avrelia

Another week, another fun story.

Snow goes on the Dark side, and immediately regrets it.

Emma does magic and feels ambivalent about it. Just another tool, not working very well.

Rumple manipulates and is being manipulated. Now, that was fun. He keeps pointing to Snow that they are family now, and accepts Emma's reassurance of the same without mentioning that Henry is supposed to be his undoing and his plan was to kill that boy.

Emma does, I think, enjoy having convoluted family relationships now – after being alone for 28 years, after accepting that her parents are younger than she is, after everything, she is fine with new revelations. The more the merrier.

Rumple has a very different strategies for using magic – one for Cora, of vengeance and bloodlust and another for Emma – of saving loved once. I wonder, does it only reflect the difference in the ladies and Rumple' abilities to manipulate, or the deeper change in him, as well?

Overall, he got everything he could out of his dying, without having actually to die. He had a heartfelt talk to Belle, he had a reconciliation with Bae, he got a confession out of Cora, and then he got Cora dead. Plus, he got Snow to kill and Emma to use magic. Not bad for a day's work.

I do hope that his gains will fall apart though, otherwise what fun it is? Belle won't be happy and probably suspect that Rumple lied to her – as he didn't die.

Now, to the main heroine of the episode. Cora was magnificent, and it is still the question how much she loved Rumple – while the attraction was undeniable and their scenes together were amazing. The question of love without a heart brings, of course, the memory of another question – about love without a soul.

The one thing about her that bugs me – why was Cora's heart so easy to find and grab? Why was it just laying around in that vault? Did she just forgot about having it entirely, and Regina just brought it together with the whole collection? I mean, given her relationships with her mother prior to Cora's arrival to Storybrooke, Regina might have crashed it herself. So Cora must have brought it with her – and just left in the open? Grievous mistake. I imagined at least some small quest to find Cora's heart – on par with looking for the dagger.

It does make sense to get it done fast, story-wise, but still it bugs me.

I was sad to see Regina finally getting from her mother something she didn't even know she needed. Only for a moment. And now, of course, Snow is really responsible, so at least some of her hate is going to be justified. Except... I wish she got over it. I know, her worst enemy just killed her mother, so getting over it a moot point, but. I like Regina, but she is a bit like Spike and not in a good way: she is not much for reflection (and she doesn't have his excuse). She has a very twisted world view where everything that was done to her is magnified, and the reasons and consequences get washed away. She tried to be better to win good graces of one person without any consideration to actually changing.