KingOfHearts

I also would like to see the flipside - a villain threatening the outside world. If they somehow brought magic to it, almost nothing would be in their way.

How can multiple realms be under the Cora-dome? We saw visibly the ground it covered. How it protected Oz, Wonderland and parts of the Enchanted Forest, I have no clue.

I know it's been joked around that Hook should get trapped in carbonite per the Star Wars parallel. What if he gets frozen by Elsa?

The Emma of season one would have nailed Regina when she was being lectured!

Emma has never felt bad for Regina, why is she starting now?! Emma, a lot of times, is the show's saving grace. Please writers - don't make her a pansy that sways to Regina's feelings!

Please no. Hook, tell her straight up! Nip it in the bud! Have some wine over it! Just do it! We lost Snow, we can't lose Emma too!

I just assumed Oz wasn't affected by the Dark Curse, and that Zelena's pendant kept her life.

I'd love to see the battle between Cora and Rumple.

We'll see what happens in S4.

What's more important is how Regina reacts to this. I hope she gets over it fast - and she will. And for the record, I never said Regina let Marian go. It could have been very well she escaped or got rescued by Robin. (And this is why time travel should never have been introduced in the show.)

You're assuming that everything Marian said was true. Her story doesn't line up with Robin's, nor the original source material. She may not even be the real Marian, but a shapeshifter to bait Emma. I'm not going to assume anything until I see S4. Sorry, I just can't jump on the bandwagon on this one. As logical as it is, this is a major plot point. And with major plot points come twists. I'm not going to pin blame on Regina until I know she actually did it. I personally don't like the Marian thing at all. Nobody wins. Not even Outlaw Queen should have happened. But here we are. The whole thing is the most contrived story this show has ever done in its history.

I agree, KAOS Agent. I thought the consequence speech was stupid from a writer's perspective. It was an inconsistency in Regina's development. (Much like everything else in her development...) Lashing out at Emma felt very Mayor Mills. The "changed" Regina I saw through 3B would have been upset, but not referencing the Stable Boy. She would have been saying maybe "I can't believe this!" and maybe storming out in frustration. I don't blame the character - I blame the writing. I hope Snow and Regina keep bonding. Bleeding Through almost got Snow an apology!

I literally giggled when I read this. If the writers ever want to break the dead is dead rule (again), that would be the best time to do it! I've mentioned in another thread that I really wanted a villain without magic - one that relied on their wits. Pan almost fit that bill. Him and the Jabberwocky would be a power couple for some serious psycho analysis. Come to think of it, I don't believe Pan ever brought out Regina. If the Jabberwocky got a hold of her, all sorts of stuff would be coming out of her mouth!

I was speaking from Regina's perspective. In her eyes, it was the Charmings both times. We don't even know if Regina actually killed Marian. We'll get the true details of that in S4.

The writers might have put that in there to make it ambiguous as to whether Regina changes or not - stirring the pot until we find the truth in S4. Keep controversy going. They were also trying to draw a parallel between it and the Stable Boy. The consequences speech was a stupid thing to say, but it was in the moment. It caught Regina by surprise. It probably came from the realization that her love has been taken from her by Charmings... twice. I'm going to wait until I see how she handles the situation in S4 to make any judgements, personally.

I totally understand Regina being upset, whether it's justified or not. She finally puts herself out there to open her heart up and change, then bam - it blows up in her face. It may not be right, but I find it's a natural reaction. At the time, she didn't even know she killed Marian. I'm going to wait for S4 to see what happens after the initial reaction :)

This what Zelena should have been: When Zelena and Regina first met in Witch Hunt, the vibe I got was that she lived a dirty, unscrupulous life in the shadows. She wasn't royalty, the people of Oz saw her as an outcast for being green, and she just felt rejected all her life. She became wicked, learned magic from Rumple, and began to terrorize Oz in revenge on society. Her beef with Regina was based on Rumple's rejection of her. The Dark Curse was meant for her, but Rumple chose Regina. Zelena's life was centered around revenge, and she thought if she couldn't have a happy ending, no one could. She spent the 28 years attempting to claim the title of the most powerful witch to prove her worth to Rumple. When the Enchanted Forest was empty, she seized the opportunity to take Regina's castle. She wanted to take everything Regina loved away to prove to Rumple that she was better. Leaving Oz in mostly shambles, her eyes were set on a bigger prize - the Enchanted Forest. In reality on the show, the core reason was petty jealousy. Zelena's life wasn't even that terrible. Meh.

