Camera One

I was really afraid they would end up being last since they were sent to the wrong place, but they didn't show how they got back on the right track. Thank goodness!

Regina will find the author, and the author will say, "I would be disappointed if you don't get your happy ending."

That would explain why they made Neal a non-entity with Regina when he got to Storybrooke, and they didn't do anything with him. That must have been kinda frustrating for the actor to play the role. Adam and Eddy seemed to think they did not need to write the situation any differently. As per usual for them, of course.

About the Snow/Regina deleted scene... I guess it wasn't as horrible as I feared. At least Snow was only going to Regina's to basically ask her about the power, even suggesting Regina caused the blackout. It's kind of ridiculous the show is claiming Regina raising a baby and being mayor at the same time is such a feat, when she was basically a dictator who decided everyone's role in society indirectly via Curse and could manipulate everyone into doing what she wanted. So how would that be difficult? While I'm glad we won't have to see Regina refusing to give up her mayoral-ship, they made it sound like Regina knew all along that Snow was Mayor since she casted the Curse. So why did Regina acted like the office was hers in 3B and never said anything to Snow about it? She even introduced herself as Mayor of Storybrooke to Henry. Though it was a positive that Regina actually acknowledged Snow had ruled a kingdom. So Snow wheeled the baby in the stroller all the way from the power plant to Regina's house and then all the way back?

So by whiting out the Henry/Rumple scene where Henry wanted to white-out his memories, they removed one of the major reasons for titling this episode White Out. Elsa created an ice barrier on the road out of town... hardly a white-out but that was one of the double meanings. Now what was the other one? The only white-out in that plot was makeup for Emma's face. In the flashback, Anna whited-out David's fear of Bo Peep? Or did David white-out Bo Peep's power? Either way, it's a stretch. Then, there was Snow White out and about at the electrical plant?

So Anna lives in Karen's building, and she didn't know this all along? And knowing this, she goes into an elevator with Jacob timing the kiss just when the doors open? Just when you think she can't be stupider, she sets the bar another notch lower. They never really showed how Joss "tricked" that restaurant owner into dumping her "old friend" for Harry as chef. I was wondering how she was going to do that, and they just skipped right over it. April just can't resist, eh? So much for integrity... I was more open to Joss and Harry together, until they brought this shoe guy into the picture. I'd feel badly for him if Joss dumped him for Harry. Though asking her to move in happened way too quickly. So Toni will seduce Dom, just in time for him to realize he still loves Savi despite Zach?

Or #StoptheRealLifeBoPeeps. They brand you by following you.

That's a good idea, though the next Emma centric is probably 4x19.

That does make sense. I don't really see it as overcompensating. Hook stayed good and did heroic deeds in 3A/3B, but Charming also personally experienced Hook's betrayals in the not-so-distant past. It is not that easy to regain someone's trust after it has been lost, and there might be nagging doubts in Charming's mind that maybe he will revert. He did turn back to piracy in the missing year. I don't think Charming feels he knows what direction Hook might go if he and Emma do not work out.

I remember one writer who considered deleted scenes canon if they cut it because of time, and not because they weren't happy with the result. We shouldn't be surprised Adam thinks there's nothing wrong with the scene. They could have had Henry later *actually* get rid of his Regina memories for real if he had discovered her plan to off Marion with Sidney.

The same way Marion is coping... off-camera.

Oh LOL. Some people should just learn the value of radio silence.

That deleted scene seems like it belonged more in "A Tale of Two Sisters" than in "White Out". The scene actually astounds me since it's ridiculous. How did Henry suddenly get to the point of wanting to lose all his memories except the New York ones? What the hell? Because he's being ignored by Regina? One message from a crow and suddenly he doesn't want any memory of magic, or of his grandparents? Then, he clarifies or changes his mind to only wanting to get rid of the Regina ones? If they wanted to do this, they needed to develop how Henry got to that point. It could very well have been his arc for 4A. But they can't just write a random scene like this coming out of nowhere, and then have it suddenly be solved, because of Charming's speech at the end of the episode? It is just so idiotic. Who writes like this? They don't want to give Henry an arc since he's young and his hours are limited, fine. But what about Rumple? This should have been a bigger moment, him bonding with Neal's son, acknowledging that Henry has Dark One blood in him. But presumably a few minutes later, he's going to sneer about how Emma might die?

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

I wish we could watch those deleted scenes in Canada. :(

So there are idiotic interviewers asking questions like this, and Adam and Eddy will come away from it thinking, oh no, we better not do a Regina-free episode again.

I guess we can chalk it up to Snow not having slept the night before, and she had just spent an hour at the electrical plant trying to get the power back on, and she wanted to come home and have a bath and sleep, but sorry, it's Inspirational Speech time with Random Stranger. I don't think she was jealous either, but not her usual friendly self. Rewatching the scene and imagining to be Snow, the whole situation upon her entering the loft would actually make no sense at all. In her mind, she would be asking questions like, where did this person come from, why is she wearing that, am I supposed to know who her sister is, and why are we trying to convince her our family never gives up? If Goodwin was approaching the scene from that angle, her expression and tone might make sense. In all the interviews, at all those convention events this summer, did no one ask Adam and Eddy about why they are neglecting Snow and Emma's relationship? If they did know, they might throw the pair a bone. But if they don't, we're going to get nothing. I guess the other alternative is they know and they don't care but I hope not. I'm guessing most of the questions were about "Frozen" or all the ships.

