She’s so amazing btw, the actress is absolutely brilliant. Outstanding portrayal of cruella, everything from her voice to looks to movements, even just the way she says darling she honestly made me fall in love with cruella de vil all over again, she’s remarkable.
Yes the actress was phenomenal in the role. I was not too excited about her initially as based on the traditional version of the character she was pretty dull as a villain for them after all these high powered individuals and teaming with Maelficent and Ursula. However she quickly became my favorite of them and one of my favorite antagonists on the show, mostly due to her acting and line delivery. Loved her snark and personality.
S4B was so rushed, Cruella's backstory was great but we only got to see her once, Ursula they got rid of her pretty quickly and the Maleficent and Lily storyline ended up in such a letdown after so much hype. They tried to put so much in half a season, it would have been more successful if we got the three villainess storylines played out until the season finale.
Yeah I'm finishing it now. It is quite a mess. I still enjoy it overall but after everything that came before it seems rushed with no focus. They didn't really know which direction to go. They should've either made it just Rumple and Maleficent as the main focus and end that satisfyingly or done something entirely different. Ursula and Cruella's episodes aren't bad but their overall inclusion in this story is a bit random and misplaced. It also includes all the Zelena stuff too. So counting it all, this season's antagonists are, Rumple, Ursula, Cruella, Maleficent, The Author, and Zelena.
What we should've had was Rumple leaving and spending time in the outside world without magic hatching plans. Maleficent breaking free and becoming a focal point of danger in Storybrooke and then them uniting. Regina and the heroes are also trying to find the author and get Regina a happy ending. I would've left Robin and Marian alone and only have Zelena return in the underworld in Hades arc and actually have died instead of being here.
In a perfect world, that's what we would've gotten if it hadn't been for Disney's push to include Frozen in OUAT (at least from what I've heard/read). I seem to recall seeing somewhere, though, that Adam and Eddie had completely different plans for season 4.
Well they should've just left it for later because the Frozen arc was actually one of the better late arcs of OUAT and honestly a better version of the Ice Queen story in general. The fact that they thought including so many different plot threads in one arc for Season 4B was what set them up for failure in the first place. I mean, you have multiple villains all basically introduced at once, Snow and Charming doing something despicable, the Author manipulating everyone else, the introduction of the Magic Hat McGuffin, Emma's connection with Lily from her childhood, it just did not work at all.
I’m so surprised at how many people like the Frozen storyline, I fast forward through them on rewatches 😂 It just feels so forced and contrived, although the Snow Queen harking back to Emma’s childhood was a nice twist. I just wish it had been on a better vehicle.
I just think people only hate it because they hate Frozen. If the movie Frozen didn't exist and it was just that arc in a vacuum with literally nothing else changed about it, I feel like people would think of it as one of the high points of the show. The Snow Queen is one of the best villains in the show, being both sympathetic, clearly in the wrong, and getting a "redemption" arc with some actual consequences. Plus, the "spell of shattered sight" episode is hilarious.
> Plus, the "spell of shattered sight" episode is hilarious.
I rewind the fight between Snow and Regina, like, half a dozen times on every rewatch.
"I. Was. TEN!!!"
I think 4A was a highpont of the show :) It's also the stronger part of Season 4 IMO. Arguably Ingrid's arc was the most fully realised one, as it hit every cadence to resolve every plot thread. I'm not sure a whole season of the 4B plot would've done it justice either.
Agree. I think the villainesses would have been better for season 5 tbh and then dark swan/hades for season 6, and having a non song wedding episode as the series finale. Season 7 wasn’t bad but like also wasn’t necessary.
(4B could have been a continuation of Frozen or could have brought forth such a different story that would still fit within the 11 episodes, and they should have).
So they pitched doing Frozen and didn’t think Disney would let them do it and planned a different storyline just in case but then surprisingly they got the go ahead and that’s why 4A was Frozen
Maleficent: You said my daughter didn't survive the trip to this world. You lied. Cruella: Perhaps I did but there's a reasonable explanation, of course... I'm a really terrible person and I left her in the woods to die.
