Once Upon a Time | 7x14
Added 2025-01-08 11:00:10 +0000 UTCno spoilers in comments pls :)
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Comments
I like that the writers learned from how rushed Red and Dorothy were and they're actually spacing out Robin and Alice's relationship. It feels way less like a token queer love story and more like one they're actually interested in exploring that just happens to be queer.
Andrew
2025-01-10 00:31:12 +0000 UTCThe Girl in the Tower- Thank you again, for another great reaction for Once Upon a Time, Travis! I really love this episode a lot!! :) The Hyperion Heights storyline within this episode is definitely stronger than the past storyline between Tilly and Robin. At least in my opinion. And it's all because Robin for me, is just an okay character. As I've said before in my comments under your reactions for past episodes this season. I think that Robin most certainly improves significantly ever since the previous episode, titled... Secret Garden, where she acts like such a brat and treats Zelena so horribly. And I do mostly like her much more in this episode, than I ever have so far. However, I sadly still can't shake such dislike that I feel for her in her first episode, to the point where she becomes nothing more than just an okay character for me. And so, it's because of my wonky feelings towards Robin, that I can't quite feel like this episode... The Girl in the Tower, is a favorite. Because Robin is one of this episode's main characters. It's unfair, I know. I just can't help but feel this way towards her. I hope all of this makes sense. And now... I'm not really a fan of Alice and Robin being together for my own personal reasons, but I do admit that the chemistry between their characters and the actors who play them is really good. And my reasons for not liking them being together doesn't make me dislike this episode any less. I still really love it a lot! Especially thanks to the present day Hyperion Heights storyline between Tilly and Rogers, as Rogers works with Henry to prove Tilly innocent after she's been framed for murder in spite of everything being against her, and Tilly's struggle with being invisible to everyone. I believe that the reason why no one seems to notice Tilly, or ever remember her... Why she appears to be invisible to everyone... It is because this is part of her curse upon the dark curse falling over her and then arrives in Hyperion Heights along with everyone else. The dark curse always takes certain qualities, or aspects from the cursed people's real lives, and twists them around to hurt them and to make them unhappy. Beyond them simply forgetting who they really are and ingraining false memories into their heads. So, for Alice... In her true past, for years she was forced to be alone thanks to Gothel cursing her father's heart and ripping him away from her, leaving her all alone and trapped in the tower. Even once she was freed from the tower thanks to the troll, she still couldn't be with her father because of his poisoned heart. And therefore, she still felt all alone in the world because she couldn't be with him or anywhere near him. And then... Alice meets Robin. But with all this being said... The curse took those feelings of loneliness and twisted them so that Tilly would continue to feel very much alone in Hyperion Heights, and invisible to everyone. Except for those who care for her most... Rogers, Weaver, and Henry, and the rest of the heroes cursed there. And quite possibly the mysterious person who tried to frame her for killing the two witches he or she killed. And now Margot too, of course. And yes... Margot is Robin's cursed persona. I hope my explanation once again makes some sense to you, Travis. :) Now, in regards to what I love most about this episode... I absolutely love, love, love that Rogers works so hard throughout this episode to prove Tilly is innocent, as he tells Tilly that he feels it in his heart she is innocent and that she couldn't hurt anyone. While neither of them understands the strength of their bond because they don't know they are truly father and daughter, they are still growing closer despite the curse and Gothel's efforts to keep Rogers and Tilly separated. I absolutely love, love, love Rogers' and Tilly's relationship in the present day story arc throughout this season!!! And I love, love, love Wish Hook's loving relationship with his daughter Alice shown in the backstories!!! Also like I have mentioned now many times. Their father and daughter relationship is very easily my favorite relationship throughout season seven!!!! And one of my favorites throughout the whole show too!!! :) In the beginning of this episode... Rogers drives up in his car upon finding Tilly standing in front of the troll, and he pleads with her to come with him before she's caught and promises her that he will do everything in his power to prove her innocent. Finally, Tilly agrees and together they go to Henry so that Tilly can have a safe place to hide from the rest of the cops around looking