#ouat 7x07

[priscilla9993]

Chess Allusions: Pawn Parallels

Rogers: “So you can use [her info] as leverage against [Belfrey]?”

Weaver: “Well that’s how this game works, Detective.”

Talking in the park, Weaver and Rogers both want the information that Tilly knows, the kind that causes Victoria to feel threatened, enough to blackmail Weaver with Tilly’s imprisonment and some CCTV footage of his misdeeds. Although both detectives covet finding and questioning Tilly for what she knows, their motives differ. 

Weaver has a “means to an end” approach, valuing Tilly only when she can be useful in his schemes. His selfish nature sides with his freedom and power over her wellbeing, and he’s okay with that. Tilly might be his informant with the ‘best eyes and ears in Hyperion Heights’, but at the end of the day, she’s replaceable, someone worth losing if it means he gains a stepping stone in the long game against taking down Victoria Belfrey.

Rogers: “Is that all this girl is to you and Belfrey? A pawn? Then why don’t we split up, since one of us actually wants to help her?”

But to Rogers, who doesn’t even know Tilly at this point, he sees Victoria and Weaver’s game as something where people win at the expense of somebody else and goes into full papa bear mode. Rogers wants to help Weaver as a partner and wage justice against Victoria, but not at the cost of using Tilly. He sees Tilly as a vulnerable person caught in the crossfire of a game they didn’t even know they were playing, rather than a soldier in a chess match, and wants to talk to her on equal terms. 

His opinion of Tilly being a bit off kilter but innocent at heart only strengthens when Weaver, in the hospital, unexpectedly pardons her of assumed criminal charges, telling Rogers an obvious lie about a masked robber being the one who shot the gun. Upon meeting Tilly outside of the hospital room, Rogers sees a confused, distraught, and guilt ridden young woman playing a game of chess alone. He tells her the facts with a kind opinion, “Look, you weren’t in your right frame of mind. He doesn’t blame you.” They build up an acquaintance and the budding start of a camaraderie over chess.

However, this all changes when the monster that is Gothel/the fire nation arrives Eloise Gardener gets into the playing field. Victoria and Drizella play cat and mouse, Weaver uses Tilly in a game of lies, and Rogers tries to make sense of things, inadvertently rescuing Gothel, the big bad spider.

Rogers to Weaver: You lied! And you made Tilly lie. Why did you do that?!

Weaver: Because you don't know what's going on around here... But I did it for one reason: to protect you from your bloody self.

(gratuitous physical violence scene bc I love the dynamic)

What Rumple could mean by ‘bloody self’ could be that Rogers lets his temper cloud his judgment first before he goes seeking revenge on/fighting for justice for those who deserve it most. I think that's where Rumple sees the most Killian come out from the supposed "Eagle Scout" detective, stubborn and determined to stick to his guns until he gets to his desired conclusion, which in this case is finding Eloise Gardener (Gothel). 

Rogers defends Tilly, despite only meeting her a few times, going so far as to bodyslam Weaver as he confronts him. However, he loses his respect for her after finding Eloise, where no explanation could outweigh the cost.

Rogers: What do you want?

Tilly: To say I’m sorry about the page. Weaver said it was for the best and I can’t always figure that out for myself.

Rogers: Take a look at what he was covering up. Now tell me, was that for the best? You know what? I understand. I’m just disappointed. You weren’t the person I thought you were.

Rogers is a man of many things, holding grudges being one of them and being rational in the other. The blonde informant had gone so far as to even lie to him about Eloise, dead of all things. As much as he wanted to forgive Tilly, he didn’t know if he could.

At the end of the day, in Rogers’s mind, Eloise needed help, rescue, and emergency aid, something that only happened because of his deep obsession with finding a missing girl from a cold case. And Tilly deterred him from saving a life, unintentional or not.

Roni: “Henry told me about how Weaver used that girl, Tilly.”

Rogers: “Well, it seems to me like she wanted to be a pawn.”

Rogers feels his trust was betrayed and remains disappointed in Tilly. He saw Weaver being a shady bastard from a mile away, but he didn’t expect her to be complicit in Weaver’s dirty schemes. He wanted to believe Tilly was the kind of person who questioned whatever she was told and made her own path on decisions like he did, not so easily roped into following plans, especially ones of slimy bastards like Weaver. If Rogers saw Tilly as an innocent victim of society before, moved around like a pawn, he feels wronged in his judgment and probably thinks she was content to be a sheep to Weaver’s mysterious whims. 

