Curio

I think you already know the answer to this.

"Season Seven: The Reset Anticipation/Apprehension/Dread Topic" Mods, you rock.

Ah, but Regina and the Evil Queen are totally two separate characters who have nothing in common and are nothing alike and are completely 100% not the same person. Except when they are...

Any Better Call Saul fans here? If Season 7 isn't a Wish Realm thing, A&E would be wise to treat Regina and Hook like Saul and Mike. For most of the season, Saul and Mike are usually separated on their own adventures and it feels like they're on their own completely separate shows, but for a few special scenes throughout the season, their storylines converge and they share the screen for a little bit. A&E could treat Regina and Hook the same way. And then Rumple can finally be the Big Bad we all want him to be and he can be more of an occasional recurring character instead of a main character. Robert is the one who always said less is more with Rumple, anyways. Ugh, I still don't see how any of this works without Emma. This all better take place within a week or two while Emma is on vacation visiting her parents. I mean, nearly every other season of this show has taken place over the course of a week or two, so why would this one be any different? I'd just prefer for Jen to be in the premiere and the finale instead of just one episode.

Maybe they'll tell vignettes of Rumple, Regina, and Hook's backstories that we still don't know about. Although, out of those three, Hook is really the only one who could fill an entire 22-episode season with his flashbacks. We already know so much about Regina and Rumple's pasts that their flashbacks would get ridiculously repetitive. (Not that that wouldn't stop A&E from telling those stories.) But we still don't know what Killian's time at the Royal Navy was like, we don't know when/how he learned how to fence, we don't know when he decided to ditch his basic clothes for the black pirate leather and jewelry, we don't know much about his adventures with Milah, there's a ton of Neverland/Bae stuff that never got covered...all of that could easily fill an entire season. So of course that's not the direction A&E will take.

I'm trying to wrap my head around a series focused on Regina, Rumple, and Hook. These are specifically the three villains who hate each other. It's been six seasons and Hook still wants to skin himself a crocodile, Regina still can't stand Hook and makes fun of him all the time, Regina blames Rumple for turning her into a "monster," Rumple hates Hook and wouldn't care if he dropped dead, and Rumple is more than willing to manipulate Regina to his needs. How do these three become a team? They can't exactly just split all three of them up and give them their own storylines for the entire year.

What I'm confused about is Robert Carlyle sticking around. Out of all the main actors, I pegged him as the one person who was probably ready to leave this show for good and move onto more challenging roles. I know he's a legend, but he seemed to check out a while ago and phones in a lot of the more boring scenes. But I guess a paycheck is a paycheck. You underestimate A&E's ability to not give a crap about their own characters.

"Season Seven: The Reset Apprehension Topic" might be more accurate.

Wow, I can't believe it got renewed. I...I don't know how to feel about this. If Jennifer Morrison was involved with next season, I would have been jumping up and down and praising the ABC Gods for being stupid enough to give this show one more year. But with Emma gone, it's not even going to be the same show. I love Hook/Colin so I'm glad I'll get to see him act again every week, but I'm nervous about how much more A&E can destroy the story and its characters. So now the only thing I'm really excited about is spending another year chatting in this forum. I have way too much fun analyzing/making fun of this show with y'all.

Is it too much to hope for new showrunners...

I've heard that song played at a lot of receptions. I always thought it was meant to be tongue-in-cheek.

Old Hook was also only in 30 seconds of the episode. It's hard to get a gauge on what kind of character he is beyond the surface level introduction. A lot of people thought Better Call Saul was going to be a flop too because Saul was just your basic "comic relief" guy on Breaking Bad, but when the writers were forced to flesh out his character, he showed a lot more three-dimensionality. But don't worry, y'all. Since I'm campaigning for Old Hook next season, it means 99% it's not going to happen.

