The Price Of Loving Rumpelstiltskin

Once Upon A Time, S02E16

Snow, Charming, Rumpelstiltskin, Emma, and Neal holed up in Gold's pawn shop to protect themselves from the upcoming attack from Cora and Regina.  Rumpelstiltskin told Snow that the only was for them to defeat Cora before she came to steal his powers was to use the black magic candle to kill Cora first.  In the past, Cora and Rumpelstiltskin's first meeting was revealed, as well as Cora's determination to rise to power and get revenge on those who had humiliated her.

It was amazing to me that with so little defense with Rump being indisposed that Cora and Regina weren't able to get Rump much faster.  Of course, that would be no fun for the viewers, so there was enough time for Rump to teach Emma some magical techniques before they were attacked.  I liked seeing Rump have to rely on Emma and him yelling at her when she was using magic in the wrong way (using her head too much).  It would be cool if he continued to teach her some things, even though I don't think her parents would much approve of her learning from the Dark One.

Then again, Snow herself decided to use the candle to save her family, so she shouldn't be able to judge.  I really liked when she told Rump that she should just let him die and then control Cora to make her do the right thing when she got her hidden heart.  That actually would have been the least evil thing for her to do, I guess, but Rump easily played the grandfather card.  How sneaky of him to only care about being Henry's grandfather when it could save his life.  Like he gives a damn about Henry right now.  I love that they have this bond to Rump that prevents them from getting rid of him out of convenience.

Undoubtedly, the best part of Rump edging closing to death while Regina and Cora loomed closer to the shop was when Rump called Belle.  I'm fairly sure it wasn't some kind of act because I doubt he would lie there and talk about his true feelings with an audience if he didn't have a choice about it.  I was starting to get worried that he would end up dying by Cora's hand any moment and got teary-eyed when he was telling Belle all about how wonderful of a person she was but didn't know it yet.  It got even more emotional when Neal was touched by Rump exposing his human side and the two of them embraced each other.  I know that Neal is still far from forgiving him, but I loved seeing the healing process start!  It was then that I felt like I wouldn't be able to keep watching if Rump did indeed meet his end in this episode.

Thankfully, Snow did the "wrong" thing and used the candle over Cora's heart and gave the heart back to Regina.  It did leave a bad taste in my mouth the way Snow had to tell Regina that she could get her mother's love if she put her heart back into her body, knowing that once she did Cora would die.  I never liked Cora, even after hearing her back story, but I felt for Regina when she had about a minute to enjoy her mother's loving gaze before she crumpled down to her death.  It was either her or Rump, and I'll choose her over Rump any day.

I'm worried about Snow, who made it very clear that she was the one who made Cora die by bursting in the room to warn Regina way too late.  I would say that they were sort of even, but it was Cora who killed Snow's mother, not Regina.  So it doesn't feel very much like justice in Regina's position anyway.  I'm just glad that Snow did regret her actions before she had to see Cora dead.  I would have hated her to be happy about Cora's death.  Regina's definitely going to go for her blood, which I'm not looking forward to. Maybe Rump, who's now part of the extended family, might lend a helping hand?  They're always getting flicked away in a second when faced against magic, so it would help to have someone magical on their side (if Emma's not going to be that person).

Cora's back story was certainly intriguing.  I never thought she would be that girl in the Rumpelstiltskin tale that we know.  It all started when Eva, Snow's mother, tripped and embarrassed her in front of several people.  That was a horrible moment for Cora, but to hold onto that grudge for so long that she would hurt every person along the way is insane.  However, you can't ignore that Rumpelstiltskin was mostly to blame for Cora turning into the monster she was.  He was the one that taught her magic and how to remove hearts.  He was a fool, for many reasons, for trusting and falling in love with her.

From that earlier scene when Cora first came to town and Rump and she kissed, it was evident that something had been between them once.  Still, I hoped that Rump was not going to get involved with her when I was watching the story in the past.  Frankly, I thought it was a little gross to see them kissing and such.  Ugh.  It's mainly because you know what kind of person Cora turned out to be.  It doesn't help that if it's not Belle, it seems wrong to me, even though what Cora and Rump had was many, many years before Belle even came into the picture.  I hated the momentary coupling between Cora and Rump even more when Cora easily chose power over her love for him.

