Season 1, Episode 20: "The Stranger"

"The curse will end. Good will win"-Henry

Excellent, excellent episode tonight. Not as good as last week, but as you can clearly see, we are certainly nearing season 1's climax. And if the commercials about it being TV's #1 new drama were any indication, I think we'll be getting a season 2 so yay! This was really Pinocchio/ Gepetto centric, which I couldn't bring myself to love since the extreme hatred I developed toward August last week. Anyway, I'll get into that later. Lets get started!

THE FAIRYTALE WORLD:

Pinocchio and Gepetto were obviously the main focus of this. And as much as I hate August, every time he put on that little hat my heart gave a little squeeze and my mouth went "awwww". At the beggining of the episode, when the stupid little blue fairy said "as long as he remains honest and unselfish, he will be a real boy" it made me shoot off with "so that's why you're dying. Because you're a selfish liar!" But midway through the episode, I started to feel a little bad. I mean, August just doesn't want to die, and his only way to do that is through Emma, and all he's done is get her further away from believing. But more on that later. The point is, Pinocchio's story was sweet. And I like how much Gepetto cares about him, and that he says trying to get Emma to believe...trying to correct his mistake...is enough for him. 

The Blue Fairy is still one of the most hated characters in my book. I'm actually a bit upset that she was totally cool trasporting Emma and Pinocchio, but not Rumple. 

I used to really dislike Jiminy Cricket, but he's actually turning into one of my favorite characters. That thing Gepetto said about his parents was really "Oh no he didn't!" and it made me very sad. 

STORYBROOKE:

The whole Regina and David thing was built up way more than it should have been, and it was predictable. Regina tries to seduce him, and fails. Lame. 

Emma, Henry, and August were all kind of tied together here. August really, really wants Emma to believe, just like Henry. But Henry wants it so that good will prevail and all that, and August wants it so he doesn't die. And, well, now Emma thinks he's a sociopath. Honestly, I'm wondering if he is too. I mean, that leg looked pretty dang normal to me. At least from Emma's point of view. And now Emma's got Henry in her car and is pretty much kidnapping him. Yup. She's screwed. This is like Mary M running away from jail except dumber. 

Mr. Gold is just too awesome. I thought it was the weirdest thing in the world when he didn't start cussing August out as soon as he answered, or start hitting him on the head with his cane when he walked into the shop, but whatever. Guess that's just how he rolls. And I'm DYING to know when he's going to find Belle. Somehow, I think August will have something to do with it. 

LINGERING THOUGHT AND/OR QUESTIONS:

-Honestly. Who's going to die in the finale. I screamed when I thought it might be Henry in that little trailer...ah please no!

-Was I the only one who totes expected to see Baelfire walk out from the back of the orphanage and be like "Hey. What up?"

-What's going to happen to Emma and Henry?
-Sorry, but I do not, nor will I ever ship Emma and August. I ship Emma and Baelfire haha...not kidding. I still am rooting for him being Henry's dad, but we'll see. 

-I heard on tumblr that the hatter would be in the next episode. Don't take that to heart though. I know he'll be in the finale for sure, but this is just a rumor. 

-Is August really going to die?

-Is Emma ever going to believe?

-Can you believe there are only two more episodes lift!? Surreal....

-What'd you think of the episode?

AND COMING UP NEXT WEEK...

"An Apple Red as Blood" By Jane Epenson (famous for the Rumple episodes) and David H. Goodman ("True North" and "Hat Trick")

As Regina devises a master plan that will force Emma into leaving Storybrooke forever, Henry pleads with Emma to continue her quest while the events surrounding Snow White's rescue of Prince Charming are revealed along with her plan to enlist the aid of her allies and defeat the Evil Queen once and for all.

Finale Predictions

There is a new poll on this site, and it is definitely a spoiler so if you don't like spoilers...well...put a piece of paper on the side of your computer screen or something because it's there and I have no intention of taking it down. So, what is this insane spoiler?
I'm getting to it (which I know is silly because it's staring you in the face) but first I'd like to discuss a few other theories:
-So, the big question since "The Return" has been, who and where is Baelfire. He's around, I guess. But that's where the information stops. But I have a new favorite theory:
He's Henry's dad. Think about it. He's not in Storybrooke (well, as far as we know), and Emma said he's no hero. I know that doesn't sound like Bae, but give it some more thought. He lost his dad and was sent to a land without magic with no way back. That could turn a person pretty cold hearted. So, what do you all think of that theory?

