OUAT 1x18 "The Stable Boy" aka THE EPISODE IN WHICH I AM NOT STABLE

[intrikate88]

Wow. I have to say, that episode was definitely up there with Skin Deep and Red-Handed. Sooooooo many questions were addressed, and yet it still left me wanting more.

EVERYONE WITH THEIR MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF ISSUES. I just was sitting there clutching the air the whole time. bb!Snow was so perfect, so so perfect with her face just like Snow’s, but oh boy that girl has a million dreams of the perfect caring always-present mother in her head and bam! there’s Regina SAVING HER LIFE. And then there’s Cora, playing little Snow’s desperate need for EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE A HAPPY LOVING MOTHER right into her hands. This little girl, before she's been hurt and manipulated and had to flee for her life, before she ever learned that someone could hate her, this is the little girl who grew up to be Mary Margaret, with her story taken from her. Still a dreamer, and still so heartbreakingly unconscious of how she can be used.

And Regina, beautiful broken girl. She has been so controlled by her mother (visual metaphor of LITERALLY BEING BOUND IN STRAPS ANYONE) that she can be as angry as she wants but she can’t dare rebel, because she knows Cora would rip her to shreds. So she turns her anger on the only person who is safe to blame, a little girl who Regina could have loved in all the ways her own mother never did. And the thing was, Regina and bb!Snow were so good together. They really were. And that’s another thing Regina has to resent Cora for, that Cora stole the daughter Regina could have cherished. Regina could have had a child to be good and loving to, to try and repair the damage Regina had experienced at her own mother's hand. But no: Cora stole all of Regina’s love and all her choices. (And perhaps that's why Regina eventually adopted Henry: but she finds herself exerting all the same controlling influence, watching her child push her away and call her evil, and knowing that she can't stop the cycle of abuse from continuing.)

But Cora. The Miller’s Daughter. Traded for a marriage-or-death deal herself, so how was she ever supposed to say the world worked out otherwise? And we know how the story goes: Rumpelstiltskin takes her jewels and spins her gold, and then he takes the promise of her firstborn. But she beats him at the deal when she learns his name- and since it’s clear his name is no secret by this point in the history of the show, she didn’t stay mum about it. She wins her daughter back. Her child is hers and no one else’s. So how dare Regina claim her life for herself? Regina was won by Cora and Cora is never going to give her up to anyone.

So no wonder Regina loathes Rumpelstiltskin too, even though she’s quite content to use him when necessary. He’s the reason why her mother could never, ever let go, not even for Regina to be happy.

OMG ALL THE MOTHER ISSUES ON THIS SHOW

This is the earliest we've ever seen Regina, and we haven't seen Cora before. The next time we see Regina is nine years later, at Snow's sixteenth birthday, when Regina is cold and alone but has magic and manipulation; she kills the king, but her parents, who were moving with her to the palace, are nowhere to be seen. I think it's safe to say her father may be trapped in Wonderland at that point, and based on Regina's harsh words to Hatter, I'd say either her father or mother up and left her behind. I'd also think it might be safe to think that at some point Regina snapped and killed her mother and took her powers. So I'm REALLY looking forward to the next chapter in Regina's story.

But that's not all that happened in this episode. 

Emma's superpowers seem to be failing? I was so sure she'd spot Sidney as a liar and August as telling the truth, but apparently not. I'm glad she at least came back with a warrant for Regina's shed; I was so sure that she'd take the shovel and it'd be inadmissible evidence and EVERYBODY SHOULD KNOW BETTER THAN THAT. Anyway. She did it by the books with only a little unethical behavior even if she was flummoxed enough to admit to Regina that she had broken in the night before. And I'm warming up to August, I liked his writer's block analogy for investigating. 

Mr. Gold, oh my god. I mean, when I saw him dealing with Regina last week I just laughed and knew that whatever deal they made it is not going to end up with Regina in the lead. But I underestimated how long of a con Gold can run.

So, based on this, we see that basically the minute he gets out of jail after Skin Deep (where he nearly beat a man to death for Regina's suggestion that he steal a cup of sentimental value, these are not the actions of an impartial man), he goes to make a deal with Regina. I am sure that there are at least three someones in Storybrooke who could keep him out of an assault and battery charge and jailtime. But he says he needs Regina to arrange that as a favor to him. And then he lays out EXACTLY what she wants. The revenge of watching her enemy lead a life of quiet desperation is getting stale and isn't working out according to plan; so Gold serves up on a silver platter a perfect plan to destroy Mary Margaret. Destroy her reputation, her relationships, and finally her life. 

And I loved the imagery. Obviously, with Rumpelstiltskin's alligator vest and scaly complexion, Gold's sneaky way of doing things, he's been broadly characterized as a reptile, as a snake. So he saunters into Regina's office, offers her the most tempting and delectable course of action, and then tosses her a bright red apple. You couldn't get any more Snake and Eve if you tried. (Okay. Well you could. But I think we should let the wardrobe department keep doing what they do so well.) But from beginning to end, Regina's vendetta to destroy Mary Margaret... has been entirely orchestrated by Gold. 

Who has had a fresh awakening of all the reasons he hates Regina for being the cause of the death of the one woman who loved him.

HO. LEE. SHIT. GURRRRRRRL YOU IN TROUBLE NOW. 

And I can't even talk about that trailer. OMFG, the dagger. I cannot wait a month. 

Comments

[trickseybird.livejournal.com]

bah it's so much fun guessing where Gold's loyalties lie. There are some beefy, twisted story lines for the girls in this show!

