Some teevee thoughts

[frayadjacent]

I've been watching Once Upon a Time and Agents of SHIELD this season but feeling pretty meh about both.  Yesterday I caught up with the two most recent episodes of each, and they totally worked for me!  Maybe it was just my mood.  But I don't think it was that entirely.

Once Upon a Time

So, I've long found Regina interesting and delightful to watch, but I can't say I've had a lot of strong feelings for her.  But when I watched her pick up baby Henry for the first time, I felt so genuinely happy for her!  Which is funny, given what she does to Henry later on.  I blame Parilla's acting, which is just way too fabulous.  Speaking of, how much did I love her Evil Queen Cackle when Snow was trying to save Charming from Medusa?  THIS MUCH. 

So yeah, between the Enchanted Forest flashbacks and getting the story on how Regina adopted Henry, these past couple of episodes have been pretty fun for me.  Bonus was Snow and Charming hunting Medusa as honeymoon foreplay (along with the strong implication that they've already had sex, which on most modern shows would be NBD but actually surprised me a bit here), plus Regina's interactions with Tink.  I know they're probably setting up Regina "finally" finding Robin Hood, and Tink's around mainly to facilitate that, but I am totally shipping/friendshipping them.  I'm happy either way. 

Plus, as a friend pointed out to me, the fact that Regina and Robin Hood would be each other's second True Loves shows that you can have more than one.  AND that we probably have more Enchanted Forest adventures in our future. Cough!Mulan/AuroraCough!  OK, I'm not actually holding out any hope for that ship.  At this point I 'd be happy just to see more Mulan, and hopefully she'll find another wonderful lady to woo.

I guess there is no way that Rumple is going to die to save Henry, but I reaaaaaally want it to happen.  It would be a strong ending for his character arc, it would give Belle some manpain instead of always being the other way around, and then I wouldn't have to see Rumple/Belle on my screen any more.

Agents of SHIELD

I enjoyed the Norse episode well enough (though does anyone else think it's weird that the Norwegian villains were white supremacists but only barely acknowledged as such?).  But then Melinda May said that line about "I see it every day" and I was hooked.  That's all it took, and suddenly I really connected to one of the characters.  I've been enjoying the sweet and funny interactions, and I totally like Skye (damn it, I don't care what anyone else says), but this was the first time I felt really drawn in to a character.

So then when they followed up with way more development for her in the next episode, I was pretty damn pleased.  This show may get its own tag yet.

It also helped that they were acting less like the supernatural NSA/CIA, which totally squicks me out, and more like Nice People Who Save the Day.  To be sure, I'd be OK with the NSA/CIA angle if I didn't feel like I was supposed to be rooting for them.  Because fuck that, I'll root for Rising Tide over SHIELD any day of the week if that's how they're gonna play it.

I usually try to avoid even the vaguest of spoilers, including casting spoilers.  (I am still bummed that I was spoiled on Irene Adler's appearance in Elementary because people were excited about the casting.)  But there is one OUaT casting spoiler I just learned via Facebook and I'm actually a bit glad I did, because it has me more excited for the rest of the season:

Ruby is returning for the last 11 episodes of S3!!!!! I AM SO EXCITED!  I totally dumped my Ruby icon, in fact I dumped all my OUaT icons besides Mulan because I was feeling so disenchanted with the show.  But my hopes are risen!  At least a bit.

And, it turns out Ginnifer Goodwin is RL pregnant.  So this whole "let's have another baby" thing is working better for me. I mean, I don't know for *sure* that they're planning to have Charming Baby #2, but it seems likely now.

Comments

[netgirl_y2k]

Ruby! I did not know that. Yay!

I couldn't give a monkey's about Robin Hood, but I'm so pleased Regina has a friend in Tink! Well done, Regina. Try not to have this one abducted so you can fake her death, k?

I am actually quite cross that the showrunner's saying that Mulan & Aurora had a story arc in the first half of the season turned out to be BLATANT LIES. I am also quite cross that Rumple & Belle are still together are apparently never going to deal with what happened when she was Lacey. Although, I do like the idea that "the boy" who would be Rumple's undoing from the prophecy will turn out to be Pan, not Henry.

[frayadjacent]

I am actually quite cross that the showrunner's saying that Mulan & Aurora had a story arc in the first half of the season turned out to be BLATANT LIES.

I remember hearing that Espensen said the show was going to get more lezzie -- is that what you're referring to? Or is there something else I'm not aware of?

(And if so, yes I AM ALSO QUITE CROSS ABOUT IT.)

ETA: ugh grumble yes, I totally agree about Lacey. I barely remember what happened to get Belle back in the first place. Come on, show.

[netgirl_y2k]

It was Horowitz and Kitsis, I think, who said in an interview that Mulan and Aurora had a story arc in the first half of S3. I mean, they might have been misquoted, or it might have been apocryphal, or it might have been pushed back to the second half of the series, or they might have been BLATANTLY LYING.

[frayadjacent]

Oh! Wow I didn't know about that. Ugh, they probably meant the "unrequited lesbian love" story arc.

D: D: D:

(Seriously, I need a frownier emoticon for this.)

[thirdblindmouse]

Ruby! The character I'm most angry at them for neglecting.

[frayadjacent]

I will be delighted to see her again.