(no subject)
Nov. 16th, 2015 02:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
geebsTV commentary:
OUAT- 2nd part. I enjoyed this episode, though its odd they paired these two eps together. As someone said, its like the first ep was all A plot and the second ep was all B plot. Like maybe they should've made it one long ep, but I'm not sure how you'd break it down. Because the first one did the parallels between then and now well. The second ep was also good with parallels, it just starred secondary (tertiary?) characters and didn't really affect the overall plot. Which could be frustrating since the first one ended on a cliffhanger.
But they really couldn't put the second ep before the first one, because it mostly takes place after the Camelot events in the first ep, but still before the gang returned to Storybrooke. Heh, though I guess it was better they paired them, because if the second ep came out next week, I'm sure people would be frustrated the first cliffhanger wasn't resolved. I mean, there is no new ep next week, so they have to wait at least two weeks regardless. But I think people are fine with that if they know beforehand, as opposed to if they watched next week and still don't know what happens after this week. I think they would be more frustrated.
But I digress. As I said, I enjoyed this ep because it brought back characters that were sorely missed. In the Brave past, but after the movie, Fergus goes to the witch and asks her for a helm that will cause anyone to follow the wearer in order to "ensure the future of his kingdom". So she gives him one all, "Yes, you will get what you want!" Which, whenever a spellcaster is fulfilling your wish without specifically saying what it is they're giving you, instead saying, "what you asked for", with no reference to anything you said, its prolly not going to turn out the way you were thinking you want it. (Of course even worse is when they specifically repeat word for word what you asked for, because then obviously they're going to pull some tricky wordplay bullshit)
Anyways, yeah, this is the battle where he dies, as he gathered the clans to fight off "Southern Invaders". Merida goes with him, and he hires Mulan to hone her melee skills. I'm still unsure of the timeline though. Is this before the Philip and Aurora stuff? Is it after she and Aurora met Snow and Emma, but before she tried to confess her love to Aurora? In any case, Mulan teaches her swordplay, but also teaches her real leaders get their followers to follow them because they're inspired, not because they're afraid. Merida asks how she does that, so Mulan is all, ask someone who's doing that! So Merida talks to her father about him, and it influences him to secretly ditch the helm.
Now, the day of the battle, Fergus apparently got Mulan to take his daughter away and distract her from the real battle under the guise of an early morning training session. But she hears the battle and goes to join it, and we know what happens next, she sees a knight sneaking up behind her dad, but she's too far to warn him, so she tries to hit the killer, but misses. Well, sort of, she tags his cloak, so she did technically hit her target, just not in a vital spot. And so he dies. But we find out that her dad's killer is Arthur! (Not that Merida finds out yet)
Anyways, cut to six weeks ago Camelot, after Emma sent Arthur and Zelena packing, he tells Zelena to take him to Dunbroch so he can get that helm, because he had apparently heard about it. When he killed Fergus during that battle, he tried putting on the helm and saw it didn't work, so he figures Fergus hid it somewhere. So he and Zelena are seeking that.
Meanwhile, Merida was about to be crowned after saving her brothers. But then the witch shows up saying she has to either 1) return the helm or 2) pay way more money than the kingdom actually has, by sundown the next day, or else the whole kingdom will be cursed and everyone will turn into bears. (Seriously, what's with the witch and people turning into bears?!) So, she goes on a quest to find it, or rather the guy who killed her dad, because she assumed he took it, and bumps into Mulan and asks for her help.
Mulan is all cold nowadays, her heart having been broken by Aurora. They run into Arthur and Zelena, who had just seen the witch and her wolf guard to find the location of the helm, and who told them Merida is already looking for it. Zelena steals Merida's bow (that used to be her father's) to do a locator spell on the helm (since the helm and the bow were his, she can somehow find one item he owned via another item he owned?), and they also taunt Merida about the truth of the helm, saying her father is no king, using magic to lead. Merida is crushed, not knowing her dad had ditched the helm and her dad's killer (who she still doesn't know is Arthur) got a fake.
She goes back to her kingdom empty handed, and Mulan feels bad because she feels its her own fault that Merida is being a negative nancy because she's just following Mulan's example. So, Mulan goes to the witch's house to find some clue to finding the helm. She runs into the wolf and realizes its a person. She knocks over a magical cauldron on it to turn it back to Ruby!
