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Best Laid Plans Analysis

Main Show

Episode Number: 273

Show notes can be found at:

http://onceuponatimepodcast.com/273

Thank you for everyone supporting our podcast by going to http://onceuponatimepodcast.com/support. We really appreciate it!

News:

Regal Con is coming!

We will be announcing the winner of our Regal Con 3 Day GA Ticket giveaway a little later in the episode. Stay Tuned.

Jennifer Morrison was at Fan Expo Vancouver 2015.

David Anders and Rose McIver were at a panel at WonderCon for iZombie.

Views:

Facebook points:

From Aubrey

Was the peddler on the side of the road supposed to be the merchant from the beginning of Aladdin? I saw something that said that on Tumblr

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From Cindy

My 1st impression after tonight’s episode. It started 4 years ago with a nagging question that kept coming from fans. Gee, I wonder who actually wrote Henry’s book? A 4 year long ongoing fan quest for the author, which led to a season long quest for our characters to find the author. For 4 years with every new character we met the same question arose. Is he the author? Ooh! I bet she’s the author. August must be the author! Ooh what if it’s cap man! He sees everything! Henry’s book has been the centerpiece of our OUAT story. It was the “heart” of the truest believers’ stories. I felt like I was among the truest believers. Henry’s book represented hope for happy endings. But now that the authors have been identified, I think I’m a little sad. I realize I rather liked not knowing who the author was. I liked imaging how stories came to life in Henry’s book. I think Henry’s book has lost a bit of its mystique. Ariel was right about happy endings. They don’t come from the author or the book.

Email points:

From Aleana

THEY REFERENCED WALT!! WALT DISNEY 🙂
Damn that other author forsaken his duty, changing the stories just for a better story but now he’s out of the book! Really well written episode. That speech about the authors recording great stories, August told was incredibly poignant!

J – I loved August’s monologue, too.

Snow: “If we keep this up were no different than Gold” – It’s interesting how Ariel previously said villains go about getting their happy endings in the wrong way, so I wonder what will happen to the Charming’s if they keep lying, are they themselves authoring their destiny down a a dark path? But now Emma knows, its the lying though that can diverge someone from their current path.

J – Good point. How did Snow and Charming get their “happy ending” with all the lies and secrets.

My theory is Regina and Emma going to leave Storybrook to save Robin and found Lily in the process also think Zelena is Maid Marion in disguise

Looks like there is a now a loophole for Snow and Charming in regards to earning forgiveness for taking away Malificent’s daughter. If the Author manipulated the story and forced the Apprentice into sending Lilly to another realm, then maybe he did the same to Snow and Charming. Maybe Snow and Charming weren’t truly in control of their actions and were at the mercy of the Author. Did the Author believe having these expectant parents kidnap another woman’s child for the sake of saving their own would be the better story to tell? Whatever happened, when all was said and done, Snow and Charming suffered the same fate as Malificent because they also lost their baby girl. I guess that falls under the category of magic has a price. I hope the Author cannot *find the quill* because then he can’t rewrite anyone’s story or steal anyone’s happy ending. He has done more than enough damage already.

J – The author could be behind a lot of the bad choices made along the way. Is that blame shifting or in this case, reality? What about the Author re-writing his way to a happy ending for himself?

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From Chris Tipton

The trend continues, every episode just continues to improve! I would maybe have to say this might be my favorite episode yet…top 5 at least. On to my points

Cruella and Regina snark battling. We seriously need more of this, Cruella is one of the few characters who can rival Regina with sass

It was a relief to hear Maleficent say that Cruella and ursula were just a means to an end, since that is what we’ve been saying all season. It was also cool to finally see how they got to our world.

This apprentice……. is immensely powerful. He can just create portals on command! I’m really starting to think he is the Sorcerer masquerading as an apprentice. If he isn’t, holy crap how powerful is the Sorcerer!!?? So about Emma’s darkness, the apprentice said “if it sees the light of day on distant shore”…That must be the loop hole for Emma to go dark in storybrooke. I also really want to know what that thing was he had in his hand. He used it to banish the author and perform the spell. Is it some kind of wand? My favorite moment of the episode was when the apprentice said what I’ve been screaming all season….that Emma is just like any human, with free will and the potential for good and evil. I almost shouted when he said that.

