My Thoughts On: Once Upon a Time S03E08 “Think Lovely Thoughts”

SPOILER ALERT! I’M REALLY BAD AT SELF-EDITING!

This episode is a lot more fun, if you keep in mind that “box” is a slang term for “vagina”.

a screencap of rumpelstiltskin's father (played by stephen lord) and a young rumpelstiltskin (played by wyatt oleff)
Meet Rumpelstiltskin’s Deadbeat Dad

So, we finally meet Rumpelstiltskin’s dad, who is a grifter by trade.

All this time, we’ve been told by this show that Rumpelstiltskin’s father’s main trait was that he was a coward, but we don’t really see that demonstrated in this episode. All we are shown is that Rumpelstiltskin’s father is dishonest and extremely self-serving. He seems to be a great deal braver than Rumpelstiltskin, in fact.

a screencap of some spinsters (played by lindsay collins and glynis davies)
Same-Sex Middle-Aged Co-Habitation

So, to continue to engage in a life of crime and drunkenness, Rumpelstiltskin foists his whiny son on a couple of weird spinster ladies who dress the same.

a screencap of rumpelstiltskin's father (played by stephen lord) giving a young rumpelstiltskin (played by wyatt oleff) a creepy doll
Here, have a creepy doll, son-guy.

He gives Rumpelstiltskin a creep doll to keep the poor kid company. There ya go. That’s the origin story for the creepy doll that Rumpelstiltskin has been carrying around while going nuts in the jungle, this season. There really isn’t anything special about it, other than it coming from his father.

a screencap of the spinsters (played by lindsay collins and glynis davies) teaching a young rumpelstiltskin (played by wyatt oleff) to use a spinning wheel
One of us! One of us!

The weird sisters, or lesbian life partners, or whatever they are, teach Rumpelstiltskin how to spin wool. So, that’s the origin of that thing too. Wait, Rumpelstiltskin told his wife, Milah, that his mom taught him to spin, not his moms. They’re not even his moms, though, they’re just some ladies his dad knew.

Who are these spinster ladies, really? I’d say that they’re secretly the Spinners of Fate from Greek myth, but there are only two of them. If I recall correctly, there should be the spinner, the measurer and the cutter, if they really are the Greek Fates. Maybe, they need Rumpelstiltskin to fill-in as the third role? They really seem to want to keep Rumpelstiltskin.

Another possible reference to Greek mythology? Seriously, when is Hercules going to show up and kick everyone’s ass?

a screencap of the spinsters (played by lindsay collins and glynis davies) offering a magic bean
Always take magic beans from strangers!

Anyway, there’s definitely something off about these spinsters. They give Rumpelstiltskin a magic bean, so that he and his father can escape to a land where no one knows that Rumpelstiltskin’s father is a grifter.

Why haven’t they used the bean themselves? They live in a dirty hovel and their lives don’t really seem that great.

Where did they get the bean in the first place? The giants would still be alive at this point and it would be hard to steal one.

a screencap of rumpelstiltskin's father (played by stephen lord) and a young rumpelstiltskin (played by wyatt oleff) jumping into a portal
Weeeeeee!

And here is an example of how Rumpelstiltskin’s father is braver than Rumpelstiltskin. They decide to use the magic bean to go to Neverland and Rumpelstiltskin dives right into the portal, quite unlike how Rumpelstiltskin was unwilling to go through the portal years later with Baelfire.

a screencap of everyone pointing their weapons at rumpelstiltskin
Brandishing weapons is fun!

The villains and heroes are reunited, and everyone turns on Rumpelstiltskin, because Neal tells them all about the prophecy and how Rumpelstiltskin would have to kill Henry to prevent his own death.

This doesn’t last long. They need Rumpelstiltskin, because he is the most powerful magic-user.

The plan is to sneak-up on Peter Pan and trap him forever inside Pandora’s Box.

a screencap of neal (played by michael raymond-james) and rumpelstiltskin (played by robert carlyle) facing-off as emma (played by jennifer morrison) looks on
Hey, dad-guy. Sup, son-guy?

