as she says it like, “Yeah, I’m a boss.”

-”That’s a bagel?” Emma, I am so proud of you for instilling such a good taste in bagels into your son. *Tear falls*

-In case there was ever a doubt to Henry being noble as all hell, he’d rather go back to SCHOOL than be lied to!

-Not gonna lie: Neal looks REALLY hot in that t-shirt!

-Watching Neal hear about how Henry not only doesn’t remember the bond they’ve formed, but how he does remember him as a jerk is so harsh and heartbreaking!

-I love how Zelena just concots this whole fucking story for Lumiere that is so typically Rumple! XD

-So I’m looking at the cover to the book that Belle’s reading about The Dark One and it says “IN A AKY ACAZ CA KAWO.” Does anyone know what this means?

-”Born out of -- well -- darkness.” More like vengeance, but sure, whatevs.

-Neal! Why did you blow Lumiere out?! And without a warning?! That was just rude!

-”Says more about them than it does about you.” I don’t know about that, Zelena. Your story was pretty convincing, tbh.

-For all of Zelena’s strengths as a villain, the woman is as subtle as a brick to the face! XD

-REGINA CAUGHT A FUCKING ARROW! WHAT A BADASS!

-Not to get into shippy stuff, but that’s 2 couples so far that have explored this farmhouse!

-JELLO! I still mourn for the jello scene that never canonically was, but fuck, I love this one!

-I love the shot of the clearing by The Dark One’s Vault! The snow and wintery atmosphere makes it so gorgeous!

-Once again, Robert Carlyle is creepy and awesome as hell for it!

-Seriously! Someone get Rumple on a track team!

-I can’t help but feel like it may have been a better idea for the candle to not be revealed as a villain until Belle discovers it. Like I get that he’s supposed to be redeemed, making this a double twist of sorts, but I wasn’t feeling it.

-”The Wicked Witch?” Belle’s tone to me implies that Belle has either seen or read “The Wizard of Oz.” Thoughts and HC’s?

-Like father, like son with that impatience!

-Neal, when things start to glow, we take our hands off of them!

-He loves pizza! I like how just like with the underlying softness between Robin and Regina, there’s that underlying memory of Henry and having pizza with his dad.

-The special effects team must’ve had a fucking FIELD DAY with that transformation in the woods! The actual hell?!

-I love how Lumiere calls his bit of goodness a flash of conscience because damnit -- that’s what it is!

-”I’ll be watching over you guys from somewhere.” Good HEAVENS! I have one HELL of a theory about the nature of the Underworld for Neal and Rumple. Remind me to tell you about it some time!

-”Let go.” NO! Rumple, save him!

-I feel bad laughing given that we just lost Neal, but WHY do the Charmings have two doors to their bathroom! Even the architects in Storybrooke are so fucking extra! XD

-”That was rather ill-timed.” Zelena, you fucking bitch!

-Okay, when Zelena stepped over Neal’s head, I was terrified she was gonna crush him.

-We get a nice bit of Golden Swan in this episode! Not only are they mutually grieving Neal’s loss as he dies and for a few moments afterwards, BUT we see how Rumple has faith that Emma will rally everyone to defeat Zelena!

-I’m not gonna lie: I’m kind of loving this Rumple whump. Having the dagger shoved quite literally in his face -- I don’t know how to describe it, but it does stuff to me, okay!

-I don’t know if Zelena makes him walk back to his cafe instead of poofing to torture him or if he voluntarily does that so he gets some time to himself to mourn, but either way is so sad!

-GOING FROM A FATHER MOURNING HIS SON TO A FATHER PLAYING WITH HIS SON IS NOT OKAY FOR MY PSYCHE, WRITERS! *Cries*

-That having been said, seeing Robin and Roland play together is fucking precious!

-Take that, people who say no one cares about Belle! Snow goes over there and checks on her! :D

-Oh sweet! The lake is back, which will henceforth be known as The Mirror Lake! Like seriously, the entire crew was having a fucking field day with this half season. These shots! These effects!

-THE TEARS ARE BACK AGAIN FOR THIS EMMA/HENRY TALK!

Arcs - How Are These Storylines Progressing?

The Wicked Witch - Once again, Zelena gets to show off how intimidating she truly is! In the present, she continues to manipulate everyone into thinking she’s a good person and even when she’s exposed, she still manages to kill Neal in the process. And in the past, her plan is straight up devious and so cleverly put together. Even as she’s now exposed, getting there only took four episode and didn’t lag too much at all. Also, there’s still so much to get into that there’s enough fresh ideas to keep the arc chugging along. Also also, I REALLY get how so many people wouldn’t want a redeemed Zelena after this moment. Hell, I don’t think I want it anymore either! Like, Zelena is fucking wicked and just as much as wicked always wins, seeing her laud Neal’s death -- a death that she cause -- over Rumple fucking hurts to watch!

