So, we’ve dealt with two of the Queens of Darkness. Ursula has returned to the Enchanted Forest
with Poseidon and Cruella is dead. The episode even begins with her funeral, which was quite sparse in attendance. The only people who bothered to actually show up were Gold and Isaac, which just goes to show how nobody liked this person, anyway. They even burred her in what had to be the next step up from a cardboard coffin. Not to be a nudge, since I really don't care either way, but you'd think Gold would have sprang for a nicer coffin. He's certainly rich enough But maybe he lost his access to his small fortune when Belle kicked him out. Well, technacly, there were three people at the funeral, if you can count Emma, who was standing a short distance away, just staring at them, Not really sure what vibe they were going for there, to be honest, but it was slightly creepy. I don't think she was even blinking.
What makes the funeral even more pathetic is that Isaac still seemed to have feelings for her for some stupid reason. He's even held on to that old napkin from the jazz bar they went to in last episode's flashback.. Isaac, you went on one date with her. And she wasn't the slightest bit into you. Get over it.
Now
we've only got one Queen of Darkness to contend with.
Except Maleficent’s no longer interested in helping Gold, since she’s figured
out that he’s only interested in helping herself. Instead, she approaches the Nevengers to ask
for Emma’s assistance in reuniting with her daughter, Lily. And Emma is completely stunned at the news
that Malifecent’s lost daughter was her childhood friend. Though the episode flashback, we see that the
events in the ‘Breaking Glass’
flashback wasn’t the only time their paths crossed. During Emma’s childhood, she actually had a
shot at getting a good life, as she got placed with a picture perfect family
who really seemed to accept her into their home, and was even going to include
her on their family camping trip. But
then Lily pops up. While at first it
looks like the two girls might be able to mend their fences, Emma then finds out that Lily
was involved in a recent armed robbery and is currently wanted by the police. Needless to say, Emma is not pleased, fearful
this could mess with her chances with this new family. She tries to tell Lily to leave, saying
she’ll give her some of her allowance for a bus ticket. But Lily says she can’t just leave town, as she’s left
her prized possession, a necklace that had belonged to her birth mother, at the
hovel where she’d been staying with her boyfriend. Emma, so desperate to get rid of Lily, doesn’t
question why she wouldn’t just always wear the necklace if it was so important
to her, and goes off to retrieve it for her.
But when she returns, she finds out that Lily had actually sent her on a
wild goose chance and had taken advantage of her absence to steal money from
Emma’s foster family. In the resulting
confrontation with the foster parents, they don’t really give Emma a chance to
explain her side of things and for a brief moment, they assume the worst of
Emma. Feeling understandably betrayed,
Emma runs away again, and when she runs into Lily at the bus stop, she angrily
lashes out at her. And I have to say,
while adult Emma seems to voice her regrets for pushing away Lily for the
second time, I cannot fault her at all for it.
Emma was happy with that foster family, and Lily’s interference brought
that potentially good life to a halt.
What’s more, Lily was actually acting like she did Emma a favor. Never once did Lily stop and ask what Emma
wanted. Real friendships are supposed to
be a two-way street, but Lily just seemed to primarily focus on what she wanted
out of the friendship with Emma.
So, during the present-day storyline, deciding to kill two birds with
one stone, Regina suggests that she and Emma leave town together, so Emma can
track down Lily and Regina can go to New York to save Robin from Zelena. After saying goodbye to Henry, Killian, Snow and
Charming, the latter two Emma is still mad at, they both leave Storybrooke,
taking along Ingrid’s scroll to ensure they can both return home. The search for Lily brings them to this
really run-down looking building, the kind you’d except to see drug deals and
other illicit activities going down.
From the landlord, they learn that Lily died a few years ago. But when he starts talking about how much of
a horrible person Lily was, Emma lashes out and nearly punches the guy. The thing is, when Regina questions her about
it later, it’s like they’re implying that Emma’s reaction was potentially dark
or something. Again, I have to disagree
with that. What these people keep
calling ‘darkness’ is really just Emma reacting like a ordinary human. Let’s discuss that landlord guy. If someone shows up looking for one of your
former tenants, it might be possible that they’re an old friend of that tenant. They’re probably not going to react too well
if you just bluntly tell them the person they’re looking for is dead, and then
immediately are all ‘yeah, let’s talk
about how horrible that person was.’
That guy should consider himself lucky that he only just nearly got a
black eye.
So, the mission to locate Lily seems to have ended in failure. However, before they can continue to New York
to at least save Robin, a wolf suddenly appears before them, and when Emma
swerves to avoid the wolf she gets a flat tire.
