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netgirl_y2kI have to admit the last episode of Once Upon a Time conflicted me somewhat because there was a lot of awesome in it. Basically everything about Belle. I loved her getting an adventure of her own, I loved her adventure get up (those clothes! that hair! that ass!) I loved her bookishness (enjoy the lake!) and the way it was framed as just a different sort of competence. I adored her meeting up with Mulan, and my favourite thing about this show continues to be how they can throw seemingly random female characters together and make it work. I love that she saved Philip, who I find the most adorable of the not!Charmings, and that little bit of backstory about how Mulan and Philip met.
But I am increasingly unsure how I am supposed to view her relationship with Rumpelstiltskin. Like, I actually liked their origin story in Fairytale Land, mostly because the show seemed to know that after you strip away all the Disney stuff the basic Beauty & the Beast story is kind of... disturbing. Probably my favourite moment of S1 is Regina's line about not advising young women to kiss men who're holding them prisoner, I thought that was nicely meta and self-aware. And I liked that not only did Rumple let Belle go, but that Belle went.
And I actually liked them in-- was it The Crocodile? with Belle leaving until Rumple changed. But now, now it seems like he's not changing and she's not leaving.
I mean, Regina's redemption arc hasn't been perfect, it's at times been akin to watching a drunk fawn try to take her first steps, but at least you've been able to see her trying. Rumple's seems to start and stop at Belle insisting she can see the good in him. And, I dunno, maybe they aren't trying to write a similar journey for Rumple, maybe he's still meant to be the Machiavellian puppet-master, but even so Belle's blind faith shows a certain amount of willful ignorance, and does nothing to convince me that their original relationship wasn't, you know, the fairytale version of Stockholm Syndrome.
And it might actually work better for me after Belle's lost her memories and she can get to know Gold and decide for herself without all that baggage. We'll see, I guess.
And it's not that I dislike Rumpelstilskin (I'm not that interested in him, but there's really no one on this show I dislike) but Hook, Hook, of all people! had a point when he found out Rumple was trying to get back to his son; he's still essentially the same man that Bae was so desperate to change/escape from all those years ago.
I'm actually fascinated by how true love is supposed to work in this world. I mean, it works with Snow and Charming because you can see why they love each other and why they're better together than apart. But, does everyone have a true love? And if you do are you stuck with that person forever, no matter how dysfunction the relationship is?
It's also why Belle screaming I will always fight for him when Regina captured her bugged me; one, because I can see it becoming the new I will always find you, and, please, no, and two, because what I liked about them was that Belle loved him but was only prepared to be with him if he changed, and now-- not so much.
Anyway, those are my massively disjointed thoughts on Belle/Rumpelstiltskin; I am old and and crabbit and refuse to learn this fandom's ship names.
But I am increasingly unsure how I am supposed to view her relationship with Rumpelstiltskin. Like, I actually liked their origin story in Fairytale Land, mostly because the show seemed to know that after you strip away all the Disney stuff the basic Beauty & the Beast story is kind of... disturbing. Probably my favourite moment of S1 is Regina's line about not advising young women to kiss men who're holding them prisoner, I thought that was nicely meta and self-aware. And I liked that not only did Rumple let Belle go, but that Belle went.
And I actually liked them in-- was it The Crocodile? with Belle leaving until Rumple changed. But now, now it seems like he's not changing and she's not leaving.
I mean, Regina's redemption arc hasn't been perfect, it's at times been akin to watching a drunk fawn try to take her first steps, but at least you've been able to see her trying. Rumple's seems to start and stop at Belle insisting she can see the good in him. And, I dunno, maybe they aren't trying to write a similar journey for Rumple, maybe he's still meant to be the Machiavellian puppet-master, but even so Belle's blind faith shows a certain amount of willful ignorance, and does nothing to convince me that their original relationship wasn't, you know, the fairytale version of Stockholm Syndrome.
And it might actually work better for me after Belle's lost her memories and she can get to know Gold and decide for herself without all that baggage. We'll see, I guess.
And it's not that I dislike Rumpelstilskin (I'm not that interested in him, but there's really no one on this show I dislike) but Hook, Hook, of all people! had a point when he found out Rumple was trying to get back to his son; he's still essentially the same man that Bae was so desperate to change/escape from all those years ago.
I'm actually fascinated by how true love is supposed to work in this world. I mean, it works with Snow and Charming because you can see why they love each other and why they're better together than apart. But, does everyone have a true love? And if you do are you stuck with that person forever, no matter how dysfunction the relationship is?
It's also why Belle screaming I will always fight for him when Regina captured her bugged me; one, because I can see it becoming the new I will always find you, and, please, no, and two, because what I liked about them was that Belle loved him but was only prepared to be with him if he changed, and now-- not so much.
Anyway, those are my massively disjointed thoughts on Belle/Rumpelstiltskin; I am old and and crabbit and refuse to learn this fandom's ship names.
no subject
Date: 2013-01-15 03:23 am (UTC)I agree with everything about Rumplestiltskin, though - while I can, at a stretch, understand that Belle sees him changing since the whole "I promise I won't kill Regina (heh heh I'll just make a wraith do it" incident. He hasn't directly lied to her since, he helped Henry in the dream world, he didn't kill Hook. But he is absolutely not remorseful about his past, and constantly works around Belle to keep his power and control over others. Regina really is getting better (if slowly and awkwardly) but he is just the same, only better at keeping it away from Belle.
no subject
Date: 2013-01-15 12:54 pm (UTC)I wasn't surprised that Rumple helped Henry in the dream world, even at his worst as the Dark One he was always fond of children, what did surprise me was that Belle didn't react more strongly to Hook's revelation about what happened to Mila, especially after Rumple had squirmed out of telling her about it earlier on; lies of omission still being lies.
But that's the thing about Rumple, he isn't sorry for the things he's done, he's sorry that Belle finds out about them, which I would be a lot less uncomfortable with if it seemed like Belle knew that.