What I like about the episode is Snowing fighting then tricking Arthur favorite line Charming “you thought you could trick me with a catchy title and a comfy chair” loved that line.

Regina” I’m not worried about them they can outlive a cockroach”

I did not like Arthur and Gunievere putting a spell on Charmings really hope Regina knows them well enough to see something not right and maybe this is why Emma think they fail her because she doesn’t know they been spell.

I was wondering if the curse brought Merida here and can’t wait to see her train Rumple but my question is Rumple really the hero she needs or is she turning him into hero so he can fight the person she really wants which is Hook really hoping it’s isn’t the case.

I’m also beginning to think Emma brace the darkness to save everyone from Camelot also think she going to use their love for her to destroy the darkness completely she doing for the right reasons but in the wrong way

5)The plot line of Lancelot and Guinevere…. Was extremely disappointing to me. I feel like they were giving her an excuse to cheat on Arthur. Yes its not good that Arthur was giving more attention to the dagger than her, but that’s no excuse. And the scene where she kisses Arthur and they try to make you feel sorry for Lancelot made me cringe. I understand it wasnt real but Guinevere is still Arthurs wife, thats where she should be. I also feel they’re breaking the laws of magic with this sand making Guinevere love Arthur. I suppose technically she just “appears” to, so i guess that’s they’re loop hole.

4) Arthur…. I loved the casting choice for young Arthur. His eyes are so like grown Arthur its uncanny. I feel like he could easily be his son lol. I was disappointed to find out my theory was wrong, Arthur didn’t put Merlin in the tree. I think it was probably the Lady of the lake, which in many Arthurian Legend stories actually did imprison Merlin in a treee.It makes total sense that finding the dagger basically drove Arthur mad. I should have seen that coming. It was sad to see the bro-ship if Arthur and David die so hard. I loved David calling him out on tricking him with a comfy chair.

3.The dark one Vault…. Seeing inside the dark one vault was epic, but i have to question why the dagger was there. I suppose this was during the time when Rumple was terrorizing the enchanting forest and this is where he kept it? Makes sense i guess. Rumple getting thr gauntlet so easily massively contradicts season 4. Rumple said he went to Camelot to get it, and she asked him how it went and he said “good for me, not so good for Camelot”. Well they screwed the pooch on that one, he didn’t go to Camelot at all for it, and he was handed it lol. Nice plot hole. I didn’t understand the darkness that tryed to take Lancelot at all. I thought that all the darkness was in Rumple. I thought this was a cheap plot device to push Gwen to kiss Lancelot.

2. Merida… Even though she wasn’t in the episode much, she was still great. I love her character and cant wait to see her team up with Lancelot. I rolled my eyes when Emma told her she was going to use her to make Rumple brave (que rimshot) but i still think this has the potential to be a fun storyline.

1. Emma and Killian… Wow, i loved this so much. Killians Devotion to Emma is positively heartwarming. I love how hard hes willing to work to help Emma, its love in its truest sense to me. My heart broke for Emma seeing how tortured she was. I still want to know if the same thing happened to Rumple during the beginning of him being the dark one. Killians face when he found out about Henry having a crush on violet was AMAZING!! He looked like such a proud father 😂. Easily the best moment of the episode.

One side note, the Charmings coming to a quick resolution to their fight was yes, another easy resolution, but I appreciate it because it shows what a great couple and parents they are.

All in all, a good episode, i just wish we could find out more about Merlin, although it was nice to hear how he gave the prophecy, he spoke it as the tree. Did he like turn into grandmother Willow or something and speak to him? I thought you needed the toadstool to communicate through magical barriers… Sigh, maybe it wasn’t so nice after all. I should stop thinking about it too much haha. I give this episode 7.75/10 head demons

No apologies necessary Jeff for interrupting emails, I would say from all of us-that’s why we write in, to start conversations and get input and ideas from you and everyone listening. If all you did was read emails out right and then said good bye…wouldn’t be nearly as fun!!! I look forward to the “Things I learned from this episode, and the top ten list, and everyone’s theories and little details I missed! Someone brought up Madaam Mimm and my little Disney heart got all a flutter! How great would that be? Ok, Colleen asked about Rumples trip to Camelot in the past…Belle asked Rumple back in enchanted forest if he succeeded in his quest to Camelot. He said he got what he went for, and when she asked how it went he said “good for me, not so good for Camelot.” Interesting, and does fit…well except for the timeline but that’s just something I ignore and enjoy the show. I thought this episode was pretty good and I may be in the few that thinks so, but it feels so first season that I just loved it. So many little things being put into place to ponder and theorize about. Here are my thoughts on the Broken Kingdom.