Amazingly, Cora seems to be the only one who's ever bested Rump in one of his contracts.  She got him to revise the document to better serve herself and when she told him that she was leaving him, Cora reminded him that she didn't owe him a child or anything else now.  That was impressive.  She had taken out her own heart (instead of that hateful father-in-law of hers) and made sure that she would stick to her decision to keep climbing the ladder without her love for Rump getting in the way.  Wow.  It's amazing that she got away with it, that is until it came full circle when she tried to take Rump's power away.  It seemed kind of appropriate that after double-crossing him in the past and trying to take away his Dark One powers that Cora was the one who ended up dead.  She spent all of her life fighting to be on the top and finally it was her own undoing.  If only she had just lived happily with either Herny, who gave her Regina, or Rump, who would have given her true love.  Her demise would be a sad ending, if I liked Cora better.

It also caught my attention that Cora was once a queen.  I knew that she and Regina were sort of well-to-do in the past, but it never occurred to me that they were former royalty.  I guess eventually all that spinning straw into gold didn't allow the kingdom to thrive forever.  If not, I would wonder why Regina would have to marry that other king to become a queen.  She should have been able to become a queen in her own country.  Now I'm interested to know what went wrong after Cora married Henry.  It's obvious that she kept tabs on Eva so she could find a chance to get back at her, but not so clear what happened in the time between Snow and Regina meeting for the first time.  Her story introduced a lot of new questions for me.

Loved this episode.  There was a lot of suspense around whether we would see Rumpelstiltskin die and whether Snow would cross over to the dark side and kill Cora.  Since the latter happened, I'm concerned about the war between Regina and Snow that's started (or rekindled).  If Regina hated Snow before, she's going to increase that hatred my tenfold now that Snow was the one responsible for Cora's death.  I feel for Regina who never got her mother's love, but I also feel for Snow who won't be able erases that black mark on her conscience.  Hopefully, Snow won't let her guilt and regret make her more susceptible to Regina's attacks.  She can't afford to let her lapse in judgement make her vulnerable.  As for Rumpelstiltskin, it was unnerving to see him with Cora in the past, but I'm glad in the present he showed his love for Belle and it made an impression on Neal.  With Rumpelstiltskin still having a long life ahead of him, I want to see him continue to make progress with his son.  There's nothing more I'd love to see than the two of them repairing their father-son bond.

Left Behind

Suburgatory, S02E15

Tessa confronted Ryan about his unexplained absence and found out that he was investigating possible colleges.  Realizing that their futures would soon go in different directions, Tessa tried to think about college herself, while Ryan tried to find a way to stay with Tessa on a long-term basis.  Marty's sudden death made George realize no one knew him in Chatswin at all.  With Noah's help, George tried to find a good place to leave Marty's ashes after he had been the only one they could find to take them.

What a relief that Ryan wasn't doing anything particularly wrong!  He was just worried that Tessa would freak at the mention of him going off for college.  It's adorable that he was so concerned she wouldn't want to be separated from him that he tried to hide it.  That idiot.  I just wish that Tessa was more worried about them parting one day rather than almost gleefully imagining her life in New York City without Ryan.  I mean, it reflected badly on her when Ryan was moping around about his blessing being a curse because it would put himself and Tessa in different places in the future, while her first thought wasn't to find a way to maintain their relationship.  He was even ready to get himself "hobbled," so that his time with Tessa wouldn't have to end.  It took Tessa while before she thought about how precious her remaining time with Ryanwas  and rushed off to see him.  Sometimes I don't like how long it takes her to realize these things.  She's human, but still.

That guy who works at the photo shop is crazy as hell.  I knew he was a troublemaker from the moment he babbled to Ryan that he wasn't a biological Shay.  Sir, mind your own business!  This time he wanted to be a "hit man," and whack Ryan with a metal pipe?  What is this grown man doing?  He should be arrested, even if Ryan asked him to do it.  Like, Tessa pointed out that he had to hear the message she was leaving for him before he ran out to attack Ryan, but Mr. Photo acted like he had no idea.  After coming back for a second attack that failed, thankfully, I was happy to see Tessa snatch the pipe from him.  What a nutcase!  I don't like the idea of Ryan hanging out with that guy.  Nothing good ever comes from it.

