OUAT Season 2 - Thoughts so far

I have a love/dislike relationship with this show. Episodes from season 1 ranged from TOTALLY AWESOME to Meh. So far, in Season 2, there haven't been any awesome episodes on the order of Season 1's "What Happened to Frederick" or "Hat Trick" yet, but we're still pretty early on.

I think Ep. 2x02 has been my favorite so far, because it really added a layer of nuance to Regina's character that I appreciated. I disliked the episode about her backstory in Season 1 (o course she turned evil because of True Love), but 2x02 complicated the picture and centered her Start of Darkness more around her relationship with her mother. I love the exploration of twisted family relationships and realizing you've become the person you hated.

Speaking of which, the theme so far in Season 2 really seems to be about mother-daughter relationships, what with Mary Margaret/Snow and Emma finally getting some quality time together. If there's one thing OUAT does pretty well on a fairly consistent basis, it's portraying positive, empowered female characters.

Season 2 has run into a few problems, however.

1. While it's great that Season 2 is diversifying in terms of cast, I'm really not liking what they did with Mulan and Lancelot. When I first heard that Mulan was appearing in Season 2, I could hardly contain my glee...and then I was very disappointed when she was inserted into Aurora/Philip's story and portrayed as a mean, emotionless warrior. Why can't she star in her own story instead of becoming a sidekick and possibly the third wheel in a love triangle? Why is she so mean?

And Lancelot...*sob sob*.


I had such high hopes. He seemed like an awesome character with so much potential. And then we learn that he was DEAD ALL ALONG. THANKS, OUAT.


2. Remember how the Mary Margaret/David relationship difficulties became the romantic plot tumor that wouldn't get resolved in Season 1? I think Rumpelstiltskin/Belle's relationship has become the new romantic tumor in Season 2.

3. Ep. 3 "The Lady of the Lake" made me rather uncomfortable. Why is not being able to bear children seen as SO terrible? It's so horrible, it's worth sacrificing someone's life in order to restore fertility? This, combined with the subtext in Season 1 about how birth parents are better than adoptive parents, is somewhat unpleasant.

4. Ep. 4 "The Crocodile": I am now getting heartily sick about how having one's True Love killed makes one evil. On the other hand, Killian Jones/Hook is, admittedly, pretty smokin'.


So those are my thoughts about OUAT Season 2 so far. I'm looking forward to seeing who Dr. Whale is, who Henry's father is, and I really want to see Kathryn/Abigail reunite with Frederick. (Also, more Jefferson/Alice in Wonderland, please?)

Arrow - Ep. 3

I stand corrected: apparently Oliver's superhero outfit is bulletproof. Which is why he willingly goes into battle with guys with machine guns. Still, how much of his body does this bulletproof armor cover? This episode shows it doesn't cover his arms, so does it cover his legs? His head?? All it would take is one bullet to put Oliver out of commission, so it still looks to me like he has super dodging skills. (Also, I haven't done any research into bulletproof wear, but while Oliver may not die if he gets a bullet to the torso, the force of impact should at least knock him down. So far, this has only happened once, in the pilot episode.)

Now, Episode 3. (Or, "In Which Oliver Queen Does Assassin's Creed-Style Parkour")

So I think we're actually starting to see some improvement here in terms of female characters. Laurel finally actually kicks some ass! And there's a mother-daughter bonding moment between Thea and Moira Queen! Of course, that doesn't negate the fact that Thea is a shoplifting, drug- and alcohol-using troubled little sis and Moira, for all we know, is still evil. And Thea is continuing to be mean to Oliver and throw hissy fits whenever he tries to actually be a responsible big brother. Sigh.

But THAT ENDING. If there's one thing Arrow knows how to do so far, it's how to write a cliffhanger ending.

I actually like this episode quite a bit. Not too much happens, because it's all about Oliver trying to find and eliminate Deadshot, but the execution is not too bad.

Tommy has been a really good friend to Oliver so far. I shudder to think about how he'll eventually wind up as Green Arrow's archnemesis, Merlyn.

It's interesting to compare Arrow to Batman Begins, as the stories are, in certain ways, very similar (wealthy billionaire returns home after a prolonged absence to fight crime), and yet there are a couple of key differences: In Arrow, Oliver Queen returns home with a vendetta and isn't actually above killing people to fulfill his goals, although he usually tries to give his target a chance to repent (I feel bad for all the security guards who get shot, though). Bruce Wayne, on the other hand, is anti-injustice in general and very much against killing. I'm very curious as to whether people (who find out about Oliver's identity) will eventually call him out for the violence he's causing. Certainly Detective Lance is, but so far I feel that he's there in the story more as an obstacle rather than a moral objection to vigilante violence. If the show does explore the implications of vigilante violence, that would elevate it to one of the more nuanced, thoughtful, intelligent TV shows out there. But I mustn't get my hopes up, for that way disappointment lies...

I had an interesting thought while watching this episode: What if, instead of Laurel's dad being the detective/cop, it was her mom? Wouldn't that make the story so much more interesting?