I agree about Regina's victim status. What happened to her does not in any way justify the terrible things she's done, and I find it a cheap and lazy way to try to redeem her character. I also don't buy her turn around at the beginning of the season. It happened way too fast. At first I thought it was a ruse and I was just waiting for her to pull something awful in revenge, but as more episodes passed it became clear that no, the writers really were trying to redeem her. And now, if she goes evil again because of rejection from Henry/the Charmings, that not only makes her a victim yet again, but is also a terrible, terrible way to introduce shades of gray to the show's characters (which is what I think the writers are trying to do).
And it's just another way for the narrative to hold Regina blameless for her actions, when she has free will. Even with the manipulation and victimization, her actions and her choices are her own, and she shouldn't get a free pass from the story just because, "Oh, her son hurt her feelings."
Although I didn't see the scene where they all went to the restaurant the same way. Why couldn't Regina have gone with them? It's not like she's banned from Granny's. I did see the Charmings as maybe being a little thoughtless and not even considering explicitly inviting Regina (and I can't blame them, because she's not part of their group, she has caused them and their friends untold pain, and they are under no obligation to consider her feelings just because she helped them out this one time). But I didn't see outright rejection. If she had tried to join them and someone outright told her she wasn't invited, that would have been rejection. But Regina didn't even try. If she's serious about redemption, she's the one who has to make overtures here. She can't just do a couple of good things and expect to be forgiven and included like one of the family.
Totally agree about Belle. Why was she promoted to regular if she's barely even going to be in the show? I get they have a large cast and that not everyone is in every episode, but she's had a criminal lack of screen time.
I think, though, that I'm liking this season more than season one (which started out well, dragged through the middle, but did have a good finale). There have been some slow points and, like you said, some places where things just weren't built up enough, but I haven't been outright bored by any of the episodes yet. There were several episodes in season one I almost couldn't sit through because they were so uninteresting.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2012-12-11 03:12 pm (UTC)And it's just another way for the narrative to hold Regina blameless for her actions, when she has free will. Even with the manipulation and victimization, her actions and her choices are her own, and she shouldn't get a free pass from the story just because, "Oh, her son hurt her feelings."
Although I didn't see the scene where they all went to the restaurant the same way. Why couldn't Regina have gone with them? It's not like she's banned from Granny's. I did see the Charmings as maybe being a little thoughtless and not even considering explicitly inviting Regina (and I can't blame them, because she's not part of their group, she has caused them and their friends untold pain, and they are under no obligation to consider her feelings just because she helped them out this one time). But I didn't see outright rejection. If she had tried to join them and someone outright told her she wasn't invited, that would have been rejection. But Regina didn't even try. If she's serious about redemption, she's the one who has to make overtures here. She can't just do a couple of good things and expect to be forgiven and included like one of the family.
Totally agree about Belle. Why was she promoted to regular if she's barely even going to be in the show? I get they have a large cast and that not everyone is in every episode, but she's had a criminal lack of screen time.
I think, though, that I'm liking this season more than season one (which started out well, dragged through the middle, but did have a good finale). There have been some slow points and, like you said, some places where things just weren't built up enough, but I haven't been outright bored by any of the episodes yet. There were several episodes in season one I almost couldn't sit through because they were so uninteresting.