Emma Accepting Home - I think that Neal’s death was an important thing to depict to show Emma the dangers of being in Storybrooke and to reinforce her desires to leave with Henry for a life in New York.

Favorite Dynamic

Neal and Killian. Look, we had a bunch of good dynamics here, but this was a sad episode and I need something lighthearted to fangirl over. This is about as good of closure as we were ever going to get between Neal and Killian and I utterly LOVED it. The jello Killian offers Neal is funny as all hell, I love their conversation concerning the nature of the good and evil deeds they’re doing and...THAT HUG! It’s sweet and and awkward and a little uncomfortable, but is also so earnest. And fuck me gently with a spoon, Neal calls Killian...well, Killian! There aren’t a lot of characters who do that and the implication of them doing so is that on some level, they get who he is, so to see Neal join those ranks is just beautiful.

Writer

Kalinda Vazquez is our writer today, and boy was she stuck with a difficult episode. Killing a major character is NEVER easy, especially such a big one. Until the the end of Season 5, this was a burden left solely on her shoulders alone (Unless you thought Rumple did die during “Coming Home,” I didn’t). And with that difficult situation, I think she made something very solid. Neal’s death, while not ideally set up in some ways, IS a tragic scene that allows for Neal to get a degree of closure with the three most important people in his life. I can talk about the rest of the episode, but that was where the writing needed to work, and thankfully, it did.

Culture

I feel like I should preface the discussion about Neal’s death as an overall factor on the series as a whole by talking about my original experiences with the character. I binged Seasons 2 and 3 a few months apart, so a lot of Neal’s time on the show passed for me in a blur. I didn’t hate him by any means, but he didn’t leave a big impression on me.

This rewatch changed things. I started to pay more attention to him as a character. That happened mostly I think because there’s always been such a controversy surrounding him and because I didn’t pay much attention to him last time in favor of some of the flashier characters, I wanted more than anything to form my own opinion on him. Much to my pleasure, that opinion was positive, and as I closed in on his death, I began to get sad at the thought of it -- so much so that I put off the start of this review basically all day.

Anyways, let’s talk about the larger factors of the death (I.E. what this character’s death left people desiring, was it an appropriate death, why this death happened, last impressions of the character). I talked about my last impressions of him, so we’ll get into everything else.

Now, I can’t speak for anyone else here, but I can speak for me when I say that I was left desiring a lot more development with Neal’s relationships with both Rumple and Henry. While I like the resolution Neal and Rumple got, i can’t help but feel like it had to zip dash to the finish line when Neal’s introduction back into the series implied that this was going to be a harder road. We only got a few episodes of them being at odds and while those moments were mostly great, they’re so little compared to all of the baggage they had. There’s no point where Neal sees the scale of what Rumple did cursing this land and reacting to it and he barely gets to spend time with Belle.

As for his time with Henry, yeah. I would’ve liked to see more of them. After Neal’s death, Henry carries so much grief over him throughout the other seasons, mentioning him at least once a season until we hit 7, but in terms of the time they spend together and how that time is spent, we come up really short. They play games and have pizza and that’s all well and good, but I feel like it would’ve been great had Neal occasionally given Henry some advice or left him with a phrase or something that would’ve equaled out to all the love that Henry has for him. Like, where Neal’s “with great power comes great responsibility” Uncle Ben moment? What we got was fine enough, but I would’ve liked to honestly have seen a bit more meat to it.

Was the death appropriate, or rather, was it warranted? Certainly more so than Robin’s (I’ll get to that one), but to tell you the truth, I’m not sure. I think that it opened up story possibilities that were taken good advantage of and Neal’s death was given the dignity he deserved, making the death more than just something done for shock, but as a story point that would follow Henry, Rumple, and Emma for a while. I think the broad strokes with Neal’s character were taken care of prior to the death and while I have my issues with it in regards to the finer details of some of his dynamics, Neal was pretty complete. That having been said, the issue of if a death needed to happen is a valid one and it opens a lot of points that, to be honest, I just don’t know if can delve as deeply into it as the topic deserves. There are so many factors that go into this conversation, up to and including the magical world of OUAT and the resurrections that take place afterwards. So my answer is a light yes, but there is so much room for nuance in this conversation that it’s nothing I’d give a ride-or-die answer to.

Now here comes the “fun” question: Why did Neal die? A lot of people attribute it to Captain Swan and bringing an end to the love triangle, and that is not a line of thinking I agree with. And I know, it makes sense that I’d say that as a CS shipper, but I beg you to follow my line of thinking here.