Heh, we find out where Ruby has been all this time- around the time of Neal's naming, Red decided to leave because she feels "different" from everyone else, and wanted to go back to Storybrooke to find people like "her". Nominally she means werewolves, but given the parallels they were drawing between her and Mulan and the looks they were giving each other, it seems like its a euphemism for her sexuality.
Anyways, Ruby says she can sniff out the killer of Fergus/presumed current possessor of the helm using a piece of the cloak torn off by Merida's arrow during the battle. So, Mulan goes back to Merida, who was about to offer the crown to the one clan leader dude played by fake-supersoldier guy from NCIS/the hunter Rebecca had fallen for in TVD, but Mulan says she doesn't have to.
So, they catch up with Arthur and Zelena who had just fished the helm out of the lake, and Merida is all, I thought you were leading me to my father's killer? And Ruby points out that its Arthur. So Merida wants to pull an Inigo Montoya, while Mulan and Ruby subdue Zelena. Eventually the rest of the clan comes to help, Merida having earned their respect by offering up her claim to the throne if it will save everyone.
Knowing they're beat, Zelena poofs she and Arthur out of there. Mulan finally fesses up the reason she's so morose is because she waited too long to tell someone how she felt about "them". Which, dammit show, you can't say she? I guess that's so the anti-gays can just be in denial and think she's talking about Phillip? Like Mulan would happily run up to Aurora to say she's in love with her husband?! Whatever, the lengths people will go to avoid homosexuality.
Anyways, Ruby offers to let Mulan accompany her on her quest to find other wolves, and says Mulan might find something to ease her pain on that journey. Which, this better not be the last we see of those two. I'd be mighty annoyed if they vaguely reference that Mulan and Ruby are bi just before shipping them off the show to do their gay stuff somewhere else.
In the end, Merida is crowned, and the witch comes looking for the helm, but Merida says she's not giving it back because such an item shouldn't exist. And it turns out it was all a test by the witch, that Merida proved she will be a good leader, and thus fulfilling Fergus' wish that his kingdom is in good hands. As a gift, she gives Merida magic ale that will allow her to speak with her father's spirit. She does, and he says he's proud of her before disappearing again. Also, now that she knows Arthur killed her dad, she vows revenge, which, didn't she just get crowned? She's going to run off on some quest to kill Arthur?
Like, is that how she got dragged back to Storybrooke? Do the clans think their queen disappeared?
OUAT- 2nd part. I enjoyed this episode, though its odd they paired these two eps together. As someone said, its like the first ep was all A plot and the second ep was all B plot. Like maybe they should've made it one long ep, but I'm not sure how you'd break it down. Because the first one did the parallels between then and now well. The second ep was also good with parallels, it just starred secondary (tertiary?) characters and didn't really affect the overall plot. Which could be frustrating since the first one ended on a cliffhanger.
But they really couldn't put the second ep before the first one, because it mostly takes place after the Camelot events in the first ep, but still before the gang returned to Storybrooke. Heh, though I guess it was better they paired them, because if the second ep came out next week, I'm sure people would be frustrated the first cliffhanger wasn't resolved. I mean, there is no new ep next week, so they have to wait at least two weeks regardless. But I think people are fine with that if they know beforehand, as opposed to if they watched next week and still don't know what happens after this week. I think they would be more frustrated.
But I digress. As I said, I enjoyed this ep because it brought back characters that were sorely missed. In the Brave past, but after the movie, Fergus goes to the witch and asks her for a helm that will cause anyone to follow the wearer in order to "ensure the future of his kingdom". So she gives him one all, "Yes, you will get what you want!" Which, whenever a spellcaster is fulfilling your wish without specifically saying what it is they're giving you, instead saying, "what you asked for", with no reference to anything you said, its prolly not going to turn out the way you were thinking you want it. (Of course even worse is when they specifically repeat word for word what you asked for, because then obviously they're going to pull some tricky wordplay bullshit)
Anyways, yeah, this is the battle where he dies, as he gathered the clans to fight off "Southern Invaders". Merida goes with him, and he hires Mulan to hone her melee skills. I'm still unsure of the timeline though. Is this before the Philip and Aurora stuff? Is it after she and Aurora met Snow and Emma, but before she tried to confess her love to Aurora? In any case, Mulan teaches her swordplay, but also teaches her real leaders get their followers to follow them because they're inspired, not because they're afraid. Merida asks how she does that, so Mulan is all, ask someone who's doing that! So Merida talks to her father about him, and it influences him to secretly ditch the helm.
