Souris

Henry had a stunt with a horse.

I don't think 5B sounds like a Hook arc, apart from him being the thing to get them there. So far it's looking like an everybody arc to me. Last ep was Snow, this one looks to be Rumple. I desperately want Liam back, too.

I saw a suggestion that the kids are the ones Regina sent to the blind witch. If only!! LOL, Pan as a senior citizen caretaker!

Milah is a crossing guard. (Pic.) Josh, Ginny, Lana & Jared filmed a scene.

So the clock has moved forward five minutes. I'm thinking there's a time limit -- they have to get out of the UW or find Hook by a certain time or they're/he's stuck there.

Pic of Hook & his dad. Ginny, Lana & horse in Steveston (pic). Bobby & Rachel Shelly on set. Pic of them. Clock time has moved from 8:15 to 8:20 (pic).

Merlin said in the last ep that "even without my magic, I still have the ingredients...." That implies that when he was untethered from Excalibur, he somehow lost his magic. Does that mean his magic was transferred into Hook? Would that mean that Hook would then have Merlin's memories, etc.? Or did Merlin's magic just go into the ether or the nearest tree? If that's the case, perhaps he could magically be reborn or could contact people through his magic. Hey, maybe he's communing with Dopey, who will begin to make infuriatingly vague pronouncements after he's de-treed.

Merlin could only be killed by a Dark One, correct? So it stands to reason that newly corporeal again Nimue could also only be killed by a Dark One, since her immortality sprang from the same source as Merlin's, the Grail. And the Grail is now Excalibur -- it would be fitting that the thing that gave her immortality would be the thing that kills her. So I think either Hook or Emma ends up stabbing her with Excalibur (I want it to be Hook, to walk back his evil from last ep). Since Nimue has said she's a part of all Dark Ones, I think killing her would then kill all the other Dark Ones. The rub would be not killing Emma, so she would have to be de-Darkened first somehow.

They're filming in Steveston on Tuesday.

Mr Gold and Cora's trailers spotted in Steveston: https://twitter.com/okradeel/status/671531413259227136

To put things into ratings perspective, the Panthers-Cowboys Thanksgiving game got a 31.9/67 share in Charlotte. LOL! Neither here nor there, really, but that rating isn't something you see much anymore, even in one market.

Reminder of Brigitte's earlier tweets about the winter finale.

Half-hour breakdown finally: 8:00 p.m. ABC – Once Upon a Time Viewers: 4.40 million (#3), A18-49: 1.3/ 4 (#3) CBS – 60 Minutes Viewers: 15.58 million (#2), A18-49: 3.1/ 9 (#2) NBC – Football Night in America Viewers: 18.04 million (#1), A18-49: 5.7/16 (#1) Fox – The Simpsons (repeat) Viewers: 2.34 million (#1), A18-49: 1.0/ 3 (#4) ———- 8:30 p.m. ABC – Once Upon a Time Viewers: 4.23 million (#3), A18-49: 1.3/ 3 (#3) CBS – 60 Minutes Viewers: 12.54 million (#2), A18-49: 2.0/ 5 (#2) NBC – Sunday Night Football (New England-Denver) Viewers: 25.43 million (#1), A18-49: 8.2/22 (#1) Fox – Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas (repeat) Viewers: 2.23 million (#4), A18-49: 0.9/ 2 (#4)

That doesn't fit with the set spoiler line of "I agreed to come here and get your pirate and get the hell out!" Also, there's a time jump of some length between them all going to the lake with the Dark Ones and Dark Swan, and the scene of Gold cutting his hand -- they all change clothes. If they were going to be forced to the UW, I would think it would've happened immediately.

