Once Upon a Time Season 7 Episode 19

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Flower Child

Emma Booth as Gothel Once upon a Time Season 7 episode 19 Flower Child picture image

Emma Booth as Gothel

Not sure where to begin with is this one. On a semi-positive note we learn Gothel’s backstory and motivation. Turns out Gothel is a wood nymph from the Land without magic.  Gothel was a bit like Ariel and enjoyed human things but some girls go all mean girl on her and then slaughter her family. Gothel, in revenge, kills all of humanity and leaves with one other magical human who is one of the coven members. Before she leaves she tells us that humans will evolve again and she wil return to wipe out all the humans again.  Bender would be proud.

This is dumb. First off evolution doesn’t work like that! You really need to turn off your brain for this to even make a little sense and it’s asking too much. The reason for the why the sets and feel of the past scenes was just to have the twist. You think it’s set in a magic realm BUT NOPE it’s the Land without Magic, and Gothel made it that way.  Once is good at twists because they are seldom set-up.

Second from a storytelling standpoint how did the humans even get in the wood nymph’s grotto? Anytime Gothel went in she used magic? So how did they get in? Sure, Gothel’s motivation for killing all the humans ups the ante from past seasons where the threats were all localized to Storybrooke but this season use of bad guys has been so all over the place with fake outs and misdirection that it’s kind a of waste. Wasn’t Gothel also trying to revive that character from the haunted mansion ride? Did the show forget that? Or was she there amongst the  coven members. Also did that show suggest that wood nymph grove was in Seattle? So there was modern looking human structures AND fully evolved humans in Seattle millions of years ago? My mind in caving in on itself!!!

The Hyperion Heights has Gothel trying to make nice with Tilly, a.k.a her daughter, as Tilly is special. Damn right is Alice/Tilly special! She is the daughter of a wood nymph and a person created from a wish. She is one of the most magical beings in the show. Gothel reveals Rogers and Tilly’s relationship and they believe her. Then Tilly goes along with Gothel’s ritual. Also, also, the coven gets woken up with neary a problem.

The B-plot is more Henry and Jacinda related curse breaking stuff. Facilier and Lucy team up to cure Henry of curse-breaking killing poison. Turns out it was an easy fix since they find since all they need is Cinderella’s shoe WHICH was also easy to find since Jacinda had it. So Henry gets cured of plot related poison and Henry and Jacinda kiss but that doesn’t break the curse because OF COURSE IT DOESN’T. These dark curses are only broken through paternal love. The sleeping curse is broken through true love kiss. So is it going to Henry kissing Lucy to break the curse in a season one reversal? OR is it something else?

So one of the coven members is a no-one named Seraphina. No-one meaning she is not a fairy-tale story character, instead she is a million year old magic user. I bring this up because we still have the mystery of Dr.Sage. Which I only bring up because on Henry’s whiteboard there is a note next to her name that he doesn’t know how she is.  The coven plot and its members have been sloppy.

Also when Gothel offers Seraphina to join her, she extends her hand out and says join me, who else got Star Wars vibes? I might have a one track mind.  

It pains me since I enjoy Tilly story lines but this episode was a C+ at best.

Disney sells Villains

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Disney Villains picture image

Disney Villains

On the other side of the Disney branding spectrum, we have the darker and less well known line of products called the Villain line. Unlike the Princess Line which doesn’t feature heroines based on a “royal” title this line is said to encompass all the villains but really only focuses on a few. Those being; The Evil Queen from Snow White, Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty, The Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland, Cruella from 101 Dalmatian, Captain Hook from Peter Pan, Ursula from The Little Mermaid, Jafar from Aladdin and recently Mother Gothel from Tangled. Other villains like Scar, Gaston, Dr.Facilier, Hades and the Cheshire Cat filter in on products occasionally. Though I would argue that the Cheshire Cat is not villain but a Chaotic Neutral.

Frollo Hunchback of Notre Dame Disney picture image

Judge Claude Frollo Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame

So here is the big question, Where is Frollo? He is considered to be one of the great Disney villains because of his complexity. As far as I can tell he might be hiding in the products like in the Disney Vile Villains Playing Cards or in the Disney Legendary Villains Personal Checks, I do know he was in the Disney’s Mix and Match Villains Book, I owned it as a child. But as far as him being an advertised villain, he is not and he doesn’t have many his own featured products.

 

Disney Villain Monopoly Box picture image

Disney Villain Monopoly Box

But why isn’t Frollo a key villain in this line? Is it because Hunchback was super unpopular? Well that doesn’t help but it’s not like Hades was attach to a popular movie and was Pater Pan that popular that Hook gets a major spotlight? On the Disney Villain Monopoly there are three unknown Disney villains featured, Pete who was antagonist in the Micky Mouse universe, the Big Bad Wolf who was another antagonist from the older Disney shorts and Kaa from Jungle book who wasn’t even the major villain, Shere Khan holds that roles.

I don’t think it so much that Frollo is from an unpopular movie, I think it’s because as a villain he is not fun. Don’t get me wrong he’s a great villain, he just never revels in his evil schemes the same way the others do, in fact he’s thinks he the good pure one. So he is not the logical choice as the one of line’s front runners who love and enjoy their machinations. And if this is indeed the case, it doesn’t really bother me that Frollo isn’t prominent, he just not the funny goofy charming villain that this line seems to love. And that’s ok.

Vicious Villains - Disney Movie Art Poster picture image

Vicious Villains – Disney Movie Art Poster

So what products does villain line offer? Well, in many ways it’s not very different from the Princess Line. It has with games like Monopoly, fashion dolls and makeup, lots of make-up. You can get make-up kits for Maleficent, Evil Queen, Ursula, and Cruella De Ville. It’s just aimed for older girls

And like the Princess line, the villains have their fair share of weird products like a Cruella stapler and yes even a Disney Villains Cupcake Kit.

In many ways the Villain line is just like the princess line except the products are black, red and purple instead pastels and pinks and it carter to older more jaded girls who are not quite ready Hot Topic.