Now, the day of the battle, Fergus apparently got Mulan to take his daughter away and distract her from the real battle under the guise of an early morning training session. But she hears the battle and goes to join it, and we know what happens next, she sees a knight sneaking up behind her dad, but she's too far to warn him, so she tries to hit the killer, but misses. Well, sort of, she tags his cloak, so she did technically hit her target, just not in a vital spot. And so he dies. But we find out that her dad's killer is Arthur! (Not that Merida finds out yet)
Anyways, cut to six weeks ago Camelot, after Emma sent Arthur and Zelena packing, he tells Zelena to take him to Dunbroch so he can get that helm, because he had apparently heard about it. When he killed Fergus during that battle, he tried putting on the helm and saw it didn't work, so he figures Fergus hid it somewhere. So he and Zelena are seeking that.
Meanwhile, Merida was about to be crowned after saving her brothers. But then the witch shows up saying she has to either 1) return the helm or 2) pay way more money than the kingdom actually has, by sundown the next day, or else the whole kingdom will be cursed and everyone will turn into bears. (Seriously, what's with the witch and people turning into bears?!) So, she goes on a quest to find it, or rather the guy who killed her dad, because she assumed he took it, and bumps into Mulan and asks for her help.
Mulan is all cold nowadays, her heart having been broken by Aurora. They run into Arthur and Zelena, who had just seen the witch and her wolf guard to find the location of the helm, and who told them Merida is already looking for it. Zelena steals Merida's bow (that used to be her father's) to do a locator spell on the helm (since the helm and the bow were his, she can somehow find one item he owned via another item he owned?), and they also taunt Merida about the truth of the helm, saying her father is no king, using magic to lead. Merida is crushed, not knowing her dad had ditched the helm and her dad's killer (who she still doesn't know is Arthur) got a fake.
She goes back to her kingdom empty handed, and Mulan feels bad because she feels its her own fault that Merida is being a negative nancy because she's just following Mulan's example. So, Mulan goes to the witch's house to find some clue to finding the helm. She runs into the wolf and realizes its a person. She knocks over a magical cauldron on it to turn it back to Ruby!
Heh, we find out where Ruby has been all this time- around the time of Neal's naming, Red decided to leave because she feels "different" from everyone else, and wanted to go back to Storybrooke to find people like "her". Nominally she means werewolves, but given the parallels they were drawing between her and Mulan and the looks they were giving each other, it seems like its a euphemism for her sexuality.
Anyways, Ruby says she can sniff out the killer of Fergus/presumed current possessor of the helm using a piece of the cloak torn off by Merida's arrow during the battle. So, Mulan goes back to Merida, who was about to offer the crown to the one clan leader dude played by fake-supersoldier guy from NCIS/the hunter Rebecca had fallen for in TVD, but Mulan says she doesn't have to.
So, they catch up with Arthur and Zelena who had just fished the helm out of the lake, and Merida is all, I thought you were leading me to my father's killer? And Ruby points out that its Arthur. So Merida wants to pull an Inigo Montoya, while Mulan and Ruby subdue Zelena. Eventually the rest of the clan comes to help, Merida having earned their respect by offering up her claim to the throne if it will save everyone.
Knowing they're beat, Zelena poofs she and Arthur out of there. Mulan finally fesses up the reason she's so morose is because she waited too long to tell someone how she felt about "them". Which, dammit show, you can't say she? I guess that's so the anti-gays can just be in denial and think she's talking about Phillip? Like Mulan would happily run up to Aurora to say she's in love with her husband?! Whatever, the lengths people will go to avoid homosexuality.
Anyways, Ruby offers to let Mulan accompany her on her quest to find other wolves, and says Mulan might find something to ease her pain on that journey. Which, this better not be the last we see of those two. I'd be mighty annoyed if they vaguely reference that Mulan and Ruby are bi just before shipping them off the show to do their gay stuff somewhere else.
In the end, Merida is crowned, and the witch comes looking for the helm, but Merida says she's not giving it back because such an item shouldn't exist. And it turns out it was all a test by the witch, that Merida proved she will be a good leader, and thus fulfilling Fergus' wish that his kingdom is in good hands. As a gift, she gives Merida magic ale that will allow her to speak with her father's spirit. She does, and he says he's proud of her before disappearing again. Also, now that she knows Arthur killed her dad, she vows revenge, which, didn't she just get crowned? She's going to run off on some quest to kill Arthur?
Like, is that how she got dragged back to Storybrooke? Do the clans think their queen disappeared?
