o start of I'd like to say Lana Parrilla plays her so well. Lana is the reason I started to love her. I have seen so many portrayals of the evil queen but no one has given her as much depth or character as Lana. Even if a person doesn't like Gina they could at least admit Lana does a real good job; her eyes are very expressive, you can tell exactly what Queenie feels jut by looking at them. She also has this ability to change her voice tone according to whom she is portraying, Gina or Queenie. Lana is one of those actresses who can make you love and hate a character at the same time.
Secondly I love Gina's complexity. I really like a character with a lot of depth. One would think she's evil, just evil but behind that there's a back story, a legit reason for her way of thinking. We've got woman who is just as miserable as those she cursed, unlike most portrayals of the queen Regina was hurt by her own curse (the loss of her father). She goes from Disney's typical heartless vileness to someone who is actually conflicted about her actions; whilst Disney's Queenie had no regrets about killing Snow, OUAT's Queenie cried when killing her father. It's a bit hard for a view to tell exactly how Gina feels when she has such conflicted feelings.
That's another reason I love Gina, she isn't as evil as she seems; deep down she just wants love and happiness. She's misunderstood and and almost a victim herself, she tries her best to find happiness she just approaches it the wrong way. After all she tries so hard to gain love and affection from Henry; she buys him nice toys and comic books and built him a new playground yet he doesn't care. She hasn't really even shown signs of physical abuse. People get so mad about her sending Henry to therapy but she just doesn't want Henry to hate her so much. Gina is the reason he lives in a mansion rather then some foster home. Gina also tries to keep him safe, most mothers would be alarmed if a strange woman who was in jail before (birth mom or not) came into town threatening to take her son away. Part of the reason Gina keeps Henry away from Emma is because she doesn't want him to get hurt. I wouldn't say that that's particularly evil. Another reason I believe she isn't as evil is because unlike most villains she has the capability to love. The only reason her curse worked is because she sacrificed something she loved. She did love her father very much but gelt that this curse was the only way out of her misery. She was also able to love the genie; but it was one of those forbidden love cases, she was already married so loving the genie almost wasn't an option. She cared enough about him to try to save him from a possible execution. Even if that meant telling him she never loved him.
Gina had also loved Graham I doubt she would've punched Emma in the face for stealing him if she didn't care.
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