Neal was killed because of the choice to make Rumple a baddie again. When you look at Season 4, Rumple plays a gambit on everyone. If Neal were alive and in character, he would not have been able to do that without getting caught by someone other than Killian. I’ve mentioned before, but what makes Neal a great character and a great contrast to Belle is that while Belle is willing to often give him the benefit of the doubt, Neal isn’t. Neal would’ve been on Rumple’s ass the second he heard something shady and Rumple’s so shady, he makes the space underneath a pine tree look like the Sahara on a cloudless day. And look, that’s not Rumple’s fault, or even the writers necessarily, but I’m gonna say that they had some idea of what they wanted from Season 4 by this point and they understood that there had to be a trade off for Rumple’s development of an evil plan and his returned love for his power. And Neal, just as he was in this episode, was the price. I’m not happy about it -- I hope that’s something I’ve made clear -- but that’s my thought process.

Rating

9/10. Everything about this episode was going to come down to how well Neal’s death was handled. Fortunately, it was done well -- not flawlessly, but well. The story was solid and it delivers on giving the audience a level of closure for the character, closure that will continue for the rest of the season. Even the past segment offered something unique in that regard, making for a weird kind of love letter to Neal. It’s an episode that really does encompass his character and a send off that is divisive, but for me, more satisfying than not.

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

Swan Fire - You really see just how determined Neal and Emma are to get back together here and it works so much! Even Belle ships it, explicitly reasoning the safety of Emma’s necklace was a result of it originating from their “True Love.” No matter what you get from that line, I think the role that that necklace took on for both of them as well as its presence throughout the series shows how special Neal and Emma were to each other. Also, I love seeing Emma and Neal bonding over their evil significant others. Watching them laugh together in the forest just shows how in-tune they are with each other. Seeing Neal remorseful for how things with Walsh turned out is so sweet. Finally, let’s talk about Neal’s death. Neal’s attention to making sure Emma knows that she can find love and happiness is so important here. Neal cares so much about Emma and you see it as he shakily holds that necklace up to her, begging her to continue on her story. And seeing Emma barely able to hold herself together while watching Neal die guts me. The acting from both of these guys is amazing! And that hug as she cradles him to her chest choked me up and got some tears welling!

Rumbelle - “I love him -- all of him -- even the parts that belong to the darkness.” I really like this line and it leaves a lot to be discussed when it comes to the nature of Rumple and Belle’s love. It’s important not only to see as a point about the depths of Belle’s love for Rumple, but also as a point about that love’s limitations. As I said in my “Skin Deep” review last summer, Belle is one of the only characters who gets to show amusement at some of Rumple’s antics. But I like this line because it gels well with the breakup we see in Season 4, Belle likes the darkness, but has clear limits on what how much Rumple can let that darkness effect him. It makes Belle a good character with human-like limits, but showing that there is something attractive to even a good person about the darkness. ANYWAY, let’s just look at Rumple and Belle’s reactions to Rumple coming out of the vault. Belle’s got freakin’ tears welled up and Rumple’s first word is her name! It’s -- to quote a sexy narrator -- straight out of a telenovela!

Outlaw Queen - Once again, I like their banter a lot! I also like the gentleness that’s formed between them because of their adventures in the Enchanted Forest. While they don’t remember it, there’s an underlying feeling of trust that you can just tell is there and watching it is really fun. Like, they’re really cute and despite later seasons really taking me out of OQ, I do sincerely love their origins here. Also, I want to talk about this line: ”From where I’m standing the ‘Evil’ moniker seems to be something of an overstatement.” I know this line gets a bit of criticism, but I actually think it works. For me, part of what works about Outlaw Queen is that Robin, from his perspective, is a redeemed villain and he’s hanging with and will come to court a redeemed villain. From his current perspective, he sees her in her current more redeemed form and thinks that she’s on his level, but currently has no idea what he’s getting into. That’s what makes the Marian twist at the end of Season 3 so big and why I’m so annoyed that that nuance isn’t brought up later! ...Sorry I got a bit off topic back there. Finally, I love their chemistry! Sean and Lana have some sexy chemistry in 3B! I love the way Robin and Regina are basically flirting over drinks! It’s cute as all hell!

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Wow. That was… a lot. This episode left me with a lot to think about in terms of fictional deaths. Please don’t take anything I say here as ultra definitive because I promise you, I could see my mind being swayed by a good enough argument.

Anyways, thank you all for reading that and to the fine folks at @watchingfairytales! Love you all and see you all soon!

Season 3 Total (145/220)

Writer’s Scores: Adam and Eddy (39/60) Kalinda Vazquez (26/40) Andrew Chambliss (27/50) Jane Espenson (20/30) David Goodman (20/40) Robert Hull (30/40) Christine Boylan (20/20)* Daniel Thomsen (20/30)

* Indicates that their work for the season is complete

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

#ouat #once upon a time #watching fairytales #ouat 3x15 #ouat rewatch #jenna watches ouat #whoo boy #that was a long ass review #you better enjoy it!