2.17 Welcome To Storybrooke

[agramontes]

I agree GiftofAmber, they shouldn't have to do that. But later on, if SwanQueen ever becomes canon, they are going to get a barrage of hate mail from the homophones. With characters like Neal, Hook and Greg in the picture. They can shoot down a lot of stupid criticisms of Regina. ie. She's so much older than Emma (So is Neal), She's her wife/could have adopted her (She could have been Greg's stepmother/adopted him too), She's evil (So's Hook).

[yessikg]

Really really enjoyed this episode. It was so much better than what I feared it would be! ;D

I wish Emma and Henry would stop being so bipolar when it comes to Regina Can't they just accept that they love her? *sigh*

Emma and Regina going at each other was, as always, great. Now bring on that bench scene!

Oh and I hope Snow suffers... a lot! Muahahaha!

[Deleted]

You know, I've been thinking more and more about the fact that Rumple's final "coax" for Regina to use the curse was that he was very specific as he made the deal with Snow and Charming, that Regina couldn't harm them physically in this world (meaning FTL). But I've also been thinking, that young!Regina refused to kill the unicorn on Rumple's say-so because she didn't sign on to kill innocents.

However, 28 years in Storybrooke and Regina, other than running into Mary Margaret every day for some time, (I wonder if she purposely changed up herself in order to avoid it after a while.), never once physically harmed either MM or David.

She was still not able to kill innocents, I think. She knew that her mother was really at fault, but was impotent against her mother, as many who are abused are against their true abuser, and lashed out, but could not fully transfer her rage to Snow, which frustrated her even more.

I think, when she realized Storybrooke was to be another prison rather than the true happiness she had assumed, she threw herself into building herself anew. Rumple didn't know, Snow didn't know, but Regina knew, and *that* was her happiness, that she could become the best at whatever she set her mind to... forever, without interference.

Accomplished though, eighteen years later, at *everything* she still had no one to share it with. So she set out to adopt. I'm still curious how that conversation went down with the unknowing Mr. Gold. Or perhaps, it will still be revealed that August put a word in Gold's ear, who then put a word in Regina's, and it was he who was responsible for arranging that the Savior's child would end up living in Storybrooke and he planted the book.

[agramontes]

I like your logic, yet by that logic... Is Kurt Flynn still alive?
And does she kill Graham because she came to 'love' him after all that time and he was leaving her?
Or do you think there was some other reason.

[EvilQueen]

I acutally have two questions that, I guess, won't be answer any time soon. Namely:
1) Why did Regina wait for another 18 years with adopting a child?
( on the evil note: Had she acted straight away, she would've been able to adopt little Emma instead )
2) Why did Greg phone Regina to tell her about Henry? Given his experience, he could assume that Henry was yet another kid Regina was trying to 'posses' - the boy was running as if chased by someone, so instead he could just help him 'escape' just like he did years ago?

[Deleted]

Mar 19, 2013 7:07:32 GMT -6 agramontes said:

I like your logic, yet by that logic... Is Kurt Flynn still alive?

Yes, IMHO, Kurt Flynn is still alive. I wonder if 28 years in the cursed town made him crazy, or if the curse overtook his mind and he now has an alternate personality.

And does she kill Graham because she came to 'love' him after all that time and he was leaving her?
Or do you think there was some other reason.

I think she killed Graham because he was starting to remember who he really was and she was desperate not to be uncovered. But that was also mixed up with the pain of losing another person's attention, even if it wasn't real... living with it for 28 years can make it feel real. I have never been under the illusion that Regina is mentally sound after all the stuff that has happened to her. She's much more hair trigger about ALL of her emotional responses as a result of the things she has experienced in her life.

But I also think Henry grounds her mentally and emotionally in ways that little else has or ever will.