Who was he to believe she could be more than a pawn when she chose to be one?

Luckily, Roni was there to whack the obviously menacing poisoned cake from his hands and knock some sense into him.

Regina as Roni: “You know, people only let themselves be used when they don’t have any other option. How about you give her one?”

Tilly, even if a marmalade sandwich was needed as incentive, had been willingly helpful to his case. The only moment she hadn’t been was when she was under Weaver’s thumb, someone she had known and trusted like a father figure, unlike him who was a stranger in her eyes. People came and went from the older detective’s team, knowledge of informants and detective partners leaving frequently unless they had a special skill set or blackmail hanging over them. If anything, she wasn’t fully to blame.

What Tilly and Rogers can't see until it's too late, being cursed and all, is that they are good natured people afraid of getting hurt, wanting to help others, but unfortunately victims of manipulation, of those with ulterior agendas that use them as playing pieces, making them no better than pawns. 

Roni was right. People like Tilly wouldn’t let themselves be used like pawns if they didn’t have any other option. She had been brave enough to show up to the crime scene to apologize to him in person after what she did, not caring about being forgiven, and he hadn’t even given what she had said a second thought. Knowing Weaver, Rogers would have concluded that the old bastard probably didn’t even give her the entire picture and used her good intentions in an ill manner befitting the man’s deceitful ways, leading her to think it was for the best. 

This leads to Rogers making a step in the right direction. It doesn’t take more than Roni’s small nudge of advice to get him to internally forgive Tilly and go in search of her, eventually offering a chess set to help pass the time with a weekly game and a friend who’d listen if she’d accept. From then on, Rogers and Tilly both grow and begin to trust again, trying to protect the other from getting harmed as the consequence of another’s scheme.

[vasfasan]

they're the best 🤧

[dinneratgrannys]

ONCE UPON A TIME 7.07, Eloise Gardener

[cristo-lyze]

w h a t i f .....

Dean Winchester & Ruby Lucas

[ SPN || The Mentalists 7x07 ]

Sam: Says who? Look, I'll work this damn case, but you lied to me, and you killed my friend.

Dean: No, I put down a monster who killed four people, and if you didn't know her, you'd have done the same thing.

Sam: I did know her, Dean.

Dean: Yeah, which is why you couldn't do it. Look, I get it. There are certain people in this world, no matter how dangerous they are, you just can't.

[likehandlingroses]

OUAT Rewatch 7x07 - Eloise Gardener

You don't know what's going on 'round here. I know you think you do, but you don't [...] you just have trust me when I say everything I've done in this case was for one reason: to protect you from your bloody self. No, you don't care about me - you don't care about anyone. [...] Look, I know that you feel like you know this girl. But Eloise Gardener is not who you're looking for.

[heddagab]

OUATWEEK2022 | Day 5: Favorite location ~ Hyperion Heights

[piracytheorist]

♘♜ TOP 10 KNIGHTROOK SCENES (as voted by my followers) ♘♜

#3: 7x07: Killian sings his mother’s lullaby to baby Alice

[intothewickedwood]

Once Upon A Time Rewatch: 7x07 Eloise Gardener

Yay! Love this episode!

Yep, so they basically confirmed that the Wish Realm was around long before Emma arrived there by showing this flashback and revealing it occurred many years ago. That would be impossible if it was only created like 30 years after the curse. I reckon Emma’s/Split Queen’s Wish only caused her to replace Wish Emma.

Wait, so Wish Hook still being young in this flashback indicates that there is also a Wish Neverland. We know there’s a Wish Peter Pan as he appears in one of the last few episodes, but the original was originally from the Enchanted Forest. Then again, he appeared a lot younger than he should be as well.

Wish Hook could have never gone to the Land Without Magic like he planned, unless there’s a wish version of that realm as well.

I wanna know how Wish Snowing stole her magic.

Wish Hook does generally seem less ruthless than original Hook, even before he had Alice. Maybe we just caught him on a good day but if not, it’s interesting that they have slight differences in their personalities despite their paths being the same at this point. I wonder if any of the other wish!characters have naturally different personalities to their counterparts.

Does Victoria even care about her step-granddaughter? Probably not. She just wants to punish Ella and use Lucy’s belief.

That bond he feels is for Alice not bloody Gothel but of course the curse twists things.

I will forever be bothered by the fact that the tower should be impossible to climb. That is a damn smooth surface most of the way up. At least season 3 Rapunzel's tower had crevices to aid Charming, but this is just bananas. 

