~*•Lana Parrilla About Regina & Emma In 4x05 & The Regina/Snow Dynamic•*~ 

(ABC, 8/7c), a common adversary makes for strange bedfellows as both Regina and Emma stalk the mysterious Snow Queen. Could this collaboration be the thing to warm the cold shoulder Regina has shown Marian’s savior?

Ever since Emma (played by Jennifer Morrison) traveled through time and back, with Robin Hood’s wife inadvertently in tow, “Regina wants nothing to do with her,” Lana Parrilla reminds. But that stands to change when the women discover they each are in pursuit of the Snow Queen, for distinct reasons. (Emma feels the chillin’ villain has a personal vendetta against her, while Regina is hot to defreeze Marian, if only so that she can have a living, breathing romantic rival.)

“It’s funny,” Parrilla notes, “because Regina is on her own journey to find the Snow Queen, and Emma is doing the same thing. When they end up crossing paths, [Regina] is like, ‘

“Their journey is quite comedic — Regina just does not let her off that easy,” Parrilla continues. “It’s one snarky remark after another.” Until, that is, the outcome of their escapade sets the stage for an overdue heart-to-heart.

As Parrilla sees it, “What’s so beautiful about Regina and Emma, especially at the end of this episode, is that Emma comes clean and says, ‘I don’t really have anybody else who understands this magic inside of me. You’re the only one I can relate to. And I need you.’ And I think that’s very touching for Regina to hear.”

‘s Emma and Regina Tag Team the Snow Queen

is that between Regina and Ginnifer Goodwin‘s Mary Margaret — a relationship that as of late has been paid its due, only to get cut for time. (One scene had Regina deflecting the de facto mayor’s appeal for help with the blackout, while the other found Regina asking Mary Margaret for advice on being in love with a married man à la David/Kathryn.)

Goodwin says that though the scenes were “brilliant,” she understands why they were cut: As evidenced by what made it to broadcast, with so much higher drama going on, the quieter exchanges would have slowed momentum.

The sum total of the sequences, Goodwin says, involved the erstwhile Snow White and Evil Queen “learning to respect each other in such a way in that they now get out of each other’s ways when facing conflict. There’s actually a stepping back because of a newfound mutual respect that they found.”

Parrilla remembers one of the cut scenes as featuring “a really heartbreaking conversation,” to possibly (she hopes) wind up on the full-season DVD set.

“One thing [Ginny and I] love is that these two characters have known each other the longest, for the most part — except for Rumple. But there was once a mother-daughter bond, and to see them graduate to the place they are now is quite beautiful and compelling to play and watch…. They really kind of found each other, and help each other along.” (

, or for any other show? Email insideline@tvline.com and your question may be answered via Matt’s Inside Line.

This is too beautiful for words. It’s the perfect evolution for Emma and Regina. *she needs her* thank you!

We just need more of it, and I wish the writers would understand that. THIS is what made the show. Regina & Snow’s antagonism and yet a deeply hidden care. Regina & Emma’s chaotic relationship evolving into mutual trust and respect. WE NEED MORE OF THIS.

I like what Goodwin and Parrilla are saying about Snow and Regina very much, but at the same time it makes me even more sad and slightly bitter that their scenes are always getting the cut lately. I respect that they are the actresses and have more insight into what’s going on and all, but I don’t understand the decision that everything else is apparently always more important than the Snow and Regina relationship. Because of what Parrilla says about them having known each other about the longest and because they have come a very, very long way since the Pilot episode it’s so important that this relationship is given room on the show.

I’m sorry, I will never understand why yet another Frozen characters scene or yet another Captain Hook and Emma “puppy dog” (Rumple’s words!) scene or more action, action, action is always more important than a quiet moment of conversation, relationship and character growth between two of the show’s central figures. I’m very disappointed about this.

I’ve missed the quite moments between Emma and Snow. They’d rather have the CS crap then actually have scenes of Emma getting to know her parents and for them to get to know her. Over 44 episodes since the curse was broken, and they still haven’t had Snow and Charming tell Emma that they love her (the aside in the cave in Ariel doesn’t count). And after they sent Emma back to the past, they should have had her tell them that she loves them.

I couldn’t agree more. There were less important (and maybe even boring) scenes that could have been cut instead of Regina/Snow scenes. These scenes are important. I just love the scene from 3×18 where Regina and Snow have honest heart-to-heart (even though Regina does not have her heart) talk. Their relationship is pretty complicated and is worth the time.

