RolloTomasi

If there was one good thing to come out of Emma not being in season seven, it’s that I never had to hear the word “walls.”

Well, we did just have WHook thank Rumple for not doing something awful and then become friends. That’s pretty par for the course with this show.

I don’t think there was anything Sean could have said to possibly improve his character because improving Robin Hood didn’t fall in line with that A&E wanted. Robert Carlyle couldn’t minimize Golden Queen even though it retconned Rumple and Regina’s previous relationship and was super detrimental to Rumbelle because that’s what A&E wanted (even though it added a weird Oedipus angle to the whole thing, blech). Lana was able to get them to change the Regal Believer relationship (and get a love interest) because they wanted Regina to have all the things anyway so why not. That fell in line with their vision. Somewhere along the line in s5 they decided Regina’s main relationship would be with Zelena, and once that was decided Robin Hood - and Sean - were dead weight to them. That’s how we ended up with six episodes of Robin in the forest doing nothing and then he’s dead.

Personally I can’t get too excited about what Sean said because it has nothing to do with season 7 and everything to do with something that happened two seasons ago. At this point, it’s old.

A&E’s personal motto.

It’s been annoying how bad the writers have been at writing a Big Moment. I always end up thinking about Buffy. While Buffy was the main focus driving the action, everyone had a part in their season finale showdowns. Willow was needed for some spell, Spike could take on some demon, Xander and Giles would help get people to safety and defend them...no one was left out. In this show, everyone stands frozen on Main Street while one person fights and they call it the Final Battle. It’s lame.

I thought Jen knew? For some reason I recall Jen saying she knew all along and that Colin was told early on Hook was immortal, and guessed he was a Dark One.

Rumple and Cora did know each other before Regina was born. It’s been a while since I rewatched, but I think Rumple wanted Cora to run away with him? And instead she married the king’s son so her daughter (not yet born) would be queen one day? And then Rumple didn’t meet Regina until just before her wedding to Leopold, where Rumple learned who she was and decided to train her? I’m fuzzy on the specifics, but I do remember Cora being alarmed in Queen of Hearts whenever she found out Regina was casting the curse. The fan speculation was there because Bobby and Rose McGowan reeeaaalllyy played up the sexual attraction between Cora and Rumple. And, of course, everybody needs to be related to everybody on this show. (And now I’m even more grossed out by Golden Queen than I already was.)

Since episode 20 is supposed to be a big Regal Believer episode (blech), and episode 20 is usually when the writers wrap up their season arc (because why carry a story through to the end when you can tack on something unrelated?), what are the odds there’s a RB TLK to break the curse and copy parallel season one? Asking for a gambling friend.

It also doesn’t make sense because Hook had the scar in Good Form, The Crocodile, The Brothers Jones, Straight on Til Morning...basically every flashback the two shared since they would have occurred before the timelines diverged.

My point was, if Disney’s bottom line was hurting because of the show they would have stepped in. It wasn’t, so they didn’t. Look at how protective the company has been over the new Star Wars movies. Rewrites and reshoots and changing directors midstream. As you pointed out, Disney is very protective of what’s theirs. They’re not afraid to step in if they feel it’s necessary. If they felt their IP were being negatively effected by the show, financially or just by reputation, they would have done something about it. I just don’t think Once has been that important to Disney. Sorry.

I think in terms of the Disney empire, this show was small potatoes. It made them some extra cash for a period of time, but nothing particularly consequential. The company has franchises worth billions of dollars, the most successful theme parks in the world, and tv shows that have changed the television landscape. Once is/was a niche fantasy show that peaked five years ago. Disney didn’t need Once. The show had no lasting or damaging effect on Disney’s IP. It wasn’t relevant enough. No one was confusing poor, misunderstood Regina with the actual iconic Evil Queen from Snow White. No one who saw the live action BatB walked in saying “Isn’t Belle the abuse victim from that tv show?” (Frozen was the exception, not the rule.) Frankly, I’m thinking A&E started desperately putting in some Disney Easter eggs hoping the company would jump back onboard. There’s no other way to explain Hades’ blue flame hair or Madame Leota or anything Aladdin or Merida related. Personally, I would have preferred more Disney involvement. They run a tight ship. A&E ran an asylum. I just don’t think Disney cared all that much.

That’s what bothered me about the Dark Hook twist. Yes, it was interesting and yes, Colin was amazing. But literally nothing in the earlier episodes hinted at that. And it would have been so easy! Throw in a line about Hook not sleeping well, or have him lose his temper and something breaks or whatever. Instead, we get nothing in the writing and they don’t even inform the actor so he can, you know, act. It was a cool twist that you didn’t see coming, but GOOD writers would have put the breadcrumbs in so the audience could connect the dots after the fact. As with everything, A&E instead went with the most inorganic way to tell that story. (Zelena-as-Marian is another, but I’m also pretty confident they came up with that to combat the negative response to OQ crypt sex.)

