Wild: Evil

I'm a big fan of the television show Once Upon a Time. Many potential watchers have dismissed it, calling it transparent and even boring, but I couldn't imagine a less true opinion.

Let's take a look at Regina Mills. Yes, yes, she's gorgeous, her interpretation precise and her tone excellent--as an actress myself, I would be remiss not to mention that. The character has great one-liners, powerful magic, beautiful costumes, and she's played by Lana Parilla. All of these things are important--but that isn't who Regina is. Regina is the woman who has been evil in the past, who stumbled into it like a person through a bramble. She really picked up some scars in that bramble, and they changed her--and the subtle efforts she made to find acceptance, and love, and some peace in the end didn't help.

But they were still there.

An evil character with that much backstory, that depth of emotion and feeling, is nothing short of amazing. Excellent writing. Like the other characters of Once Upon a Time, Regina Mills' character is exemplary--who among us hasn't been rejected? Who among us hasn't found that trying to be good didn't push us forward, and been tempted by the alternative? Regina has the strength to have made that choice--not once, but again and again, even with finesse...

and still regrets it. Still regrets doing the best she can do. Mayor Mills is continually buried in a sea of tumultuous energy and bitterness and fury, but love is still kicking her in the head like a knife in the ribs. She is hated and knows it, must force herself to move forward, each and every day of her life... and only we, the people who watch the show, truly understand that. Appreciate her and care for her and even sympathize (insofar as the muggle-style American can, I suppose).


Good Lord, Evil is a complicated issue.



There is real evil in this world, and it is awful. I mean, truly terrible. And then there's this other evil that humans have constructed, to comfort themselves or try to tame that terrible bit--this evil that leads us to characters like Irene Adler and Regina Mills, and Rumpelstiltskin... A unique and equal-handed brigand sort of person, with these amazing histories and so on. Part of me wonders if writers have villains purely to decide how they would handle being evil--and it makes me curious how many of those writers felt about what they found. How many were tempted, or repulsed, or amused.

How many decided that the idea that humans have made to live with Evil, to soften it, to tame it, is nothing like the real Evil in this world.... and don't care.








Just a thought.