Neal doesn’t like the idea of Rumpelstiltskin having his hands on Pandora’s Box, though. Neal takes Pandora’s Box, so that if Rumpelstiltskin turns on them, Neal can trap him inside the box to stop him.

a screencap of wendy (played by freya tingley) reunited with an adult baelfire (played by michael raymond-james)
This is a bit awkward…

They invade Pan’s camp, but Henry and Pan aren’t there anymore. Wendy is there, though, and she and Baelfire are finally reunited after many years.

I still confused about the timeline here. How did Baelfire not meet-up with Wendy during his first stay in Neverland? When he did get back to Earth, why didn’t he look up Wendy to see what happened to her? They were like family, after all.

Anyway, Wendy tells the group that Pan has taken Henry to Skull Rock and they have to hurry because Pan is going to remove Henry’s heart so that he can gain all its power.

a screencap of regina (played by lana parrilla) and emma (played by jennifer morrison) doing magic together
JAZZ HANDS!

When they get to Skull Rock, they’re blocked by a magic barrier that only lets people without shadows through. Rumpelstiltskin can get past, because he cut of his shadow ages ago and now Neal finally believes him about it.

Wouldn’t it be really easy for Neal to check if his father had a shadow, though? He could have just had Rumpelstiltskin stand by the fire and looked. Whatever.

How does everyone else cross the barrier? The light from the moon is causing them all to have shadows! Regina decides to join with Emma, so that their combined magics will cause an eclipse.

a screencap of a lunar eclipse
Impressive Special Effects

Yes, moving an entire planet so that it blocks the path of the light from the sun from reaching the moon is much easier than conjuring up an opaque blanket or something to block the light.

a screencap of peter pan (played by robbie kay) and henry (played by jared s. gilmore) in front of a giant hourglass
Peter Pan’s Den

Whuh-Oh! Our heroes are running out of time! We can tell this, because there is a giant hourglass covered in skulls to show us.

Yo, Henry, when there are a bunch of skulls all over the place, it’s usually a huge red flag that something bad is about to go down.

a screencap of rumpelstiltskin's father (played by stephen lord) meeting the shadow
So, whose shadow is it?

Back in the past Neverland, Rumpelstiltskin’s father wants to fly, but can’t. A shadow shows up to tell him it’s because he’s an adult.

a screencap of rumpelstiltskin's father (played by stephen lord) giving a young rumpelstiltskin (played by wyatt oleff) to the shadow
Take my son, please!

There’s an easy fix though! On Neverland, your beliefs become real! All he has to do is believe really, really hard that he is a child and he will become one. The only problem is that Rumpelstiltskin is a constant reminder that he is, in fact, an adult.

Easy peasy! Just give your son to the creepy evil shadow!

And then, Rumpelstiltskin’s father starts turning into a child, even before Rumpelstiltskin is out of eyesight. Wouldn’t the kid have to away for a while before he could believe he was a kid himself?

a screencap of rumpelstiltskin's father changing into peter pan (played by robbie kay)
Always pixie dust, but never any pixies?

IT TURN’S OUT THAT PETER PAN WAS RUMPELSTILTSKIN’S FATHER THIS WHOLE TIME! Why did his accent change as well? At least we now know why Peter Pan says creepy sex stuff once in a while.

So, Peter Pan is Rumpelstiltskin’s father? In a weird way, I already sort of guessed this by the second episode this season, only I thought the reason that he was younger than Rumpelstiltskin was because he was Merlin and was aging backwards.

And now I’m confused again as to the exact nature of the Shadows. Who does the first Shadow belong to? It’s not Peter Pan’s. It predates him.

a screencap of rumpelstiltskin (played by robert carlyle) holding his doll and pandora's box
You can only take one toy with you.