Besides Ryan saying that he wanted a life-size of Tessa over a pocket-size (aww!), I loved when Tessa ambushed him in the bathroom:

[Ryan] Tessa.  You're not allowed in here unless you have a penis.[Tessa] Then what's your excuse?

I liked that Tessa was not playing around when it came to lying to her like that.  I'm guessing that he was just going to keep avoiding her, so she had to resort to such methods.  Thank goodness.  I wouldn't have wanted half of the story to be about him running away from her.

In George's story, Marty's death was so predictable.  If hadn't died after talking about having his life ahead of him, it would have seemed like false advertising (or foreshadowing).  It was sad that not one damn person knew more about him beyond a few superficial things like what his driver's license might tell you or what his mailman could say.  It's ironic the second George thought to learn one thing about Marty that he kicked the bucket.  Especially because the few bits of information he gained tipped the scale enough to make him the owner of Marty's ashes.  That's a crazy responsibility for someone who barely had a conversation with the guy.  But I guess Marty was sort of lucky he ended up in George's hands.  He could have gone to Dalia who sang this horribly monotone song for his slideshow, yet easily admitted she had never even met him.  She really set the overall sentiment for those in attendance of Marty's memorial.

It was sort of cute that even though Marty's "girl" turned out to be another stranger, Fatima still was grateful enough for the gift of the tickets to give his urn a kiss.  It was a little weird, but nice that she wasn't creeped out by receiiving a gift from a dead guy.  That was closer than he was going to get with Fatima at that moment, so George sorta did Marty a favor.

I liked George's idea of spreading out Marty's ashes outside of Chatswin to let Marty travel like he always wanted to.  I guess they couldn't afford to go somewhere really far, but I think George's heart was in the right place, so it was good enough.

Noah admitted that he was in love with Carmen--duh!  Who didn't know that?  There is no way Noah's affection for her only amounted to how well she took care of Opus.  Please.  He took her to an opera and got her fancy gifts.  It explains a lot of why he couldn't let the feud with Dallas die for the longest time.  He wanted his woman back, not his nanny.  I don't know how Jill will fit into this whole thing, but I'm sure Noah's love won't come easy.  Jill and Noah don't have the most spectacular marriage, but I doubt that Jill will be able to save face if Noah divorces her for "the help."  I just hope that Carmen, who hasn't done anything wrong (so far) doesn't get caught in the crossfire of Noah's decision to pursue her.

Speaking of love, Dalia is so aggressive when it comes to Evan.  I don't think that he'll be able to push her away after that intense kiss she gave him.  That was insane.  I admire her for going after the one she wants, even if he's so outside of my imagination of her preference.  I wonder if Dalia and Evan will make as a wonderfully mismatched couple as Tessa and Ryan do.

This was a good episode.  I couldn't hate it for any reason as long as Ryan wasn't trying to go after another girl behind Tessa's back.  I should have had more faith in him--he wouldn't be that much of a scumbag.  I don't know if they'll be able to survive Ryan going off to college, but at least they've agreed to enjoy their time while they have it.  And it's great that Ryan didn't throw away his future by letting a crazy photographer destroy his leg.   George was burdened by giving Marty his final resting place, but he eventually figured out the best thing to do.  The lesson he and Noah learned through their journey of Marty's unknown life made Noah confess his love for Carmen, which seems equivalent to lighting a stick of dynamite to me.  There might be another explosion of love soon between Evan and Dalia.  I doubt that little dork will be able to keep Dalia off his mind after the passionate kiss she gave him this week.

Somehow Better As A Play

American Dad, S08E10

The show was presented as if it were a play.  Francine threw Stan a birthday party, not realizing the dark family secrets the celebration would bring up.  Hayley was keeping a secret from Avery who slept with the family maid, Edna, in his heartbroken state.

This isn't the first time I've seen a cartoon do something like this, but every time I have seen it, I remember enjoying it.  This episode was no different.  I liked all the touches they added to make it feel like you were in the audience watching a play, such as the lighting and someone coughing being shushed.  I really liked how they did the lighting for when Stan's car was coming and going from the house, in particular.  Another thing I enjoyed a lot was them substituting glitter or confetti for the splashing water and for the blood.  It was also cute to see them use the pool, which was just made out of cardboard or something.  It was little things like that that made me like this story even more.

