This is my reblogging blog. I think. Or something like that. I reblog shit from my favorite shows. Especially Once Upon a Time (mostly Regina). But also other shit.
I’m dropping this blog. Follow me @theboorito if you wanna keep up with me. Don’t know if I’ll delete this blog but for now I won’t be posting on here anymore.
The Evil Queen is to fairy tales what Michael Jordan is to basketball: fierce, legendary, and scarily good at what she does.
The Evil Queen is to fairy tales what Michael Jordan is to basketball: fierce, legendary, and scarily good at what she does. Perhaps the most fearsome Disney villain of all-time, she was brought to life by the phenomenally talented Lana Parrilla on ABC’s Once Upon A Time, and now, as the show bows out of its seventh and final season this Friday, it’s clear that Parrilla’s portrayal of the now-redeemed Evil Queen/Regina Mills has been the show’s biggest accomplishment.
Historically, the Evil Queen’s nefarious ways have been chalked up to some inborn and inexplicable malice which cause her to senselessly lash out against poor Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin) and revel in violence and misery. Her Once incarnation, however, found a way to humanize her in the form of Regina Mills, giving her a heartbreaking (and heartening) backstory that suddenly made her a sympathetic character. While her infamous vendetta against Snow White and her vow to destroy the young princess’s happiness if it’s the last thing she did admittedly reeked of pettiness and extreme grudge-holding, we also couldn’t deny that we were kind of rooting for the Evil Queen pretty much from day one.
While Once aimed to be somewhat of an ensemble show—and indeed, they were pretty good in the early seasons on giving each of the main cast members some hefty airtime— it was clear from the beginning that Parrilla’s Evil Queen was a focal point of the series, as well she should have been. She was ruthless, volatile, perpetually angry—all the things you’d expect of the Evil Queen—but she was also passionate, intelligent, and had a soft spot for children, especially her son Henry.
The dichotomy between what we’d come to expect from the Evil Queen and the truth we’d discovered about Regina Mills created an unexpected complexity which Parrilla was all too happy to explore and deepen. In fact, she aided in much of its creation. As we learned about Regina’s past—she’d saved Snow White’s life when the princess was a child; she lost her first love due to Snow White’s careless telling of what she would have considered an innocent secret; she was forced into a loveless marriage by her abusive mother—Parrilla’s ability to convey the pain and longing her character still felt so many years later with just a twitch of the mouth or a quirk of the eyebrow helped turn Regina’s story into the most interesting and investment-worthy on Once.
Smartly, showrunners Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis decided to dedicate a fair amount of time and energy on Regina’s evolution. Not only were we able to delve into her past but also experience her present, watching as she tried to break through the emotional shackles which had controlled her life and accounted for most of her terrible decision-making for so long. Parrilla brilliantly portrayed the frustrating realities of a woman whose inner turmoil between doing what’s right and getting revenge against the world for wronging her caused her to stumble and fall many times on her path from darkness back to the light.
Regina’s journey has been the one consistent thing in Once‘s often erratic and disappointing run, and Parrilla could always be counted on to bring her A-game to whatever material she’s given. The combined result has been a fully-formed, memorable character that has actually earned her redemption, unlike some other villains in the show who were suddenly deemed good by virtue of saying it rather than actually doing anything to get there—looking at you, Hook/Killian Jones (Colin O’Donoghue). It’s been messy and far from linear, but these days, the former Evil Queen is actually a hero, and it’s made for some ridiculously good TV.
Whether intentional or not, Regina Mills became the heart of Once Upon A Time, continuing to embody its most basic principles even when the show as a whole lost its way. Through her, the importance of family, the concepts of loyalty and perseverance, and the idea that it’s never too late to do the right thing continued to shine. Her relationship with her family and her strength and grace in the face of always seemed like insurmountable adversity gave viewers hope and heart, and if the show is remembered for nothing else, it should at least be remembered for that.
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