“the other found Regina asking Mary Margaret for advice on being in love with a married man à la David/Kathryn” – If this is not on the s4 DVDs I’m gonna be so peeved. Come on! That’s like them coming full circle. Why would you cut this?!

I NEED Emma and Regina working together. I know the show will never have the guts to make that relationship romantic but they are the most compelling duo in terms of narrative potential and chemistry. They are literally a family. They share a son. there is so much wasted potential to explore that friendship. Regina teaching Emma to use her power is the only thing that makes sense I am SO EXCITED for this. FINALLY.

Thanks for addressing the deleted scenes. It’s sad to read even more scenes than fans knew of were not aired. It sums up one of Once Upon A Time’s biggest problems in later seasons. Too much focus on plot, action, momentum, whatever you want to call it. Too little time for what made the show special, magical in season 1. The characters and their complicated (platonic/romantic/frenemy/etc) relationships.

Swan queen members are the rudest members of the fandom. They harass the writers and actors on a daily basis, they plan boycotts of the show, they alwAys speak negatively about it. Now when they get some bone they start saying everything is perfect. Sorry but that is fake as hell. I don’t care bc ultimately captain swan and outlaw queen will end up together and all these bitter swan queen shippers will get is a friendship and not a romance which I know many of them don’t want. Oh well deal with it. Emma loves Hook and Regina loves Robin and vice verca.

Irony…I think you’ve been located. And it’s not in the people who are NOT being jerks.

But yes, Robin does love Regina and Regina does love Robin. The other one hasn’t been proven and unless you’ve seen the last episode of the show, you don’t know what will happen. No, SQ isn’t likely to occur but telling people off because they’re happy that one of the most important relationships on the show is getting focus just makes you look jealous. For what it’s worth, though, friendship is never an ALL YOU’RE GETTING thing.

Unless you’re ten and think the only relationships that matter are the ones which involve nudity. Now please, stop trying to ruin the joy of others for no other reason than petty spite.

I’m sorry did you seriously just say it has not been proven that Emma loves Hook and Hook loves Emma. Someone needs to go back and watch S3 because Hook admitted he loves Emma. Emma in Rocky Road pretty much said that she cares a great deal about Hook and is well on the road to falling in love with him if not already there. So yeah.

Irony? The SQ fandom is the one that planned to jump the writers at comic con and say very rude things. Like ask Colin how does it feel to play a example of rape culture? Like WTF is wrong with you and this whole BS #stoponceuponahook. Yeah ABC is really listening to you clowns. They don’t care about you.

It has NOT been proven that Emma loves Hook (caring about someone is a thousand miles from love…try to slow it down it there and pretend you understand what a real adult relationship looks like). It has been proven that HE does love her. THAT is the only thing that has. And I’m sorry but there’s no YOU. I had nothing to do with that (though frankly yes, the show, IMO, would be much better without Hook having so much wasted and purposeless screen time) and in fact 99.9% of SWEN did not (anymore than I imagine 99.9% of CS was involved in sending MJR constant hate). As for not caring about fans of the show, pretty sure that’s been proven incorrect with how they’re dedicating an episode to the important of the Regina/Emma relationship. But yes, please do continue to tell thousands of people (many who have been marginalized their whole lives) that they don’t matter. That really shows off what a good person you are. All because of a fictional ship. Shame on you. You’ve shown off the actual true meaning of homophobia. Gross.

LMAO yes because not seeing the same thing you do aka Regina and Emma romance just screams that I’m homophobic. LOL try another target sweet heart, I’m the farthest thing from homophobic. You do not matter to the ABC people that you harass daily. You tweet them things like Hook is a rapist, stop marketing CS. What do they do in return? They give you guys CS marketing, they say they want CS sex. LOL they don’t listen to you guys. They don’t care about you haters.

As far as Emma loving Hook, rumor has it Hook is gonna be getting the Kai treatment, and Emma playing Gerda will have to TL kiss him to dethaw him. Then your ship will truly sink.

Since it won’t let me reply to the fool below – I AM NOT PART OF ANY COLLECTIVE. I don’t do any of those things. But I have seen many many many CSers do it. Step out of your bubble. And no, you’re not a homophobe for not wanting SQ. Who cares about that. You ARE one for EVER calling ALL SQ fans “clowns’ and saying “no one cares about them”. You’ve massed thousands of people into one group because of a few ugly ones and apparently see no issue with how awful that is. I actually ship OQ as well. As for your rumors…fantastic. Good for you. Please continue to ship a lying dirtbag stalker and an idiot who flip-flops from scene to scene and has no internal consistency. I don’t actually care. I don’t even ship SQ on the show anymore. I do support a friendship.

