Rumsy4

Is this the sequel where we discover that Elsa told a secret that turned Prince Hans into a villain?

Every sentence of your post made me cringe from second hand embarrassment at the bad writing (even to the creepy break-up basket reminder). When this show is bad, it’s horrifically cartoonishly bad. Yeah—I pretty much have to ignore most of Season 6 to retain my love for these characters. In fact, I’m planning to skip Season 6 in my rewatch and jump straight to the musical, then Season 7. This is the sort of situation where we all see it from a slightly different perspective. We can go back and forth on this all day, and still see it from one or two weighted angles. However, I think we are all in agreement that it was a terrible plot, and most of the characters were acting unnaturally. I’m still astounded at how terrible the writing was for Season 6. While the writing for Season 7 hasn’t been stellar either, it is bad in other ways (like complete ignoring of timelines and pacing, off-screen character development, plus bad acting). Season 6 was sort of spirit-crushing.

That would be awesome! Thanks.

I didn't take any issue with Hook's guilt or Charming's potential resentment. It was Emma throwing it aside and getting upset over him not immediately telling her that grinds my gears. It also didn't make sense that Charming dropped the issue as quickly as he heard the truth. Emma acted like she was the victim when just a few days prior, she hid stuff too. Even if S5 never happened, it still paints her as selfish and hypocritical. That was my problem with it too (starting with how illogical and OOC it was for Hook to kill someone to protect his reputation as a...pirate? what?). But yeah--his guilt was completely natural, and it would have been natural for David to resent him for it, or at the very least, struggle to forgive him inspite of everything. It's not like David knew what he was doing in the AU when he stabbed Hook. But they had all moved to that stage where this kind of situation should have been resolved with maturity. I know this is TV and things will be dragged out, but this was more-badly written than soap-operas. For Emma to recognize her grandfather whom she had never seen from the glimpse of Hook's dream-catcher TV was so unbelievable. And her subsequent behavior was drama queen-level tantrum throwing completely unrealistic for Emma at that stage. Well--she kicked him out of the house saying not to come back until he had figured out how to be honest with her (or something. I don't remember the exact words). So, he went to Nemo--the one person who actually was treating him with kindness in the hope that he would help him to deal with his low self-esteem issues. But even then, he didn't actually want to go through with leaving. But I was forgetting what show I was watching. Having a thought is as bad as acting on it, and the genie can twist any stray thought you have into an Alternate Universe that retroactively existed all along. I think they already beat us on the head with that idea, starting with Ruby in Season 2, to Emma in the Wish Realm.

Congratulations @sharky! I remember reading it the first time around. I'm sure it's awesomer now. :-D

Emma and Milah did meet and Emma told her that Neal had moved on.

And I do think she recognized it and vice versa. In spite of Gold attempting to slut shame Emma to Milah, the two women ended up working together and trusting each other. I agree that the writers did not want Hook interacting with Milah in the UW (we've never seen Hook prime kiss anyone but Emma in all seasons). Which was a stupid decision, because Hook wasn't going to start making out with Milah in the UW. After everything, he deserved to say goodbye to her. And with Milah's fate up in the air, none of Rumple's empty gestures will mean anything, no matter how many times the writers keep beating us over the head with his "good and pure" heart. I'd even vouch for Wish Rumple over Rumple Prime at this point. And not just that. She had hidden from him the whole prophecy of doom after coming back from the UW and supposedly learning the all-important lesson that she should trust her loved ones. The morality of the series goes like this: the Charmings are as bad as Regina because of the eggnapping and their piss-poor leadership skills. That excuses and justifies all of Regina's rape and mass-murders. But when it comes to Hook, the Charmings set an unattainable standard of heroism that he needs to keep proving himself worthy of. However, it was wrong of him to idolize Liam becasue Liam was actually a mass-murderer. Season 5 Emma was berated for hiding behind her Walls, and her great lesson was to learn to trust and rely on her loved ones. Season 6 Emma promptly forgot her lessons, and in fact, had to face the "final battle" alone, and get passively stabbed by an idiot. I still can't get over the writers making Emma buy into a dumb prophecy of death, lose all her self-confidence, and start trembling with fear. An excellent arc for the supposed protagonist of the show.