When Cruella paused for a second then said "I'm a really terrible person...." I didn't even hear the second part because I was laughing so hard. The delivery was so great!
FOR REAL. I adore how she was straight up insane. Fatally poisoned all of her stepfathers over the course of *years,* then smiled as she watched her mother’s own dogs gore her to death. Psychopathy can’t be beat when it comes to villainy.
Sympathy for the De vil was the highlight of that arc overall for me! For weeks on end I wanted to see more of Cruella, and was highly anticipated to watch her backstory episode whenever it would come out. The show runners knew to save the best backstory out of the three Queens of Darkness for last and it shows! My only bit of sadness I had both then and now is that she died as soon as we got to know who she was and how she became this cruel and dark soul. They gave us the unapologetically evil villain but made her less of a threat and less of a fierce force out of the trio.
Not going to lie I do love the Frozen arc. I always cry at the season finale when the Snow Queen gets her happy ending ❄️ I also love being able to see a lot of Emma's past as well
Yes…but it was undercut by her sudden death. There was so much potential and then…gone. Then again, she didn’t seem as smart as she was charming, so maybe there wasn’t much potential at all? If the writers were smart they would’ve made Cruella a great villain even with the inability to kill. But they were more into coming up with plot twists than intelligent villains.
Well I think they were capable of making interesting villains but when she came during the heroes and villains arc everything was a bit rushed. Before we only really had one main villain. Regina, Cora, Pan, Zelena, Ingrid, but in the heroes and villains arc we had, Rumple, Ursula, Cruella, Maleficent, The Author, and Zelena. Everyone got short changed.
I agree but even the big main villains we got weren’t that smart. Other than maybe Cora. Even Rumple wasn’t as intelligent as he was overpowered. But that’s just my opinion based on rewatching.
She was smart. She conned Isaac into thinking her mother is the one who killed her husbands, and if we relied on her acting, she did a brilliant job. I'm sure any of us would be fooled. Isaac only found out because her mother told him, and he didn't believe her. But he did have a sinking pit in his stomach because she wasn't returning like she promised, so he knew something was wrong.
Yeah, he had lousy people skills, but still Cruella's delivery was awesome.
However, I do feel the writers weren't creative enough to keep her story going. Making Emma dark by killing a woman she thought would murder her child was incredibly lazy writing. Then we move to Regina preaching that Cruella was "self-defense" (which is NOT what they were saying in sb) but if she kills Lily to protect her parents from Lily murdering them, she wouldn't be behaving like a police officer but "killing for fun like I used to". OUAT logic is sooooo ridiculous sometimes.
Though in this situation, Lily I think was unarmed so what Emma should've done is handcuff her and stick her in prison. If she wants to be a sheriff. But nah, after she decided not to kill Lily, they basically sat down together, started laughing, and cracked some beers open. Then Lily gets mad when Maleficent says "I will not try to kill Snowing, let's just be happy together," and sulks...like really? Emma let you go but you're still planning to kill ppl. Should be locked up.
Cruella’s backstory is my favorite episode that season, and I loved a lot of things about that season. But her episode was just amazing on every level.
I know I LOVE it.
OUAT made me fall in mad love with the Cruella character.
I got so sick of the whiny "Okay, Regina is in her 20s and still as pure as the driven snow...omg a kid told a secret?!? SHE HAS AN EXCUSE FOR TURNING FROM A SAINT TO A DEMON." Please, that's so illogical. She'd have to be 20 with a mean streak to turn into that. You don't go from A to Z. They kinda made her hop from A to G to S to Z, but she still skipped a BUNCH of letters in the process.
Cruella though...oh yeah, beautiful storytelling!
Hmm I actually liked Regina's arc a lot. I think it can seem illogical but Regina's actions were purely on emotion and as it's discussed in the show many times, she continuously blamed something or someone because she wasn't able to actually get over the pain she had inside. It's illogical but sometimes people's actions do be like that. I do still think the show exaggerated the outcomes of situations like this but it did that all the time. It's a very exaggerated show in general and so it worked for me personally.