Ok, I so agree with you both. I was yelling at David…What are you doing David? Don’t do this! Then I was like….really?? Snow what the heck are YOU doing? I fell for it hook, line and sinker…and loved it! When I realized they were up to their old tricks and working together to get what they need, it was great. I kinda felt like they could have tried a teeny bit harder at Granny’s tho? David, Snow and Lancelot are not amateurs, they can fight when needed, yet they stood there and then got pink sanded. BOOOOOOOOOOO! Arthur. Ugh…what a toad!!! How did he ever get so far from the guy who pulled the sword to a smarmy, no good tool. No wonder her heart was veering toward Lancelot, not that I am a promoter of adultery, but Arthur did emotionally leave her and that marriage years ago. She tried to make the right choice and he pink sanded her anyway!! Yah, he’s a…….…jerk (this is family podcast). You don’t do that to the love of your life. I wonder if her and Lancelot do truly love each other and if a kiss can break this spell, and where is Lancelot now anyway? Arthur and Zelena are equally wicked. I hope that Regina and Robin can see that Snow and Charming are under a spell, but she trying to trust them so much that she may not see it…and this is where they all fail Emma. Regina should have been hiding at Granny’s to help…hello? She is magical everyone!! So, Merlin has been in the tree aloooooong time. Who put him there? The dark one? Blue Fairy? Himself? So interesting. This is the second mention that Emma should save herself…like I said last time, she said she’s the only that saves herself, and this week Rumple told her “you’re the savior, save yourself.” Emma has to be working against herself-she is in there somewhere. Arthur is going to try and use the dagger to control Emma to do bad things, ugh…I’m so worried for her. Maybe against Henry? That has to be why she’s so angry at everyone, and why she told Henry she didn’t blame him, that HE didn’t fail her, everyone else did. Poor Merida…she is going to curse the day she ran into Emma for sure. This is getting so good-every week I just can’t wait to see what’s coming and what will unfold.

Things that made me go hmmmm…Pink Sand that appears to fix broken things? Ok, I guess I see that since Arthur “pink eyed” Guinevere, that it would fix her as to what HE sees as broken in her. And when they dusted Camelot it fixed what THEY feel was broken in their vision of Camelot? And Snow and Charming got fixed to THEIR way of thinking? Is that how you all see the dust works on people? Fixes things from the perspective of the ones doing the dusting? Poofing. People poof when they don’t need to and don’t when they should. Regina was 2 feet from the door when she poofed away from the argument. Yet, when they needed to get to Gold and the author last season to save all of them, they all split up and ran across town together…makes me giggle. Where is the rest of the gang? Not at granny’s…or they could have helped Snow and Charming…didn’t the dwarfs go along to help? And what the heck was the dark one goo that tried to get Lancelot? Rumple was clearly the dark one at that time, so why was there free flowing dark one goop running amuck?

Big Love to you both and all the Oncers! Hang in there everyone, and….wait for it…….be Brave! Talk to you all next week…Trace

Janice Marie, once again to give you my thoughts on the episode “Broken Kingdom.”

Before I get into my thoughts on the episode, I just have to ask you one question: Did you see the final trailer for “Star Wars: The Force Awakens????”

Ok, now that I got that out of the way, here are my thoughts on “Broken Kingdom”:

1. First thing I have to talk about, the whole CaptainSwan, VioletBeliever scene in the stable. That had to be my FAVORITE part of the episode. I thought it was hilarious seeing Hook being happy for Henry, while Emma, on the other hand, seemed to be showing a little of her protectiveness, sorta like Regina in the second episode this season.

2. Speaking of Henry and Violet, I noticed a great parallel between them two and Regina and Daniel. Regina had fallen in love with Daniel, who was a Stable Boy, and Henry has a crush on Violet who seems to be a Stable Girl. Regina was a princess when she was with Daniel and Henry is a prince, given that one of his moms is a queen and his other mom’s a princess. I just hope that Henry’s relationship with Violet turns out a little, if not, A LOT BETTER than Regina and Daniel’s.

3. Young Arthur and Young Guinevere ~~ PHENOMINAL CASTING!!! Not to mention that the boy who played young Arthur had AMAZING EYES!!! Every time the camera cut to him, all I could think of was, “Are his eyes real, or is he just wearing contacts?”