-What's going to go down with Belle? Don't deny it. We've all been wondering. Hell, I've even fan-ficed about it and I NEVER fan-fic. Every time I see a scene in the hospital my mind immediately goes "they're gonna find her! yes!"
We know we won't really find out until the finale, but it's still cool to throw theories around. Katherine is in the hospital, and it's Gold's fault...so does that mean that maybe-just maybe-they could find her via Katherine? And when they do, I'm sure one of two things will happen:
1. Gold will wring Regina's neck out and call her every horrible word you're allowed to say on television and leave her for dead (of course she won't really die. That'd be silly.)
2. Belle or Gold will die. Because that's the only way they're getting rid of this plotline. It sounds horrible, but it's true.
Other things that could happen with Belle are floating around all over the place. I'm actually looking at ouattheories.tumblr.com as I'm writing this, so I'm really thinking hard.
-One person said that Regina will release Belle if Gold agrees to admit his involvement with Katherine.
-Somebody else said Belle is Gina's daughter? That one's nuts.
-Someone else said that Belle will break out and save Gold's life like in the movie.

So, all that stuff is great, but I've got a lovely spoiler for you all just so that your minds will explode (that one was a quip #Rumpelstiltskin):
Someone completely, majorly, incredibly SHOCKING will DIE sometime over the next few episodes.
So who's it gonna be?
Theories are incredibly appreciated, and I'm going to be moving the post to the top over and over again until it happens, so if you don't see the review for any of the next episode, just scroll down.

Season 1, Episode 19: "The Return"

"You're not my son. My son would never do this to me"-Mr. Gold

Honestly, I though a more fitting quote for this episode was Regina's "evil doesn't always look evil"...but more on that later. This was such a whirlwind, emotional episode. It was infuriating, but absolutely amazing. And it actually kind of reminded me why I don't usually watch dramas. Either way, this was definitely the best episode yet. Besides "Skin Deep" because, let's face it, I'll never get over that one. Anyway, let's get to it.

THE FAIRYTALE WORLD

Rumple and Bae- This was incredibly heartbreaking. I mean, this show really has a way of hating on Rumple. He lost his son in this horrible, horrible way. Then he found love with Belle and that was ripped from him because thanks to sweet little Baelfire, he didn't believe anyone could ever love him. And that is the most horrible, horrible thing of all. I just can't take the fact that they paint him as the bad guy when everything he does is for a good reason. He created that curse to find his son, and look how that turned out (and believe me, I'm ready to get into that and start ripping August 'the Faker' Booth to shreds)...but more on that later. 

The Blue Fairy-Lets face it, we all hated her in "Dreamy" but that was nothing compared to that. Her role here was one of the reasons I think Regina's "evil doesn't always look evil" line really worked in this episode. Because that damn fairy/nun is evil. She destroys people's happiness just like Regina, but she makes it look like she's doing something good. She told Grumpy that Nova could only be a good fairy if they weren't together, I mean, really. That's horrible. Especially because she literally crushed his happiness. He changed his name to Grumpy because of her. But the worst thing about that little piece of...you know what...is that she told Bae the only way the curse could be broken is if they went to a land without magic, and that is a load of crap. Is I recall, the curse was broken when he shared true love's kiss with Belle. Ever think of letting Bae in on that, Miss Blue Fairy?

---end of ridiculous rant----

STORYBROOKE

Mr Gold- He's just too awesome and perfect. Seriously. All he wanted was his son. He even told Archie about it. That's how badly he wanted it. But, someone ruined it, and I swear I'm getting to it, but I'm saving that for last. 

Mary M and David- Yup. They're a mess. But I'm sure they'll work it out. 