Rumpelstiltskin holding his doll and Pandora’s box is to illustrate to the viewer the difficult choice that Rumpelstiltskin has to make. Does he reconcile with his father, or destroy him?

a screencap of peter pan (played by robbie kay) trapping rumpelstiltskin (played by robert carlyle) in pandora's box
It’s the fog that turns people inside-out!

But, really, it’s Peter Pan that has Pandora’s Box, because Pan believes that he has the box. Doesn’t Rumpelstiltskin believe that he has the box, too? It’s confusing this belief magic stuff.

Whatever. Peter Pan traps Rumpelstiltskin in Pandora’s Box.

a screencap of henry (played  by jared s. gilmore) taking his heart out while peter pan (played by robbie kay) looks on
Kali ma! Kali ma!

Without Rumpelstiltskin to stop Peter Pan, he convinces stupid Henry to tear out his own heart.

What was the stupid lie that Pan told Henry to get him to do this? Something stupid about “saving magic”? Bleh. Henry is dumb.

a screencap of henry (played by jared s. gilmore) shoving his heart in the chest of peter pan (plyaed by robbie kay)
UNF!

Henry puts his heart into Pan’s chest. Peter Pan has two hearts now and has become an all-powerful time lord or something.

I bet this was really all about the Shadow becoming all-powerful. After all, it’s been the Shadow telling Peter Pan what to do this whole time.

a screencap of henry (played by jared s. gilmore) being dead
YAY!

And Henry is dead. AGAIN. He won’t stay dead for long. For one thing, Rumpelstiltskin’s Shadow is still flying free and stupid Peter Pan didn’t put Pandora’s Box in his pocket. Pan just left the box lying on a ledge, where anyone can get at it.

Also, I bet it wasn’t even Henry’s real heart. He could have conjured up a decoy heart with the power of his belief.

Rehash: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S01E02 “0-8-4”

SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!

This episode was all about the team learning to work together as a cohesive unit.

a screencap of the "0-8-4" or unknown object
MacGuffin
  • An “0-8-4” is an object of unknown origin. They have found one in Peru.
  • S.H.I.E.L.D. keeps things like this “quiet and contained” so that the public doesn’t panic. This doesn’t sit well with Skye.
  • Coulson mentions an antimatter comet incident. A lot of cool things happened in the past, which they can’t actually show us, because the budget is too small. I hope that they don’t mention too many incidents like that, because they risk having things that happened off-screen being way cooler than what we’re shown.
  • Ward doesn’t trust Skye, but he also doesn’t like working on a team in general. He’s used to being a one person solution.
a screencap of camilla (played by leanor varela) kissing agent coulson (playe by clark gregg)
Coulson has hoes in different area codes.
  • Agent Coulson had a relationship with the Peruvian Police Commander, Camilla Reyes, in the past. I hope this isn’t a running theme with every country they go to having on of Coulson’s old girlfriends living in it.
  • Fitz and Simmons aren’t related? I thought they were twins or something. I can’t even tell them apart.
  • May is easily the most competent of the recruits, but they have her as the driver. When do we get to see the incident that forced her out of the field?
  • Skye likes the Twitter and the social media and the fighting the power. I think that teenagers are supposed to identify with her or something.
  • The “0-8-4” is really a tesseract weapon commissioned by the Peruvian government. Reyes wants it to quell a rebel uprising. She has her men take over the Bus.
  • The team gets over their differences and defeats Reyes. It only took one episode for them to learn to get along. That was fast. Ward especially turns from
  • Sky is still secretly with the Rising Tide, though, because they’re the only ones that know how to use the power of Twitter for good, like she does.
a screencap of nick fury (played by samuel l. jackson) being angry or furious
His name is “Nick Fury” because he’s angry all the time.
  • Nick Fury stops by to remind us how great the movies were. They need to stop referencing the movies and have this show stand on its own.
  • This team still doesn’t have an official name?

Recap: Once Upon a Time in Wonderland S01E05 “Heart of Stone”

SPOILER ALERT! I KNOW ALL YOUR SECRETS!