Once experienced the EXACT SAME demo drop last season from the ep before the two-week AMA break to the ep airing on Thanksgiving weekend: 4x08 (2.4, airing on Nov. 16) to 4x09 (2.1, airing on Nov. 30). A two-week break plus a holiday weekend results in a ratings drop. Of course, since Once’s ratings are lower this year than last, it’s a bigger percentage drop, but a drop was to be expected. I also think the darkness of the arc may be turning some people off. There's a lot going into the ratings drop. You can see the seasons 1-4 ratings here. The half-hour breakdown is really late today. Still hasn't come out on TVMediaInsights.

He was apparently outside the curse's purview with his mother. I'm glad he didn't die. I can’t deal with the CS angst/pain at the moment, so I’m fixating on details – such as why the hell would Merlin have created the potion for the Dark Curse in Granny’s? And why would he have left the message telling everyone to contact Nimue? Because there is ZERO logical reason for him to do either of those things, unless he foresaw the path that would ultimately lead to the destruction of the darkness and was doing what needed to be done. And how did DarkHook know that the potion that Merlin had created was the Dark Curse??? I hope those things are not simply MASSIVE plot holes stuck in there to move things along because of lazy, contrived writing. But it certainly wouldn’t be the first time with TSTW. If it is just lazy writing, then my brain is offended. If it WILL be explained as something Merlin needed to do, then I think he foresaw Emma killing Killian to end the Darkness for good. He said it was the darkest possibility that he saw for her, and her having to kill her True Love would be the darkest thing she’d have to endure. They alluded to her doing that in the preview. I really hope that it’s Killian who sacrifices himself in the end willingly and he's doing this to goad Emma into HAVING to kill him, because they’ve taken him REALLY dark with this arc and they need to walk it back. But it’s looking more like Emma will sacrifice him at this point to clean up her mess on her own. That's what she feels like she needs to do. Total Buffy & Angel.

Such as the groom who dared to get married on a day when Regina particularly had the sads.

How nice to see Snow supporting Emma for a change.

That's exactly where I think it's going: one marked SBer to take the place of each Dark One in the the UW.

TAR! After all my time in the X-Files fandom and saying/writing Gillian Anderson's name, plus being familiar with the beer Killian's Irish Red, I don't even blink at Killian or think it's difficult. I quite like the name, actually. (Though I also do tend to write Hook because it's shorter.) I will agree it doesn't lend itself well to a diminutive. Killy doesn't work for him IMO.

Whatever the secret/adventure between Hook and Regina is, I'm sure it will be annoying, because it involves Regina, and retconny, because it's TSTW. I don't think Rumple becomes the Dark One again. I think the Dark One entity is destroyed for good, and Excalibur & the dagger are split again, and they become just a partial sword and dagger again. Rumple gets the dagger as a memento and Excalibur goes back to Camelot with its citizens. I do wonder if they will address again that they were originally the Holy Grail, which is something that some people would probably want to try to reform at all cost, so maybe the parts should be in different realms. My theory is that the living former Dark Ones -- Rumple and Emma -- get back their own dose of darkness that they did as Dark Ones. So Rumple is no longer white of heart. Interesting theory! That could work. Emma & Rumple didn't get marked, I don't think, so they'd need another pass code. Perhaps their former Dark One status works for that.

That was at D23, which was in August. It certainly seemed pointed & portentous, but you never can tell. I'm also curious how they'll work in Mulan Rouge. It would be perfect timing to explain how Mulan & Aurora restored Philip's soul after it was taken by the wraith, if they had to go to the UW. But it does beg the question of how the group would meet up with them. The timing of that pic was ep 5x13, if it was indeed Once filming. If not, he's just messing with the fandom.

Looks like 5x14 is a Hades ep.

Wee Killian was a lovely Thanksgiving gift! I expect we'll get some good CS things in 5b, but it's not going to be close to 5a level. I think Regina will get the B arc as usual.

I'm iffy on the Dark Hook story, depending on how it ends up, but there's no doubting that Colin is FABULOUS! Even if the ending of the arc sucks, I'll enjoy his acting. I'm sure he had a blast.