You’re a disgusting vile person. Who places a fictional ship above actual human beings and their real feelings and their right to support whatever they like (a right which the show AND the actresses themselves have supported). You really need to step back but since this ship means more to you than being a good person, I don’t think that will ever happen.

I’m sorry, but what? Sure, Hook claims he loves Emma. I don’t see it, but he claims he does. And sorry, on need not be in the SQ fandom to recognize Colin’s character is blatantly a part of and example of rape culture.

The only ‘ship’ I have is Aurora and Mulan (and the writers decided that the gay/bi character is one who doesn’t get to have her happy ending). I don’t ‘ship’ Emma with anyone, and I find this recent emphasis on Hook and emma to be strange, and rather disturbing to watch. Normal people (i.e. people beyond just SQers) who understand how healthy relationships work find the promotion of this CS garbage to be horrifying.

And I have to laugh, whether you’re the Loren that made the comment above or not, at how you show that it is not the “SQ fandom” that is rude, etc. – it is people like you.

I understand the frustration with the Bad Apple SQers who are so awful to JMo and Adam on Twitter — some of them are truly appalling — but please don’t sink to their level. God knows their whiny rudeness drives me batty, but I want to think CS fans are better than throwing insults like that. It only reflects badly on the entire CS fandom when we are rude or paint all SQ fans with the same brush. By and large the CS fandom is a very positive one. Which doesn’t mean we shouldn’t stick up for ourselves and our canon ship, but it’s better to do it without name-calling. :)

The deleted scenes sound better than half of what’s on the show to be honest.

I know, right? They need to cut this Hook obsession and CaptainSwan movie obsession, and trim some of the Frozen bits and put those scenes in and they’d have a good show once again. I’m close to giving up on this show. Heck, they’ve given next to no screentime to Regina, one of the best characters on the show. I think the dang reindeer has had more screentime!

All of the deleted scenes so far have been some of the best of the season. Many of them have important plot and character moments that would have strengthened the episodes. The Snow and Regina scene for example was a huge moment for those two. It also explained the shift in power in Storybrooke between the two women. Without it, it looked like the random townsfolk thrust it on Snow without consent. The deleted Gold, Elsa, and Emma scene in the barn laid down strict rules of magic that are otherwise wibbly wobbly in the construct of the show. The deleted Henry scene was his best of the season. Unlike Emma’s writing which apparently forgot that Neal died a week ago, Henry is clearly struggling in that scene to deal with these emotions. It was needed for Henry who, so far, has been one of the more proactive characters this season.

A casual viewer would miss these great moments, because many of them don’t have twitter or are not part of the fandom. I know this fact. Eight members of my family not including me watch Once. How many have twitter and see these deleted scenes? One. Me. 1/9 members of my family knew about these. I asked them about it. They had no idea these were here. That’s a big miss.

It’s a shame that we’re getting fluff and filler in the actual episodes. These deleted scenes feel like Once Upon A Time more than anything else. Instead, we’re getting convoluted, wishy-washy explanations on the fly.

And don’t get me started on the lack of minor characters. That’s been wasted potential since the end of season two. Instead of having underdeveloped shiny one-off characters of the week, you have a rich cast that’s been loyal and there since the Pilot.

I truly believe that most of this is because of the half season format. While it has a lot of pros (faster pace, more range of story, new tales), one of the biggest cons is there’s no time to develop any full stories anymore. The relationships aren’t as deep as they were in season one and two. It’s a tough call on whether or not they should go back to the full season format or stick with the half. I believe all of the deleted season four scenes would have made it into the season one and two format. You would have more of your favorite minor characters contributing to the plot opposed to running around screaming at the monster of the week. On the other hand, the pace would slow way down in a full season format.

