1439 replies to this topic

[mustbekarma]

Sure, she may be chewing the scenery as the Evil Queen in fairy tale land, and as Regina, she may not love her adopted son, Henry. But what can one expect from someone who killed a girl just because she was prettier than her?

She really seems to have an unhealthy obsession with apples, too. Maine is also absolutely horrible.

[Rum Punch]

But what can one expect from someone who killed a girl just because she was prettier than her?

Gotta disagree with that assessment. Regina, the modern day incarnation of the Evil Queen, is just smoking hot. Way hotter than Snow. That mirror sold her a bill of goods.

Edited by Rum Punch, Nov 4, 2011 @ 11:44 AM.

[djsunyc]

She may be one of the most beautiful women on tv...and that's no hyperbole...

[Lived In Inch]

She reminds me of a younger version of that Law and Order actress, Mariska Hargitay.

[bmills]

There's a flaw in the portrayal of the characters so far. They keep telling us Regina is a lousy mother, but we haven't seen her do anything abusive, or even neglectful. She did let Henry overhear a hurtful comment from Emma ('he's crazy"), but one could argue even that is part of an effort to push an interloper out of her relationship with her son. So she's definitely evil and I imagine we will see her be nasty to the kid, but so far she's just been kind of coolly reserved at worst.

So the problem is that every time she interacts with Henry, he rips the poor woman a new asshole, telling her to her face what a bitch and lousy mother she is. So far, Henry is coming off looking like the abusive one, and I find myself sympathizing with Regina, the poor mother who has to put up with such a hateful ingrate of a kid.

Edited by bmills, Nov 5, 2011 @ 1:07 AM.

[DollEyes]

I don't blame Henry for not liking or trusting Regina. As if her pretending to love Henry isn't bad enough, this is a woman who has not only terrorized and/or imprisoned innocent and not-so-innocent people to get what she wants, she even killed her own father for the same reason. Regina's dad wasn't perfect, but he seemed like a good man who loved her and tried to help her the best he could and she whacked him for his efforts. For those reasons, I will never feel sorry for Regina, no matter how pretty she is or how mean Henry is to her. Whatever misery Regina gets, she'll deserve, as far as I'm concerned.

Edited by DollEyes, Nov 5, 2011 @ 9:39 AM.

[bmills]

Oh, I get that the character is evil, but what I'm complaining about is the "don't tell me, show me" principle of screenplay writing. What we are told is that Regina is an uncaring mother, but what we see is a poor woman who's mercilessly berated by the spiteful little creep she's been taking care of for years. If they want me to believe that Regina is a nasty mom, then show her being nasty to the kid. Otherwise, I'm going to sympathize with her over the kid who just spits vitriol every chance he gets for no apparent reason.

[journeywoman]

She may be one of the most beautiful women on tv...and that's no hyperbole...

She is beautiful. But her forehead looks botoxed to the point where she can't even scowl effectively.

I'm loving having two women with storylines on a tv show though.

[DollEyes]

Oh, I get that the character is evil, but what I'm complaining about is the "don't tell me, show me" principle of screenwriting. What we are told is that Regina is an uncaring mother, but what we see is a poor woman who's been mercilessly berated by the spiteful little creep she's been taking care of for years. If they want me to believe that Regina is a nasty mom, then show her being nasty to the kid. Otherwise, I'm just going to sympathize with her over the kid who just spits vitriol every chance he gets for no apparent reason.

Ah, but that's not all we've seen of Regina, re the first point. She is no "poor victim" by a long shot. The book gives Henry plenty of good reasons to hate Regina. Besides Emma and Mr. Gold, Henry is the only person in town who's not fooled by Regina. If Regina is willing to kill her father to get her way, then what would she do to Henry if push came to shove? Just because Regina hasn't been a complete bitch to Henry yet, that doesn't mean she never will be.

[Houddy]

Ah, but that's not all we've seen of Regina, re the first point. She is no "poor victim" by a long shot. The book gives Henry plenty of good reasons to hate Regina. Besides Emma and Mr. Gold, Henry is the only person in town who's not fooled by Regina. If Regina is willing to kill her father to get her way, then what would she do to Henry if push came to shove? Just because Regina hasn't been a complete bitch to Henry yet, that doesn't mean she never will be.