Unlike Pan, Zelena and Regina had no connection besides blood. Zelena could have been jealous of any royal, not just Regina. If Zelena and Regina were actually rivals, in that Zelena terrorized Oz as Regina did the Enchanted Forest, with Dorothy being sort of like Zelena's Snow, that would emphasize Wicked vs. Evil. Some fans, I believe even on TWOP, theorized that Regina was the Wicked Witch of the East. (Queen Eva North (succeeded by Emma), and Glinda South). I really liked this speculation. Too bad the other witches were random extras. After Going Home, I actually read The Wizard of Oz book in preparation for 3B. I fell in love with Oz and its lore. I was hoping Oz would have been featured more, but alas it was only in a few flashbacks. It's a pity too, because those flashbacks were so beautifully done in the CGI and set design. Personally I'd rather have gone to Oz instead of Neverland. Quick question: How did Regina figure out the letter was about Zelena? I can't remember.

The underwhelming aftermath of the curse breaking in 2A was repeated in 3B, in that the repercussions of a major event were downplayed to fuel an entirely new plot. The end of Going Home felt like a game changer for the show. It came out of nowhere, and it felt unique. What I expected out of 3B was more of the Missing Year. I wanted to see the aftermath of returning to the Enchanted Forest. The entire show is based on all these people away from it, and now they're back. Most of them (except Snow) have been away for over 28 years. With all the ogres and desolation, rebuilding had to be hard. But just a few short months later, and it's as if they never left it. What I didn't expect was going back to Storybrooke in the very first episode. I thought it was going to be about the family (Emma, Henry and Hook trying to reunite with Regina, Snowing, Neal, etc.) working to get back to each other. But nope, everyone is happily reunited within two episodes. The only real problem was Zelena. Back in the Enchanted Forest, I was hoping for an ongoing war against wicked from Snowing and Regina - Zelena terrorizing the kingdom, sieging castles with her army of flying monkeys... that sort of thing. Even Neal had a lot of potential for an epic, possibly in Oz. In my head, he slowly descended into magical darkness as his father. Eventually, he would even enact the Dark Curse. Right before Zelena is about to win, the curse washes over. As far as Rumple coming back from the dead, my working theory was that he didn't really die, but teleported somewhere along with Pan. All that went in my head during winter break. It was quite different from the actual turnout.

I agree. When Henry ate the apple turnover... you knew things were going to go down. Those two episodes are my favorites. The actual story in 2A wasn't inherently bad on its own, but it was poor as a follow-up to 1x21/22 with the curse breaking. It was downhill after The Miller's Daughter.

Camera One, you should write for the show :) I could imagine all the awkwardness with Emma realizing she's been living with her mom. But she could learn to adjust to it without Snow pushing "mommy" on her. Can't decide which is less creepy.

Not giving her any excuses, but it was magic that started her on her path to EQ. Granted it was her choice, but she would be happier without it. Why couldn't Robin get the kiss curse? Haha. I think a mistake of the S1 finale was concluding too many things at once - Emma believing, curse breaking, all the residents remembering, magic in Storybrooke...I think the writers were so excited about all the possibilities with the curse broken, they just wanted to get it done ASAP. For being the show's premise, the curse was resolved relatively quickly. 1x22 (Land Without Magic) is still my favorite episode, but it took a risk that unfortunately was the catalyst for S2. I've wanted a villain who has no magic for a while - one who used only wits to outsmart Rumple and Regina. They both have shockingly brilliant manipulation skills that have been dormant since S1. I'd like to see that. They've always shown the most vulnerability and character growth when they couldn't hide behind magic.

Would S2 have been better if Rumple and Regina didn't have magic for a while? That I wonder. What I like about S1 is the overarching anticipation of the curse breaking. There's this big arc overhead that doesn't drown out the rest of the storylines. (Unlike Zelena...) Every episode the excitement grows and grows for Emma to finally believe, for Snow and Charming to find each other, for Regina's reign to end. It kept viewers watching week after week.

Yeah, or ABC wanted it setup more like a movie than a drama. For the record, the premiere of S2 should have focused on the ramifications of the curse breaking alone. I could think of a few dozen scenarios of what could have happened after the curse broke. We were stuck with that silly wraith episode, unfortunately. All that mother/daughter bonding time that could have happened in the Team Princess eps... sigh. Not enough action and CGI, I suppose.

They may been trapped in time, albeit just a few days until Emma arrived. But I'm splitting hairs. Just using it to get to SB defeats its entire purpose. (Regina: "I use curses to hurt other people") It did however rip everyone away from their homes in the Enchanted Forest. I doubt they did a public vote in the kingdom, because they were trying to keep it discrete from Zelena. Funny how in New York Serenade it was out of the question, but in A Curious Thing they didn't give a second thought about it. Only when it affected them did they decide to do it. They just cursed an entire kingdom because a witch made threats to their personal lives. Now if she was terrorizing the entire kingdom, that would be different. The Charmings didn't even know what she wanted, besides their baby. There had to be another way somewhere to stop her. I have a really hard time believing its the same curse, even though the writers practically confirmed it is. There are so many differences between Curse 1 and Curse 2. Blech - so much dumbing down for the plot.