I used to teach English and, in the 11th grade class, we read The Great Gatsby. If I had an inkling to go for a doctorate, I think I’d do my dissertation on the gender divide (and other contributors) in student reactions to Daisy Buchanan.
The girls mostly saw Daisy as a tragic romantic heroine and were really upset that she and Gatsby didn’t get to be together. They pretty much agreed that Tom was a monster, Daisy was trapped, and Gatsby was her way out.
The boys hated Daisy. The hated her because she didn’t care about Gatsby until he was rich. Mostly, they hated her for cheating on Tom. It didn’t matter that Tom had cheated first – Daisy was the one with the problem and Gatsby died because of her. (I won’t even get into their answers when I asked, “If she’s so horrible, why does Tom stay?”)
Mary Margaret got a taste of that sexist rage toward adulterous women in “What Happened to Frederick”.
David is the one who cheated and broke marriage vows, yet Mary Margaret is the one getting accosted at work, getting snubbed by Old Granny from the diner, and getting her car tagged.
That tagger has excellent penmanship.
Because she totally lured David away from his wife.
I mean, look at her, with her coat that covers everything.
Only whores wear Peter Pan collars and jaunty knit caps.
And with that top button unbuttoned.
The top button is the tramp button.
Meanwhile, in Fairytale Land, Charming is doing boring things with his boring fiance, who is also in love with someone else, boringly. It was all about truth and true love versus illusions and lies. And, I guess, Charming figuring out that he wants the real Snow White with her faults and not some fantasy version of her that’s all wet and just wants to bone.
It probably helped that Charming knew he would die if he fell for Illusion Snow White. The threat of death trumps the wants of the junk.
“I know you want to. I can feel it. Seriously. It’s poking me in the hip.”
Blah blah Charming saves a dude blah blah blah the king comes after him blah blah.
In Storybrooke, the Mysterious Stranger gets a name: August W. Booth (quickly nerd girl! To the internets!). He also gets a date with the sheriff. And has, apparently, taken some bookbinding classes.
Did August W. Booth have the book’s missing pages? Did he just put them back in? What?
Elsewhere in Storybrooke, Regina is stumbling her way through friendship.
"Friend?"
We’ve been there. We’ve been in that place where we have to decide if we’re going to hide something from our friend to protect her/him, or tell the truth and have it all go to poop. In her defense, there was no way for Regina to win this. This situation is the Kobayashi Maru of friendship.
Regina, bless her evil heart, seems to have figured that out immediately and on her own, instead of suffering through a three-year subscription to Cosmo.
- “Screw this friendship crap.”
And she sent Katherine on her merry way to Boston. I wonder if anyone has noticed that, when someone tries to drive out of Storybrooke, they crash right at the Storybooke sign.
- Maybe they should put a light there.
Final thought:
Does anyone else thing the spy pics of David and Mary Margaret look like a pregnancy test ad?
Related Stuff:
Lisa Fary's earliest influences are Princess Leia, Rainbow Bright, Astronaut Barbie, and her 6th grade teacher, Ms. Palmer. She's angry that it's 2011 and she still doesn't have a hovercraft, but will accept a jetpack as consolation. That jetpack had better be pink with a rhinestone monogram. 
OOO! Great Gatsby, I hated all of them. Tom and Daisy were selfish flakes and Gatsby was an idiot to hold onto the image of a girl who didn’t exist. I was sorry Gatsby died and despised Daisy and Tom for just flitting on with their lives.
I did feel sorry for Mary Margaret being the focal point of the hatred, but to be fair, Regina did the spray painting and Granny was the only one we saw speak to here and we never saw how she reacted to David, so I’m hoping Granny tore him a new one in an unseen scene.
I have liked Abigail since she was introduced. She has acted like a mature adult who knew her marriage needed help. She was kind and understanding with David. When she realized the marriage was over, she briefly has her moment of rage (and yes she should have directed it at David, but people don’t blame their spouses much of the time) and then she picked herself up, dusted herself off, decided to make a real life for herself and let David know that she wasn’t going to be a pill about the marriage falling apart. She decided to find happiness all on her own without any help from anyone else. In FTL she tried to help James find the happiness she thought she couldn’t. Abigail/Katherine has become one of my favorites in OUAT.
There are no good people in Gatsby.
I was so distracted by the excellent penmanship of the tagging that I completely missed the Mayor’s involvement.