Loved It? Hated It? What did you think of "The Stable Boy"?

[Raistlin]

I thoroughly enjoyed the Young!Regina/Young!Snow moments, the paralleling of them was really masterful, Barbara Hersey and little Bailee Madison were great guest stars who totally owned those parts

I totally agree with this.

----- Added 1 Minutes later -----

I gave this episode a 10 just because of Little Snow and that amazing wedding dress. Oh, btw, the episode was darn good too!

That gown was beautiful.

It was great seeing Regina's back story. I can understand that she'd be upset and heartbroken at the death of Daniel(?), but she takes revenge to a whole other level. Snow was a little girl who was manipulated by the Evil Mother. I liked Emma's apology to August. And yeah, I'm wondering what is going on with August. I believe he's a good guy, but I don't know who his fairytale self could be, if he is even from fairy tale land. But the spray painted R on the toll bridge sign has to be a clue of some kind.

The little girl who played young Snow looked like Ginnfer Goodwin might have looked as a child. Good choice. Gold was delightful when he said he'd have time to work a little magic. Was his magic Kathryn? And was I the only one who thought M-M was dead in the alley when Ruby screamed? Lana Parrilla did a fantastic job. Solid 8.

[MannaBanana]

Lana reminded me so much of Lana Lang in this ep with her Hair, outfit, and horseback riding.

[Clois/is/hot]

I wasn't too blown away with the episode but it was still good. I gave it a solid 8.

I'm amazed they were able to find a little twin of Ginnifer Goodwin and also act like her playing Snow. They both make the same crying face!
Barabra Hershey as the evil mom reminded me of the mother in Tangled with her "Mother knows best" attitude and she did great.


----- Added 38 Minutes later -----

I really admire Lana Parrilla's performance in this episode because if you think about it, she played three versions of Regina (Young!Regina, Mayor Regina, and the first bit of The Evil Queen). All convincing. All with subtle differences. All well done.

That moment when she switched from sweet Regina to evil Regina was amazing!

----- Added 40 Minutes later -----

I really love the idea (and this is what I'm getting from the show) that Regina could have been like Snow White if she chose love and forgiveness over the revenge that overtook her when she lost love. Snow White could have become The Evil Queen if she had let that darkness overtake her when she made her love for Charming go away with the potion.

I loved that too.

[Costanza]

I really love the idea (and this is what I'm getting from the show) that Regina could have been like Snow White if she chose love and forgiveness over the revenge that overtook her when she lost love. Snow White could have become The Evil Queen if she had let that darkness overtake her when she made her love for Charming go away with the potion.

I totally agree with the rest of your post, but I'm not sure I agree with this. What I got from it is that there's not much of a choice in that particular case: Snow didn't choose forgiveness, she was saved from the darkness by the dwarves and her Prince; Regina had no one to save her, and a very very messed up mother figure to follow. Don't get me wrong, I'm not excusing the evil stuff she made afterwards, of course, but still I don't think it was much of a choice for her. Also, I think she lost it when she saw her mother kill Daniel, she seemed a little crazy in the following scene. I guess she hasn't been thinking clearly since then, and is driven only by revenge, because that's the only part of her she has left.

I also saw a parallel with snow- snow drank the potion and forgot her love/maybe how to love and became obsessed with revenge. Is it allowing love to rule us that overcomes evil? Regina had her father to love (and who loved her) but was willing to sacrifice him for her revenge....so it's a choice to be good or evil.

Her father to love? I think she became evil a long time before that, the path was already taken and as Rumpel said, "there's no coming back". I see what you mean though, but I don't think his love alone could have saved her since I doubt he ever really tried to do so. He seems to be such a passive man.

[savingpeoplething]

the spray painted R on the toll bridge sign has to be a clue of some kind

It's there so it reads TROLL Bridge instead of just TOLL Bridge. It's not a clue about August. It's a reference back to the Fairy Tale Land location where Snow and Charming fall in love. It's been around since episode 3.