No, no. This is Once Upon a Time. They’ll get their memories back in episode 20, that story will be wrapped up and never mentioned again, and the final two episodes will have nothing to do with the preceding twenty episodes. What better way to honor the series?

Eddy seems oddly determined to set fire to the one thing that gives him any good will. Original cast? Boring! Storybrooke? Lame! Longtime fans? Get out of here, idiots! Genius at work! Weird strategy, but I’m not a master storyteller so what do I know.

No, because Wish Cake isn’t real. Wish Cupcakes, however, are definitely real and are now out for revenge.

Does Wish Cake have its own backstory independent of Cake’s backstory?

WIth Jared back for a Super Special Regal Believer episode, I wonder if we get a passing mention of his other mother, Amy Swain.

Quality of the actual writing aside, at the end of the day A&E are bad showrunners. The joke is that they get as far as “wouldn’t it be cool if...” and then stop there, but that’s not the entire problem. The problem is they have way too many of these “cool” ideas and then throw them all into the show, all at once, before getting bored and moving on to something new. Instead of a coherent thread running through a season, we get Land of Untold Stories/Evil Queen/Black Fairy/Savior Mythology/Aladdin/Final Battle, all done poorly because there’s too much going on. A good showrunner would throw most of those “cool” ideas out and go with two or three, and actually be invested in the execution. It’s pretty telling that the tightest season storytelling-wise was done with the help of Damon Lindelof. (I mean, the writing is bad too, obviously.)

I’ve been following this thread but had to jump in with the talk of 2010. Aah, 2010. While there was no judging conspiracy in the men’s what followed was the most hilarious display of poor sportsmanship I have ever seen, with Plushenko essentially questioning Evan’s manhood by not doing a quad and awarding himself a platinum medal. I think he (or maybe it was the Russian Skating Federation or whatever) wanted to protest the results and launch an investigation. Everyone else basically ignored this nonsense What’s funnier is that if you look at the programs now, side by side, and ask any random person on the street which one was the gold medal winning routine, absolutely nobody would pick Plushy. Even with the (shaky) quad, he was nowhere near Evan that night.

I quite like Lindsey Vonn, so I may not have the best perspective, but I don’t think this is it. This dislike dates back to the 2010 Olympics. If I remember correctly, back then Julia Mancuso made some snarky comment about Vonn being the only skier getting any media attention. She definitely was featured very heavily by NBC then, as she is here, and that seems to automatically breed contempt. Add to that the attention she got by dating Tiger Woods for a few years, and I’m sure people just label her as the media’s Anointed One and hate her for that. Her thoughts on the president may add to that, but the dislike has been there for awhile. Like I said, I like Lindsey. She’s elite in her sport, she doesn’t make excuses for when she loses, she doesn’t badmouth her competitors, and she seems like a nice person. The media focus isn’t her fault. And after missing out on Sochi the way she did, it’s great to see her back.

My big problem with Lana has been how absolutely tone deaf (either knowingly or not - neither is good) she has been while her cast mates have been swept up in Twitter dramas, many times in her name. Jen was getting mercilessly bullied and having all kinds of names thrown at her for liking the CS tea a fan made? Lana posts the SQ sweater picture that same day (also the last time those two took a picture together, if anyone is interested). Christie Laing is getting mercilessly bullied because Marian is alive? Lana responds positively to a fan wishing Marian dead. Sean is being slammed with awful rumors that could affect his career? Lana says nothing - until her name is directly dragged into it. Is she responsible for her fans’ actions? No, but she damn well knew how they would react and go running to the writers and her costars. Add on the amount of times she has thrown her costars’ characters under the bus (saying Emma deserves being yelled at, that the Swan Believer storyline was anti-adoption, telling a room full of SQ who already worship her she would talk to A&E about SQ, knowing damn well it’ll never happen) and yeah, I get the picture of someone far more concerned with being the Queen Bee than anything else. This year, and the near daily tongue baths she got from A&E and the new cast, and that absurd article about her she “set the tone” for the reboot, and now the directing gig, only further convinced me of that. As for Lana and Jen, look. They filmed their final scenes on separate days. They won’t appear at cons on the same day. They’re never in on-set photos together. When Jen posted a congrats message for Lana for winning a Teen Choice Award, it was a four year old picture that was first in a google search. Lana’s own agent publicly badmouthed Jen. Jen ignored Lana when the both attended ABC upfronts a couple of years ago. I don’t think it’s wild speculation to say they don’t get along.

As someone who loved season one Mary Margaret, I protest! Even Season One Mary Maragaret had more of a backbone with Regina than Snow had in later seasons. She also had storylines (dumb ones, but actual, story-progressing storylines) and a real relationship with Emma. Mary Margaret was waaaaaaay better than Snow the last few years.

What, you’re not excited by Regina’s EF bondage outfits or WHook’s iconic jeans-and-t-shirt? That’s odd.

If they do bring in Madame Leota from the Haunted Mansion I look forward to the inevitability of the source material having a more developed and logical backstory that whatever fresh hell “twist” A&E come up with. That would actually be hilarious.