Sydney and Regina- I mean, this was just downright depressing. We all know Regina is evil, but that was really cruel. Sydney is more subject to her power to anyone. He already was in the Enchanted Forest, but at least there he knew it. Now he's just being fooled into taking the blame for her...okay, fine. Gold's...stuff. Speaking of which...

Katherine- That poor girl. I feel so, so bad for her. She's such a sweetheart, and she's actually becoming one of my favorite characters. Even though I love Gold to death, it kind of makes me mad that he locked her up. But he didn't hurt her, right? So...I guess maybe it's okay. 

August 'I'm a big giant jerk and need to go shoot myself in a hole before someone else does because, believe me, they will' Booth- I hate this guy. SO MUCH. Like, think about when Regina killed Graham or when she told Rumple Belle was dead. Think about how mad you were. Now multiply that anger by a bajillion. You now have in your mind my feelings toward August. I can't even THINK his name without my hands shaking and my teeth chattering. You were right, Regina. Evil doesn't always look evil. Evil doesn't always act evil. Sometimes, evil can fool you into thinking they're good and want to make things right in a place where everything is wrong. But they're still evil. My biggest problem was the fact that he brought out that amazing, perfect, innocent Rumple we saw in "Skin Deep"...and smashed him to pieces. Now, I never liked August. He reminded me a little bit of Ben from LOST, now more that ever. Because he's a faker. He pretended to be someone he wasn't, and then complains about being sick or dying or whatever. I just...I hate that. I hate that you can be that absolutely CRUEL and HEARTLESS. How can anyone think of doing something like that to another person? I just don't get it. 

However, great segment, because it really stuck with me. 

----end of second ridiculous rant----

LINGERING THOUGHTS AND/OR QUESTIONS

-Guys. Please don't ever write "we're glad you didn't kill Mrs. Nolan" on a card. 

-Anyone else cry at the fake Baelfire/ Gold moment? Then want to kill someone when you found out it was fake?

-For those of you who haven't figured it out yet, August is Pinocchio. Sorry, I never said this was a spoiler-free blog.  So, how do you think that will play out?

-Do you think August is really going to die...because I sure hope so!! Sorry, that was mean. 

-How is this going to work between Gold and August from here on out?

-So, we saw where Belle is...but where's Bae???

-What's going to go down with the whole Katherine thing?

-What did you think of the episode?

AND COMING UP NEXT WEEK....

"The Stranger"

It's about Pinocchio. And someone I'd rather not discuss at this point. 

Hello, writers? Yup, it's me, Samantha. You have just made my week very OUAT-oriented.

A Rumpelle FanVid/ Some Thoughts on that Ship

Hey all! So, yesterday I about drowned myself in Rumpelle fan-fiction (and, I'm not going to lie, they were mostly PWPs). I stayed up reading them until 2AM, and was hugely inspired. And the other day, my friend was talking about how she heard that song "Call Me Maybe" on the radio and how it irritated her. I was curious so I looked it up and thought "what could I do with this song..." and in all honestly, there wasn't much.
So this video is my way of being ironic.

Alright, so while your brain processes that, I wanted to collect some opinions on the Rumpelle ship. While I was looking up spoilers yesterday, I saw more Rumpelle hate comments than I ever could have imagined. Then on fanpop, two out of seven people said that Rumpelle was their least favorite couple.
Now, I know that Rumpelle is pretty popular on this blog, but I'm just wondering, what do you think of them? Love them to death (like me)? Over the hype? Hate them? Don't care?
I feel like the hate is really kind of a hipster thing. You know the type. 'Oh, everyone is obsessed with this ship so I hate it.' That sort of thing. But I also saw a lot that said things like "they ruined my favorite Disney movie" and "I hate that she's going to be back for the finale."
This stuff really shocked me because Rumpelle is my absolute OTP besides Barney and Robin (HIMYM), and since they don't seem to be getting together anytime soon, I'm shipping Rumpelle 210 percent.
So the point of my insane rambling is: How do you feel about the Rumpelle ship?

Some EPIC OUAT Spoilers!!