In this episode, we throw our whole lives away for a guy we just met.

a screencap of will scarlet (played by michael socha) and anastasia (played by emma rigby) about to jump into the looking glass
Hwuh?

Anastasia and Will Scarlet are all happy and about to head off to Wonderland when…

a screencap of anastasia's mother (played by sarah-jane redmond) being angry
THEY’RE ALL GOING TO LAUGH AT YOU!

Anastasia’s mom shows up to ruin their good time.

It turns out that Anastasia is quite the disappointment to her mother, because she’s not a queen or even a noblewoman and she can’t stand the fact that her daughter has fallen in love with the commoner, Will Scarlet. This is basically rehash of the relationship that Regina had with her mother, Cora, on Once Upon a Time.

Anastasia’s mother mentions that Anastasia has sister’s. If this is the Anastasia from the Cinderella story, then her sisters will be Cinderella and Drizella. Cinderella, as you may remember, is also Ashley Boyd in Storybrooke. We haven’t seen Ashley for a long time. She had just given birth, if I recall correctly. I wonder if they’d actually consider bringing Cinderella back for Once Upon a Time in Wonderland? I hope that mentioning the sisters isn’t just another allusion that doesn’t pay off.

a screencap of alice (played by sophie lowe) covering the stone knave with a blanket
Yes. That is very helpful, Alice.

Alice feels really bad about the Knave getting turned to stone.

What happened Elizabeth the Lizard? She was right there with them wasn’t she? Lizard seemed really interested in helping the Knave, but she’s just up and disappeared.

a scrreencap of the old prisoner (played by brian george) in a cage
I’ve been here since aught-diggity, laddie.

So, Cyrus escapes, but the old prisoner decides not to go with him.

I actually have a new theory as to just who the old prisoner is. I think it may actually be an older Jafar from another universe or timeline. Young Jafar wants Old Jafar to tell him about his future, but Old Jafar knows exactly what a horrible person he was when he was younger, so he’s keeping his mouth shut. He doesn’t want Young Jafar to have any more power.

a screencap of anastasia (played by emma rigby) flirting with the king (played by garwin sanford)
What boyfriend?

Back in the past, Will Scarlet and Anastasia sneak into a royal ball to steal bread, because breaking into a bakery would be riskier, duh.

While Will is off doing the dirty work stealing roll, Anastasia flirts with the king. It all goes so well until one of the ladies notices that Anastasia is wearing a dress stolen from her carriage and they get kicked out. Who steals a dress from a carriage right outside the place they are sneaking into? And who keeps extra clothing just lying around in their carriage?

Hey remember that time that Cinderella snuck into a ball, and that time that Cora snuck into a ball, and that that time Ariel and Snow White into a ball, like, only two weeks ago? They need to find another activity for the upper class of the fairy tale world to engage in.

a screencap of alice (played by sophie lowe) crossing the great divide while the red queen (played by emma rigby) looks on
Should’ve leapt from the lion’s head.

Remember that scene from Indian Jones and the Last Crusade, where Indy has to take a leap of faith? This episode totally rips that scene off, but they take twenty minutes doing it.

So, yeah, this week’s magical macguffin is magical dust that can only be found by taking a leap of faith into the Great Divide. The Red Queen needs the dust to protect herself fro Jafar, but the catch is that one needs a pure heart to take the leap and the Red Queen’s heart has been tainted by her evil deeds. Apparently, Alice has a pure heart, which I don’t really buy. Remember how Alice just stabbed the Mock Turtle for no reason? In fact, Alice is always threatening people with her sword. That’s not the type of thing someone with a pure heart would do, I shouldn’t think. Alice falls into the chasm anyway, maybe because her heart isn’t entirely pure?

a screencap of jafar (played by naveen andrews) holding aloft the white rabbit's severed foot
Something’s afoot…

Meanwhile, Jafar has his turncoat Tweedle bring him the White Rabbit. Jafar wants the White Rabbit to tell him who Alice’s loved ones are, so that he can hold them hostage and force Alice to use her remaining wishes to save them. The White Rabbit Refuses to, that is, until Jafar chops off one of his feet in a scene that’s sure to he traumatized many of the younger viewer.