What would be better? Pace and more characters? Or fully developed narratives with the ensemble playing roles and not getting retconned for the sake of the plot? (I’m sorry, but Jefferson used time magic in “An Apple Red As Blood” way before Zelena came into the picture)

I can’t get behind Emma trying to be a friend to Regina, who ruined her life making her an orphan. Maybe if Regina apologizes first I’ll get behind it. Regina made Emma feel awful about herself in episode 3 and Emma has been nice to her and Regina is still gonna be rude to her? After trying to kill her and her parents multiple times? And never apologizing for it because she has no regrets according to that Neverland tree. Ugh. I need Regina to apologize first, because what she did to Emma is worse than what Emma did. Which wasn’t even wrong in the first place, she saved a life.

Regina actually didn’t do anything in episode three. She was looking down and made a comment about taking back-up. Emma created the fight. What Emma did might have made morally right but it was logistically wrong. And every character on this show has screwed Emma over. Regina, however, was the one who gave Emma a “perfect life” which is a pretty damn good apology. Apologies aren’t just words…sometimes they’re actions. And these two women have evolved a lot. Also, David and Snow and Gepetto and the Blue Fairy and Pinochhio and whomever sent Emma back at three had a pretty good part in Emma being an orphan as well. That was a true team effort there.

I was going to say something similar. Regina only stated the facts in episode 3. It was sassy, but Emma and Regina dynamic has always been like this. Sassy back and forth. They can both dish out. If we start like this we could argue Emma dragging Regina’s situation with Robin Hood into this wasn’t fair either.

David and Snow had no choice. It was either give her up and have a chance to end the curse, or have her spend an eternity as a baby. There’s no guarantee she would have ended up with either of her parents if Emma had been taken by the curse. Gepetto had a hand in it too, and he apologized. Blue was put in an impossible choice situation, and Pinocchio was only a kid. Regina did what she did out of hatred and anger and hurt hundreds of people. That was her choice. However Snow may have wronged her (which is debatable) she chose the path of vengeance and destruction. Everything is about poor Regina, and she rarely cares about anyone else, due to her stunted upbringing.

I should add that Regina was on her way to kill baby Emma as well, so it was three choices: give her up, keep her and let her get taken by the curse, or Regina kills her.

They didn’t know Regina was planning on killing the baby and if Pinocchio hadn’t snuck through- which they also didn’t know about- Emma likely would have died in the woods. Snow and Charming gambled with her life and lucked out.

Like Lydian said, Snow and Charming had no choice. And yes, Blue and Gepetto screwed up but it was to save Pinocchio and Gepetto apologized.

That’s exactly what I struggle with about Regina. If she’d ever apologized to Snow and Emma for everything she put them through, maybe I’d feel sympathy for her. The lack of an apology from Regina is why I can’t understand why Emma and Snow will do anything for her.

Amen! Everybody on the show cares soooooooooo much about Regina’s feelings, but she never cares about anybody’s feelings but her own. But the second somebody does or says something to hurt her, suddenly they’re the worst person in the universe and should grovel at her feet for forgiveness. And the show presents that as not only perfectly OK but how things should be. What???? I’m still reeling over Snow apologizing to Regina for being a “brat” to her as a child, which is the complete opposite of any of their interactions we’ve ever seen. Plus them making Eva out to be the villain for daring to tell Leopold that Cora was planning to pass off another man’s baby as his — which in any other world would be shown as the right thing to do. The show’s morality in regards to Regina has gotten completely twisted.

I don’t want to offend anyone, but some of you sound very bitter about this which is okay, but in my opinion you’re twisting facts to fit your view. Regina has shown more than once now that she does care. If she didn’t half of these people would have been dead or left for the villain of the season to mess with multiple times now. I also think regardless of how you feel about Regina as a character you’re selling some of the relationships other characters have with her and the complexity of them very short.

We’re not twisting facts. Regina has tried to kill the charmings several times and she has never apologized. That’s a fact, we’re not twisting it, it’s what happened on the show.

Regina has also saved the Charmings and Emma multiple times. Want me to start citing examples? Cause that’s gonna be a long list.

Someone above said it best that apologies are more than words. Then again, even when Regina explicitly apologizes i.e. to Belle, some people seem intent on not acknowledging it.

It’s not as long as the list of the times she tried to kill them. I just want Regina to be more self-aware and repentant. She keeps blaming others for her unhappiness when most of the times (most not all) it was her own fault. Now she’s blaming a book.

Most people don’t change over night. They learn and grow over time. Depending on the person and the type of experiences that shaped them this can take years, lifetimes even.

Fictional characters naturally need to go through these processes quicker, but good writing still reflects the struggle and the long road to actually changing one’s path. I like that about the writing for Regina and for Rumple on this show. Most of the time anyway. They writers are doing much better with them than with others.