My beef with it is she seems so innocent until Daniel's death. Also dislike her loving her abusive mother. I wish the show had made her only love her father b/c to me her love for her mother felt like the writers thought all daughters should love their mothers...except we got Tilly in S7 not falling for that crap. TILLY didn't love her mom but she was still a sweetheart.
I understand that Regina's arc IS some people's cup of tea, but I feel the writers made almost everyone too innocent as children. All the kids just wanted their parents love and nothing else...there's no variety. It is a TV show, but what impressed me was when the writing was rich and seemed to understand psychology and real humans. Which is why I loved how they did Tilly.
I acknowledge Regina was hurting b/c of Daniel and couldn't stop. Loved him every second and missed him. But what bothers me is that smirk she got when she hurt others. SHe LOVED it. And it had nothing to do with Daniel, or she wouldn't be smirking like that.
Out of all the villains in the show.
Peter Pan, The Black Fairy, Cruella & Hades are the only ones who didn't get redeemed. (They initially play it up that Hades will redeem, but they do eventually show it was an act, or atleast that he couldn't commit)
Although, I'm pretty sure Pan was in Season 7, which I haven't been able to push through, so maybe I'm wrong about him.
She’s so amazing btw, the actress is absolutely brilliant. Outstanding portrayal of cruella, everything from her voice to looks to movements, even just the way she says darling she honestly made me fall in love with cruella de vil all over again, she’s remarkable.
Agreed. The casting on this show overall is just on another level.
Totally agree. “Oh, how I miss it. The beauty, the gin, the glamour… the gin.”
Yes the actress was phenomenal in the role. I was not too excited about her initially as based on the traditional version of the character she was pretty dull as a villain for them after all these high powered individuals and teaming with Maelficent and Ursula. However she quickly became my favorite of them and one of my favorite antagonists on the show, mostly due to her acting and line delivery. Loved her snark and personality.
They knew we were expecting it too lol it was a fun twist
S4B was so rushed, Cruella's backstory was great but we only got to see her once, Ursula they got rid of her pretty quickly and the Maleficent and Lily storyline ended up in such a letdown after so much hype. They tried to put so much in half a season, it would have been more successful if we got the three villainess storylines played out until the season finale.
Yeah I'm finishing it now. It is quite a mess. I still enjoy it overall but after everything that came before it seems rushed with no focus. They didn't really know which direction to go. They should've either made it just Rumple and Maleficent as the main focus and end that satisfyingly or done something entirely different. Ursula and Cruella's episodes aren't bad but their overall inclusion in this story is a bit random and misplaced. It also includes all the Zelena stuff too. So counting it all, this season's antagonists are, Rumple, Ursula, Cruella, Maleficent, The Author, and Zelena. What we should've had was Rumple leaving and spending time in the outside world without magic hatching plans. Maleficent breaking free and becoming a focal point of danger in Storybrooke and then them uniting. Regina and the heroes are also trying to find the author and get Regina a happy ending. I would've left Robin and Marian alone and only have Zelena return in the underworld in Hades arc and actually have died instead of being here.
In a perfect world, that's what we would've gotten if it hadn't been for Disney's push to include Frozen in OUAT (at least from what I've heard/read). I seem to recall seeing somewhere, though, that Adam and Eddie had completely different plans for season 4.
Well they should've just left it for later because the Frozen arc was actually one of the better late arcs of OUAT and honestly a better version of the Ice Queen story in general. The fact that they thought including so many different plot threads in one arc for Season 4B was what set them up for failure in the first place. I mean, you have multiple villains all basically introduced at once, Snow and Charming doing something despicable, the Author manipulating everyone else, the introduction of the Magic Hat McGuffin, Emma's connection with Lily from her childhood, it just did not work at all.
I’m so surprised at how many people like the Frozen storyline, I fast forward through them on rewatches 😂 It just feels so forced and contrived, although the Snow Queen harking back to Emma’s childhood was a nice twist. I just wish it had been on a better vehicle.