You'd be surprised. Richard Harrow, Freddy Kreuger, Barbossa... Characters don't have to be dashing to be a draw. Honestly, Colin would probably prefer to be a little less dashing in his next role since he sometimes seems to get annoyed whenever people bring up his good looks in interviews. As an actor, he's probably itching to play a part that doesn't automatically rely on his looks. I also have a feeling Colin would dial back some of the camp if he were forced to play the character for an entire season. I'd be interested in seeing the flashbacks that explain how Old Hook got to that point, so in flashbacks he could still be dashing.

It's probably a combination of many factors. Jennifer is in her thirties and probably wants to start a family soon, and she feels like she can't do that in Vancouver. Life is short, and a job is only a job, so I respect her decision for wanting to focus on herself for a little bit and be closer to friends and family. And her decision to do that was probably made easier by the fact that Emma wasn't getting very good story lines anymore, Emma's screen time was being reduced, and Jen knew her character was going to end the way she wanted her to—with a happy ending. All those factors together make an exit seem like a really good idea.

The only positive to come out of all of this is that if I ever get around to writing my own novel/screenplay/graphic novel based on the events I wanted to see happen on this show, I can get away with it because the writers never bothered to get around to showing those kinds of scenes on screen.

I also don't blame them for wanting to get out of a show that they can clearly see they're being written out of. Josh and Ginny's roles have been massively reduced since Seasons 1 and 2, and Jennifer had to sit back and watch another actress take up the majority of the screen time for the past year on a show where she's supposed to be the lead character/the heart. I'm sure the cast is all very close and supportive of each other and aren't jealous of each others' successes, but on some level, it has to sting knowing you were supposed to be carrying the show but the creators wanted to spend their final year on characters other than your own. Part of me wishes I could travel back in time and tell past me to stop watching the show after the Season 3 finale. I don't know if three more years of iffy writing and little payoff was worth it for a 5-minute wedding.

I didn't mind Emma's wedding dress and makeup. I was more miffed that we didn't get a Jolly Roger wedding and instead had to settle for CGI. A rooftop wedding with a sunset has the potential to be beautiful, but not with this show's limited budget. (Also, shut up Henry about people getting sea sick on the Jolly. You have two moms who have magic who could easily cast a spell where no one gets sea sick for 24 hours.) Also, I was hoping Killian would wear his Royal Navy uniform during the wedding instead of a generic suit.

Are the magical shears still around? I forget what happened to them. Why again can't Emma just snip her Savior fate away?

You never know, Sean Maguire seemed pretty upset after his character's initial departure in Season 5 and said he wouldn't return, and then he got a mini-arc in Season 6. If A&E actually came up with a decent story line to entice Jennifer back, I could see her doing something similar. Obviously, I don't see her signing on for like 10 episodes, but maybe 2-5 near the end isn't out of the realm of possibility.

This finale sounds so underwhelming. Part of me just wants to skip all the pointless filler and only watch the final 5 minutes, because you know they're going to cram all of the happy ending montages into those last 5 minutes instead of spending any decent amount of time on wrapping up six years of story.

Maybe they thought that if everyone in town sang together at the same time, that would be enough positive energy to defeat the Black Fairy's curse? Wasn't that kind of the whole point of the episode? The musical spell was created so that the power of singing goodness could defeat evil, and yet when everyone sung at the end, it wasn't enough to defeat evil. But, ya know, this show is about happiness and hope.

Well, considering we'll never see Emma and Killian's actual honeymoon, I suppose it's only fitting.

Pirates are all about finding that fountain of youth... I wonder if Colin was perhaps hinting at being Old Hook in Season 7 when he did that one panel with A&E earlier this year. He coyly mentioned that there should be a spinoff with Old Hook, so maybe Colin knew that far in advance that that was the direction Season 7 was going. I know Colin is pretty to look at, but I totally wouldn't mind a full season of Old Hook shenanigans.

Truly the darkest timeline.

If Season 7 is the Wishverse, I want them to keep Old Hook around instead of normal Hook. If Hook is forced to not be with Emma, then I'd prefer to see Colin stretch his acting chops a little more. I'm already treating Season 7 like a DVD extra, so I'd rather have Colin playing an almost entirely different character than to mess with real Killian's happy beginning with Emma.