When in Doubt, Use a Time Jump: Part One

Yes, I had to split this into two parts because I wrote so much about the season premiere. I had quite a bit to talk about so here is part one,and I will post part two tonight or tomorrow once I have edited it.

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Once opened up after the summer break with little Emma. I’m not going to deny it but she is adorable. She is going to see The Sword in the Stone in theaters. Not completely clear if it was a theater that plays old movies because that one came out in 1963. According to Once, it was 1989 at the time. Adorable Emma has no money, so she goes to steal a candy bar, but is stopped by a random movie employee. A movie employee that knows her name and probably everything about her if the producers have anything to say about it. She starts talking to him of course—stranger danger Emma did no one ever teach you that.
Mysterious stranger who let’s be honest is definitely Merlin. I’m still giving him the benefit of the doubt. It’s really hard because I keep expecting Colin Morgan to appear. Can there be a cameo. Meanwhile the movie is playing in the background which includes old Merlin and blonde Arthur. Spoiler alert, their Arthur is a brunet and not Bradley James. Still disappointed over here, I don’t know about you guys. Anyway back to Merlin, he warns her not to eat the chocolate bar because it will lead her down the wrong path (chocolate bar that does it?), and she will not be able to pull the sword out of the stone. So she doesn’t and when she turns away from the man and looks back, he is gone. The usual dramatic exit in this show is to disappear once you turn your head away.
It begins with a scene of King Arthur, who is not yet a king, going to the sword in the stone. He is flanked by Lancelot (Boyd) and Percival (cute). There is another man vying for it, but because of his greed he is vaporized. Then Arthur pulls out the sword and it turns out to be broken. The end of the pattern ends with the dark one dagger, which now has Emma’s name on it. The one thing I need to know is if the time lines are matching up. If they don’t, then any dark one could have pulled out Excalibur apparently. Arthur then goes on to become a king of Camelot. I’m not going to lie, but I can’t really see the actor they chose as Arthur. He reminds me more of Prince Eric than Arthur. The actor they chose for Percival on the other hand could do it. Yet my eye just drifted over Arthur because he does not look like all of the others getting chosen today: i.e. Bradley James and Charlie Hunnam.
Meanwhile back in the present, Emma has disappeared from Storybrooke, but the dagger is left on the ground. Hook picks it up to try and summon her back but nothing happens. No Emma’s appear. Though I have to say that in this scene I was like did Hook get a new haircut. I’m really liking it, I don’t know about you guys. Yet where is Emma? Well she is flowing through an Enchanted Forest manhole. She comes through in black goo for some reason. It is there that she encounters the dark part of Rumpelstiltskin, who wants to teach Emma to become the dark one. She of course resists it, but begins to unconsciously use her powers. Also her clothes magically changed into some ratty gray dress and cloak. She was the only one who changed her clothes from the transition to the Enchanted Forest.
She is trying to find her way to Merlin and instead she finds Merida. Merida with her terrible hair color. As a natural red head, I am a little offended at how unreal it was. The actress is spot on with everything else (she is from Scotland), just not the color. They are pitted against one another because only one person can use the wisps at a time for a lifetime. There was way more than one wisp in Brave. So Rumple of course is in her ear about how she will have to steal it or kill Merida. The bad devil on her shoulder. Emma tries to stop herself from doing that and it just looks like she is talking to herself. The struggle within Emma was interesting to see. I think this was one of my favorite parts because it was her struggling against these new instincts. She doesn’t want to follow the dark, but it is happening anyway.

Once Upon a Time: "Fall" Review/Rant

I wanted to do a post about last week’s episode, but I got lost in everything I had to do. Then I figured that an hour episode might be easier to talk about compared to a two hour one, so here goes. Episode 10 was titled the "Fall" and I feel it was appropriately titled. Mostly seeing how the curse fell from the sky and into everyone's eyes. I felt that this episode was really a filler paving the way for what the second half of the season is going to be and the calm before the storm. There was also no concept of time in this episode because everyone had enough time for a thousand goodbyes when the curse was right upon them.

In this episode there was barely any Snow Queen. Just her appearance in the beginning with striking a deal with Rumpelstiltskin and at the end as the curse is descending. I guess she thought her work was done and she would hide from the rest of the town until they had all destroyed one another. Though I enjoyed the vision of the cursed sky since they always seems to be storm clouds and purple. It was kind of like the night sky in a way with all that twinkling of broken glass, though I how it entered the buildings was a bit weird. One question I do have is why is Rumple immune and not Regina? Could it be because she is reformed? But don’t worry everybody the curse comes a costume change for Regina and no one else.

So besides that I will focus on the Arendelle verse to help sort this episode out. So they unfroze and the moment that happens in walks Hans. Hans who was frozen way before everyone else and unfroze at the same time. He had enough time to get his brothers and plan his takeover of the throne. I feel like in Arendelle all of the villains are smarmy/goofy men who want the throne. I’m sorry but you are going to have to do better than those side burns and facial hair to be a villain, no matter how hard he’s trying. That’s why he had Blackbeard, which when did Hans have time for that? He must have had a lot of time being frozen in a dresser to talk to Blackbeard and his brothers.

So Anna and Kristoff want the wishing star to get Elsa back to them unknowing of the time jump. So they are stuck in a trunk and thrown at the bottom of the ocean next to where the parent’s ship had gone down. Which who knew that exact spot…really? I noticed the bottle that the parents had thrown in the ocean was conveniently next to their trunk. I did enjoy the Kristoff and Anna in the trunk thinking they were going to die and him not excepting of that. Also, Blackbeard’s comments about the fins made me think of Ariel. Is she a character that is coming back because they did just cast Ursula? I hope she does and is revamped a bit. (If you want to check out my OUAT Ariel, you can check that out on my other blogspot or Ao3 at the username Nonnahsshannon or Tumblr at I Dream of Shannon. How’s that for shameless plugging).