4. My favorite line ~ Charming: “My wife doesn’t think we can trust you.” Arthur: “… It’s the beard, isn’t it?”

5. I completely forgot that Granny’s was in the middle of the woods. No wonder I was sooo confused when I saw Snow in her Camelot outfit inside the diner in those press release photos…

6. Finally, the whole scene where Snow and Charming actually SET UP Arthur!!! That was DIFINITELY a twist that I did NOT expect. One of the best that the show’s ever done, in my opinion.

Hope you guys have a wonderful day. Can’t wait for your next podcast. I will try to email you guys as often as I can for each show. I love your show and I love you guys! Oh, and tell Lady I said “Hello.”

Your fan,

Janice Marie

Chris in Cincy

#1. It’s difficult to be intimate
while imaginary Rumple is
watching from the shadows.

#2. There comes a time in every
man’s life where he must
admit defeat and ask his wife,
“Fix this my love”.

#3. When you and your partner
start having a heated
argument, be mindful of the
poor unfortunate souls that
are trapped in the room.

#4. Sometimes you just have to
tell your husband to “shut up
and dance with me.”

#5. A man’s ship should never fit
in his pocket.

#6. Many politicians have been
tricked by a fancy title and
comfy chair.

#7. Since Emma can now hear
the whispers of certain
weapons of power, Happy’s
moaning ax must be really
annoying.

#8. When Rumplestiltskin said,
“Nothing can stop the
Darkness”, he neglected to
mention the part about
the torches.

#9. Revealing your evil plan out
loud is a guarantee for failure.

#10. Merlin’s half truth
prophecies are similar to
telling Sneezy, one day you’ll
have rock hard abs.

OBSERVATIONS

Sands of Avalon

There seemed to be a limitless supply of the Sands of Avalon. One would have thought using it to fix the broken kingdom would have depleted it but there was still plenty left. This is turning into one of those convenient magical items that can explain everything away. Add this to the list of erased memories, shape shifting and squid ink. If it was used only one time this could be overlooked but three times was way too much. Houston we have a problem.

King Arthur

I believe Arthur is misguided but not evil…..yet. Many people do things for reasons they believe to be right. This can be a very fine line though because as we saw with Cora, doing questionable acts for reasons you believe to be good can hurt many people and sear your conscience. Protecting Camelot is a noble act but lying, brainwashing, obsessing and killing (?) to get it done are the wrong ways to achieve it. I think he can still turn it around but he’s just one step away from being a misguided King to a full fledged villain.

BURNING QUESTIONS

Did Kay play a role in possibly tricking his foster brother Arthur about the sword in the stone when they were kids? He seemed way to confident in himself when he tried retrieving Excalibur so he could be King.

PREDICTIONS

What if the Darkness could become a separate entity by taking on the physical appearance of Rumplestiltskin without using Gold’s body as a host? We could relish in the pure joy of an evil, manipulating and at times, hilarious Rumple, without worrying about his relationship with Belle suffering or his redemption being compromised. I’ve always loved Rumplestiltskin but since I knew about his origins with Milah, Bae and Belle, it made it difficult to enjoy his antics at times. We know the Darkness can take on this persona because of how he appears to Emma. How amazing would it be to see Gold finally stand up to the Darkness/Rumplestiltskin that has plagued him for centuries, only this time, be able to look him right between his evil eyes. This would be a truly great way to show he is no longer a coward and how the darkness will never control him again. We know Robert Carlyle can play dual personalities but we’ve never seen them interact with each other. I’m crossing my fingers!!

Wishing you both big love and mad props.

Brad

I was listening to your recent first thoughts podcast, and I wanted to send in my thoughts.

You spoke of the bully was who was teasing Arthur with the sword in the rocks, and also spoke about who might have adopted Arthur. In Arthurian legend, the bully is Kay, (who became “Sir Kay,” the knight who disappeared after trying to take the sword out of the stone in episode 1). Kay was Arthur’s foster/adoptive brother, son of Sir Ector. Merlin gave Arthur to Ector after Uther Pendragon, Arthur’s father, fled for his life. He’s always in competition with Arthur and is not the nicest guy, though he ends up a knight of the Round Table. So, while Ector might end up to be a nice guy on the show, his rotten son Kay is going to be a jerk to Arthur, which isn’t a great situation for an adopted child.

(I am named after Guinevere and have learned a few things about Arthur over the years.) 🙂

And as such, I’m terribly disappointed in the depiction of both Arthur and Guinevere in this story. Neither one is a very sympathetic character, nor very likable. I hope there’s some kind of explanation beyond “Arthur is evil.” I suppose we’ll just have to be patient.

Thanks for listening, and thanks for the podcast!

~Genevieve

Just wondering. I didn’t think it had been 5 years since Rumple “died.”

Genevieve