Regina has come a long way already, she is fighting her past and the darkness within her every day and her journey continues as she still has a long way to go. I’m here for the ride. It’s a major part of what keeps me tuning in to this show. I prefer gradual growth over personality transplants.

I agree with that Kyle. And I don’t expect Regina to be a goody two-shoes in 2 seasons after being a mass murderer BUT I don’t like seeing Emma have to be the one begging to be her friend. It’s a two way street. Regina has done more wrong to Emma than Emma to Regina and still Emma’s the one having to work on their relationship. I don’t mind Regina taking time to be totally good, i just want her to be less whiny. I like her being evil and good and in the middle, but the whining annoys me.

I Just want to point out that Regina admitted in Season 2 finale that everything was her fault. She was willing to die to give everyone els the chance to live. That’s a huge apology.

She has come a long way. She still has some growing to do but she has come a long way in her redemption. I think emma knows she needs a friend and support to stay on the straight and narrow path of goodness.

I’m a patient person. I don’t freak out on tv show writers. It’s their story to tell. But this makes me angry. Episodes 2 and 4 had filler moments that did nothing for the plot. Both episodes had Snow White and Regina scenes cut. Important moments for Snow and Regina. Yes, this time I am angry.

Love the Emma/Regina friendship, not a fan at all of the SQ romantic want by many members of the fandom. I don’t see it plus Regina and Emma both already have established male LI’s IE Robin and Hook.

I am unhappy about some of Lana’s quotes. I am so incredibly tired of Regina. I used to enjoy her character, but she’s gotten so annoying. I had really been looking forward to the show FINALLY exploring more of Emma’s backstory, but now it looks like they’re doing it in an ep only to continue to continue to coddle Regina and whitewash her crimes. It sounds like they’re going to have Emma practically BEG Regina for her friendship, which is frankly downright disgusting given what Regina has done to Emma. I’ve given up hope for Snow to respond to Regina with anything but Stockholm Syndrome, but I had hoped they’d keep Emma’s reactions mostly realistic. In the preview, Regina tells Emma she’s ruined her life, which is the most laughable and self-involved thing I’ve heard. If anybody ruined anybody’s life, Regina ruined Emma’s up til now. But instead the show continues to ignore Regina’s crimes and present her rudeness and snark as justified, funny and “cool.” Why should Emma have to “come clean” to Regina? She’s done nothing wrong! But of course Regina gets to be mean with impunity and never apologize. The morality this puts forth is SO twisted and disturbing.

And again, Emma is making out with a guy who tried to murder her countless times. And the show has ignored all of his crimes repeatedly. Regina has several times stepped aside for Emma and last year gave her a “perfect life”. If that wasn’t an apology (in action, not words…but please keep begging for something as worthless as words), then I don’t know what is. Also, that’s not Stockholm. That’s not even close to Stockholm (just as you’re misusing the term “whitewashing” considering they hit us over the head every ten seconds with what she’s done). That’s two characters growing together and evolving forward. Your hatred of Regina is blinding you to what’s actually occurring on the show.

Um, when did Killian try to kill her besides the time he left her in Rumple’s cell? And Buffy made out with Angel and Spike despite their violent history. Things like that happen in TV shows.

‘Besides that one time’. *headdesk* And you are not honestly using Spuffy as reasoning for why that’s totally okay because hey it’s a twisted version of (straight) ‘romance’ and that’s totally different from two ladies trying to get along because their family whether they like it or not… are you?

I’m sorry, who is Killian? Oh yeah, dude who died three hundred years ago. Killian is the name you guys use to try to pretend he’s NOT Hook. But hmmm…worked with Cora, was going to murder everyone until it was his life as well, fought with her with swords until she whipped his ass because he’s pathetic at everything. The dude is a very bad man. And this isn’t BUFFY because if it was, he’d be shown to be just like Spike which was an extremely violent and unhealthy relationship caused by severe depression. It was never meant to be romantic. But considering your entire kick above is anti-Regina, I’m assuming that this is all because you hate the idea of Emma being close to anyone that isn’t Hook (when exactly has he apologized for anything or done anything? Like put herself in front of Snow repeatedly, save lives repeatedly, give Emma a perfect life?). I detest CS because it’s as about as unhealthy as you can get but it’s not because I like SQ (I also ship OQ) so please stop. You don’t actually need to bash another character to promote your own. Making Regina look worse to promote Hook and CS doesn’t actually fool anyone. The writers will do what they will do and the truth is that the E/R relationship matters to them and always will. And yes, CS is the big Emma story of this season. But that doesn’t mean that E/R matters less or ever will.

