Camera One

Yes, I liked their clip about the dilemma between asking locals if they could move ahead of them in line, versus just waiting it out but then falling behind the other teams.

I would have liked that. Though they needed a way to use Belle since she was a regular, but she was in Storybrooke. So there was that "mystery" of whether she was really Belle projecting herself or not. Whereas Neal was already being used in the Enchanted Forest, and in hindsight, we now know this was actually to re-introduce the Robin Hood character to service the eventual Regina plot.

Bruce is 12 right now and he's 50. So if Batman is 25, then he would be 63. And when Batman is 40, he'd be 78. Which is not unfathomable.

Yes, Rumple crying over the Doll and having conversations with Vision Belle was a complete waste of the actor and a complete waste of screentime in general. If they planned to kill Neal off in 3B, they could have devoted more time to father/son working together and working through their issues, while Rumple was also confronting the prospect of facing his own father. "Nasty Habits" was such a waste of a flashback, since it was basically done to tease Rumple and Peter Pan's relationship without telling us, which made it completely plot oriented. That flashback could have shown Bae in Neverland and/or Bae after escaping Neverland and how he became the "Neal" that Emma met. True, the writers wanted to focus on Rumple and only Rumple and not Neal, but even with that goal in mind, they could have chosen a better way of doing it. Heck, have the "Think Lovely Thoughts" flashback in "Nasty Habits" instead. It would have paralleled Neal/Rumple with Rumple/Pan.

Before 3A, I thought it would be friends-become-rivals sort of like Dumbledore vs. Grindelwald or whatever his name was in Harry Potter.

I don't think Harold in this episode held a candle to the creepiness of Ben on "Lost". I think he was actually going more for cold and commanding.

I agree. It was also unnecessary for the feud to continue. So petty and I don't see how Penny and Emily's personalities would clash so much that they would have lingering animosity. Just because they are both pretty is so weak.

Yeah, it's totally, "Wouldn't it be cool if.............", "People would be soooo surprised and shocked when.........", and "The most awesome twist would be if...................". Watch every episode and there are a couple of those.

I remember being so disappointed in that! In "Snow Falls", I thought, wow, how refreshing that they will become friends first. But then, the next time we saw in them in a flashback, they were already in love. So you're right that they have never done/developed romance well. And then S1 was basically a whole bunch of contrived obstacles thrown in Snowing's way including Snow basically getting amnesia, Charming getting engaged to another woman, one of them being kidnapped, etc. Straight out of "Days of Our Lives".

As stealinghome has said before, the writers segregate the couples and write for them without considering their other relationships (with the exception of Regina). In Season 3, they wrote Snow/Charming and Emma/Hook/Neal separately, so that (as an example) even though Emma in the Echo Caves heard what was happening in the Snow and Charming revelations, she was subsequently slotted in with Hook and Neal, even though the Emma/Snow/Charming issues should have gotten their own episode to be fleshed out. This happened again in 3B with Snow/Charming only working with the baby plot. To an extent, this is still true in Season 4. It's almost like they do planning sessions built around a couple instead of around each character. For example, Emma as a character still has so many emotional and personal issues to work through that has nothing to do with Hook. Yet, her discovery of home in 3B was paired with him, and they even wanted to pair "Lost Girl" in 3A with him. That's why to me, Season 3's sudden shift towards romantic relationships and Captain Swan in particular has hurt many characters including Emma as a character. Since I'm not as invested in romance, it has made this show less interesting and more fangirl-ish to me. I would be fine with it, if the writers balanced the screentime, giving Emma equal amounts of significant screentime to work with Henry, Snow, Charming and the other townspeople, but they don't. And a lot of that also has to do with Regina monopolizing time. There is so much potential in those supporting characters, and it's a shame they're not used except as simple cameos. I think superficial is the key word, since these relationships have no depth. David's character and personality could have been fleshed out in "White Out" but the forced David/Anna interactions resulted in the writers making David's backstory fit Anna and the "Frozen" mythology rather than David/Charming as a character. In the latest convention, Adam said, "[With the "Frozen" cast], we just want to be true to their characters." But how about being true to the original characters of the show! I think CS has fared extremely well in the context of all the other relationships, both romantic and non-romantic, on this show. They have taken a lot of time and written a lot of character dialogue for them (at the expense of Emma's family relationships) and while it's currently a little hot and cold, thus far, it can be explained organically in terms of Emma's mindset. Their actions in the first two episodes of Season 4 does not reflect negatively on either Emma or Hook, which is a huge feat considering how Belle and Robin are portrayed in those other two big love stories this season.

Yeah, that was just weird. So it's always just the two of them in the house? Does Alfred do all the housework as well?

I don't think they will dare to kill off Hook at this point. They didn't get too much of an outcry by killing of Neal, but all the Hook fans will be unlikely to react in the same way, and those who are only tuning in for the romance will stop watching. It would be quite interesting to see how Emma responds and how she can rebuild her trust and really lean on her family to deal with the loss. Unfortunately, I think you're right that eventually, the writers will knock Emma down a few pegs and claim she is prone to the same reactions as Regina. They might pretend to kill Hook off, so they could still do this Emma-over-reaction-and-Regina-saves-the-day plot.