The stories were pretty dramatic, but I did find a few things to laugh about.  One of such was when Stan was brought home for driving recklessly by a police officer:

He was eating crab and driving.  He'd be spending the night in the cooler if there was anything illegal about what he was doing.

That was my favorite line.  I just liked that he got pulled over in the first place while he was sobbing and stuffing his face with crab legs.  Somehow it seemed like he was going to be arrested for something that silly.

I also found the end to the Hayley story to be unexpectedly funny.  I mean, it was terrible that Edna had suffocated a baby right when Avery and Hayley had gotten back together, but their reaction to the baby's death was so over the top with anguish.  The lighting went red, they were screaming, and they ripped out their hair and clothes.  It was definitely one of those times I didn't want to laugh, but I just couldn't help myself.  They were doing a great job of bad acting.

There was one other thing that wasn't quite funny, but mentionable.  When Francine tried to keep the party going with their guests, she had someone start a record of Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit."  Her songs are not anything you want to play at a party unless it's a drinking-out-of-sadness sort of affair.  I just liked the irony of that moment.

Oh, and it was so weird to me that I happened to fall asleep a little before Stan went outside to find his father and son swimming in the pool.  When I woke up again, Patrick Stewart was pretending to be asleep himself and the episode was pretty much over.  The timing of that was hilarious to me, although it was just because I randomly dozed off.  Patrick Stewart was sort of amusing as the host of this play.  Even when he was making cheesy puns of "Act Two" with a sneezing sound.

I really liked this episode, even though the stories were pretty sad overall.  I liked how Stan was misinformed about his broken family and in the end he started one of his own by ending his life.  Despite the dark nature of the story, I enjoyed that it came full circle.  The story about Avery, Hayley, and Edna was equally tragic in nature, but the little time we spent on them allowed me to find a little humor in the grandness of the emotional conclusion.  I couldn't say anything that bothered me in this episode.  Wish they would do more like this one!

Archer's Best Friend

Archer, S04E02

Archer heard about the death of his best friend, Lucas, and refused to accept that he was dead and a traitor.  When Archer went off to find him, Lana and Cyril followed him to stop Archer from wasting his time and putting his life in danger.

I guess I've never really noticed that Archer doesn't have any friends.  He shouldn't, logically, because he's not friendly or capable of thinking of others.  So it was kind of cute that he had this bromance with Lucas.  I hoped that he would be right and find his friend alive, especially after they showed Archer as a kid sitting alone on some bleachers.  It's no wonder that he would take off like he did to find his only friend in the world.

I liked that Lucas betrayed his comrades all so he could be with Archer in a bed and breakfast in Vermont.  Wow, it's already a lot to process that he killed his teammates in cold blood and stole money, but then he was also delusion enough to think that he would just start this new life with Archer there.  If he really wanted a life with him, he should have at least tried to think of a life that would have been attractive to Archer.  I mean, maybe Archer could have looked past his crimes and the fact that he's into men, but I couldn't see Archer living there and checking couples into rooms.  So not his style.

I sort of felt bad that Lucas got killed because like his friend, Archer too was crushed.  However, the best thing about Lucas (besides him telling Archer that he was only gay for him) was him making a confession at his death bed.  He pretty much revealed that he had violated Archer once when he was passed out from drinking.  I liked that Archer begged him that if he loved him to not tell him what he had already suspected.  What a thing to tell someone right before you die.  It's terrible and sad in a way that it worked really well for an ending.  It's like was it better for Archer to have had a friend at all or always been friendless?

I liked this episode.  It was interesting to see someone who loved Archer beside his mother.  Most times it just looks like everyone at ISIS could take or leave Archer, with good reasons.  I enjoyed the short-lived bromance between Lucas and Archer.  Don't think we'll be seeing anyone vibing with Archer like that anytime soon.