It’s big story no matter what and it’s been this way since S3. CS is here to stay, deal with it.

did you seriously just use Spuffy to justify Captain Swan? Really? One of the wors, most disturbing relationships to ever ‘grace’ the television screen? Really?

And here’s the thing about the Regin/Hook comparison. Regina was raised by a screwed up mother, forced into a loveless marriage, watch her true love’s heart get ripped out in front of her, etc., etc., etc.. That’s what led to her doing what she did.

Hook? He’s got nothing even close to an excuse for his past deeds. Nada.

That’s what bugs me too. Regina and Emma as two mothers who share a son whom they both love and who loves both of them is a huge issue, but Emma dating a dude like Hook with everything he has done to her and to her family and those she cares about, or letting someone like Rumple be in Henry’s life is often swiped aside. It’s especially sad to me because the women are the heart of the show in my opinion and we still don’t have enough shows on tv that make female dynamics important, strong, complex and yes difficult and at times problematic and explore that too, but we still have too many cases of women attacking women while men characters are woobified.

I can just as easily say your hatred of Hook and love of Regina is blinding you to what’s actually occurring on the show. Hook has NOT tried to murder Emma countless times. Try NEVER. He left her perfectly alive and healthy in a cell, which she and the others promptly escaped from, in a tit for tat situation for her leaving him on the beanstalk. That was not trying to kill her. And he obviously deliberately threw their sword fight at Lake Nostos — the actor has even said that exact thing in interview, for those who couldn’t grasp what was going on onscreen. Those are the only two instances that could even be debated, and neither constitute him trying to murder her. As far as Regina giving Emma a “perfect life,” that was more or less a necessity given the rules of the curse. And actions are definitely great, but words are NEVER, EVER worthless. A sincere “I’m sorry” can go a long way to healing wounds.

He had NO way of knowing she’d get out of that cell- she was left there to DIE. Blatant revisionist history to pretend otherwise. And Adam himself has denied that the fight was thrown (also, not scripted or intended as such; not all actor head canon has relevance). He was working with Cora and was trying to stop them. Period. And no, that wasn’t the rules of the curse…she didn’t have to do anything for Emma whatsoever there. I do not like Hook. I will not lie about that. But the point is that they have never addressed him being an accomplice to two mass murders, selling Bae, trying to murder Bell, shooting Belle (and now again threatening her and no his forced and disinterested apology doesn’t even begin to count). But honestly, there’s no point in this discussion because all you care about is hating on a character so you make Hook look better. For what it’s worth, I love that Regina has a bloody and nasty path that she’s trying to come back from. I don’t want her sins to not exist or to pretend they were less. I like seeing her fight to be better and sometimes not make it. She protected Snow countless times (even against her mother which was why Snow forgave her finally and said let’s move forward). Try watching the show from eyes that aren’t just about making Hook a hero. Make HIM be a hero first.

In the promo, Regina seems to yell “You ruined my life!” to Emma. I’d really like to see Emma point out that Regina’s curse ruined her life, or at least made it extremely horrible until she turned 28. Her parents had no choice but to give her up. Also, are they ever going to acknowledge that Regina murdered Graham? Ever? I like Regina as a redemptive character, I really do, but she’s so emotionally stunted (not surprising, considering her mother’s treatment of her and her father’s loving passivity) that she seems to think everything is about her. Her life isn’t ruined b/c Robin’s wife is present. Given time, if it’s obvious to Marian that he doesn’t love her anymore, there’s this thing in our world called a divorce. It feels bad now, but I wish Regina would stop blaming everyone else for her problems. In my opinion, she doesn’t need romantic love right now, she needs forgiveness, and self-love.

Finally! The relationship between Emma and Regina is the core and the heart of the show . The fact that they’ve only had a handful of scenes together so far this season has nearly ruined the show for me. I hope this is a turning point and we get more #SwanQueen scenes for the rest of the season. The only way thing that could make me love this more is finding out the two of them are having dinner with their son when they come out of the woods. #Swan-Mills Family

The only way that will happen is if they have a double date with their two CANON LI’s.