[giftofamber]

Mar 19, 2013 23:32:13 GMT -6 EvilQueen said:

I acutally have two questions that, I guess, won't be answer any time soon. Namely:
1) Why did Regina wait for another 18 years with adopting a child?
( on the evil note: Had she acted straight away, she would've been able to adopt little Emma instead )
2) Why did Greg phone Regina to tell her about Henry? Given his experience, he could assume that Henry was yet another kid Regina was trying to 'posses' - the boy was running as if chased by someone, so instead he could just help him 'escape' just like he did years ago?

1) I was wondering that myself. Maybe it took that long to get a baby from outside Storybrooke? I mean, normal adoptions have insanely long wait times.

2) I was wondering how on earth Greg got Regina's phone number in the first place. Did she stitch it into Henry's backpack or something in case it got lost?

[EvilQueen]

Mar 20, 2013 15:56:13 GMT -6 giftofamber said:

2) I was wondering how on earth Greg got Regina's phone number in the first place. Did she stitch it into Henry's backpack or something in case it got lost?

Owen/Greg took a very sneaky photo of the badge:

[Deleted]

I had another thought connected to the "Brigadoon" notion. What would happen to Storybrooke if one of the cursed had escaped the town limits? I know Henry said something bad would happen to the person when they tried to leave, but what would actually happen to the town/curse if say, Regina, the one who cast the curse, or Rumple, who created the curse, actually managed to leave? Would its invisibility cloak (for lack of a better term) fail? Maybe Gold leaving Storybrooke is why there are so many people who can find it now; the cloak has failed.

We know when Emma came and stayed, time started moving forward again. We know that Owen/Greg has probably been driving that road looking for Storybrooke for decades. We know that Rumple tested the boundary and memory. And we know that one of the original effects of the boundary was a sort of one-way mirror: inside can see out, but outside cannot see in. (That moment with Regina looking at Owen screaming he'd find his dad was heart-wrenching.)

I wonder what the surveillance satellites of the area show now in that little "empty" valley in Maine.

[Deleted]

Also had another thought:

So, we know Regina still has her heart (Rumple said so). Is it as black as she thinks it is (which she seemed to imply to Snow in that last scene in this ep)? Or has loving Henry not only filled the void in her soul but begun leaching the darkness from her heart as well?

Do you think Regina has taken out her own heart to look at it anywhere along the line?

[giftofamber]

I think logically (as logical as a heart changing color could be) that yes, Regina's heart is lightening, and I wouldn't think she'd bother taking it out to check because I'm sure she's never heard of such a thing happening before. Even if it wasn't because of Henry, they could always claim Regina's heart changing to be because of the presence of the Savior.

[Deleted]

Mar 22, 2013 16:48:16 GMT -6 giftofamber said:

I think logically (as logical as a heart changing color could be) that yes, Regina's heart is lightening, and I wouldn't think she'd bother taking it out to check because I'm sure she's never heard of such a thing happening before. Even if it wasn't because of Henry, they could always claim Regina's heart changing to be because of the presence of the Savior.

Just more evidence of SwanQueen. LOL. But, honestly, if they choose that explanation, but at the same time say that one's own actions blacken the heart, then one's own feelings and actions should UNblacken it as well.

IMHO, of course. The showrunners, who the heck knows what they think? They certainly don't hold a consistent view of their own story universe's magic and its effect on people. Though with their own (via Rumple) explanation that magic is emotion-based, not thought-based, you would think they would get that uniform at least.

Regina's ability to absorb all that "deadliest magic curse on the well" and not die would certainly suggest that she was in some way protected by some inner powerfully good magic born of her emotions to protect, save, fulfill her son's hopeful loving expectation of her, etc. If that's not true love's magic protecting Regina from dying, I can't imagine what they think it was.

They certainly never followed up with it, like several fanfic writers did, allowing the battle of good and bad magic to cripple Regina for some time after that event. Cause and effect. Devastating magic ingestion... and minimal effect? What the hell is their explanation for why she fell to her knees, but within minutes basically got back on her feet virtually unfazed beyond breathlessness?