J – It could have been a wand. It looked like the Apprentice was signing The Author’s warrant to be trapped in the book. It was reminiscent of Rumpel, being so dangerous in the outside world, he had to be locked up. This time in a book.

Rumple….Hes such a creep sitting there holding belles hand talking to her while she’s asleep. Hes seriously delusional to think there is any chance she would go back to him. So it would seem he was on to Regina and he was just looking for the right time to expose her. I do wonder how he could tell so easily it was rubbish since as far as I can remember hes barely seen the book. Rumple has to have Robin, what else could have that much control over Regina? Jane Espenson is such an amazing writer. Rumple’s line “pain fades unless you feed it, and this could be the meal you really don’t want” was incredible and poignant. Nice to finally see what we all figured, Lily is Maleficents child. I guess Lily can’t be Cruella like i theorized lol

Snow and charming….Charming just kept digging himself a deeper hole. The idea to destroy the page was ridiculous and he just kept lying to everyone, even Henry! I’m very proud of Snow. She had great character development and it was awesome when she finally stood up to charming and told him they had to do the right thing and come clean. It’s always better to tell the truth, well done snow!

Emma……The irony of Maleficent having a unicorn for a best friend, since a unicorn had a hand, or a horn, (rimshot) in her losing her child. Seeing Abba Ross again was very cool. Shes amazing as young Emma. I am confused how Charming took seeing Emma as a baby meant she would be good. Maybe it was symbolic, that she would be pure and good like a baby her whole life. It was also ironic that Emma said no one gets to decide who she was, since that’s basically what her parents tried to do in the flashback. It seems she didn’t even get mad at what they did, just that they lied to her.

What snowing did to Maleficent part 2…..It made sense that Maleficents child came from an egg. It reminded me of the s1 episode dreamy. My theory that Stephan is the dad is dead. I had questioned whether what they did to her would warrant all the build up, and wow did it ever. It was absolutely despicable what they did to Maleficent. Whether they thought they could return the child or not it was still awful. I completely sympathize with Maleficent now. While revenge is not the way, I can totally see why shes so hell-bent on getting it! If Lily absorbed all that evil, why was she so seemingly good last half season?

J – Lily wasn’t all that good: Breaking into houses, Shop lifting, etc.

The authors reveal…..I was surprised they revealed this in this episode, i honestly thought we wouldn’t get that till the season finale but i loved it nonetheless. It was amazing when August referenced WALT Disney. So technically alot of theories were right, Walt Disney was an author! I like the idea that all authors until this one were just recorders and this one found a way to tamper with things. This gives me an idea. The author seems to like to do bad things to stories to make the more interesting. What if page 23 is what actually happened to Regina and Robin, but the author tampered with it, and made Regina run away and become bitter, causing her to become the evil queen. He would think it makes for a better story then 2 people just going off and falling in love. So i guess that’s my page 23 theory. This was an amazingly epic episode. I don’t like giving these but i have to for this one. 10/10 wooden man babies!!

J – Maybe there was more that the Author “caused” that we will discover.

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From Chris

Hey Guys,

What if “A man named Walt” is really Walt from “Lost”? (Cue suspenseful music) 🙂

I understand why they couldn’t have done it, because we’d see who “The Author” was a mile away but I would have loved if “The Author” had been someone like JK Rowling, Stephen King, Stan Lee, or George Lucas. Hey, we know Lucas is quite comfortable editing and changing his stories already. 🙂 What are Harry Potter and Marvel Comics, if not modern day fairy tales and mythology? And Stephen King has already appeared as himself in his Dark Tower series, which was a big influence on Lost. Just my bit of dream casting.

Keep up the great work and Rumplestiltskin forever…Dearies!

Chris

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From Trace

Hi Colleen and Jeff,

First: OMG-Cindy wrote in last week with her theory about the Regina book page and Cora being involved….loved it! What a great theory, and had to point that out.

