Souris

At least we generally start from the basis of the show as it is now.

Ditto! What a fun turn of phrase. "He needs a clue-by-four up the side of the head!" LOVE IT! Yeah, I'd be shocked as hell if CS gets a TLK anytime soon. Certainly not in 5A. They're dragging their milestones out. Sadly, I completely believe this is exactly what will happen and their main purpose in making Emma the Dark One. They're systematically tarnishing the heroes to make the villains look better. Belle's selfishness got Anna almost killed and captured by Ingrid. Snowing stole a baby from her mother and gave her extra darkness. Now it's Emma turn for them to turn their poison pens toward undermining. They never make heroes look BETTER on this show, so there's no way Emma is coming out of this anything but darker and less heroic. Regina and Rumple will be walking around with a permanent beatific glow and choirs of angels following them by the time this show ends.

The thing is, it doesn't really MATTER what may have happened if either Emma or Regina were a man, because that's not how the creators created the show. It's like saying, "If things were different, they'd be different." Well, yeah, but they're not. So it's all hypothetical and unknowable anyway.

Rate Once's Season 4 here. Currently at a B+.

And I would hate the idea every bit as much, because Emma deserves WAY better than Reginald. It has nothing to do with gender and everything to do with character. I'd say they're more fool's gold than gold.

That's exactly what I think, too. Either they'll ignore that a TLK could break the curse, or, more likely, they'll show that Rumple was being heroic to keep the TLK with Belle from releasing the Dark One. Because they're all about the villains actually being heroes. Emma won't allow Hook or Henry to TLK her in order to keep the Dark One tethered and not on the rampage. Now, Rumple was able to keep the TLK from working, and he and Belle have kissed since then, so clearly there must be some sort of way to allow kissing, just not TLKing. But I imagine the show will make it a no-kissing policy for CS, simply to up the angst even more.

Replying in Speculation.

Very different tones in those two books, that's for sure! I love them both.

I read hardly any fiction that has a contemporary setting. That's just too … mundane or something for me. I want to be transported elsewhere, not read about stuff I deal with or see on TV everyday. Most everything I read is historical, fantasy, futuristic or some combination thereof. I especially like if there's magic involved. I LOVE romance in fiction -- when it's well-done. Too often, though, I find it silly or unrealistic. I need to believe that the characters truly care about and are suited for each other. Sadly, a lot of the time the hero and heroine are mostly just two characters thrown together by the author in the same plot, and I don't believe them together. Is anybody else a fan of Connie Willis? (I may have mentioned her before.) I consider her Doomsday Book one of the best books I've ever read. Another fave author is Judith Merkle Riley -- she does historicals with a touch of the supernatural. The Oracle Glass is my favorite.

Once finished the season tied for 21st in Live + Same Day Adults 18-49 ratings, tied for 16th in Live + 7 Day 18-49 ratings. I'm guessing they wouldn't be ranked if you dropped off the first four eps with the Frozen effect. (I could do the math, but I'm too lazy.)

The new writer tweeted that it's six days until the Once room opens -- I presume that means when the writers go back.

tennisgurl, you better be a speed reader if you're planning to read all the Elizabeth Peters books this summer -- she wrote approximately 2.7 million, LOL. (And that's not even counting all the ones under her other pseudonym of Barbara Michaels.) IMO, the Amelia Peabody ones are definitely the best, but you should read them in order for sure. Has anyone else read the Galen Beckett trilogy that starts with The House on Durrow Street? Really enjoyed that. As far as TV, I'm excited about Poldark on PBS. Also Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell on BBC America (I have the book but never got around to reading it -- the size is daunting). And I always push The Musketeers if you haven't watched that.

I really enjoyed the Guinevere-centric series by Persia Woolley. I thought Mists of Avalon was just OK when I read it; didn't like it as much as I thought I would. The recent accusations certainly don't make me want to revisit it.

I'm going for the "I love you."

Nominations are open for the EW Finale Awards. I'm sure you can find some Once noms for most of the categories. Too bad there's not a "Most Ill-Advised Plot" category.

Oh, yeah, I"m a huge Elizabeth Peters fan! I've been reading the Amelia series since the '80s. Ramses is my all-time fiction crush. Which is a bit weird since he was born and grew up in the series and I "saw" him as a lisping child. But he grew up into Ioan Gruffudd in my head (and Elizabeth Peters', too -- I flailed with squee when she said that she pictured adult Ramses as Ioan). What's your tumblr, Crimson Belle? I'm pathetically terrible with names, and if somebody's name isn't the same on tumblr as it is here, I forget who's who!

UGH. It's going to be exactly like this, isn't it? I guess each Dark One gets not only the curse but also all the darkness & evil of the previous Dark Ones, too. So Rumple was really a hero for keeping all that evil at bay as much as he did. Meanwhile, Emma will be So Much Worse Than Rumple because she's just not nearly so awesome and heroic. I do not want this. Do. Not. Want.

Handy grid of the fall schedule!

I think it depends on RC's contract and whether he's continuing after S5. If he's leaving, they'll redeem Rumple at the very end, because it's TS, TW. If he's continuing on for later seasons, I think they'd have him become the Dark One again but not be redeemed yet. He wouldn't have to kill Emma to release the Dark One. There are many ways the DO energy could be released: the darkness-transference egg baby spell, a TLK, pulling it out with the hat (like the Apprentice tried), or anything they might have Merlin be able to do with his magic (they did establish he could link it to a person). All Rumple would need after that would be possession of the dagger to tie it to him once again. Or Merlin could do it without the dagger -- thereby CLEAVING the Dark One from the dagger. But my money is also kind of on Lily becoming the Dark One at some point.

Sean gets WAY more hate than anyone else. Like it's not even close. I actually don't think Colin gets that much, because he never engages or acknowledges that he's seen it, so they don't get satisfaction from it. Now, there's somebody that keeps creating accounts solely to tweet really, really awful things directed at him, but it's clearly the same person and not widespread.

Honestly, I kind of think JMo might have a stealth tumblr account. She's clearly a fan of the Nerdy Girl Notes blog, since she's linked to that before, as well as posting various photos that came from tumblr. Or one of her team does and passes things along to her. After a brief perusal of that tumblr user's posts awhile back, I backed slowly away and gave them no credence. Clearly way over-thought and fixated on certain ideas to the point of obsession and ignoring anything to the contrary. Honestly, I ignore pretty much all tumblr metas, because: 1) the show doesn't put nearly the level of thought into things as tumblr users do, so it's just a waste of time; and 2) if I like the meta, I'm always bitterly disappointed when the show doesn't go there.

The best part of the ep was Hayley being the one to screw it up. A bit surprising how much shuffling there was within the ep, as most of it was spoon-fed "go here and do this in order." Laura & Tyler had a much better strategy for completing the selfie task, and that's ultimately what won it for them. Jenni & Jelani wasted a bunch of time there. I also wondered how the heck Tyler jumped in front of Jelani somehow during the locker room at the stadium. Is Jelani a slow dresser?

I actually love Guinevere, no doubt because I've read a couple of really enjoyable series told from her point of view (written by Sharan Newman and Persia Woolley). She's much more likable in those than the Morte d'Arthur! And I'd love to see Lancelot again.

I believe the two years thing came from one of the fans who was on set. I don't know where they got it -- perhaps they saw or heard something that was cut. But since it wasn't actually on the show, I don't think it can be considered canon unless A&E happen to confirm it on Twitter or in an interview.