Review: Be still my heart
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 22, 2013
I suppose one of them had to be completely stuck on romance, might as well be the one that in the webisode has an actual boyfriend (and not whatever Apple calls Charming).  Which, by the way, I'm looking forward to your story Hunter, please don't swoon over Ashlynn the whole time, you have important information I want to garner.What is with this weird passing down of curses thing anyway?  I mean, the Sleeping Beauty one was odd, but this one is just... Does it happen to her mother too?  Because it's sort of silly, isn't it?  There was a specific thematic reason why everything but the shoes turned back to rags in Cinderella's story that almost loses meaning when you apply it to Ashlynn.  It's completely baffling, especially since it's clear that Ashlynn really doesn't care.  In fact, it's interesting on its own that by the end of the day her clothes might as well be rags because she works so much in the forest and gets them so dirty.Nitpicking aside.  Oh the implication of this story.  Alright, so one of two things can happen in Ashlynn's case that makes me go... alright, someone didn't think this through and has to be intentionally cruel or the most removed person possible.  Because let's look at what has to happen for Ashlynn to get her story.  Her mother has to die.  Now, in Grimm, her father doesn't have to die, he just has to become the usual short sighted, not paying attention to his daughter sort of man.  Which so far I can buy.  We don't meet him, he seems more interested in being eco-friendly and throwing balls then spending time with his daughter.  Fine.But how are they going to make sure that the original person dies in time for the story to make sense.  Because, I'm sorry, but Ashlynn already has her own store.  Her stepmother starts trying to push her around, she could move out of the house and just survive on the money she made from her shop. The older she gets, the less sense this situation gets.  It goes back to some of my earlier observations.  Thematically, this story means less and less as she gets older and especially since Ashlynn is in a society where she can support herself.  In Cinderella, she was young and made a servant by her stepmother and was trapped in that situation.  It made her miserable, but she continued to be the best person she could be under the circumstances.  A fifty year old woman who has stayed single because she was supposed to be some beautiful princess at a ball makes no sense.  It makes less sense why she would still be living with her parents when she makes her own income.So yeah, I guess what bugs me most about this, is even though Ashlynn is a reluctant Royal, she is still considered a Royal.  Maybe her mom is pressuring her to be.  But let's bring another thing to the forefront.  Ashlynn is in her second year in high school.  During high school I grew to hate hallmark and Lifetime movies that portrayed death in that way that makes you cry and forces tears out of you in that manipulative way.  Why?  Because at that point we were all obsessed with death in our own way.  And it wasn't just others, it was in ourselves too.  Most of my friends expressed it either in being reckless and trying to defy death and give it the middle finger as it were, by trying to completely embrace it and obsessing over death, or by trying to completely forget about its existence.What I'm trying to say is that Ashlynn must realize her daughter will also be the next Cinderella, and in order for that to happen she has to die.  And let's go with the second version where in order for the story to go on, Cinderella has to die by some means, by taking a poison or something so her daughter can be a queen in a reasonable amount of time.  Ashlynn then would have to realize that she would have to do something similar and this would completely affect her as a person.  Now it could be she's just trying to forget it and not think about it, but in that case I would think she would be more focusing on being true to her fairy tale.  Or it could be that her love for someone that isn't a prince is the way she is subconsciously rebelling against the fact that she will one day have to die before she grows old in order for her daughter to have her happily ever after.So Ashlynn was a fun mind twist.  As always, I'm reviewing the story based on questions it raises, the characters it starts to flesh out, and the world it hints at not on it as a story.  Because it is not a true story, it is a teaser.