evilneverfeltsogood:
lysachan:
meatisadelicacy:
magicmumu:
fictio-philia:
bbroccs:
Ugh I can’t even. My heart hurts too much.
#Henry being a little shit
Regina can’t be that bad because if that was my kid, I’d be like:
The only negative thing one might be able to say about her parenting is that she spoiled the little shit.
^THIS.
I’ve been thinking about this scene quite a lot. It shocked me, to be honest. Firstly, because as a child I would never dream of speaking to my mother that way - no matter how much I disagreed with her and no matter what sort of persona she represented in my life.
But I have to wonder why, if Regina’s such an “evil” person and such a bad mother, she doesn’t punish him. I’m sure you’ve all noticed that Henry’s past misdemeanours have gone without retribution of some kind. Yes, we saw Regina threaten to ground him but I have to wonder if she actually followed through with it? Certainly, the rules and regulations she lays down for Henry don’t appear to hold any weight with him and he flouts her authority every chance he gets.
Ahkna made an interesting point about Emma taking on the role of parent in his life, and how she would manage the fact that Henry seems to think he can do whatever is deemed necessary to get to where he wants/needs to be. How can she possibly condone stealing, running away, rudeness and accusatory behaviour? Aren’t we supposed to teach our children that these things are wrong?
With reference to Regina, someone here said that the only bad thing she’s done is to spoil Henry. But I think it’s more than that. I think Regina is hard and stern when it comes to parenting. But we never actually SEE her being that way. And this scene just broke my heart because I honestly think that she’s so desperate for him to love her that she gives him leeway to act, say and do whatever he wants. She ALLOWS him to talk to her like this (and yes, I know that what he’s saying is true - she IS the Evil Queen) and I can’t help wondering if there’s a part of her that thinks it’s just and fitting.
Regina tells Henry that fairytales aren’t true. Is she so steeped in her own denial of her past life that she somehow believes what she’s saying to him? And yet, she allows him to call her the Evil Queen and never seems to do anything about it. I can’t help but suspect that in some way, she might even think she deserves to be mistreated. Certainly, her life’s experience has taught her that. And yes, she descended into evil and vengeance and did some terrible things. She embraced the dark part of herself and was a truly dreadful person, all told.
But…and here’s my big butt (keep your comments to yourselves on THAT one), if Storybrooke was meant to be Regina’s “happy ending”, then isn’t it also possible that she might have spent the last thirty years looking back on her life and wishing for change? I have very mixed feelings on this from week to week, because sometimes I believe that she HAS changed and sometimes I feel as though she’s stuck in the Evil Queen rut forever.
Part of this is probably down to inconsistent writing in behalf of the show, and part of it can be attributed to Lana’s interpretation of Regina. There were some expressions on her face in last night’s ep that I simply couldn’t ignore: pain, sadness, regret, loneliness. Lana shows it all and THAT’S what makes me wonder if Regina has changed or not. Or, at the very least, if she’s not in the process of evaluating and examining her past actions.
I’m probably giving much more credence to the showrunners than I should. And I would like to lay the blame at Lana’s feet, not my own crooked sense of redemption and how invested I would be in a redemptive storyline for Regina.
There’s just sometimes a very accepting, broken feeling I get from her, particularly in scenes like this where Henry lays it all out at her feet and she just TAKES it. Because if she can’t make him love her by any means, then what was the point in coming to Storybrooke in the first place?