I yelled at Snow and Charming more times this episode that I can count. So many decisions were made that made no sense. However, I think we learned HOW they got to be the Charmings. By never wanting to be the kind of people that would do such a thing to others much less a child. Thank God they realized they were on the same path again and redirected and told Emma the truth. Snow said “Hero’s do what’s right, not what’s easy” So true. I wanted to see the scene when they had to go back and tell her the baby was gone, how sad. Snow and Charming were the villains here….…….right?

Not sure, because, if the Author manipulated the story, then who’s truly the villain? The Apprentice clearly said to the Author “How could you FORCE ME to do that to that child?” So, where was the free will there? The true Author records the story so we make our own choices and destiny, but in this case-the author is the villain for taking that away. (Nice call Colleen). This puts the heroes and villains on the same side. If these stories were truly “embellished or changed” then we really don’t know which stories are true and who is good or evil and could change the entire series and stories we’ve seen thus far.…like Robin and Regina. If Regina meets Robin in the pub and runs off with Robin…that would have changed EVERYTHING as we know it. What if Rumple never meets the Seer?? How interesting could this get trying to find out what really happened in all these stories, and what was manipulated. Time for the good guys and bad guys to go get that Author together. I say the only way this plays out is for them to all realize they have to team up to get their happy endings. It still doesn’t excuse the Charming’s though for how they’ve been acting now. All the lying to Emma and then yelling at Henry-geez…chill out grandpa!

Way to go Oncers…Lilly is the lost child like we all thought, now-who’s the Daddy? I still say it’s the Sorcerer, what do you all think? I loved that Regina and Henry were able to read each other and pull off the page switch. I also still think that Rumple is up to something we all don’t know, especially with his speech to Belle, (sleeping again of course). I think he knows Regina is playing both sides and is using that somehow. He needs her, or is protecting her, otherwise she’d be a bug right now. His speech to Belle was intriguing and forshadowy (is that a word?) Especially with him holding his heart. I hope Henry being the truest believer is a key to this whole story, perhaps even an author someday? Nice shout out to Walt.

Things that made me go hmmm… Maleficent is the “Mistress of all Evil?” Really? Because no one would have taken that egg away from me I’ll tell you that! Put Charming to sleep or poof the egg somewhere else. I think Rumple is going to get Robin to use against Regina…but really? He has Henry right there. Which to me is proof he has other motive. And won’t hurt his grandson. Maybe deep down he believes he can get his happy ending if he helps other get theirs? I’m trying to see the positive in Rump here. Emma should practice harder, because if a curtain rod can take down the Savior then everyone is in trouble. The use and not use of magic confuses me sometimes. Clearly, August told them he was trapped in the book because he was bad. So…let’s just let him out and see what happens? How about a protection spell on the doorway?

Can’t wait to see where they go with the story and crossing my fingers for the Cruella and Will backstories. I think Will is involved with the Author and that’s his tie in, plus he did steal the looking glass from Maleficent. Big Love and Happy Easter to all! Trace

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From Brad

Put on some puppy mittens and warm up with some brandy, (that’s oh so nutmeg-y) because it’s time for, Things I Learned in the episode, Best Laid Plans.

#1. Don’t go grabbin’ Unicorns.

#2. If Emma ever writes a book,
she’ll never have to worry
about distribution costs.

#3. There will be no un-saving of
the savior on Henry’s watch.

#4. Add detect magic to the list of
capabilities that a smart phone
can do.

#5. Every mom dreams of owning
Maleficent’s sleepy time staff.

#6. Apparently witches also have
cold feet.

#7. Being trapped in a book can
leaving you feeling a bit
parched.

#8. There’s a good possibility that
baby Lily’s first words were
“nanu nanu”.

#9. Hallmark doesn’t make a
“we’re so sorry we took your
baby, made it evil and sent it
away to another land” card.

#10. Maleificent may have had a
one night stand with Smaug.