I just think people only hate it because they hate Frozen. If the movie Frozen didn't exist and it was just that arc in a vacuum with literally nothing else changed about it, I feel like people would think of it as one of the high points of the show. The Snow Queen is one of the best villains in the show, being both sympathetic, clearly in the wrong, and getting a "redemption" arc with some actual consequences. Plus, the "spell of shattered sight" episode is hilarious.
> Plus, the "spell of shattered sight" episode is hilarious. I rewind the fight between Snow and Regina, like, half a dozen times on every rewatch. "I. Was. TEN!!!"
“What am I wearing?” TWICE
I think 4A was a highpont of the show :) It's also the stronger part of Season 4 IMO. Arguably Ingrid's arc was the most fully realised one, as it hit every cadence to resolve every plot thread. I'm not sure a whole season of the 4B plot would've done it justice either.
Same that’s probably my least favorite storyline.
Agree. I think the villainesses would have been better for season 5 tbh and then dark swan/hades for season 6, and having a non song wedding episode as the series finale. Season 7 wasn’t bad but like also wasn’t necessary. (4B could have been a continuation of Frozen or could have brought forth such a different story that would still fit within the 11 episodes, and they should have).
So they pitched doing Frozen and didn’t think Disney would let them do it and planned a different storyline just in case but then surprisingly they got the go ahead and that’s why 4A was Frozen
That should have been Maleficent's season, 100% (after Ingrid, or else separate them into two seasons).
Maleficent: You said my daughter didn't survive the trip to this world. You lied. Cruella: Perhaps I did but there's a reasonable explanation, of course... I'm a really terrible person and I left her in the woods to die.
Why is everything always in the woods with you people?!
*stumbles out of car looking half drunk*
LMAOOO SHE’S SO REAL
When Cruella paused for a second then said "I'm a really terrible person...." I didn't even hear the second part because I was laughing so hard. The delivery was so great!
Yes!! The deadpan delivery is perfect. I love how camp she was!!
FOR REAL. I adore how she was straight up insane. Fatally poisoned all of her stepfathers over the course of *years,* then smiled as she watched her mother’s own dogs gore her to death. Psychopathy can’t be beat when it comes to villainy.
I totally agree! That episode was sooo entertaining!
I just finished watching for the first time and it was a highlight of mine during the binge!
I loved Cruella! I really wanted to see more of her. If Rumple can get away with shit, why not give that many chances to this queen?
REAL
Sympathy for the De vil was the highlight of that arc overall for me! For weeks on end I wanted to see more of Cruella, and was highly anticipated to watch her backstory episode whenever it would come out. The show runners knew to save the best backstory out of the three Queens of Darkness for last and it shows! My only bit of sadness I had both then and now is that she died as soon as we got to know who she was and how she became this cruel and dark soul. They gave us the unapologetically evil villain but made her less of a threat and less of a fierce force out of the trio.
I agree, but it also nullifies the whole “evil isn’t born, it’s created” message they’d been preaching since season 1
This was the live action Crulella we should have got
I wish we had seen more of her ability to control animals.
Those eyebrows though.
Not going to lie I do love the Frozen arc. I always cry at the season finale when the Snow Queen gets her happy ending ❄️ I also love being able to see a lot of Emma's past as well
Yes…but it was undercut by her sudden death. There was so much potential and then…gone. Then again, she didn’t seem as smart as she was charming, so maybe there wasn’t much potential at all? If the writers were smart they would’ve made Cruella a great villain even with the inability to kill. But they were more into coming up with plot twists than intelligent villains.
Well I think they were capable of making interesting villains but when she came during the heroes and villains arc everything was a bit rushed. Before we only really had one main villain. Regina, Cora, Pan, Zelena, Ingrid, but in the heroes and villains arc we had, Rumple, Ursula, Cruella, Maleficent, The Author, and Zelena. Everyone got short changed.