What I'm curious about is if he felt this way about her before reading the book. (I had the impression he did, since Regina doesn't act like it's some sudden personality change) Because she hasn't done anything we are aware of to make Henry hate her. So is his hate based on the fact that he believes (rightly) that she is the Evil Queen from his book? Did he love her before that? I just can't see anything other than the book that would give Henry reason to hate her as much as he seems to.

If I didn't know how this show was going to end up I'd be really interested to see the whole book thing be Henry's overactive imagination, that the people in his town aren't really fairytale people and that the mother he now hates never killed her father and was never anything more than a rather demanding mayor.

Edited by Houddy, Nov 6, 2011 @ 2:03 PM.

[mustbekarma]

Regina cut out her own father's heart, and she was told the price of the curse would create a void inside herself. I'd venture a guess she's never really bonded with Henry. The psychiatrist, Jiminy Cricket, did say that every time Regina tries to force herself closer to Henry, she only makes it worse. Or, she did bond with Henry when he was younger, but once he started growing older and developed a mind of his own, they grew apart. Henry wouldn't be seeing a psychiatrist if he was happy. Regina could provide for all his physical needs, and not be physically abusive at all, but that doesn't mean she's emotionally providing for Henry.

She did let Henry overhear a hurtful comment from Emma ('he's crazy")

It was still an emotionally abusive action, though. This isn't the only time she was "cruel to be kind." She did make a comment to Mary Margaret about Henry having to face reality. She also pulled Henry from his class to tell him about Emma being arrested. I'd wonder what kind of mother would tell her child about an upsetting action at that exact time. It couldn't have waited until he got home, and she could comfort him. Telling him in public seemed pretty damn insensitive. Regina's main abuse of Henry has got to be emotional. Since she can't truly love him, she can't really be a "good" mother to Henry.

Last, but not least, the conversation she had with Emma at the end of the pilot has just stuck with me. Regina tells Emma that she wasn't there to change every diaper, soothe the fevers, and endure the tantrums. Regina only said the negative things about raising a child. She never said anything about the positives. That just left me with an unsettled feeling.

Besides, if the show hasn't shown any overt abuse or neglect, it hasn't seemed to show any true, loving actions.

Regina is evil, and she knows her past, unlike everyone else. She tells Henry how him believing her to be an evil queen hurts her. Except she knows she was the evil queen.

Besides, the curse guaranteed the only happy ending would be hers. She probably should have included "my children will also have happy endings" in the fine print.

[HelenBack]

Last, but not least, the conversation she had with Emma at the end of the pilot has just stuck with me. Regina tells Emma that she wasn't there to change every diaper, soothe the fevers, and endure the tantrums. Regina only said the negative things about raising a child. She never said anything about the positives. That just left me with an unsettled feeling.

Thank you. I knew there was something off about that, in addition to her so suddenly and viciously attacking the person who kindly kept returning her wandering child, but I couldn't place it. That was it. No mention of any of the multitude of joyous firsts - first step, first strawberry, school play, soccer game, moment of reading on his own, and so on and on... nothing. Not one.

If she remembers diapers and tantrums, why would these not matter at least equally? The only answer that comes to mind is that she didn't care about any of it, only noticing what inconvenienced her. Which fits with her current behavior. Not one word about how smart, how resourceful, how brave, how hopelessly, painfully honest her child is. All that matters is he's hers. Like the tree, except I think she likes the tree better.

I also agree that she does remember. I don't think an excess of magic blew back on her or something like that. Which begs the question why she'd adopt a child at all, knowing as she does that she contains a void that can never be filled, a void where her soul, however paltry it may have been, once lived and now is no more. It seems like it should have occurred to her that this would mean she could never have a happy ending, either, because she can't be happy. Perhaps she thought a child might somehow change that?

Or perhaps Mr. Gold said "please."

Edited by HelenBack, Nov 6, 2011 @ 7:27 PM.