The White Rabbit tells Jafar who the loved on is off-screen. I find that type of thing annoying. They interrupt the narrative flow just so they can stretch a reveal out over several episodes and usually the payoff is a letdown.

They want us to think that this loved one is really Alice’s father, but I bet that it’s her mother. Or her kitten. Didn’t Alice have a kitten in the story?

a screencap of alice (played by sophie lowe) meeting her younger self doppelganger (played by millie brown)
Creepy…

In the chasm of dust or whatever, Alice is confronted with a creepy doppelganger moppet of her younger self. The doppelganger tries to goad Alice into killing the Red Queen, but Alice has too much of a pure heart to kill her. The doppelganger then crumples into the magic dust. Is the dust actually the remains of the doppelganger? Are they carrying around the ashes of a dead ghost girl? This sequence was just weird.

a screencap of anastasia (played by emma rigby) waving with the king (played by garwin sanford)
You don’t even know this man’s name…

Anastasia later breaks back into the palace to try and steal the crown jewels. The king catches her, but instead of having her beheaded he’s all like, “Hey, kid, I like your gumption! Why don’t you marry me and junk?”

And so, Anastasia abandons her love and Anastasia marries a man she just met 10 minutes ago for the power and riches. Didn’t Cora do this exact same thing? Is betraying the person you love to marry into royalty how all the ladies become queens in wonderland?

The king isn’t around anymore, so the Red Queen probably ends up killing him or something? Or does she really fall in love with him, but he dies and that’s why she wants to change the laws of magic, so she can bring the king back from the dead?

My Thoughts On: Once Upon a Time S03E07 “Dark Hollow”

SPOILER ALERT! IRONIC EYEWEAR CONTAINED HEREIN!

In tonight’s episode, Belle protects Storybrooke from two misguided hipsters.

a screencap of the words "five days ago"
Five days ago

Really? Everyone has only been on Neverland for five days? It seems like they’ve been wandering around in the wilderness for an eternity…

a screencap of belle (played by emilie de ravin) talking to dr hopper (played by raphael sbarge), mother superior (played by keegan connor tracy), leroy (played by lee arenberg)
Hey, remember these guys?

So, we’re back to Storybrooke and a bunch of the side characters – the ones whose actors that haven’t yet moved on to other shows-  show up to remind us that they still exist and to help Belle cast the cloaking spell that Rumpelstiltskin left her around Storybrooke.

a screencap of john darling (played by matt kane) and michael darling (played by james immekus)
They only buy albums on vinyl.

However, they don’t cast the cloaking spell in time and a pair of nefarious hipsters affiliated with Peter Pan manage to sneak in. What are they up to with their thick-rimmed glasses and their scarves?

a screencap of rumpelstiltskin (played by robert carlyle)  in a magic message to belle
Help me, Belle Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope.

Ariel shows up with Rumpelstiltskin’s message to Belle. He tells Belle that she can find a special magical object in his store with the power of their love.

That should be easy. All Belle ever talks about is Rumpelstiltskin and their wonderful love and how magical it is. She really doesn’t seem to have a life outside of her relationship with Rumpelstiltskin at all.

a screencap of ariel (played by joanna garcia swisher) entranced by a thingamabob or corkscrew
A thingamabob! Ariel just needs 19 more and her collection will be complete!

Ariel continues to be fascinated by the world of Man, so she’s too busy being entranced by random object in Rumpelstiltskin’s shop to help Belle find the magical trinket. At least she seems to have gotten over her kleptomania.

a screencap of belle (played by emilie de ravin) holding up chip
Poor chip has been separated from his mom for so long…

It turns out that Rumpelstiltskin and Belle’s love is represented by the cup that Belle chipped oh so many years ago.

