Mathius

The weirdest thing is that despite the horrible continuity with the rest of the show, they actually remembered to keep continuity with OUATIW this time, referring to the supposed monster as "a Grendel", insinuating it's a species, which fits OUATIW where the Red Queen turned a man into "a Grendel".

TVbythenumbers gives it 0.8 and 2.72. Yes, we have officially sunk to the 2 million viewer range. That twist about Hook and David's dad sure did pay off, huh?

What's worse is that this is a Jane Espenson episode...and Jane Espenson also wrote "White Out"!

Exactly. Hook is just now getting this, but it happened with Regina and Rumple long ago. If the show goes on any longer, Zelena will follow suit.

Hmmm...

As it has been said before, they're not going to replace OUAT with another drama. They'd give the hour over to a comedy instead.

He's a bloody pirate! He already has a permanent price on his head due to the nature of his career! Killing witnesses is what a criminal who doesn't want to be exposed as such does. Hook is already known as a criminal, in fact he flaunts being a criminal since that builds reputation. I'm sorry, but for a character like Hook, killing a witness to his crimes makes no sense whatsoever. Actually, I think he did feel some guilt, since he had a somber tone as he addressed Robert as "this poor departed soul". Yes...in pursuit of revenge against Rumple. That was Hook's driving obsession for all he did. What does robbing King George achieve for that goal to be met? Nothing at all. It's mindless villainy for the sake of it, and that was not how Hook as a villain had been portrayed as before now.

I said this before, but David and Hook's relationship felt like it had organic growth from 2B through 4A. In 4B and 5A, suddenly it regressed so that David wasn't close to Hook, didn't trust him not to go dark, and even would have preferred it if Emma let him die. In 5B, he suddenly is bonding with Hook again, only for Season 6 to give them yet another reset in their relationship. It's annoying as hell. This show cannot do natural progression.

True, but if a new show gives equal numbers to what OUAT is currently giving, that's still an improvement over a hypothetical S7 of OUAT, since it's a given at this point that a S7 of OUAT would deliver worse numbers.

No, because A&E don't care about Emma and don't like writing for her. She's largely irrelevant. I thought that was obvious by now.

It's too early in 6B for them to start advertising "the final episodes". That would happen when there's anywhere from 4 to 6 episodes left.

That's just what I was gonna say. We can do an arc based around retconning that David's dad was murdered and needing to find the culprit, but not around an actual unsolved murder that would accomplish the exact same "tearing the group apart" goal that the Evil Queen had in mind?

Actually, she said she isn't certain. She was still in Vancouver a few days ago, but she's going to be in Cleveland for March 17 - 19.

I've always said that Jane is overrated. David Goodman's the best writer on the staff, not Jane (although even he can't do much to improve S6.) Agreed with your whole essay. Character-assassinating retcon aside, Hook at least still has this going for him.

The finale. Karen David's in it, so I assume Deniz Akdeniz is too.

Agreed. That's like saying Rumple deserved to be abandoned by Malcolm because he would later abandon Baelfire. I don't think he's going to. Was this flashback a Regina-level retcon murder? Yes, it was. The difference is that they're going to have Hook agonize over it and actually work to atone for it. It won't be handwaved like with Regina and Leopold, or not confessed to like with Regina and Graham, or just plain never dealt with like Regina and, say, that random groom she murdered. As horrible as this retconned murder is, Hook is still going to deal with the ramifications of it in the present-day, which is something Regina seldom if ever does. Hook is going to actually have to earn forgiveness. That's where the writers' goal to drag Hook to Regina's level gets screwed up, because the aftermath of their crimes is written very differently.

Well, the season did open with him. We know he's in 6x15, so it all depends on whether he's dealt with there or not. But yeah, whether it's 3 episodes or 5, that's still a criminal waste of Oded Fehr.

I think the Black Fairy dies in 6x19, the episode named after her. Therefore, the final boss is either Rumple (if he's still alive), Gideon, or Jafar.

Then S7 as a final season is what they should have bargained for. But it's not, since they're desperate to keep the show going for as long as possible, in any form possible, since they are very likely aware that they'll never get another showrunning gig again after it's done.

Took it long enough! Rumple really should have said "And then, after five more seasons, the final battle will begin!"

No, it was the other way around - Cora kidnapped Archie as a gift for Hook, so Hook could interrogate him about Rumple.

And evidently, there are complications going on with the current negotiations, most likely from JMO and/or Robert Carlyle.

Same here, although for the most part I enjoyed 5B more than I did both 4A and 4B.

Actually, it makes perfect sense given Beowulf's character. He's a proud warrior, he would want to fight the ogres, either defeating them or die trying. To have some random guy come in to use magic is like a kick in the gonads for someone like him.

Robin of Locksley confirmed for smartest character on the show.