They end up going to a nearby gas station to call for a tow truck, but
when they get there, Emma steps into the attached restaurant for some coffee
and notices the waitress currently working there has the same birthmark that Lily had. She immediately realizes that this is her
long-lost friend, living under an assumed name of ‘Starla.’
Okay now, I’m asking. What is
with the wolves? Back in the pilot, Emma
ended up staying in Storybrooke because a wolf was standing in the way of her
car, which forced her into an accident. They
even make a point of mentioning that incident in this episode to emphasize how
important that moment is. Here, a wolf
appears again, once again forcing
them off the road, which leads to Emma and Regina heading to that gas station
to call for a tow truck, which results in them finding Lily’s alive and well. Is there someone commanding these
wolves? Is that something that’ll be
addressed in a future episode, or is it just going to be a plot point that goes
nowhere? You can’t just say ‘oh, it’s just fate’ and expect us to go
with it.
When Emma confronts ‘Starla,’ revealing who she is in the process,
Lily insists that her life turned out fine and she doesn’t need Emma to try and
make amends. To make it more believable,
she pretends that one of the kids getting off a nearby school bus is her
daughter and pretends to walk her home, which makes me wonder what happened
when that kid’s real parents showed up and saw their daughter walking off with
a stranger. Nitpicks aside, Lily
apparently either never was told about or forgot about Emma’s internal lie
detector. Because Emma knows that Lily
was lying about how great her life turned out.
Using the address listed on Lily’s time card from the diner, they track
down her apartment, where Regina finds a room that contains this whole serial
killer wall of death that revealed that Lily somehow already knew about
Storybrooke and the Enchanted Forest.
Turns out that the Apprentice had actually approached Lily after her
second fallout with Emma and filled her in on the truth of her past. I guess he wanted to make up for the part he
played in disrupting Lily’s future or something, but his intentions of simply
helping Lily understand her burden seems to have backfired somewhat, as the
knowledge of the truth has only nurtured resentment in Lily’s heart. The moment Emma and Regina find out that Lily
already knows everything, and must want revenge on Snow and Charming, they
discover a little too late that Lily had commandeered Emma’s car. Which is bad, since Regina had left Ingrid’s
scroll inside the bug, meaning Lily can enter Storybrooke. To stop her, Emma and Regina hijack Lliy’s
own car, and give chase. Which takes a bit
longer that it should have. From what I
understand, bugs like the one Emma drives are not generally very fast vehicles,
so Lily made a poor choice of a getaway car.
So of course they’re able to cut her off before too long. Determined to protect her parents, Emma pulls
a gun on Lily, but Regina manages to talk her down, reminding her that this is
what Gold wants her to do, and once she starts down this path of violence, it’s
not easy to come back from it.
(Although, Regina, for future reference?
You don’t get to call Emma ‘Swan.’
Only Killian can do that. Unless
that was a conscious choice on your part to help her remember what Killian told
her before they left Storybrooke, about resisting the darkness by remembering
that she has something to live for- namely the people she loves.) In the end, Emma decides to spare Lily’s life
and help her instead, inviting her to come back to Storybrooke with her and
Regina.
However, there’s one last stop on this little road trip, and time is
now of the essence, since Gold had teamed up with Will to get Belle’s heart
from Maleficent, who had been keeping it safe for Regina. (It really was a lucky break for Regina that
Maleficent became her ally in this episode, If she hadn’t, what would Regina
have done with Belle’s heart when she left Storybrooke with Emma?) Anyway, upon making it to New York, Regina
tries to tell Robin that ‘Marian’ is actually Zelena in disguise, but he
refuses to believe it. Until Zelena
decides to drop the charade and reveal herself.
But even after being confronted with the truth, Robin is still unable to
leave. Because Zelena is pregnant with
Robin’s child.
Okay, writing staff? WHAT THE
HEY! Why did you think we’d be
interested in this rape baby subplot!?
Because that’s exactly what this is- a rape baby subplot. Zelena is only pregnant because she tricked
Robin into thinking she was Marian. I’m
pretty sure sex under false pretenses counts as rape. What, you think that just because the victim
happens to be male, it doesn’t count?
Rape isn’t just a female-exclusive crime. Male rape does exist. It just doesn’t get addressed as much because
males are generally more reluctant to report the crime out of fear that people
will question their sexual orientation or because they live in a society that
traditionally views males as strong and masculine. While it’s great that this show has made such
an effort to present women as strong, independent people, it’s not cool when
they do so at the expense of the male characters. It’s bad enough that they had Evil Queen
Regina rape Graham for thirty years and then not only never address it, but
kill off Graham and rarely even mention his existence again. Now, we’ve got Robin, who is going to quite
possibly have a constant physical reminder of his own sexual violation in
roughly nine months, give or take.
Seriously, show writers, NOT COOL!
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