You’re saying two independent women that share custody of a son can’t have dinner with their son without having their male love interests present? Because that’s a healthy outlook *eye roll*

In any realistic situation, neither Emma nor her parents would want anything to do with Regina. They could be cordial for Henry’s sake, absolutely, but a close friendship is completely unrealistic given all the terrible things Regina has done to them. I know it’s a show about fairy tales, so some leeway is understandable, but IMO the emotions should be tied to reality. Unfortunately, when it comes to Regina, they’re not. Seriously, would you want to be BFFs with somebody who tried repeatedly to kill you and your mother, whether they’ve gotten less evil or not?

I choose to believe in the possibility and power of redemption on a show about fairy tales where the female villain (whose life was manipulated before she was even born) has to work infinitely harder than the male villains who are getting their happy endings left and right.

Well said my friend. Heck, just look at last season. Just hours (at most a few days) after Hook had helped to kidnap someone and watch their torture, and help two nutjobs try to destroy the town (and then run off with the only escape anyone in town had, leaving them to die), everyone’s treating him like a cool dude, and like he’s ‘redeemed’ himself, and then shoving him off on a main character he recently tried to kill and called dried up and worthless (just before trying to kill a friend of that character who was a complete innocent – Belle).

I said nothing against redemption. I’m all for that. Redemption is great! I’m talking about whether it’s emotionally REALISTIC for people to want to be BFFs with someone who’s tried to kill them repeatedly. And it’s not. And please don’t try to sell that Regina not having her happy ending yet is because she’s a woman. That’s laughable, and as a feminist, it offends me, because it undermines the issue to cry “sexism” when it’s not actually the case. If Regina were Reginald, nothing would be different, except the outfits would show less cleavage. Honestly, nobody has a happy ending yet except possibly Snowing. Rumple may be married to Belle, but he’s lying to her and that’s all about to come crashing down. Hook and Emma may be on the way to a happy ending, but they’re not there yet. And I haven’t seen Regina work very hard, since she still has no regrets, hasn’t verbally apologized to the Charmings and is blaming a book for painting her as a villain instead of, you know, her own actions. She made her own choices; lots of people had way worse things happen to them and didn’t resort to mass murder and revenge. Being abused and manipulated can explain a person’s actions, but it doesn’t excuse them.

I think Snow would say that what she’s gotten from Regina is a lot more than a verbal apology. You can see it in Snow’s face when Regina is protecting their apartment in “The Jolly Roger” and even more so when she’s protecting her and her unborn baby in “Bleeding Through”. Snow literally does a double take.

And during their conversation she says if she knew what she did now she wouldn’t have spent so much time trying to kill her. That is a de facto verbal apology, and certainly Snow took it that way.

Regina also apologized verbally to Belle, and I think even bigger because it was shown off screen, she gave the dagger to Belle after Zelina was defeated. If Regina was still power mad and unapologetic she would have hung onto the incredible power it represented. Instead she almost immediately gave it to Belle. Now what happened with it afterwards is sickening, but Regina’s actions were quite telling.

And I find something in this article quite interesting. Regina wants her romantic rival living and breathing. I rather think it shows she’s adopted a version of the hero’s crede that you don’t attack an unarmed woman. I think she’s willing to fight for Robin’s love, but not to take advantage of Marian’s cursed state.

She’ll never have regrets because all of her actions brought her Henry and your post makes it sound as though that’s a requirement for her to be redeemed. If so, then for you she’s unredeemable. Correct?

I think there is also another take on the idea that she has no regrets. If you look at her conversation with Zelina in Kansas that she is glad she failed to kill Snow White. That her failure allowed her to grow as a person. Not just because she has Henry but “because I wouldn’t be with these people.”

Cutting scenes between Lana and Ginny is beyond IDIOTIC!! Those two actresses are magnificent, the relationship between Regina and Snow is growing and we lose it in order for Frozen and sickening Captain Swan dates from 1950 to take the lead??? Are you kidding me? Regina actually asked Snow for advice on being IN LOVE with a married man and they cut it??? They cut a scene about the only cliff hanger we were talking about all summer???

What kind of pot are they smoking, really???? *facepalm*

Finally something other than stupid Hook. Thank the Lord! And I hope Adam and Eddie know by now that some people, other than the frantic tweens, are actually invested in Snow, Regina, Henry, Rumple and Belle more than Hook and his tedious manpain. Bring on Elizabeth Mitchell, the Snow Queen, the overdue Swan Queen dynamic and Regal Believer!

