Once Upon a Time Round Table: A Sleeping Curse Snooze?
Christine Laskodi
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Can we all just agree that Hook needs to read bedtime stories as a side job?
Once Upon a Time Season 6 Episode 7 may have focused on the Evil Queen creating a new curse for Snow White and Prince Charming, but it was one storytime scene between Captain Swan that stole the show.
Elsewhere in the hour, Belle was brutally honest with Rumple about her feelings for him, and Zelena flipped sides – again.
What were our favorite moments? Did we love a return to the 'Snowing' story? Why can't the Evil Queen just let it go? TV Fanatics Steve Ford, Allison Nichols, and Caralynn Lippo, joined by Once Upon a Fan's Joanne Denney, are breaking down “Heartless.”
What was your favorite scene of quote from "Heartless"?
Steve: Story time with Captain Hook of course! It was very cute with Killian using the book to lift Emma's spirit, and made me remember why I love these two as a couple. "Shush, it's story time."
Allison: My pick is Snow and Charming realization that they met before they think they did. It was such a cute moment.
Joanne: My favorite scene was between Belle and Gold. He starts out so hopeful and grateful that she shared the ultrasound with him, but then she confronts him with his infidelity with the Evil Queen and his plan to use the shears on his son.
I love how she told him to be the man that could win his son's love and don't rely on magic tricks. His thoughts quickly turned to hopelessness, failure and revenge on Zelena for telling Belle what was going on. Typical behavior for Rumple.
Caralynn: The Charming-wakes-Snow scene intercut with the original scene from the pilot was lovely. What a great throwback!
How did it feel to return to a Snow White and Charming centric story?
Steve: To be honest, I like David and Mary Margaret, but I have grown increasingly tired of the Charming and Snow flashbacks. I'm weary of flashbacks in general, but when they revolve around these two characters, I just cannot help but be utterly bored. Their Storybrook plot, while still not the greatest, was much more engaging for me and was far more invested in the goings on in the town.
Allison: I'm not a big fan of the flashbacks in general. I find them boring. I did enjoy the Charming and Snow focus again though.
Joanne: It was great seeing Snow and Charming on their own adventure once again. They've been sidelined for quite a while. The storyline had come full circle from Season One. I love seeing all the Once Upon a Time Season 1 references in this season's episodes.
Caralynn: Like Steve and Allison, I'm not crazy about the repetitive flashbacks. I did like that Charming and Snow actually had something to do, as they've been relegated to background characters for quite a while now.
The Evil Queen is still preoccupied by memories of Snow White as a child, and harboring resentment of her from way back when. Why is it so hard for her to move on and let it go?
Steve: Her memories of Snow, and what she "did" to the Evil Queen is what drives her character. Especially now that she is the complete detached evil side of Regina, she no longer has the capacity to love, only hate. Because of those memories, the Evil Queen will never be able to let go of the one thing that fuels that anger and thirst for revenge.
Allison: I feel like her hatred for Snow is the only thing the Evil Queen has in her life. She's got nothing else, and she has sacrificed everything in order to get revenge on Snow. At this point, defeating Snow White is the Evil Queen's one goal in life. She has a one track mind. You would think that she would have some other nemesis to defeat or some desire to do literally anything else but apparently not.
Joanne: The personality of the Evil Queen was born the minute that Snow told Cora Regina's secret. As a result, Regina lost her first love, Daniel, and was forced to marry Snow's father. Anger, frustration and resentment motivate her actions. There is no softer, good side to temper or calm her violent feelings because Regina divided herself in two. She is not going to be able to move on until Regina and her darker half reunite.
Caralynn: The Evil Queen is all of the distilled rage and hatred that Regina ever felt, basically, so it makes sense that the Evil Queen never got over Snow's betrayal while Regina definitely did.
Belle said that if Rumple were pure evil, like the Queen, she could forgive him. Do you agree? Is Rumple any different than the Evil Queen?
