Once Upon A Time: Oh, that episode. Not to say it was an exception, but that thing really bugged me too. Plus the writers glossing over what ought to be inevitable major guilt issues about essentially being responsible for the death of one's mother-in-law. This seems like the kind of thing that could ruin a marriage and while OUaT writers usually take every chance they can get for family melodrama, this is never referred to again.

It probably is true that all the women are primarily motivated by family (sometimes children, sometimes parents, always a One True Heterosexual Love). I just never thought about it that way because all the men are, too. The whole structure is very... "My origin stories' origin stories have origin stories" which I really enjoy, but it does somewhat entail some of the problematic aspects. (Other problematic aspects have no excuse, I just put up with them for the sake of the episodes where it's all about the awesome women.)