I’m still waiting for this stupid cup to come to life and blame Belle for maiming him.

a screencap of belle (played by emilie de ravin) hold pandora's box
WHAT’S IN THE BOX!?

It turns out that the hidden magical object is Pandora’s Box. Belle says that in contains great evil inside, but, if I recall correctly, Pandora already let all the evil out of the box and the only thing left inside was Hope.

I always wonder why Pandora left Hope inside the box. You’d figure that it should be let out in order to combat all the evil.

Hey, this, along with Pegasus, is the second reference this season to an ancient Greek legend. Does this mean that Hercules is going to show up soon? I bet someone calls him “Jerkules”.

a screencap of john darling (played by matt kane) and michael darling (played by james immekus) pointing guns
My worst nightmare: hipsters with guns

Oh no! The hipsters arrive just as Belle finds Pandora’s Box and they point their guns at Belle and Ariel all ironic-like.

The hipsters aren’t really bad guys, though. They’re really John and Michael Darling. Peter Pan has kidnapped their sister, Wendy, and has holding her hostage for a hundred years. They have to get Pandora’s Box or Pan will kill her.

Eventually, Belle explains to the Darling brothers that giving Pandora’s Box to Rumpelstiltskin will allow Rumps to stop Pan, so they let Ariel have the box back and everybody is friends now.

a screencap of ariel (played by joanna garcia swisher) untying herself and belle (played by emilie de ravin)
The scene that launched a thousand Rule 34 drawings

A pair of beautiful gals in short skirts and tied up? The internet is going to have a field day with this.

a screencap of david (played by josh dallas) trying to explain himself to an angry snow white (played by ginnifer goodwin)
She’s had enough of your crap, Charming.

Meanwhile, in Neverland, Snow White is seriously peeved-off with Charming or lying to her. As it turns out, Snow would gladly stay on Neverland with Charming because he’s all she really needs.

What about Emma? Shouldn’t Snow be upset that staying on Neverland probably means being separated from her daughter? Is she really just giving up on Emma and starting over with a new baby, like Emma never happened in the first place? That won’t be good for Emma’s feelings of abandonment.

a screencap of wendy darling (played by freya tingley) in a cage
100 years old and she hasn’t aged a bit!

Wendy and her brothers tried to rescue Baelfire from Neverland many years ago, but they failed and Wendy was thrown into a cage for 100 years.

It’s going to be one weird family reunion when the Darlings and Neal are together again. Everyone is the wrong age now. Then again, Neal was in a cage right next to Wendy’s for a little bit. I wonder if they’ve spoken to each other already? If Wendy came to Neverland so many years ago to save Neal, why did he leave without her? Did he not know she was there?

Anyway, Pan forces Wendy to use her mad acting skills to convince Henry that magic is leaving Neverland and that it’s causing the island and its inhabitants to die. Henry must use his “heart of the truest believer” to bring the magic back to Neverland.

Peter Pan is still being really vague about what his true intentions with Henry are. Pan says that what he really needs is for Henry to believe in him. We aren’t given the slightest hint at why Pan wants this or what it will do. I’m getting tired of all the vagueness. Not everything has to be some big mystery that spans several episodes. Sometimes is fun when people plainly state what their intentions are.

a screencap of captain hook (played by colin o'donoghue) and neal (played by michael raymond-james) and a coconut
Just give up on her, you two.

Neal had used Pan’s Shadow to escape Neverland the first time. It turns out that the coconut starmap doubles as a Shadow trap, because they didn’t feel like building another prop. Wait, if the coconut was the starmap and shadow trap that Neal used to escape Neverland, what was it still doing in Neverland? Wouldn’t it have had to have come with Neal to New York?

So, Neal, Captain Hook and Emma journey to the lair of the Shadows AKA Dark Hollow. It is a very dangerous place, but Neal and Hook waste time fighting eachother for the love of Emma, because apparently Neverland is just like high school and hormones always take precedent over the task at hand.