I was laughing too. Plus it was the "shocking "revelation" before the title card for the episode. Wow, I was surprised Anna left the show without drama. What are we going to do without the Karen-does-inappropriate-things-with-her-client subplot each episode? I guess they have pretty much milked that dry by this point. I really hoping Toni works at the firm and keeps so quiet we never see her again. I can't stand Zach. Why do we have him back? Didn't Savi already tell April last episode that she could be on the hook for insurance fraud? What does it take for something to enter that thick skull of hers? I feel badly for Jacob. So who's above him on Karen's priority list? Anna, Joss, April, Savi, her apartment, her clothes, her kitchen appliances...

It looked like Yunjin Kim was playing Karen for laughs when she started scaring April with the idea that she was under surveillance, her home was bugged, and they were watching her daughter. So it looks like the FBI just lets everyone upstairs. I'm glad we didn't have to wait weeks for Savi to find out about Dom. I'm a little bored by the Joss/Harry stuff. Seems a bit too obvious where this is going. I can't believe Karen is letting Psycho living in her apartment.

No one is? They're definitely my favorite team. That's horrible people are making comments about their appearance. But that's not happening here, as far as I can tell.

This episode had its problems, but it was way better than last week's boring episode. I still think it's a mildly amusing way to spend half an hour and get a get a laugh or two.

After he told her something and she called the newspaper, maybe he was afraid she would go and try to do the "right thing".

I think the scene with Emma and Elsa is actually during the day, but the wall of ice is just casting a shadow. So basically Henry's scene with Regina was the next morning, and ditto for Emma and Elsa on the road and Grumpy at the ice cream parlour.

With a Youtube channel, that would definitely be one goal of being on the show. They needed to do something, since this was the first episode where they were successful at grabbing some screentime with those antics.

Karen got an out from that psycho patient, and she insists on one final session? What are you going to bet that Anna made up that one on the spot since Karen "cleverly" deduced that Anna's mom called from Korea? Really hoping for the reveal that Anna is an axe murderer and she has it out for Karen. They could take clips from this show to make a video "How do you know if being a clinical psychologist is NOT for you?" and show it on campuses around America. I thought Savi's ex was going to volunteer to sleep over if April is being followed by a creepy guy. And then we could have a triangle with Joss. Oh Dom... so disappointing. Though Savi called Zach again, so maybe I shouldn't care anymore.

I think that's actually pretty common. On the Race, they're often doing things they have never done before and will never do again. There is no doubt that all teams are adjusting and learning how to use new tools and using trial and error to get through tasks, but they don't show every team making these little discoveries, and we only see the teams who end up stuck in a rut, sometimes because of the time pressure/stress, the circumstances, prior misconceptions, fatigue and the inability to think clearly at that specific point in time.

Yeah, one would think they would sell maps to the Island on the Ferry. In the Survivor team's bonus clip, they mentioned a map, so they had one.

There was some interesting stuff in this week's bonus clips as well. I was hoping to see how Amy and Maya (food scientists) found the Pit Stop after being told the wrong place, but that wasn't there. However, they did show them trying to buy food before ferry, and almost got back late due to a wrong turn and bad traffic. T&T claimed they are better at directions but did not have a map in Scotland and was going by locals' instructions. Was that the case for all teams? I'm curious if anyone bought a map. It was also interesting that the teams were able to mingle and had a campfire at the beach since they were camping and pitching tents at the Pit Stop.

What was with the cheer when the words "Robin and Marion" were uttered aloud. I'm trying to avoid spoilers, so I had to stop and start, LOL. I only found out one thing I didn't want to find out. All I wanted were some nice Adam and Eddy quotes to get me fired up to go the gym and I got that!

The firemen did a good job of keeping pace despite that injury. They would have won if they didn't over-think the word "found". Though I'm fine with them being eliminated. He would hurt his ankle further, and Scott was way too defeatist... taking a second penalty? I think T&T's baa-ing was actually scaring the sheep. Most of the other teams eventually found out calm was better. I liked the one T calling the other one out on being defeatist and being creative by creating a barrier (even though the sheep enjoyed jumping over it). Nevertheless, I'm glad they were saved, but I hope they learn from their mistakes and start to develop some skills in navigation. I was so worried when the food scientists got the wrong directions. Why didn't they show us how they got back on track? Was the Museum en route or did most teams go out of their way to go there to ask for help? This should teach teams to double-check advice from locals. I was pleasantly surprised when they suddenly showed up at the Pit Stop, though I hope the bonus clips show what happened. I liked their "simple physics" comment regarding the tool to cut peat. I don't mind the Dentists, but they should learn to shut up. Being second isn't as bad as he was making it out to be, and painting a target on your back is not all that it's cracked up to be. Wait 'til a U-Turn and I'm sure Big Mouth will find out. The female Wrestler is so whiny and defeatist.... I really don't see how she could succeed as a wrestler. I hope they are last next, though they usually manage to pull through probably because they are physically strong. The Survivor man is rude to his partner, so I don't mind if they get eliminated either. I like that the two cyclists decided to spend some town exploring the pub in the town, but there was a bit of arrogance in claiming all the other teams were boring, so I don't like them even though they are competent and will likely do very well.