Once Upon A Time - Season 4 Episode 19 (FULL REACTION)
Added 2020-01-15 04:51:27 +0000 UTC
Comments
Amazing episode! This episode isn't one of my favorites from this season, but overall... I really love it and it's very close to being among my favorites. This episode for me, is like how I feel about season one's episode, The Stable Boy. I love them both. I definitely agree with you that this episode starts off a little slowly, but I still really enjoy the overall backstory for Cruella, including this beginning upon seeing little Cruella. I especially love that this beginning makes us feel sorry for her because we are led to believe that her mother is the evil one and treats Cruella cruelly because she comes after her daughter with dogs and locks her away within the attic. It's brilliant! Next... I really like the scene between Cruella and Maleficent, who comes to her seeking the truth about what happened to her daughter years ago after they all fell together through the portal into our world. I love the moment Maleficent transforms into a dragon when Cruella refuses to talk, uses her own magic to put Maleficent to sleep, almost like when Maleficent put the whole town under a sleeping curse too back in Best Laid Plans. I also love the title card showing the 101 Dalmatians, just as I love hearing Cruella's song from the Disney movie as well... Cruella De Vil played throughout this episode in her backstory. It's very smart and it adds a lot to her character even in Once Upon a Time. I love Cruella's overall backstory. It's amazing to see how it is she comes to not only have black and white hair, as well as her crazy eyebrows, but it also reveals how Cruella comes to have magic that allows her to control all animals and creatures, when she never had magic in her movies. And her story is fantastic, even beautiful. I love how her story includes the Author, which also reveals how Isaac comes to begin his corrupt path upon losing sight of simply recording history, as he begins to recreate the worlds and the people around him as well by conjuring things for Cruella with the magic of the quill and his special ink. I love, love, love how Isaac reveals to us through his revelation to Cruella inside the elegant restaurant that her world is just one of the many realms he travels to. Realms of storytelling that exist out of time. I love this scene between them, even though we know the kind of person Cruella really is, and that Isaac also comes to a villain himself. If they weren't villains, I really actually would have loved to see these two characters in a romantic relationship because I thought they really look really cute together. I love how the Author comes to tell Cruella everything about him and shows her the truth about him having such great power upon falling in love with her, in spite of Cruella manipulating him in every way so that she can get out from under her mother's control. I just love their scenes together, from when Isaac helps Cruella to escape from her attic by magicking the key up outside of her window, to when Isaac uses the quill to take away Cruella's happy ending. This brings me to my favorite moment within this entire episode, when the Author returns to Cruella inside her attic after she uses her magic to turn her mother's dalmatians against her to kill her, then confronts Cruella upon seeing that her mother had told him the truth about how evil Cruella really is once he discovers that Cruella ha stolen his quill. While it's dark and cruel upon seeing that Cruella had turned the dogs into her fur coat, like we know about Cruella from her Disney movie that she does, I love how her revealing her fur coat to him proves that she is evil. And then... what happens next between them escalates quickly, when Isaac uses his quill and ink to take away Cruella ability to kill, which is the only thing she truly feels any pleasure from, as her mother had previously told Isaac that she sought pleasure by killing her three husbands. Cruella suddenly snatches the special ink out of anger and Isaac attempts to grab it back, until they lose control as it spills all over Cruella, causing the power within the ink to transform her and make her even darker. It turns half of her hair and her eyebrows black and twists her mind until she feel nothing but rage and hatred for the Author. I absolutely love this scene. It's terrifying and amazing. And this brings me to the overall Storybrooke storyline... I absolutely love the ending between Cruella, Henry, and Emma, when Emma finally comes upon Cruella to save her son, and is forced to face whether or not she should kill the woman threatening her son's life. It's tragic, because while it's revealed to us and to David and Mary Margaret that Cruella can't kill or harm anyone, and therefore that Henry is not in any real danger, Emma doesn't know this. All she sees is Cruella holding a gun to her son's head. So Emma does the only thing she can think of, as she uses her own magic to force Cruella backwards off the cliff behind her and kills her. Emma's face in this moment after Henry runs into her arms to embrace her... scary and brilliant! I absolutely love Cruella's entire backstory and present day storyline, which unfortunately results in Cruella's death and a dark turn point for Emma. Overall... it's a phenomenal episode. I only wish that Killian was in this episode more than he was, which might be my only real complaint. However, I really enjoy the scene between him, Emma, and Regina too, as Killian and Regina try to convince Emma to forgive her parents, as they try to remind her that she has forgiven both of them for their past sins too. I love how Emma bites back by saying that neither Hook, nor Regina ever hid from anyone who they were back then. Never hid the truth that they were villains, yet that her parents pretend to be heroes and yet they do something evil. Thank you so much! These last few episodes are really good, and I especially cannot wait for the two part season finale, which again... I would love it it you could watch the final two episodes together. Please, please, please!! Until your next reaction...
Heidi Elizabeth Marcum
2020-01-15 23:54:07 +0000 UTCI LOVE this episode so much! And I do agree that the first half of the episode is kind of slow, but I'm telling you, rewatch it and keep in mind that Cruella is completely manipulating Isaac to get what she wants, and it gets a whole new level of interesting! I also love how Cruella is the only character EVER one Once Upon a Time who differs from the whole "Evil is not born, it's made and can be redeemed"-philosophy, Cruella was evil from the start and was never redeemed, and I feel like she was the perfect character to give that kind of story, because she in many ways is the most realistic villain, in the sense that she could exist in real life, minus the magic tho sadly, but because she's not a fairy tale character they could go a different way with her, like the more classic psychopath way. Also love the references and puns in this episode, like the song she loves being "Cruella De Vil" from 101 Dalmatians, brilliant, and when she's kidnapped Henry and she's on her phone playing Angry Birds: "Blasted bird, I'll show you what angry really looks like" such fun xD I also really like the way the show's going about turning Emma towards darkness, because you can physically see it on her - she's more pale, her hair is less shiny and she looks tired and keeps snapping at people, well mostly her parents. Pretty much how a depression would look like, or potentially an addiction, I think it's very clever that they make those physical changes to her, kind of like with Regina when she went from being the happy girl who was in love with Daniel, when she wore bright colors to the full on dark evil fashion queen outfits, it just adds so much to the character development, plus it's great to look at of course ^^ Can't wait for you to finish the season - and start the next :D As I just said to you in my reply on your Charmed reaction, I so enjoy watching your reactions, they just always make my day brighter!
Samuel
2020-01-15 12:55:36 +0000 UTC