----- Added 3 Minutes later -----

Snow didn't choose forgiveness, she was saved from the darkness by the dwarves and her Prince; Regina had no one to save her, and a very very messed up mother figure to follow. Don't get me wrong, I'm not excusing the evil stuff she made afterwards, of course, but still I don't think it was much of a choice for her.

I can understand, but I do think there IS a choice of some kind. Snow listened to what Charming talked to her about and saw how he sacrificed himself for her and chose to take in what he was saying to her.

Regina might not have had a choice in her upbringing and was, for all we can tell, an abused child so there was very little love in her life. She could have had support from her father and obviously, Young!Snow cared about her, but you're right, it's a tough line to deal with in terms of Regina's choice.

But, Regina could have seen the way Young!Snow cared about her and her relationship with Daniel and saw through to her mother's manipulations, but she chose to lay the blame on Snow despite seeing her mother kill Daniel right in front of her.

It's an interesting debate, for sure.

[ebatcl]

My least favorite back-story episode so far.

Although I had a vague idea what might happen from the spoilers (and what EQ had said about Snow before), still, I'd have preferred to see Regina become evil without a sad past or a better reason for resenting Snow.
I mean, both Lana Parilla and Ginnifer Goodwin are gorgeous women, one in a sexy kind of way and another in a pure and innocent kind of way (in the show).
I'd have like it a lot better if Regina became evil simply because Snow was the fairest of them all, like in the fairy tale I read as a kid.
Regina becoming bad is justified from what they showed in the episode, her mother killing Daniel and all.
But redirecting her anger on Snow, who was young at that time and only trying to help, doesn't make her endearing to me.

I love Regina Mills/EQ as a character, hence I would rather forget about this episode.

The only highlights of the episode for me, were the performances of the actress who played Regina's mom and the esp girl who played young Snow.
Not even Rumple's brief appearance or Emma finding the truth about Sidney could save the episode.
It was a very bland and predictable episode.

6 from me.

[FWvidchick]

I gave it an 8. Enjoyable. Some aspects could have been better.

I enjoyed the ep and found it interesting that Regina wasn't evil to begin with. I always find villains more interesting if they come to a point where they make choices that lead them there rather then just so called 'born' that way. Born takes away, imo, aspects that can be explored and the ability to relate at all to the villain.

I think this is a twist on the fairest, rather then it being on something shallow its about secrets and intentions (inner values and beauty). Snow had good intentions but revealed Regina's secret something which meant a lot and ultimately lead to the death of the man she loved. Regina didn't really understand that Snow tried to keep it or how her mother conned it out of her using her own mother against her. Children when trying to 'help' can be really suckered (which is sad). Regina also began with her own sense of right and wrong being on a good plan..her conversation with Snow I found touching. I liked that they connected. That she explained to snow about love and how Snow wanted Regina to be happy.

I like the fact that it's the feeling of betrayal that begins to change Regina. She has already shown that she is an emotionally driven villain and its an aspect of her that's always been there. I felt sad that she ended up becoming just like her mother the one woman she didn't want to be like.

I love that Emma has booth helping her.

[Spvati]

Raistlin said: Gold was delightful when he said he'd have time to work a little magic. Was his magic Kathryn? And was I the only one who thought M-M was dead in the alley when Ruby screamed?

As soon as Gold told Emma that he'd work some magic, I knew he'd be the one to bring Kathryn back....I didn't, however, think she'd show up in that alley, LOL! I also thought MM was the one Ruby was screaming about...I figured Regina clobbered her!

I enjoyed this episode, but I would've liked it better if Regina had taken her anger over Daniel's death out on the person who truly deserved it...her mother, Cora! Maybe she gets even with Cora in a future episode...maybe that's how Regina winds up with all those powers! For me, Regina's hatred of Snow is a bit over the top considering the innocent child was manipulated by Cora's machinations...of course, there'd be no show if Regina forgave and forgot!