[thuganomics85]

Damn, she was ice cold tonight, finding a way to prevent Mary and Charming from getting together. I really, really don't want to ever get on her bad side, because she really will take you down where it hurts the most.

Nothing else to really except that Lana Parrilla is awesome in this role. And is insanely gorgeous.

[SevenSolis]

I think she needs to hire one of her evil minions to babysit. "Henry escapes" could be its own drinking game at this point. Though apparently he doesn't find her threatening enough to watch his mouth or be discreet about what he's up to.

[Scarlett Callas]

I read on Wikipedia that the actress is 34 years old... Am I the only one who does not feel that she could possibly be just one year older than Goodwin and two years older than Morrison? She's beautiful, but how does she look 10 years older than what she is?

[bigredcat7]

She looks about right age-wise when she's not in Regina/EQ garb. I was thinking Jennifer Morrison is looking a few years older than her 32 years.

[HelenBack]

Parrilla's only 34? I am surprised. I wouldn't have placed her at quite 40, yet, but close to it, and 40 wouldn't have surprised me. Maybe it's the Botox effect journeywoman noted earlier. Sometimes it can be paradoxically aging.

Or maybe 34's a "publicist age." She sure is beautiful, whatever her age. And is KILLING this part! In the very best way.

[Lord Kira]

Regina certainly let's Henry get away with a lot. If I treated my mother the way this kids treats her, I would have received the spanking of a lifetime. You'd think being an evil queen and all, she would discipline her kid.

Then again, maybe she thinks Henry will be more likely to love her if she isn't so hard on him.

[Aliasscape]

I read on Wikipedia that the actress is 34 years old... Am I the only one who does not feel that she could possibly be just one year older than Goodwin and two years older than Morrison? She's beautiful, but how does she look 10 years older than what she is?

I assume she's a smoker actually. Roughness of her voice, smokers lines on her face. Seems like most celebrities who didn't seem to age quite right either smoke(d) too much or tan(ned) too much or both.

I do think she doesn't keep very good tabs on Henry. But I suppose in general he's highly responsible intelligent, lives in a little town where everyone knows everyone so she doesn't expect him to exactly get into trouble. But I mean he managed to leave town, wanders the woods at night, runs off and hangs out with whomever he wants. If she really wanted him to stop running off, you'd think she'd hire a guard.

Edited by Aliasscape, Nov 7, 2011 @ 2:15 AM.

[Dee Sobek]

Maybe she got Henry to do fill the void killing her father left, the same way Maleficent got the pet unicorn?

[sleekandchic]

Lana is stunning in this role! She is the Evil Queen. What a great villain. And when she's on the screen, I can't take my eyes off of her beautiful face.

[Houddy]

I think she needs to hire one of her evil minions to babysit. "Henry escapes" could be its own drinking game at this point. Though apparently he doesn't find her threatening enough to watch his mouth or be discreet about what he's up to.

This is exactly why I can't buy that she is so horrible to Henry. My mother wasn't an evil queen but she was tough and I would never pull any of the shit Henry gets away with. So, yeah, I still don't see any reason for Henry to treat her like she's an evil queen other than because he read in a book that she was. And it just bugs, until they tell me that this is a development that happened only after Henry got the book and realized who Regina is, it's going to be a bad writing choice to me.

Actually, making it something that just started to happen would make more sense. Regina is supposed to be the only one with a happy ending. Having an insubordinate brat for a child isn't exactly a happy ending, is it? But if she had a great kid and then one day Mary M. gave him a book that showed him the truth and now all hell was breaking loose, that would make more sense to me.

[journeywoman]

Besides, if the show hasn't shown any overt abuse or neglect, it hasn't seemed to show any true, loving actions

This is exactly why I can't buy that she is so horrible to Henry. My mother wasn't an evil queen but she was tough and I would never pull any of the shit Henry gets away with. So, yeah, I still don't see any reason for Henry to treat her like she's an evil queen other than because he read in a book that she was. And it just bugs

But we don't need to see it (at least not right away -plenty of time for flashbacks later) because it has been made explicity clear in the earlier episodes that she. is. not. capable of it. She sacrificed that part of herself to cast the curse. Like a chipped but soul-lacking Spike on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she is incapable of agape love.