Emma refuses to choose between the two of them, because, really, they’re supposed to be saving Henry. I bet in the end she meets a third person to fall in love with and breaks both of these guy’s poor hearts.

Emma uses magic to trapped Peter Pan’s Shadow. I felt that Neal should have seemed more upset by that. Magic ruined his relationship with his father, after all.

Oh, and what happened to Rumpestiltskin’s Shadow, anyway? Couldn’t they have just used that Shadow?

a screencap of henry (played by jared s. gilmore) looking out on skull rock
Skull Island? I wish we were going to Candy Apple Island!

Next week, Henry has to travel to the mysterious Skull Rock and believe really hard for mysterious reasons. MYSTERIES!

Recap: Once Upon a Time in Wonderland S01E04 “The Serpent”

SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!

In his episode, we learn about Jafar and how his daddy issues turned him evil.

a screencap of a young jafar (played by anthony keyvan)
Don’t worry, he’ll be evil soon.

You see, Jafar is the bastard child of the Sultan of Agrabah, who rejects him and forces him to live like and orphan on the streets of Agrabah. He should feel lucky that the Sultan merely cast him out, instead of having him killed. Royal types tend not to like leaving loose heirs lying around.

a screencap of amara (played by zuliekha robinson)
She’s pretty, but she’s evil.

One day, Jafar sees a chance to get revenge against the Sultan. He’ll get an evil sorceress, Amara, to teach him magic that he will use against the Sultan.

Too bad there’s no fairy tale land version of Maury to sort out this whole paternity mess.

a screencap of jafar (played by naveen andrews) kissing amara (played by zuliekha robinson)
Icky.

Amara’s training of Jafar goes a bit like Rumpelstiltskin’s training of Regina. Eventually Jafar must commit and evil deed, not giving an antidote to a poisoned man, to prove he’s willing to go all the way in this evil magic business. It’s pretty much exactly like how Regina had to tear out and crush a heart to prove herself to Rumpelstiltskin.

Once he’s proven himself, Amara reveals her final magical secret to Jafar: if they obtain the world’s three genies, then they can change the very laws of magic.

Capturing three genies, killing countless people and changing the laws of magic seems like overkill just to show your father how angry you are at him., but, whatever, Jafar is really, really angry at the guy. Just zapping the Sultan in the ace with a lightning bolt of something apparently wouldn’t be enough to get the point across.

Ooooor… Does Jafar really want to change the laws of magic, so that he can change the past and have a good childhood with a loving father?

I found the romantic relationship between Amara and Jafar to be a bit icky, because she had trained him since he was a kid. I bet that’s exactly how the writers wanted the audience to feel about it though.

a screencap of some genie containment units
Poor Sidney

So, who’s the third genie? We’ve already met Cyrus the genie and Sidney Glass the genie from Once Upon a Time. Will the third genie be a new character or someone we’ve met before?

This also messes up the timelines in Once Upon a Time and Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. It shows that Jafar was in possession of Sidney’s lamp before Sidney met Regina, but we first meet the Knave of Hearts in present-day Storybrooke where Sidney is now a magic mirror and not a genie. TIME PRETZEL.

a screencap of jafar's old prisoner (played by brian george)
Is this the Sultan of Agrabah?

I’m going to bet right now that the mystery prisoner in the dungeon with Cyrus is really the Sultan of Agrabah, but why is Jafar just keeping him prisoner, instead of killing him and getting his revenge?

a screencap of a tweedle in ziggy stardust makeup and the red queen (played by emma rigby)
Throwing shade like professionals!

Yadda. Yadda. Yadda. The Red Queen captures the Knave of Hearts and they have a bunch of angry feelings together over their shared past and betrayal, after which the Red Queen decides she’ll have the Knave beheaded.

One of the Ziggy Stardust Tweedles is really a double agent and sharing the Red Queen’s secrets with Jafar, but I’m not sure whether it’s Dee or Dum. I wonder if this will drive a wedge between the twin brothers?

a screencap of elizabeth the lizard (played by lauren mcknight)
This lizard needs to be greener.