Ah, yes, the old “the only people who like Hook and Captain Swan are tweens” chestnut. A blanket, insulting falsehood designed to belittle their fans. Even if it WERE true, which it most definitely isn’t, are you implying that only adults’ opinions matter?

Yeah and then these people like to play the victim. We get bullied all the time. OMG, they’re a joke. They’re just bitter and they’ll never get what they want. No matter how much harassing to the writers and actors and ABC. It won’t change the writers story. They’re not gonna pander to a small online minority like SQ.

Uh…what the flying eff are you even talking about?? I am not even a Swan Queen shipper! LOL gotta say the bitterness in your comments is giving me life! Keep it coming lol!!

Now I wish there is a SQ episode every once in a while, just to witness the CSers meltdown.

P.s. can someone please tell Eddie and Adam to stop cutting scenes out in favor of the CS movie? Did they forget that they build their show on the Snow-Regina relationship in the first place? And don’t get me started on retconing Rumple’s arc EVERY DAMN SEASON? but that’s a convo for another time. Now I’m all set for swan queen. Bring it.

As someone who isn’t a SWer, I just like them, am sick of how this show has turned into “pander to the CSers” and “show hook every flippin’ scene”. Howsabout we focus on more important characters, like the main cast, or even the secondary cast that has been part of this dang show well before Hook clawed his way into things? Because I’ve been watching this season and it is utterly alien to me. It looks nothing like Once Upon a Time. It’s turne into “Once Upon A -Hey Let’s Stare At the Creepy Misogynist Pirate For the Next Hour”.

I see SQ shippers are bashing CS and Hook in the comments section. Seriously you guys got some good scoop so talk about it instead of bashing canon just because you’re bitter the show is not gonna do Emma/Regina romance. Stop being bitter harpies and be happy with you’re getting.

Funny because the obvious is quite plainly true. The CSers came in here to rip Regina and whine about how SQ will never happen because ABC doesn’t care. Also, harpies? So now we’re adding sexist to the list? Many of us don’t care if we do get a romance, we just care that the deepest relationship on the show continues to get paid forward. Word of advice, stop assuming that you will always be canon. Many ships have and then have watched the show move on from them eventually. And then what will be your defense?

CS is here to stay Shane and the time you accept that, it’ll get better for you SgtMac7

I see the usual CS fans have found this article. Thanks for hijacking and ruining yet another comment section.

Pavlov’s reflex type of thing. They see Regina-Emma in the same sentence, they start launching their Regina attacks and SQ bashing.

I’d never ship SQ myself, but these people are pathetic. Ship and let ship. Especially if you think your own ship is oh so superior and endgame anyway.

OUAT does a great job of introducing new characters and weaving them in to current storylines in ways I don’t always expect. Regina and Snow’s complex relationship drives the show for me, so I hope we get more scenes with them – not less. I expected that by Emma bringing back Marian, it would refuel Regina’s anger toward Snow, even slightly. I expected that conversation to occur fairly early in the season.

I am a huge CS fan (and no, I’m most definitely NOT a tween. I’m far far from it) but I also LOVE the SQ relationship. Yes, there are some (like me!) who like both pairings for completely different reasons. I’m looking forward to the Emma and Regina scenes. AND the Emma and Hook scenes.

I’m so so so excited! last weeks ouat was kinda boring but this sounds really good can’t wait

It sounds as tho the deleted scenes are better than what actually airs on t.v, too bad that the showrunners don’t realize this. Regina/Emma, Regina/snow, and Emma/Snow scenes should be at the forefront of the show. Wasn’t THAT the vision they had to begin with.

Ive been waiting for this ep ever since Adam mentioned it on Twitter but reading this I don’t think my swan queen feels will survive! jesus take the wheel

Regina push to back ground character. Hook has taken over. So sad.

My main complaint with this season is that they are pushing the characters I care about to the background so they can pursue the Frozen storyline – which bores me to death and is the #1 reason I stopped watching the show.

Now you tell me they are cutting scenes that deliver emotional depth to the show. The kinds of things that might have kept me interested in a fourth season.

You know what might be touching for Emma to hear? An apology from Regina for trying to kill her and her mother repeatedly and ruining Emma’s life, instead of yet another of Regina’s belittling and cutting remarks. Ugh, this show and the way it treats Regina like an innocent victim who has every right to be mean and evil. It’s getting to be too much.

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