The Wicked Witch gives Rumple a shave in “The Tower,” aired 3/23/14
I thought that was the best episode since the show returned from its winter break. I thought Robert Carylye was brilliant playing Rumple in his short scene with the WW. I liked the way the writers reimagined the Rapunzel story. And I thought the idea of monsters being parts of ourselves that we are afraid to face was brilliant.
My only real quibble is that I don’t find Rebecca Mader as the Wicked Witch a particularly interesting villain — certainly not as compelling as Peter Pan, or Rumple and the EQ back in their villainous days.
Otherwise, though, I felt the show was back on track, and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next, especially since Mad Rumple is on the loose.
What an amazing episode! Battling one’s self (eg. facing one’s fears) made me think of when I took psychology at university and we discussed various theories of personality eg. Adler, Freud, Jung, Perls, Glasser, etc.) Gestalt therapy uses the ’empty chair’ technique. From wikipedia:
“Empty chair technique or chairwork is typically used in Gestalt therapy to explore patients’ relationships with themselves, with aspects of their personality, their concepts, ideas, feelings etc., or other people in their lives. The technique involves the client addressing the empty chair as if another person, or aspects of their personality, or a certain feeling etc. was in it.They may also move between chairs and act out two or more sides of a discussion, typically involving the patient and persons significant to them.”
The plot moved quickly, and tonight’s preview of next week (CTV- Canada)
suggests Henry is going to get his full memory back soon.
I actually did that chair thing, back in the day. Great analogy to what happened in the episode.
I hope Henry does get his memory back soon. I’m getting tired of seeing everyone trying to protect him from the truth.
Zelena took a symbol of David’s “courage” (cowardly lion reference?) Considering the possibilities of an Oz-centric storyline…will she take someone’s heart (tin man), and someone’s brains (scarecrow)? Hook’s heart is his defining feature right now, and if she takes that SO HELP ME I don’t know how we will get through this.
LOL. I love Hook’s heart too, but I’m afraid it really does look like he’s the one in the tin man slot after his comment to Emma about how it was good that she still had her heart.
I don’t know how this is going to work. Did Zelena take David’s courage away? He didn’t seem to be less courageous after the hilt of his sword disappeared. Maybe she is just collecting the attributes of courage/brains/heart — the way she collects drops of blood — without it immediately affecting the people she is taking them from?
Wonder who will be the scarecrow here.
I thought the “face your fears” idea was a very good idea, but poorly written and poorly executed. It seemed rushed and not well-thought-out. This production coupled by the absolute horrid 1985 special effects ruined the whole thing. (the shady fast forward and jerky reverse of the ‘antitheses-phantasm’ for example)
Looking at the voting numbers thus far, this was the worst episode…I happen to agree.
What’s with the budget CGI?
Here’s another stupid line…
“The queen may be evil but I’m wicked…and wicked always wins.”
Um, ok. What does that mean? After discussing with some people I know, there were many eye-rolls—quite possibly the dumbest line of the season.
The Wicked Witch needs a thesaurus.
I may be in the minority in thinking this was the best episode since the winter break, but seeing Rumple, even if just for a few minutes, always makes me happy — especially now that he seems to be completely in his Rumple persona in our world, with not a trace of Mr. Gold. I loved the scene in the cage — everything about it.
I agree that the CGI is usually cheesy. I just ignore it at this point.
I thought the costuming of the hooded witches was well done, though, and that the way they looked was very effective — they were wonderfully creepy, at least when they weren’t jerking around. The costumes on the show are consistently awesome and, for me, that outweighs the cheesy CGI.
I love that people are catching on to the small hints at what’s to come with the whole “Oz-centered” plot. I am hoping that this is the route that the writers will take. I write my own theories after each episode. Check out my blog! I have a theory that Emma will become the Tin (wo)Man and that Snow and Charming’s new baby will be the Savior! Leave me your thoughts!
I was thinking Hook was the tin man, but it could be Emma. When Hook said it was good that Emma still had her heart, maybe he sensed that it wouldn’t be for long.
I think it has potential to be Hook too but I really hope for show’s sake that it’s not. I’m not sure how exactly to word it but it seems like it’s constantly the “magical” characters that are always under attack from the villain. (Of course with the exception of Peter Pan wanting Henry) but Emma has always been a savior. I think it’s time we see her in a different light and show that she is vulnerable to the magic just like the rest of them are.
The episode was very compelling. OUAT is going very dark in this second half of the season and I feel as if the WWW is the catalyst for that. I think we’ll learn more about her as each episode unfolds—–she already gives me the creeps so the actress playing her and the writers must be doing something right.
I think that the potion in David’s tea, while not necessarily making him afraid, caused him to confront his fears and after doing so and regaining his courage he became vulnerable. Regina stated that the hilt of Charming’s sword symbolized his courage; Zelena now possesses the hilt. Part of her plan involves Snow and Charming’s baby so it stands to reason that one way of getting to the baby is to exploit whatever weakness she can in Snow and/or Charming. She already possesses the Dark One’s dagger. Perhaps her goal is to control everything and everyone in order to get what she wants…….whatever that ultimately ends up being.