For so long I thought the tower didn’t have a kitchen, but it totally does. No sign of a bathroom. Fair enough there’s no toilet but what about a bath or something. Maybe there’s a sink?

Talk about getting your hair tangled lol.

She’s holding a pan just like in the Tangled movie, only she’s not Rapunzel.

Remember when the actresses who played Rapunzel, Alice, Gothel and Wendy all went to Disneyland together? That was so cute!

From how she identified Eloise’s supposed past situation I’m guessing Tilly has memories of having a bad home life and parents who didn’t care. I know Rumple said her ‘father’ was the only person who understood her, but I reckon, in her memories, he was so brainwashed by the cult he lost sight of what was important, his daughter and her well-being. Go read abetternameneeded’s fics about Tilly, her father and the cult on Ao3. They are so freaking amazing! 

“And bring a sandwich!” Tilly and her sandwiches haha.

Victoria was gonna straight up kill Rogers.

Why couldn’t they have had some kinda vine creature or a whomping willow defending the garden instead. It would have been so much cooler.

Wish Hook and original Hook likely do have other children they don’t know of. Maybe they abstained for a while after Milah but before that he probably had like 12 baby mamas. Those kids must have died by this point then, since presumably they didn’t go to Neverland to stay young. 

Every version of Smee is so in love with Hook and you can’t convince me otherwise. Jealous of Rapunzel, are we, Smee?

Wow, the sexual tension between Victoria and Gothel in this scene lol. I don’t think either of them are straight.

Jacinda is so in love with Henry, bless her.

Poor Regina having to break Glass Believer apart to save Henry. 

I wonder why it took Lucy about 2 years to find Henry. Did she lose the book up until a few weeks ago? Did it take her a while to believe in the stories? 

I miss the sea. I usually go to the beach once a year but haven’t for the past 2 because of the pandemic. Damn, I miss the theatre even more. I would love to see the Prince of Egypt onstage. It’s one of my favourite movies and my favourite animated movie ever. And there’s a Spring Awakening revival! But I digress!

Tilly really doesn’t want to lie to him. She was about to turn back.

“I spoke to one of the runaways from the old group home.” Oh! So she does have memories of being in a group home. That’s where I got that from. I was beginning to think I just made that up. 

I know it is widely headcanoned that the notebook is Tilly’s or Alice’s, but I really don’t think so. For one, those drawings are modern, and Tilly would have recognised the notebook. She would have realised that she was the ‘Eloise’ he was looking for (as I initially suspected would happen. I first thought she was lying about her own death because she didn’t wanna be found. I was convinced she was Eloise, and Eloise and Hook’s daughter were one in the same, so this really made me question if Tilly was even his daughter). There is no indication that she ever recognised it, however. She wouldn’t have felt the need to apologise if she didn’t think she’d lied to cover up who she thought was the real Eloise.

Poor Rogers. Due to Eloise being the redirected focus of his anguish over Alice he must feel like he’s just heard his daughter is dead.

If that drawing was only freshly made, how comes it fits exactly wear it was supposedly torn out? I suppose Rumple could have ‘borrowed’ the notebook and made a clever copy.

“It turns out abandoning people just isn’t my thing.” I mean, he presumably abandoned Wish Baelfire but I guess he learned from that mistake.

Does he know if that flower can be used to free ‘Rapunzel’ as well as to trap Wish Rumple? Was he willing to sacrifice his revenge for ‘Rapunzel’?

Oh, okay, he only needs one petal.

He should probably hide that dagger somewhere else, like in his house or something.

Thank goodness baby Alice cried. Hook could have left without even noticing.

Quick, Hook! Grab the baby and climb out before Gothel can! If only he had a giant trampoline so he could just jump out with Alice. 

Hang on. If Hook had taken the remaining petal and trapped Wish Rumple, or anyone for that matter, would that person have taken Alice’s place or would Wish Rumple be trapped in there with his worst enemy and a baby? I’m guessing it’s the former as they’d have to be in Alice’s bloodline. Quick, find Liam II or an estranged cousin and shove them in there instead lol! Or do they have to be from Gothel’s side of the family? So many questions.

Gothel was straight up willing to leave her baby to starve to death. Wow. She is definitely a huge contender for worst parent in the whole damn show. The only person who comes super close and might actually be the winner if we include ouat in wonderland is Jafar’s father because he straight up violently drowned his son in a basin. I’m pretty sure he actually killed Jafar but Jafar’s mother’s magic dust resurrected him. Honestly, both ‘parents’ are heinous and belong together.