Even Death Can't Stop The Leslie Victory Train

Parks And Recreation, S04E21

Leslie was campaigning for one more day before the election, via a bus and having great success with her speeches and appearances.  However, the sudden death of Bobby Newport's father put a halt to it all.  After saying some negative things about the deceased man and barging in on his memorial with her campaign bus, Leslie finally apologized to Bobby in private for her comments.  Thanks to her cheering him up and being a decent human being, Leslie got endorsement from Bobby in a press conference about his father, even though he had stolen a story Leslie told him about her childhood and made it his own.  Chris tried to distract himself from dark thoughts by keeping busy with any task he could volunteer for in the campaign.  Andy was busy investigating a pie that had almost hit Leslie.  Tom, accompanied by Donna and Ron, had to get back the vans they had paid for from the owner who had been paid by the competition to withhold the vans from Leslie's group.

It's kind of disgusting that someone's death can be turned into a "political sideshow" as they put it in this episode.  I could really see that Leslie was so determined to win and continue her bus tour because she refused to listen to Ann's advice to do the right thing for the longest time.  I think it was funny that Leslie couldn't spin her negative opinion of the deceased owner of Sweetums to her advantage, but instead called him a jerk and said other things to dig her hole deeper.  The way that Jennifer played her hand in making Leslie look like a monster, though, was much more contemptible.  It's too bad that she's such an aggressive and calculating manage and Bobby is such a moron because all of her tactics basically went to waste.  I really didn't think that after Leslie rammed her bus into that portrait of Bobby's father at the memorial that she would be able to recover from that, but I guess Leslie really has luck on her side.

I liked when Leslie told Bobby about her running a marathon and winning her mother's pride, and Bobby understood from that story that he and Leslie both had dicks as parents.  Wow.  I think that conclusion he drew was much more amazing than him taking that story and changing it so he could use it in a speech later on.  I thought he wasn't too bad of a guy until he did that.  But now that I think about it, maybe he told the story because he didn't have any nice stories about his own dad and didn't want to share with others how much of a dick his father really was.  But he redeemed himself by saying that Leslie was awesome for comforting him and that anyone not voting for him should vote for her.  It's hard to hate him after that, and like I've said before, Paul Judd is just too cute sometimes.

The only thing I liked about Chris' story was that April had the opportunity to cheer him up again.  It didn't work, but I still thought her words were sweet for someone like her.  She told him that he wasn't as alone as he was claimed and must have friends out there somewhere.  Aww.  She's too embarrassed to admit that Chris is her friend.  Sadly, what did get Chris out his sad spiral (although his last major one was so hilarious) seemed to be the sex that Jennifer offered him.  I hope that's all it turns out to be.  I couldn't stomach to see someone as cheery as Chris with a snake like her.  Eww.

I thought Andy's story was just stupid until he found out that the pie was meant for Ben.  I liked that someone was disgruntled for Ben's actions and thought that throwing at pie at him would satisfy his anger.  Andy solved the mystery, but he surely didn't protect Ben from getting pie on his face.  Still, for Andy I think that qualifies as a success.  What I liked best about Andy's story was when he gave everyone code names, which were mostly based on sex he had had with each person.  My second favorite name was Donna's, which was "It Happened Once In A Dream," but my favorite was Tom's: "If I Had To Pick A Dude."  Love it!   Most of them seemed pretty content about the names he came up with.

Tom's story made with mad, with that guy who was taking advantage of the demand for his vans.  It was really smart of Leslie not to send Tom alone to handle Butler because if Ron couldn't get through to that stubborn man, no one would have been able to.  It was really nice that Ron agreed to pay what the competition was offering out of his own pocket.  It's too bad that guy bumped up the price, and it was too bad that Ron didn't knock the hell out of him for being such a greedy dick.  I also admire that Donna, who loves her Mercedes more than anything else, would back into Butler's car so that she could claim he rear-ended her.  She would have to pay for the damages herself, but they got the vans back in the process.  Wow.  It just really shows how far everyone is willing to go to help out Leslie.  I love all the love.

I liked this episode, but I always have to complain when I don't get a good Ron quote from it.  I did like Ron trying to handle Butler, but I was disappointed he couldn't really do anything to change the ass' mind.  I also would have preferred a little more Tom because you know I love me some Aziz.  However, I'm just glad to see that Leslie may very well be celebrating her victory in the next episode.  Although, I'm fairly certain that Obama isn't going to make an appearance at her ceremony, no matter how much she envisions it.