[intrikate88.livejournal.com]

Gold's loyalties = himself. How he's accomplishing that... well, that's anyone's guess. I was just so giddy when I realized how extensively he was twisting Regina around his finger, and simply dying to see exactly where she lands when he lets her spring off. I think that Kathryn's sudden reappearance may very well be the "I still have some magic to work yet" that Gold mentioned as Mary Margaret was being led off to court; I think that Regina may already have had Kathryn's heart in a box anyway, since she so conveniently sprang out of nowhere when David woke up, and obviously there was no letter from law school for Kathryn- when did she apply? Twenty-eight years ago? But Gold could very easily forge documents, and just as easily intercept her as she headed for the Storybrooke border. God, I can't wait.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

And Regina, beautiful broken girl. She has been so controlled by her mother (visual metaphor of LITERALLY BEING BOUND IN STRAPS ANYONE) that she can be as angry as she wants but she can’t dare rebel, because she knows Cora would rip her to shreds. So she turns her anger on the only person who is safe to blame, a little girl who Regina could have loved in all the ways her own mother never did.

This. I hear so many commentators going 'but Snow's crime doesn't fit how extreme Regina's revenge is!' and I'm like... do you realize that Regina is subsuming her feelings regarding her mother because she's been abused? Do you realize that if she lets go of her revenge she has NOTHING ELSE?

Apparently they don't.

[intrikate88.livejournal.com]

JFC I KNOW. I mean, god, Regina's probably angry with Snow because she's a living reminder of the fact Snow isn't where she should be placing blame, and she feels guilty and bitter about that, too, until the mere sight of Snow is a churning mess of dark feelings. From Regina's perspective, yeah, Snow did ruin her life. Not just from being naive, but from EXISTING as this lighthearted mirror of the child Regina wishes she could have been.

I'd love to quote from Women Who Hurt Themselves by Dusty Miller (?) at those commentators, who likely are lucky enough to not know the first thing about child abuse. At least have a book description-

Women traumatized in childhood hurt themselves more often than men do because men are socialized to act aggressively and fight back, notes psychologist Miller, who is director of Clinical Mentoring at Antioch/New England Graduate School. Here she addresses childhood trauma, to which the individual may react by dissociating, but such fragmentation of the personality becomes the basis of her failure to protect herself as an adult. While integrating various treatment approaches, Miller's program focuses on the "triadic self," which she describes as the victim, abuser and nonprotecting bystander within. In the painful narratives culled from her private practice, Miller establishes that such self-destructive behavior as bulimia and cosmetic surgery "tells the secret story of women's childhood experience over and over again." She describes the behavior of her clients as trauma reenactment syndrome (TRS), which, stresses Miller, explains why they are impervious to treatment in 12-step programs and conventional therapy, often being misdiagnosed and mistreated. The author presents evidence that TRS women can be helped to lasting recovery.

I mean, Regina is textbook for this. She can't totally hate her mother, right? Because her mother on some level must really love her and have her best interests at heart. And her father loves her, and let all of what her mother did to her happen, so if she rejects all of that she rejects her parents and the love that she is sure they must have somewhere. So she can't draw boundaries, and she replays Cora's control and her father's inaction inside herself, because they made her, and she can't reject herself even if in the process she is continuing to abuse and hurt her SELF. But she sees all the power around her, and knows that if she can turn the pain outward maybe at least none of them will hurt her any more, and she can't let go of that. But when she finally has her own child, Henry, she desperately wants to love him, but he can see she can't be vulnerable, and she is still replaying the controlling behavior that Cora used with her, because what other kind of mothering is there? Yes, it hurts, but now Regina rules everything, so maybe she can push her son to the same heights. Except he is rejecting her, and she is losing control, so she has to hold on tighter to herself and to everything else so she doesn't disappear entirely.

I saw on Tumblr that someone theorized the Blue Fairy is the real villain of the show. Which is kind of hilarious but also something I want to be true, because I want so much for Regina to be healed and redeemed, and to remember that girl who once asked "Why can't I just be myself?" instead of living with the ghosts of everyone who ever hurt her.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I mean, Regina is textbook for this. She can't totally hate her mother, right? Because her mother on some level must really love her and have her best interests at heart. And her father loves her, and let all of what her mother did to her happen, so if she rejects all of that she rejects her parents and the love that she is sure they must have somewhere.

Exactly. It is so clear to me that Regina blames Snow because she literally has no one else to blame. Her father is the only one giving her affection (even if he can't protect her), she doesn't feel she can blame her mother, and her lover is dead. Who the hell else is she going to blame than the catalyst of the whole affair? Who isn't guilty of anything except of being a child skillfully manipulated by an adult, but give Regina's history of abuse, this child is the only 'safe' person for her to hate. And if she lets go of that hate, what does she have? Nothing else.

Also, if you're interested in the dynamics of women learning how to fight after abuse, you should definitely check out Lisa Gardner's novels Catch Me and The Perfect Husband.

I saw on Tumblr that someone theorized the Blue Fairy is the real villain of the show. Which is kind of hilarious but also something I want to be true, because I want so much for Regina to be healed and redeemed, and to remember that girl who once asked "Why can't I just be myself?" instead of living with the ghosts of everyone who ever hurt her.

I would like that, just because I find the blue fairy (and all fairies we've seen thus far, fucking NOVA) ridiculously annoying. When she made that crack about Jimminy paying to loudly after his PARENT WERE TURNED INTO PUPPETS I wanted to shove a pastry cover over her.