Wish Hook could never leave his child, but can you imagine if he had? He’d live a life riddled with guilt and Gothel probably would have enslaved him.

Please stop touching him.

Oh, Victoria locked Gothel up somewhere else? I suppose that makes sense since she knew people were onto her.

The Eloise Gardener mystery was cleverly woven into the curse by Gothel so that she could count on being freed when the time was right. The question is, why did she feel the need to be held captive by Tremaine in the first place? Was it so Tremaine would think she was in control, thus keeping Drizella satisfied and in her pocket?

It’s nice he made Smee captain.

Agggh! This scene! I’mma cry! Look at Wish Hook with his baby girl. Most important person in the world to him who he loves more than anything. I love it so much!

He’s so happy to have his baby in his arms. Look at Alice smile! 

I wish we had a flashback of Killian and Liam’s mother, Alice. For a while I thought Killian and Rumple might share the sane mother because neither had been introduced at the time. I’ve probably said this before. Been doing this rewatch and writing my thoughts on this blog for nearly 3 years and I cannot remember anything I’ve said. 

I’ve said this exactly 1 million times, but it will always get to me that they established in s6 that the Wish Realm was created by a wish at a time where Emma was an adult. If that was the case, there should be no Wish Hook flashbacks. And we know that the Wish Hook flashbacks aren’t just false memories that were planted by Emma/Split Queen’s wish because he actually went to the New Enchanted Forest, slept with a woman who was not from the Wish Realm and had a baby as proof that that time he spent in the New Enchanted Forest was indeed real. And then he spent years raising the baby who was of two worlds in the NEF. That should be impossible if we are to believe the Wish Realm was created with Princess Emma already an adult. It literally drives me bananas. Time travel has to be involved or the Wish Realm was there longer than we were told.

That reveal and then the scene switches to Tilly! Love it so much! 

When Tilly opened her eyes, it looked like she didn’t know where she was or how she got there. I wonder if she blacked out.

Poor Tilly. She’s so sorry and it’s because of Gothel. Gothel should be the one who’s freaking sorry.

It hurts! Hook being disappointed in Alice. Help!

When Alice cries, I cry.

Parents giving Tilly dirty looks.

Where’d they appear from.

This scene makes me feel sick. It reminds me of the time social workers took me away from my mum. It was horrible. For the best at the time, but such a sickening feeling.

Why is Drizella so horrible to Ella? Does she blame her for what happened to Anastasia or is she just copying her mother’s behaviour towards her. What’s it to her if Lucy goes to live with her stepsister? Maybe it’s because their dad loved Ella more. I honestly think Ella may have been his favourite.

[lumadreamland]

gifset per episode 7.07 eloise gardener 

[florida3exclamationpoints]

I KNEW IT I KNEW IT ALICE IS HOOK'S DAUGHTER I KNEW ITTHEGDJJSKS

[zengoalie]

[priscilla9993]

Chess Allusions: White Knight

Currently continuing a draft of some chess allusions in ouat season 7 and by god, the amount of times Gothel pulls an "always my white knight" as Eloise Gardener on Rogers (4-5 times but that's plenty). She knows about his history of wanting to protect loved ones and how he gave Alice a white knight chess piece to remind his daughter of how he'd do his best to save her. Gothel does her best to twist his good intentions into ones that suit hers, as if he can't do anything but be wrapped around her finger, but she's really the wolf in sheep's clothing. It sends chills down my spine as Rogers doesn't even know he's being misled, believing in her through the hazy connection he has for Alice, "her white knight".

Alice, on the other hand, never called her papa a white knight, as much as he wanted to represent that for her. If anything, when Killian and Alice reunited in the future, she gave back the white knight chess piece to him through Ella, implying that she's grown and claiming that she didn't need a reminder anymore because she knew they'd be together again someday, that he'd find a real cure in a way she couldn't.

I like the difference in how the same ideas are used, depending on the intentions of the one wanting to display something; i.e. a heartfelt promise, a gentle reminder of trust, or most blatantly, a manipulative deceit.

[vasfasan]

Smee: Sure, Jan👀

[dinneratgrannys]

ONCE UPON A TIME 7.07, Eloise Gardener

[daeneryskairipa]

[officerrogers]

Captain Hook in 7x07 | 7x08

+ bonus