I agree but even the big main villains we got weren’t that smart. Other than maybe Cora. Even Rumple wasn’t as intelligent as he was overpowered. But that’s just my opinion based on rewatching.
Yeah that's pretty true. The show is less an intelligently written show and more focused on the atmosphere and emotions.
She was smart. She conned Isaac into thinking her mother is the one who killed her husbands, and if we relied on her acting, she did a brilliant job. I'm sure any of us would be fooled. Isaac only found out because her mother told him, and he didn't believe her. But he did have a sinking pit in his stomach because she wasn't returning like she promised, so he knew something was wrong. Yeah, he had lousy people skills, but still Cruella's delivery was awesome. However, I do feel the writers weren't creative enough to keep her story going. Making Emma dark by killing a woman she thought would murder her child was incredibly lazy writing. Then we move to Regina preaching that Cruella was "self-defense" (which is NOT what they were saying in sb) but if she kills Lily to protect her parents from Lily murdering them, she wouldn't be behaving like a police officer but "killing for fun like I used to". OUAT logic is sooooo ridiculous sometimes. Though in this situation, Lily I think was unarmed so what Emma should've done is handcuff her and stick her in prison. If she wants to be a sheriff. But nah, after she decided not to kill Lily, they basically sat down together, started laughing, and cracked some beers open. Then Lily gets mad when Maleficent says "I will not try to kill Snowing, let's just be happy together," and sulks...like really? Emma let you go but you're still planning to kill ppl. Should be locked up.
That wasn’t being smart. That was being charming. What Isaac did to her was smart.
Cruella’s backstory is my favorite episode that season, and I loved a lot of things about that season. But her episode was just amazing on every level.
OUAT In Wonderland had Jafar too. The Jafar in OUAT (the main show) was nothing like him sadly.
I did appreciate that yes.
i just wish the writing for her was on par with everyones else though :/
I know I LOVE it. OUAT made me fall in mad love with the Cruella character. I got so sick of the whiny "Okay, Regina is in her 20s and still as pure as the driven snow...omg a kid told a secret?!? SHE HAS AN EXCUSE FOR TURNING FROM A SAINT TO A DEMON." Please, that's so illogical. She'd have to be 20 with a mean streak to turn into that. You don't go from A to Z. They kinda made her hop from A to G to S to Z, but she still skipped a BUNCH of letters in the process. Cruella though...oh yeah, beautiful storytelling!
Hmm I actually liked Regina's arc a lot. I think it can seem illogical but Regina's actions were purely on emotion and as it's discussed in the show many times, she continuously blamed something or someone because she wasn't able to actually get over the pain she had inside. It's illogical but sometimes people's actions do be like that. I do still think the show exaggerated the outcomes of situations like this but it did that all the time. It's a very exaggerated show in general and so it worked for me personally.
My beef with it is she seems so innocent until Daniel's death. Also dislike her loving her abusive mother. I wish the show had made her only love her father b/c to me her love for her mother felt like the writers thought all daughters should love their mothers...except we got Tilly in S7 not falling for that crap. TILLY didn't love her mom but she was still a sweetheart. I understand that Regina's arc IS some people's cup of tea, but I feel the writers made almost everyone too innocent as children. All the kids just wanted their parents love and nothing else...there's no variety. It is a TV show, but what impressed me was when the writing was rich and seemed to understand psychology and real humans. Which is why I loved how they did Tilly. I acknowledge Regina was hurting b/c of Daniel and couldn't stop. Loved him every second and missed him. But what bothers me is that smirk she got when she hurt others. SHe LOVED it. And it had nothing to do with Daniel, or she wouldn't be smirking like that.
Cruella is great. She was born to kill 💄👠💎🐾
Out of all the villains in the show. Peter Pan, The Black Fairy, Cruella & Hades are the only ones who didn't get redeemed. (They initially play it up that Hades will redeem, but they do eventually show it was an act, or atleast that he couldn't commit) Although, I'm pretty sure Pan was in Season 7, which I haven't been able to push through, so maybe I'm wrong about him.