It’s liberating! lol

That's what killed the true heart of the Show. Season 6 not just made Season 5 meaningless, it practically turned most of the charatcers into caricatures. I don't feel the same magic with the original characters or relationships, which is a real tragedy. I think this is why I'm enjoying Season 7 (at least the second half). It's so divorced from the original series.

I have my box of tissues ready to cry...tears of joy when she dies. Do we know what is Emma Booth's exit episode?

It's fascinating to hear your thoughts on all this, @XrystalPond. Thank you for sharing it with us. And yeah--I always think of poor Joey in such situations. haha

It was collecting evidence against Nick. Poor Rogers misunderstood its noble intentions. It wanted to be his sidekick. Who lives who dies who tells the story.

And has played a much bigger role than Jacinda. :-p And has done more to affect the plot than Henry. And has been more useful than Roni.

And has played a much bigger role than Jacinda. :-p

Considering even Robert Carlyle didn't have any success changing A&E's minds about certain plotlines, it's pretty certain Sean would not have succeeded at all, especially if he wanted a storyline that would be apart from Regina's. lol I certainly don't blame him for being upset, but I do think he was a little misguided in being so open about it.

We had Emma as the supposed main character, and Regina as the actual main character in the previous seasons, but there is no strong protagonist in this season. Henry is technically it, but he was just a device to introduce the new setting.

Probably because there is no magic in Hyperion Heights (except for Ana, Gothel, Facilier, and occasionally, Alice, lol).

Sean seems to have taken Robin's death a bit too personally, but considering the writers brought him back over and over, he should make an effort to hide his bitterness. I'm sure most of the original actors of the show were disappointed over the years, but most of them have put up a good front to the public/media. As for this season being absolute trash, I would say it's no worse trash than season 6, and maybe even better in parts. But these are subjective. The Show has been going downhill in quality for years.

I assumed we would get a flashback to explain where and when they had met, but with so few episodes left, I doubt we're getting any explanation beyond Facilier saying in the latest episode that Rumple was always coming between them. Which doesn't make sense either as Rumple seemed unaware of Facilier at the Temple of the Dead.

He had left Belle’s photo when he left the first time. Why? Who knows... That’s the impression I got as well. Maybe it was intented as a fakeout to the audience, but really, that would’ve been more believable than the false narrative of Rumple’s pure heart the Show keeps pushing.

Yesterday's episode sealed the deal for me against Facilier/Regina. There's zero chemistry and zero compatibility between the two charatcers. At this point, this being yet another failed romance for Regina would be the better outcome.

Even Shakespeare would fall flat with Henry and Jacinda. On the other hand, even with mediocre writing, Alice and Robyn are more convincing because they have great chemistry. I don't understand how the casting team failed so badly with the Season 7 actors. I checked imdb to see if the casting team had changed before Season 7, but nope. I don't get it. Of all the newbies, the most successful has been Rose Reynolds (Alice). The Gothel actress isn't bad, but she doesn't have the presence of the original series villains. Same with Facilier. He is smooth, but not smooth enough.

I wondered if it was some kind of temple of the dead and Rumple was trying to communicate with Belle there. There were too many skulls in that room for it to be a shrine Rumple made for Belle.

At her age (what, 90 at least by now) and with her life-experiences, she should have known better by now. And Rumple, who is like 500 now, still gives in to every evil impulse, and only pulls back from going through with it every other time. It's all so beyond played out. Imp!Rumple seemed too much like his Wish-counterpart from KnightFall. Also, Roni's hair is atrocious.

I know. That's the relationship drama that ought to have been central to the season, but the writers would never have considered making the main plot centre around someone not Regina or closely connected to her. However, in a way, I think it's good that Knight Rook is not the central conflict, as the writers would have messed it up. If Henry and Murderella had had one tenth of the chemistry of Season 1 Snowing, a lot of the writing failures may have been overlooked. At least be entertaining like Zelena, who, even if she added nothing to the plot, brought life to her scenes.