Back to Storybrooke, they have to find a way out or a way to protect themselves. When climbing the wall does not work, but reveals the necklace that Elsa had lost in the beginning of the season, it becomes a game changer. The necklace can save the town from the curse by the dust in it or be used to locate Anna. They try the latter first and come to a stop at a wall in the tunnels beneath the library. Where everything exists, dragons, fairy dust, and missing sisters. So they don’t have enough time to continue searching and I loved how Regina reminded the Charming’s what they were all about. I love how her character is evolving over these past couple seasons. She is not just the evil queen anymore. They had to do what was best for their town and that was using the dust. Yet Elsa obviously tricked them giving them rocks instead of the necklace. I mean come on she has been searching for her sister the whole season. She is not going to give up on her and I felt that it paralleled a lot of the OUAT relationships, where they never gave up on someone.

So Elsa blasts open that wall and suddenly on the beach. Which was a bit unrealistic seeing as there was a tunnel that went in that direction just over the right of them. I noticed it the first time they went into the tunnels following the necklace. Also I first thought they were in the Enchanted Forest because it looked different and there was no ice wall. So the glow goes out, but Elsa does not give up on her sister and wishes her to them. Once the wishing star was mentioned the necklace popped into my mind, especially after Blackbeard said it had been purchased. So the wish brings her sister to Emma and Elsa on that beach. I loved the reunion mostly for the unwavering loyalty and hope these sisters have for each other…and I was glad they were finally reunited. I am enjoying how Elizabeth Lail brings Anna to life, the rambling is just spot on, and they picked a great actress to play Anna. It was also weird how the bottle came with them and they didn’t notice it, so I’m going to keep my eye on that.

Let’s focus on Hook for a little bit since he was up to no good this episode. His heart got taken which I feel was a little bit unnecessary, but Rumple has to keep up appearances. I feel like I won’t watch the show if he really dies. I mean is good looking don’t get me wrong, but I love how dynamic his character is. I also loved that he finally got new clothes that he didn’t take off for a couple of episodes. The hat is beginning to get on my nerves. Couldn’t he just suck Rumple into it and be done with it. The Blue Fairy could have helped him maybe before she got vacuumed into the hat. He is without a heart, but not much has changed. When others did not have their heart, they lost their feelings. I feel like it is different for every character, but that makes it more confusing. He still has feelings for Emma despite not having a heart?

I am also glad that they resolved the Emma-Snow tension. Snow told Emma of how she is accepted being special and also finally got to hold Neal. So then they were locked up and the curse fell. The whole shattered sight/glass looks painful and kind of grosses me out. I do enjoy how they merged the tale with the frozen storyline. If you want to check that out, here is the link to the original story by Hans Christian Anderson. http://www.online-literature.com/hans_christian_andersen/972/. Now everyone is cursed except the ones who are immune.

The Snow Queen wants her perfect magic family that accepts her. Yet all around her the characters are accepting of these magic characteristics. Belle accepts Rumple despite not knowing what he is up to. Henry, David, and Mary Margaret accept Emma for who she is and love her for it. Though Regina stated that no one besides Robin (Go Outlaw Queen!) and Henry accept her despite the rest of the town starting to change that. With all of this, the Snow Queen has forgotten her fallen sister, Helga. Helga believed in her even as she accidentally froze to death and turned into a pile of ice cubes. I feel that being accepted for who you are is the big message of this part of the season.

So those are my thoughts about “The Fall.” I hope that you enjoyed them. If anyone has some other theories as we always do, let me know if you do happen to read this. 

Muse Music

As a writer, I am always wishing for the perfect song to accompany my writing. Whether it is when I'm writing it or after it is finished. Nevertheless it is a desire that follows me around, sometimes obsessively. I have been writing these Once Upon a Time/Merlin/Knights of the Roundtable chapters for a little while and was searching for the perfect song for inspiration. This time I actually found it and it was completely by accident. 
 I am a huge fan of Lindsey Stirling and have been since I found her. I go through these periods where I go through Youtube following video to video and somehow I eventually came across her. I watched practically all her videos and the rest is history. Flash forward to 2014 and I was eagerly awaiting her next album. I could not believe that I had to wait until the end of April for it to be released. Seriously, waiting for music can be such a huge problem for me. So I check back compulsively like it is going to come out sooner. Which is rare; in reality it is usually the opposite.

Finally I was able to see the tracklist and there at number 6 was Roundtable Rival. Sometimes I get these feelings that this song is going to be great and at the same time I knew I was writing about Knights. It filled me with such hope that this could be the song I was looking for. Finally, I was able to listen to the song and it exceeded my expectations. I could see my characters in the way her song flowed and it continued through to the many different situations that I was planning in my head. Finally the world had given me an easy find instead of eight different songs that did not appeal to what I was working on at the moment.
 Roundtable Rival, here is the link to check out the song if you haven't heard it already. If you do; read some of my earlier OUAT/Merlin/Knights works and look forward for what is to come. Then came another suprise, Number 12 Master of Tides. Listening to this song makes me think of all the directions that I am going to take my Ariel. Her character has much more to show and this compliments Roundtable Rival quite well. Ariel herself has sides that I have not yet written, but have the direction to go towards. Also lets be honest this song makes you want to move and with the movement comes untold creativity. These songs are just one of the many that inspire me when I write. 
Check me out on Tumblr or AO3, and Fanfiction. I post my stories there as well.