Steve: This conversation actually confused me a bit. Maybe I'm just over thinking this, but if Rumple was pure evil, Belle never would have given him the time of day to begin with. The reason Belle fell in love with Rumple was that she saw the goodness in him.
So, Belle wouldn't need to forgive Rumple for anything if they weren't even together to begin with. In my opinion, Rumple is not like the Evil Queen, he's more like Regina before separating herself from the Evil Queen in that, he still has his dark side, but he also has the capacity to love; an emotion the Evil Queen is completely without. Okay, my head hurts thinking about this now.
Allison: I think Belle hates that Rumple uses his magic and his "evil" ways in order to justify whatever somewhat decent thing he wants to achieve. It's a crutch. Rumple is too weak to stand on his own and let life happen, so he resorts to doing bad things to make sure he gets what he wants. Rumple has somewhat good intentions (ie wants to use the shears on his son so his son doesn't hate him), while the Evil Queen just wants revenge.
Joanne: Rumple is different than the Evil Queen because he has both his light and dark sides. He feels love and knows what it means to love someone with all his heart. Fear is his enemy. He needs to overcome his fear of failure. I hope that Belle will put her booksmarts to work, and finds a way to help Rumple rather than continue to punish him.
Caralynn: I was cheering during this conversation! It was one of my favorite moments from the season so far, and Belle was 100% on point in her criticism of Rumple's behavior. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like anything she said hit home, because as soon as she left the shop, his focus was 100% on anger at Zelena for ratting him out. Rather than, y'know, introspection and reconsidering his behavior.
On a scale of 1-10, how much were you swooning as Hook read Emma the Charmings' love story?
Steve: That is a 10 from me! Again, this was my favorite part of the episode and I would love more story time with Hook. Maybe he can read the three little pigs next? That would be awesome.
Allison: Definitely a 10. Killian telling her to shush is just so adorable. He's a great storyteller.
Joanne: It was a seven for me. Hook and Emma are a nice couple and the story was very cute. Hook was able to help Emma see who she is and why she is the savior. I don't really feel involved in their relationship.
Caralynn: It was a 9 for me. It was so cute! Didn't really advance the plot or contribute to the story in any way, but it was a great 'ship moment. Not to be annoying, though, but is Hook going to have anything to actually do this season other than be Emma's emotional crutch? Don't get me wrong, I love Captain Swan, but I don't want it to come at the cost of Hook being his own character and actually having storylines.
What are your thoughts on this new sleeping curse that Snow and Charming will have to work separately to break?
Steve: Meh, it's been done before. Even though the new twist is that one cannot be awake while the other sleeps. As mentioned in the review, it would have made far more sense for the Evil Queen to crush Charming's heart, as that would be the ultimate revenge and would have driven the story in a dark but interesting direction.
Allison: I was actually excited by this development because it was unexpected. I was waiting for the Evil Queen to try to take their hearts but true love prevented her from doing so and yada yada yada. I didn't see it coming, and I liked that the Evil Queen is mixing things up a little bit.
Joanne: It reminded me of one of my favorite movies from the 80's: Ladyhawke. I don't know if a night without a day, and a day without a night will help them though. Personally, I think that their curse could still be broken by True Love's Kiss by Emma, their daughter. She was able to wake her child, Henry, with the same kiss.
Caralynn: For a second, when the Queen was giving Snow the speech while she was holding the hearts, I legitimately thought she might just kill Charming in order to make Snow feel, quite specifically, the exact pain she felt when her boyfriend died. So this was something of a relief, compared to that. I'm really excited to see badass warrior Snow again – it's been too long!
Don't forget, you can watch Once Upon a Time anytime right here at TV Fanatic!
Can't wait for the new episode? Check out photos from Once Upon a Time Season 6 Episode 8, "I'll Be Your Mirror," which airs Sunday, November 13th at 8/7c on ABC!