OBSERVATIONS:

LILY’S HAPPY ENDING

In a way, Emma took Lily’s happy ending from her, as well as broke her promise to remain friends with her no matter what. Once she learns this truth I feel she will be pretty upset. I have a feeling this reunion will not include hugs and humorous stories.

WHAT MAKES A VILLAIN

What would happen if the author didn’t manipulate the story?

Would Rumpel still have spoken with the seer?

What if Cora didn’t kill Daniel, Regina never learned magic, Zelena was never abandoned or Pan never left his son?

Did the author take away their chance for a happy ending by creating a better story or did he only provide reasons for what they inevitably would become?

Ultimately, we are who we are because of decisions we’ve made but what happens when you have been manipulated into those decisions?

Can you fault someone that has been lead and influenced to be a villain?

If the lives between a hero and villain were switched, would the outcome be the same? Are we all one decision away from becoming a villain and could a second chance alter the course of history for the better?

THEORIES:

ZELENA

This is an old theory but I feel it’s worth resurrecting. We all want Robin back but the only way that will happen is if something happens to Marian. What I would really like to see is Zelena posing as Marian in attempts to rob Regina of her happy ending. We know she has this ability as we saw when she impersonated the Wizard. This is my last chance to see if this theory holds up or simply melts into a puddle of water.

THE AUTHOR

If being the author is a job, who will take up the mantle?
The three likely candidates are
#1. Henry, this choice is obvious and makes the most sense. It would bring the story full circle.
#2. Emma, if she has the ability to give the villains their happy ending does this mean she will take up the position? Maybe she is just special and has the ability to alter events in Storybrooke because she is the savior.
#3. August, this wooden man child has a gift for telling a good story like no other. I am captivated anytime he gives us more information on the past. This is more of a wish than an actual possibility though.

BURNING QUESTIONS:

What does Gold have that will make Regina do his bidding forever? Has he captured or imprisoned Robin while being out of Storybrooke for 6 months?

Who and where is the sorcerer?

Brad

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Voicemail points:

Tyler

Steff

From Steff W

Took a page from Jane Espensen’s “book” and attempted a writing sprint just for fun. Please consider this for both your excellent podcast and/or blog… (Will try phoning it in, but shan’t make any promises —haven’t done any public speaking in eek! Nearly 30 years!)

“Best Laid Plans” worked well on so many levels, but what it did best was more than consider the differences between heroes and villians or whether magic is light or dark. It is a significant chapter in a much larger, still incomplete, morality play.

In this episode, the Charmings assumed that someone as different from them as a mother dragon did not deserve the same pity they would afford a stranger on the road. This is how the good can, out of ignorance, do evil. They served their own ends at an innocent’s expense.

The price they continue to pay for this misuse of magic is regret and the loss of their own child’s respect and trust.

Rumple, on the other hand, has assumed all along that he could use power to accomplish good —that noble intentions could justify any evil means, no matter how dark the end result. But feeling unlovable fed his childhood pain and being his own sole arbiter made him cruel. It was inevitable that he would became an affliction and danger to all he loved or loved him.

This is the price a Dark One pays for abuse of magic. He will destroy everything he wants to accomplish —not just once but over and over again— while always expecting different results each time. The very definition of insanity.

The Charmings are still learning from their mistake and still paying a price that has come between them and Emma. There are, as of this writing, some tantalizing clues that Rumple may also be on his own path to wisdom; following through on what may prove to be a literal “change of heart.”

In theory, this could indeed portend a most interesting role reversal betwixt Savior and Dark One. The “change of rules” sought from a renegade Author may not lead to the “happy ending” expected. In the end, it may well be Rumple needing Emma’s help and/or compassion that causes her to have to consider the same sort of choice that led her parents astray. …And it will be Rumple who will then have to succeed at saving her!

Steff W (aka MysticKid)

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Will will chose the winner of our Regal Con Ticket giveaway –

And the winner is

1 TeArra H

Thank you so much to Regal Con for offering the 3 Day GA Ticket for our contest!

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Big Love. Take what you need and pass it on.

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Don’t forget to Tweet Us (@ouatpodcast) while you listen

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