I've been running around for the past hour trying to figure out what's will b happening with the finale. Turns out, we'll have a few people returning such as:
-The Mad Hatter
-Maleficent
-Belle!!!
I honestly can't wait...this hiatus is killing me.
Also, theories are floating around all over the place. To view them, go to: ouattheories.tumblr.com or pretty much any other OUAT tumblr (but not mine...mine is pretty spoiler-free).
Anyway, I hope you enjoy your hiatus!

Season 1, Episode 18: "The Stable Boy"

"I should have let her die on that horse"-Regina

Wow. I said that this was going to b the best episode since "Skin Deep". It wasn't as good, but it was pretty incredible. That's the third time OUAT has made me cry. So, with that in mind, let's get started. 

THE FAIRYTALE WORLD

Regina has done some horrible, horrible things. I mean really horrible. But one can't help but feel bad for her here. We all felt bad for Rumple when he lost love. We all felt bad for Grumpy when he lost love. It would be insane not to feel bad for Regina, too. No one deserves what was inflicted on her. However, I did have a major problem with this storyline. It was predictable. I've always felt like these writers are famous for never doing what's expected. Yet I'm sure most of us knew exactly what was coming after the first 10 minutes of the episode. But this is, of course, a minor flaw in an otherwise flawless episode. But it needed to be said. 

Snow White also was stuck in a place she didn't deserve to be in. You can deny it all you want, but it really wasn't her fault. Regina just needed someone to blame besides her mother. Snow only wanted to help Regina. And even though she told the secret and ruined her life, she didn't kill Regina's lover. Cora did. And not only did she do that, she also ruined Snow's life, and turned her daughter into the evil witch that she is. Now we know why Regina takes the hearts of other. Because one was taken from her. 

 

STORYBROOKE

Mary Margaret continuously sabotages herself. When I saw the sneak peeks I couldn't help but scream "When Mr. Gold says don't answer you DON'T ANSWER!". And even though she's not guilty of murder (ever though no one is guilty of murder), she does a real good job of looking like she is, even without Regina's aid. Of course she doesn't really have to worry about that now. And that brings us to....

Katherine. Just wanted to let you all know that I KNEW IT. I knew she was alive. And now I'm thrilled for a lot of reasons. First off, Mary M and David can FINALLY be together. Secondly, Regina will be exposed (which isn't actually as great as I thought it would be, after seeing this episode.). And finally, we can move on to the stuff I think we're all a bit more curious about. Like the stranger. And Belle. 

Emma is a really complex character. She knows that book is true. She just won't acknowledge it. She's seen the keys, she saw Jefferson, and she's seen a whole lot more. She was really just a supporting character here, as was August. They said they'd be dropping hints about what he's doing in Storybrooke. And according a little dialogue between him and Henry, he wants people to remember. According to the promo for the next episode, it has something to do with Gold. Anyone got any ideas?

Speaking of Mr. Gold....what is his plan? It's pretty clear he doesn't give a crap about Mary M or Regina. But he does care about Emma. Or at least, he cares about getting everyone out of Storybrooke, or getting them to remember, or something along those lines. The point is, he knows Emma won't want anything to do with him if he doesn't get Mary M out of this. And that won't be very hard, seeing as how Katherine isn't even dead. It was a common idea that Gold would double-cross Regina and help Emma, but I wasn't sure he would. Now I am. 

LINGERING THOUGHTS AND/OR QUESTIONS

-Anyone else notice the guy interviewing Mary M was King George? Kind sucks, no? A lot of us were hoping he died. 

-Katherine????

-What happened to Cora? She's obviously not in Storybrooke.

-Will we see Cora again?

-What's Gold going to do?

-Who is this 'August W. Booth'? And what's he doing in little Storybrooke, Maine?

-Will  Regina be exposed?

-When are we going to see Belle again!?!?

Okay. That one's just my question. But the writers did say we were going to see her again toward the end of the season. Well, there's only four episodes left. Where is she!? Sorry. That's the end of my rant. 

AND COMING UP IN THREE WEEKS (WHYYY!?):

"The Return"
The fate of Rumplestiltskin's son Baelfire is revealed. Mr. Gold tries to expose August’s true identity; Regina is confronted about her involvement in Kathryn’s disappearance; David hopes to reconcile with Mary Margaret.

Please don't kill off Gold....