for her. They talk for a bit and come up with the idea of retracing Tilly's steps from the day before. Eventually, this leads Tilly to see just how invisible she is to everyone, and to them to finding her backpack tossed away in a dumpster in an alley. Later back at Henry's apartment, Tilly begins to search her bag and discovers the locks of hair from the two victims which the real killer placed inside to help frame her, and she runs off again in fear. Believing she very well could have killed them, especially since she can't remember doing so. I love Tilly's line... “It's like my mind is like two jigsaw puzzles in one box.” There are a few incredible quotes within this episode that I really love! From this one... to Alice's words to Robin about the two quotes that come from Lewis Carroll's, Alice in Wonderland. And I especially love her words when Alice talks to Robin about the words her father had told her and believes in, about the best sort of people in the world are those who challenge you and make you see through a whole new looking glass. So beautiful, and what an incredible way to look at people in our world! :) Later... Tilly is seen once again in front of the troll statue under the bridge as she's talking to it like it's an old friend, which from the backstory we understand why she has such a special connection to it. Then, as she's about to be hit by a car after she walks out across the street, Tilly is suddenly pulled out of the way by Margot, who has returned from her time away in Tibet, after her time spent in Amsterdam as well. They talk, and a bond is formed until Tilly walks away to go find her mother, then Rogers drives up again upon finding Tilly once again at the troll statue, and Tilly stares up at the troll and states she isn't invisible to everyone. And Rogers looks up to discover a security camera in its eyes, as the footage later reveals Tilly has an alibi at the time of the baker's murder. Therefore, proving Tilly to be innocent of killing the witches like Rogers always believed. And no... We never knew until this episode that there was ever a video camera inside the troll statue's eye. Rogers later tells Tilly and Henry at the station that the camera had only just recently been installed due to the troubles rising up more and more, starting with all of the graffiti being found everywhere. Later, at the precinct... Once Rogers clears her name and says she's free to go home, Tilly thanks Rogers for helping her. Although, it's clear she wanted to say something more, but she leaves before she does. However, shortly after she returns to her home in the shipping container in the train yard, Rogers suddenly returns once again with her bag, then offers Tilly a safe place to stay where she'll be safe and warm, and taken care of. He asks her to come live with him, in his spare room. This is my absolute favorite moment throughout the episode!! I love it! Because I love their relationship so much and it's so, so beautifully sweet. This moment also parallels with their backstory upon them having lived together in the tower until Gothel ripped Wish Hook away from his daughter, and it shows just how much Rogers' and Tilly's bond has grown even in such a short amount of time. Now, with the present day storyline talked about... I really love the backstory for Alice as well, despite not caring much for her relationship with Robin. First... We see Alice having a tea party alone and with her stuffed animals in the tower some years after her father was taken from her. Once again... More beautiful nods to Alice in Wonderland!! In regards to who might be bringing her all of her food, water, clothes, etc... that we see throughout this opening scene... It's never actually explained, but I have two theories... My first theory... Since we see in this episode how Tilly is able to conjure up things whenever she really needs them, it's possible that everything Alice needs or deeply desires over the years has all appeared to her, without her really understanding and/or realizing what she's able to do. What she's fully capable of. And my second theory... I feel that for as long as he can, Wish Hook has gotten her everything she needs and arranges for everything to be delivered to her since he can't bring it to her himself. He would have most likely enlisted Smee to help him by having him get supplies for her at different ports using the Jolly Roger to travel for them. It's also possible Wish Hook could have asked others to help as well, but from the previous episode, titled... Knightfall, it leaves the impression that very few people even know of Alice's existence so that she will remain safe. And it's possible, that he and Gothel are the only ones who know of her existence, until he then talks of her to Wish Rumplestiltskin when he goes to visit him in his prison, then is overheard by Captain Ahab, who taunts Hook by speaking her name threateningly. This is partly why Wish Hook loses control of his anger and gives into Ahab's challenge to a duel. Wish Hook most likely feared that Ahab might