Hey, we make a new friend! Meet Elizabeth, or Lizard as everyone calls her. The Knave of Hearts helped her out in the past and taught her how to be a thief. Lizard is totally in love with the Knave of hearts now, so she would be really sad if the Knave of Hearts lost his head.

Lizard and Alice disguise themselves as executioners to stop the Knaves execution, just like Socrates and Billy the Kid did for Bill and Ted in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure.

a screencap of the knave of hearts (played by cgi) turned to stone with a tweedle behind him
The Knave is so stoned right now.

It’s all in vain though, because Jafar and the Red Queen just show up right after the rescue to spoil everyone’s fun. Jafar is about to kill the Knave, until Alice uses one of her wishes to stop him. She wishes that she ill die if the Knave dies. For some reason, if you kill a genie’s master, you can’t get any wishes from the genie. Does this mean that if a genie’s master die accidentally, that the genie can never grant any wishes again, or does it only happen if the master is murdered? Anyway, Jafar can’t kill Alice or the Knave, if wants to get Cyrus transferred to him.

Angered, Jafar turns the Knave into stone, hoping that Alice will have to use one of her wishes to turn him back into flesh.

a screencap of jafar's staff
*HISS*

In the past, Jafar had also turned Amara into a magical staff. Jafar likes turning people into inanimate objects. At least she gets to be at the side of the man she love forever now.

a screencap of burp guard (played by christian bower)
*BRAP*

Meet Burp Guard. Burp Guard is my new hero. Burp Guard provides Cyrus with a wishbone that Cyrus can magically use to escape from his cage. Genies have magic over any object with the word “wish” in it, don’t you know?

So, yeah, this episode ends with Cyrus starting to escape from his cage, but I bet it will still be a few episode before he and Alice are reunited. Heck, at the start of next week’s episode, I bet Jafar shows up just before Cyrus is about to break free and stops him while cackling or something.

TV Show Rambling: Sleepy Hollow S01E03 “For the Triumph of Evil”

WARNING! HEREIN LIES SPOILERS FOR THE THIRD EPISODE OF THE FIRST SEASON OF SLEEPY HOLLOW!

In this episode, the Sandman is a faceless nightmare monster called “Ro’kenhronteys”.

a screencap of the sandman or ro'henhronteys (played by marti matuli) with sand running from his eyes
Oh, Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream.

Blah. Blah. Blah. I’m still catching up on this show. Blah. Blah. Blah.

  • Will someone please take Ichabod down to the JC Penny and by him some modern pants?
  • Are Ichabod and Abbie officially partners now? No one on the force finds that weird? Is it even legal?
  • Abbie lied about seeing the demon in the forest and that caused her sister, Jenny, to be committed.
  • A farmer also saw the demon and lied about it and he is killed by the Sandman.
  • The Sandman or Ro’kenhronteys is a Native American demon that kills people that have turned a blind eye to their fellow man’s plight and have a guilty conscience in their dreams.
  • Ichabod and Abbie visit a Mohawk shaman named “Seamus Duncan” who is also a sleazy car salesman. This is probably a problematic representation of a Native person.
  • Seamus uses a special tea on Ichabod and Abbie so that they can enter the dreamworld and fight Ro’kenhronteys Dream Warriors style.
  • All Abbie has to do is admit that she lied and the demon is defeated.
  • Captain Irving finds out that Ichabod and Abbie made a giant hole in the wall and are now using the old archive room as their base of operations and he doesn’t really care.
  • The Captain is awfully quick to accommodate Ichabod and Abbie’s needs. I find this suspicious for some reason. What does he know?
  • Jenny has escaped from the asylum. She knows the apocalypse is coming. Is she trying to help or hide?
a screencap of abbie mills (played by nicole beharie) and ichabod crane (played by tom mison) chained-up and shirtless
FANSERVICE!
  • Why did their shirts have to be off?
  • Now that they’ve already been shirtless, where else can this show go with the fanservice?