KingofHearts commented in the "White Out' thread about the danger of the Ice Cream store owner, presumably the Snow Queen, could be similar to early 3B with Zelena. I'm kind of worried about the same thing. In 3B, there were 4 episodes where the main characters were unaware who the Wicked Witch was. I generally find it quite frustrating to watch when the viewer knows who the baddie is and their manipulations, while the main characters are clueless and in the dark. I think it works better when we know who the villain is AND the characters find out at the same time, like Peter Pan in 3A. Of course, Phase 2 of 3B was equally frustrating. This was when the characters knew Zelena was the Witch, but they didn't know her plans and they were powerless against her. That was akin to 2B when everyone was powerless against Cora pretty much until her death episode and 3A when they couldn't score a win against Peter Pan until seven episodes in. I hope we won't get a string of episodes where the Snow Queen undermines the characters without them knowing, followed by a bunch of episodes where they know about her but she has the upper hand. I would like to see a well-planned, gradual, progressive and intelligent defeat of a villain where everyone gets an equal role in defeating them.

Much much better than last week. It was nice to have an enjoyable mostly stand-alone episode of the traditional variety without being a piece of the bigger Samaritan puzzle for once. I was thrilled for the team at the end that they now have lots of money, weapons and resources. It's always nice to see Fusco play a role, and the number of the week had decent likeability, though moreso towards the end. The new captain wasn't bad though they had one too many scenes with her.

It is, so they shouldn't have had Belle in the scene, since by saying nothing, it does a disservice to her character. As scenicbyway said, Belle didn't need to be at the shop. Nor Rumple even, but they wanted to throw in a few funny one-liners. I suppose they might have needed him to say that if he melted the ice wall, Emma would die too. Which is doubtful considering the power of his magic, but magic does whatever the plot requires.

I just rewatched that scene and followed Snow's eyes. She walks in the door, and directly looks to the right, to where Elsa and Charming are standing. As Charming talks, her eyes actually follow him, even looking at his face as he is speaking. Then she looks back at Elsa and then back at Charming to listen while he is talking. She never looks beyond to the other side of the room, where Emma is. And as scenicbyway said, Emma is actually facing with her back to the door, so even if Snow looked in that direction, there was no way she could see her ashen face. The staging of the whole thing still sucks, but the writer could mount a defence for why they didn't have Snow mention Emma. I agree about the Belle thing. I just cannot believe she didn't at the very least chide Rumple for what he was saying.

That's the thing... the longer this show goes on, the more the holes in the worldbuilding, or lackthereof, will show. Maybe the Curse changes all the data at the Power Company so that no alarm bells would go off?

That is another great fix. They could even have thrown in a line with Snow in the power plant, saying she needs to do it for Emma. Despite all the screentime they're throwing at Snow and Regina (all those wasted minutes in 3B), even that development sucks. They didn't properly develop the rebuilding of Snow and Regina's relationship at all. So if they think that's important and they're developing time to it, and that's the result... I really have no words. They didn't think Regina should at least apologize to Snow for killing her father and trying to kill her over and over and over again before they started having heart to hearts?

But the "eyes" with the power are the writers. The headwriters, to be exact. Now, the situation with the last scene of "White Out" I agree should have been caught by *someone* since it bothered on continuity error. But I don't think a director can do much with a relationship which isn't there on paper. I think they are not fixing it because Eddy and Adam don't see it as a problem? The problem is - we've seen it. But who are we? I suppose Adam and Eddy could argue we are hypersensitive, but I insist we are not. The writers wrote lines to Snow dismissing it, because to Adam and Eddy (as we all saw in the Season 3 finale), the whole "character journey" was for Emma to somehow realize that Storybrooke was home. The writers could have written a longer scene, heck, build an entire B plot for the episode with Snow trying to convince Emma to stay. But they didn't because to the writers, all that mattered was showing Emma rejecting Storybrooke so she could "learn" it was home later on.

I think the actor who plays Gillingham does his best with what he's given. I don't think the show is "shifting" towards Blake since that has always been the pattern. Throughout Season 4, it has always been an episode of Gillingham, an episode of Blake, or a scene with Gillingham, a scene with Blake, continued ad nauseum. But in most of those situations, Mary always started with Gillingham and then ended the night, or ended the episode with Blake. So this same ol' pattern could stay play out in Season 5. I find Blake way too cocky and I don't feel any chemistry with Mary. He can't compare to Matthew either even though it's in the same vein, because Matthew was allowed to be a character in his own right. He had his own scenes and a supporting character (Isobel). Blake doesn't. They will no doubt play up the differences between Gillingham and Blake, since they want to show Mary as intellectual and Blake can give her that (apparently). I can't believe there has practically been a season and a half of this tiresomeness now.