I don’t know what to think anymore. I think that’s the point?!

Jaspenor: Hot and sweet as usual, but Jasper’s stressing about Len sneaking out and not telling him why (random acts of kindness, I presume?) I like that he came clean to her about his dad. I loved their wake up scene, and then her stroking his stubble while he was brooding over his daddy issues... super sexy. Keep it coming. That’s the quality content I watch for.

Wobert: I hate myself for loving them but it’s too perfect and her eyes are so amazing. I can’t believe he just kissed her and popped the question all in one day. I just can’t shake the feeling that once I’m fully invested it’s all going to go to hell. Please don’t break my angel Willow’s heart. She’s too pure.

Liam and Kathryn... awkward but the heart wants what the heart wants, I guess. I just wish she would have chosen him when she had the chance because now it’s weird.

Was that Sebastian that Helena woke up with?

These two are really fucking with my head. Because on the surface, their interactions are really sweet and beautiful. They are both super attractive. Willow is gorgeous and smart and witty and would honestly be a perfect queen. Robert has been charming and attentive with her... and I love to stare at gifsets of them. It seems like a perfect fairytale love story...

So I really WANT to ship it...

But I’ve made no secret of the fact that I think Robert is a bad dude. Cold. Calculating. Ruthless. Possibly a narcissistic sociopath. At the very least, a real asshole sometimes who takes paybacks to a brutal level, gets offended easily, and throws his power and position in people’s faces (like Beck did to Jasper... remember he and Robert were besties?)

I mean... Liam and Katherine were not that out of bounds for pursuing a relationship with each other when they both believed that Robert was dead. When he came back, and Katherine chose Robert, they didn’t tell him because they were trying to spare his feelings after his traumatic ordeal. But Robert took it so personally that he devised a complex and disgusting plan to publicly lead on and hurt and shame the woman he supposedly loved. That’s not love; that’s possession.

I could go on, but bottom line, this guy is problematic.

So I think there are two possibilities here:

A) The writers will try to redeem Robert, largely through the Willow/Robert relationship. It appears to me that he does have genuine feelings for her. If Jasper’s character was redeemable after the way he started out, it’s possible that Robert’s is too. I would like this possibility because it would mean that Willow doesn’t get her heart smashed. But remember that Jasper had to go through a lot of pain and suffering and groveling to be forgiven by Len and accepted by (some of) the audience of the show. Where is Robert’s growth arc? Everything seems to be going easily in his favor, so what would cause positive growth?

B) The other option is that Willow is a another piece on Robert’s chess board, one that he wants, and has a use for in his grand scheme, he is using his charm and cunning to woo her - the elephant, the noodles, the music box... it’s all very planned and intentional, and either the work of a man who is genuinely interested and caring and attentive, or one who knows how to win a woman over for his own purposes. The question is, what will he do once she is his? What part does she play in his master plan, and will it be one that she likes? Will she find herself hurt, betrayed or controlled? I think this is also a very likely possibility.

Let’s not forget one thing: Willow was Liam’s friend first. And Willow started #kingliam. That is how she got hired in the castle to begin with. So this is a girl who was both romantically interested in Liam, and started a national movement promoting him as prospective king. Robert knows this and has a real issue with people threatening his position, even apparently when he is presumed dead. He also has a real issue with Liam and regularly reminds him of his place (Sparrow). How does this information about Willow sit with Robert? He hasn’t forgotten her origins in the castle. Will he make her fall in love with him, sleep with her, and dump her the way he did what th Katherine?

Look, Liam is a mess, and the show and everyone in it is trying to make him look crazy right now, but he is he actually wrong about Robert?

From the very beginning of the show, Liam has been “Simba” the reluctant prince, the underdog, the guy who isn’t ready to be king but goes on journey to become the people’s king. I don’t think that storyline has been abandoned just because he’a being an idiot right now. That’s part of his growth arc. And if we look at it from a series-long storytelling perspective, I can’t imagine the writers saying, “Actually the guy who was supposed to be king in the first place is back and he’s a good dude now and he’s got the girl and that’s that.” This is the middle of the story, not the end. Liam and Len are the protagonists, not Robert. He is an antagonist in this story. Which means he either has to change or he has to lose. Otherwise it will be exceedingly unsatisfying.

Okay, this is scattered but these are my thoughts and I would love to hear yours provided that you can acknowledge that these characters are complex and multi-dimensional as opposed to just blindly defending someone’s actions to paint them as perfect. Except Willow. She is actually perfect.