have tried to use Alice to hurt him had he refused. I like both theories, and both of them are quite possible. It's just never revealed, and I'm okay with not trying to understand the small details such as this. Like I try not to think too much on how Robin is able to keep her smart phone charged too. Maybe it's magic. Maybe Zelena uses her magic to help her daughter so she can keep her phone charged, given that her whole life does exist in her phone like she tells Alice it does, and like our lives do for most teenagers of the world. But, back to this in a moment... But back to this episode's backstory... After it's revealed that today is Alice's birthday, she makes a wish on a lit candle in a cupcake, just like Emma does back in this show's Pilot episode and like Zelena does in season five's episode, titled... Our Decay, then all of a sudden, a giant troll appears and breaks Alice free from her tower. A few years later, sometime after the backstory events shown in the episode this season, titled... Pretty in Blue, Alice is seen again, looking at her father in the distance through a looking glass, as he's playing with baby Lucy in Henry's arms. And she states to herself that he's looking happy, and appears to be happy for him, despite not knowing just how sad Wish Hook really is without her and how much he truly misses her. All of a sudden… Robin appears behind her with an arrow drawn in her bow and aimed at the back of Robin's head. Alice then runs, but gets caught in one of Robin's traps. They then talk and begin to get to know one another. And it's eventually revealed that Robin is seeking out the troll who has returned and is running amok, so she can kill it to prove herself to be Robin Hood's daughter to everyone. Alice runs after Robin and stops her from killing the troll when she's about to shoot him, and this makes the villagers angry enough to imprison Alice and Robin for helping the troll. This is when Robin talks to Alice about her life in Storybrooke and shows her pictures of Emma's yellow bug on her phone. Alice is awed by the technology thinking it's magic. Later, Robin breaks herself free, but leaves Alice behind so she can continue to hunt down the troll. However, after Alice manages to find her again after she too escapes, as she pleads with the villagers to understand that the troll is no threat to them only to no avail, Robin at last stands with Alice against them, and all of a sudden, Emma's yellow bug appears by magic and helps them to flee from the angry men. At last... Alice and Robin talk more about their lives and why they both feel so alone. And in this conversation, it's revealed that Alice has magic. And that it's her magic that summons the troll to free her from the tower on her birthday after she makes the wish, and it's her magic that summons Emma's bug to help them escape from the villagers. I really love this moment in the show and it's heartbreaking, yet beautiful all at the same time, as she comes to understand she freed herself from the tower. And Alice finally is happy upon being free because she now knows she's no longer alone and that she doesn't have to remain unhappy. And a new hope is instilled within her that one day, she'll be able to be with her father again too, once they somehow find a cure for the poison in his heart. As for Alice having magic... Her father is Wish Hook, who has no magic of his own, but her mother is Mother Gothel, whose magic is incredibly powerful. Therefore, it makes sense that Alice's magic has clearly been passed down to her from her mother by birth. Even though Alice and Gothel have no connection to one another because Gothel had abandoned her and poisoned her father's heart, I still love that it appears Alice's magic is pretty powerful in its own right too, even when she doesn't yet understand it. And lastly... I really don't care much for the present day storyline with Lucy and Regina working together to spy on Facilier, or Baron Samdi, as he's called in Hyperion Heights. This storyline within this episode is just okay. Although, I do appreciate seeing the nods to season one when we see Henry using walkie talkies with Emma. I just hate that Lucy refuses to use the walkie talkies, and instead insists that she and Regina communicate through phone messaging instead. Clearly... It's a bad idea, because we see how poorly Lucy's communication plan actually works, when she fails to see or hear Regina's warning messages to her. But... I like how this storyline leads to more moments between Regina and Zelena. Even if Zelena momentarily gets jealous once again of her sister, until Regina finally explains herself. She never should have even attempted to hide any of this from Zelena in the first place. But at least they're still working together, and are still good with one another. Overall... I really love this episode so much! So, thank you again for your reaction for it, my dear friend!!! As always, I really enjoy them all and I cannot wait for more!!! Sincerely, Heidi
Heidi Elizabeth Marcum
2025-01-08 11:27:03 +0000 UTC