And kids aren't stupid. They know when you are B.S.-ing them. She doesn't need to physically smack him to be a miserable, emotionally stunted, morale-devastating mother.

Edited by journeywoman, Nov 7, 2011 @ 12:51 PM.

[djsunyc]

What's interesting is that 2 of the 3 female leads (Evil Queen and Snow) both wear short hairstyles. That's very unusual for television.

[Betsyb]

This is exactly why I can't buy that she is so horrible to Henry. My mother wasn't an evil queen but she was tough and I would never pull any of the shit Henry gets away with. So, yeah, I still don't see any reason for Henry to treat her like she's an evil queen other than because he read in a book that she was. And it just bugs, until they tell me that this is a development that happened only after Henry got the book and realized who Regina is, it's going to be a bad writing choice to me.

I agree with others that having someone you know doesn't have a shred of love or real affection as your only parent can really mess you up even if they aren't exactly abusive. Children (and most people) can tell that sort of thing. It is sort of like an "at least they didn't hit you" or "at least you didn't starve" sort of thing. I mean that is just the base line. Henry gets away with stuff because the Queen doesn't really care about it him except when he is foiling her. Even if she does want to care about him.

Actually, making it something that just started to happen would make more sense. Regina is supposed to be the only one with a happy ending. Having an insubordinate brat for a child isn't exactly a happy ending, is it? But if she had a great kid and then one day Mary M. gave him a book that showed him the truth and now all hell was breaking loose, that would make more sense to me.

I don't think anything about the curse guaranteed her a happy ending. That is just what she thought and she was gauging happiness in terms of Snow White being miserable. Nothing else. In fact, it guaranteed that she wouldn't get one because she had to kill her father and abandon her soul for it to work.

[Scrapper]

But, she doesn't seem like a miserable morale-devastating mother. She's a control freak, a "perfectionist", and a bit of a witch but, she's not saying things like, "God your worthless. No wonder your real mother did want you!". That is being emotionally abusive. Not loving him is hardly the worst thing she could do. Sure, in this sugar fest it is but, by real life standards no way.

Henry comes off as a spoiled brat who gets away with almost anything he wants. I agree it's now that he has the book that he's acting out and giving his mother lip.

[binturite]

Lana is stunning in this role! She is the Evil Queen. What a great villain. And when she's on the screen, I can't take my eyes off of her beautiful face.

In both her Evil Personas, LP actually puts me in mind of those gorgeous old school Hollywood screen sirens (circa 1940's or so). It's the overall combination of her sultry looks, smokey voice, not mention that slinky, predatory saunter of hers.

I'm really enjoying her in this role. And, I have to echo the comment from someone over in the episode thread, who said that LP and RC had insanely hot chemistry in their dungeon scene. Because I know I was going, wow and...dang, while I watched it.

So, I really can't wait to see those two characters interacting again, for any reason, ASAP.

Edited by binturite, Nov 7, 2011 @ 10:20 PM.

[MelsW]

I read on Wikipedia that the actress is 34 years old... Am I the only one who does not feel that she could possibly be just one year older than Goodwin and two years older than Morrison? She's beautiful, but how does she look 10 years older than what she is?

Yikes, I had her pegged in her early to mid 40s. She is one year younger than me but she looks significantly older. I hope that birth date is a typo, as how can someone that gorgeous look so much older than their years?

[Tableau]

Personally, I'd guess that's a "Hollywood age". An actress is suing IMDb/Amazon right now for posting her real age when she didn't want them to.

[journeywoman]

Not loving him is hardly the worst thing she could do. Sure, in this sugar fest it is but, by real life standards no way.

With all due respect Scrapper, I think this is the worst thing a mother could do (outside of murder), especially IRL. Unless you've experienced it or witnessed it, you can not begin to imagine the depth of despair experienced upon realizing that the one person who is supposed to love you unconditionally...simply does not, never has, and never will. It leaves a hole in the child, much like the hole that Regina now has and never will be able to fill.