Once Upon A Time - 4x18 “Sympathy for the De Vil” FULL REACTION
Added 2020-07-21 01:21:23 +0000 UTCEnjoy!
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Notice how Cruella tried to force Emma and Regina to kill Isaac, The Author, because she couldn’t do it herself😳 it was literally in front of us the whole time and we just didn’t know. Maybe that’s why she didn’t get the chance to actually run over Maleficent in the beginning of the episode!
Miguelito
2020-07-21 04:36:55 +0000 UTCAmazing episode! And it's easily one of my favorites from the Queens of Darkness arc, as well as throughout this season overall. I really love it. :) I think this episode starts off a little slowly, but I really, really love 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, only to learn by the end just how wrong we are to feel sorry for her upon discovering that she's evil since she was a little girl, simply because she loves being so cruel. 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 and then how Cruella uses her own magic to put Maleficent to sleep. 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 too. I love all of the nods to her character in the Disney movie. It's all 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. As for her persuasion magic... it is designed to reflect Cruella's green cigarette smoke she constantly puffs into Roger's face and all throughout 101 Dalmatians, which I really like too. 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 by trying to win her heart and to impress her. 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 think 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 has 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 the Disney movie, I love how her revealing her fur coat to him proves to him once and for all just how evil she really is. 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. Just before Isaac takes away her ability to kill though... 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 so terrifying and amazing. And Victoria Smurfit as Cruella is absolutely phenomenal throughout this episode. It's because of this episode that most fans of this show come to loving Cruella as one of their favorite villains throughout the entire show. And I agree with all those who think so. Cruella is definitely among my favorite villains, all thanks to this episode alone. 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, dark, and so brilliant! Now... you mentioned how sickly, or pain ridden Emma's face appears throughout this episode. I might have mentioned this to you before, but Jennifer Morrison suffers from severe migraines and has for a long time. However, she suffered from them more so than she ever has before during the filming of this half of the season, which is why her face always looks so pale and sickly throughout this arc. And while it's tragic that she suffered so much from them throughout the filming of this season and I absolutely feel bad for her, I think it really works in her favor for what the creators and writers are trying to pull of with her character, as Emma is struggling with keeping from turning dark. Especially in this episode. 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. Emma is right about Killian certainly never trying to hide how evil he was when he was still Captain Hook. However, Regina did deny herself as being evil for quite a long time before she finally recognized herself to be the Evil Queen, as is shown in season two's episode... The Evil Queen. Regina killed an entire village, yet she blames their deaths on Snow White while she still saw herself to be the people's benevolent Queen. So, Regina didn't always admit to who she really was, while Hook most certainly always did. Thank you so much, Liam! I absolutely loved your reaction for this episode, and I am so happy you loved it so, so much!!! These last few episodes are really good, and I especially cannot wait for your reactions to the two part season finale, which... I would absolutely love it if you could watch the final two episodes together. Please, please, please!! Until your next reaction, my friend...
Heidi Elizabeth Marcum
2020-07-21 04:08:28 +0000 UTC
