Melgaypet

That was a fun hour, if a bit wheel-spinning. Still, I think I may have to give up and become a damn shipper. Poor lovesick Hook. But if he doesn't come clean about this soon, then we're going to have words. Bad form, sir!

To say nothing of it being illegal to sell or trade organs, even if you have the power to donate them. Once Clint had Stacy's heart beating in his chest, he should have demanded BE, his house, and all his stuff back from Asshole Rex, since it was obtained under duress and through criminal means. But then, I was firmly #TeamClint when it came to Rex.

I think I may be out. I've defended Carlivati a bit (mostly in a "he's not as bad as Guza" vein), but I'm just so depressed over AJ being killed off. I'm looking at today's episode in my DVR, and I can't work up any enthusiasm at all, even to hate-watch. I just want to hit "delete."

Didn't Zelena make some mention of Rumpel's brain at some point? I could swear that happened. But plot points fly by so fast on this show, I do tend to lose track.

Re: Gigi I went back and forth on good ol' Geeg. I liked her at first, then I hated for for a good while there, but in retrospect, she wasn't as bad as I thought. Farah Fath is not the world's strongest actress, but in sarcastic best friend or fiesty single mom mode, she had a lot of charm. She and Scott Clifton had chemistry. When they tried to write Gigi as the tortured heroine in a dramatic frontburner stories, however, Fath's limitations really showed. Also, there was a hair issue. Call me shallow, but I found Gigi a lot more likable when her hair was dark and cute, not bleached to hell and cut super-short.

Cross-posting from TWoP: I thought this episode was pretty good, but is anyone else finding Zelena's constant taunting a bit tiresome? I was about to say "all talk and no action," but that's not really accurate. She has done things, but there's just been so much talking. Monologuing to Rumpy in his cage, yammering on to Snow about her baby, blathering to her monkeys, and now in this episode sneering at all and sundry, but especially Regina. It's a small thing, but it's starting to bug me. Maybe I'm just cranky tonight. I like Robin and Regina. No particular reason, I just do. And I loved Tink trying to be a good friend to Regina and getting all exasperated.

I'm all for a Charming-centric episode. I love him. And the parts that were Charming-centric were well done. But Rapunzel felt entirely superfluous. If they had cut that part of the story out entirely, they could have dug further into Charming's head. It felt weird that one (admittedly creepy) nightmare would leave Charming desperate and afraid enough to hare off on a search for a magic root that would do god knows what. I wish we could have seen his fears taking more of a toll on his life. Maybe having him literally fighting his fears in both the Enchanted Forest and Storybrooke would have been too repetitive? I don't know. But Rapunzel's story felt pointless and that was disappointing. It wasn't a bad episode. But I wish it had been better.

Oh, man. I love Billy Miller too, but I so do not want Jason back in any form. It feels like we just got rid of him! And I may be oversensitive, but a recast Jason feels like salt in a Sean Kanan-shaped wound. I have next to no interest in a non-Kimberly Robin, honestly.

I, too, thought the Rapunzel story was a little underdeveloped. I didn't hate it, but her stated fears kept changing: she doesn't think she can be a good ruler! her brother would have been much better! except he's dead and it's her fault! her parents might not forgive her! It's not that any of these are contradictory or unbelievable, but - and I don't know if it was the actress or that the pace of the story never allowed these moments to really land and breathe - I just wasn't feeling it. Ultimately, it all felt like set-up for the Charming/nightroot scenes in Storybrooke. Which was part of the point, yeah, but Rapunzel's story should have mattered on its own.

'Fucked up' is what I call it. I can't be articulate. My mind is just COMPLETELY BLOWN and my brain has dribbled out of my ears. MIRIAM IS ALIVE!?

Crystal Hunt was never a very good actress (on OLTL, I've never seen her in anything else), but she was notably less...cartoonish? with certain actors than others. Scott Evans, Amanda Setton, and Scott Clifton all brought out what might be charitably called her "best." In scenes with them, I could believe Stacy was a person. A terrible person, yes, but a recognizable human. Opposite Jean-Paul Lavoisier and/or Farah Fath, however? Like I said, a cartoon. But no, I didn't hate her nearly as much as the Fords, either. But then, the show never tried to sell Stacy -a vile, rapey, sociopath - as the most wonderful person ever and best parent in history.

Yet another TWoP refugee, though I only lurked in the OUAT forum. (And had a different name - I was MysticalGirl over there.) Hi! Happy to meet you all!

Elena is an idiot, for real. The Ewings didn't do shit to her. J.R. is the one that screwed over Poor Dead Papi and he's DEAD. She wants Bobby, John Ross and Christopher to pay, when none of them had anything to do with it? John Ross and Christopher would have been kids at the time and Bobby is the Most Decent Man on Earth. Hell, I'm not even sure J.R. is guilty. Not that the old scoundrel (I say that with love) was above that sort of thing, but c'mon, taking Cliff's word for it? He could have faked all that so-called proof. It's not as if he has a decades-spanning feud with the Ewings or anything. C'mon, Elena, think! None of this would really be a problem if the show would go ahead and make Elena a villain. But that's not going to happen. Poor Elena, she's been lied to, manipulated and used. Maybe she's a little misguided, but she would never do anything really bad! Even covering for her bombmaker, baby-murdering brother was all about family loyalty, which those evil, evil Ewings wouldn't understand, what with them trying to prosecute her for covering for a fugitive and firing her mother and holding a grudge...oh, wait.

Likability is the perfect word for it, yeah. And, aw, I liked Roxy. I thought Ilene Kristen sold the character. Although I do think they backed off a little too much on how truly awful she was to Natalie growing up and when she first appeared. I still remember Natalie telling Mitch (posing as Michael Lazarus) about Roxy beating her, in addition to the drunken neglect and skeevy "uncles." She said something like, "you should have seen the bruises!" Terrible. But there were times when the Balsams were my favorite family unit on the show. And I always wanted Roxy and Max to get a fair shot at a real relationship. Speaking of Max, I wanted Frankie Holden to be Starr's first love. Or, hell, Leslie, even. Bonus, no Cole! I'm with you on Cole's mother, however. Marty always left me cold, even when I intellectually realized she was in the right. And the less said about her and Patrick and that wretched poem, the better.

I have no idea if this is unpopular or not, and I know it's random, but I loved Cristian Vega. Like, seriously loved him, consistently, for years. And I think David Fumero got kind of a bad rap, acting-wise. No, he's no heavyweight thespian, nowhere near the level of Timothy D. Stickney or Jerry Ver Dorn or even Roger Howarth, but his low-key style just really worked. And I thought his last scene with Erin Torpey was very cute, but in my head he and Layla have reunited and are being fabulous and very, very pretty in Europe, with their awesome careers and maybe a gorgeous baby or two.