Joanh23

So what I loved: all the CaptainSwan scenes - Emma definitely would have invited Hook in for a night cap if her parents weren't there! all the family Charming feels - it was great seeing everyone so comfortable with each other & I love how Emma turns into a teenager when she's around them and how she was embarrassed when David was offering to drive - she couldn't get out of there quick enough I can't believe Regina is ok with Henry going to work undercover for Gold, and I was really surprised when he used Neal as a way to persuade Gold to allow him to work there - that was a very cold move Henry! And you just know that Henry is going to find something he shouldn't in the shop and it will blow up in their faces. I'm also curious to see how Emma reacts when she finds out. There had to be some angst coming for Emma/Hook - I hope Hook tells Emma about his deal with Gold quickly but I have a feeling this storyline will run all the way through this half of the season. Gold really is going full on evil again - I think why I'm struggling with it a bit is that we've never seen him full on Rumple in Storybrooke it's always been in flash backs and he's the imp. Even in S1 when he was manipulating events it was all to help Emma break the curse whereas now if he thought he'd get away with it he'd try and put Emma in the hat. I'm curious to see where this will all end...

I think when they started the series, Bae was going to be Rumple's happy ending, but then when the fandom went crazy for Belle and Rumple in Skin Deep (which A&E admitted totally caught them by surprise), they changed their minds and decided that Belle would be Rumple's happy ending. The problem is they don't know how to write for that story - Belle has been written so badly that at this stage I don't really care what happens to her.

My take on Rumple is that part of the reason why A&E decided to kill off Neal is that they wanted Rumple to go evil again. Bae/Neal was the reason why Rumple did everything from the moment he abandoned him to go through the portal. One of my favorite things about Neal was that he wasn't afraid to call out Rumple on his s**t. Rumple knew that once Neal was back if he didn't do the right thing that Neal would leave and never see or talk to him again, so he had to change for him. Whereas if you take Belle - she just forgives Rumple all the time - no matter how mad she gets she always returns so at this stage I think Rumple believes he can do anything and Belle will forgive him (which I think he's right about). I think with Neal gone Rumple has no real motivation to change. He may love Belle, but he doesn't love her enough to change….

well what I hated in Bleeding Through was the the way they portrayed Eva telling Leopold that Cora was pregnant with another mans child as an evil action. What Cora tried to do was pretty bad, so I don't really have too much sympathy for her, but Eva basically did the right thing and she's being lambasted for it by her own daughter.

"I hate that the show is clearly wanting us to want Robin and Regina together and not care about his wife, who was executed in one timeline for defending Snow's life, and now is considered excess baggage to Outlaw Queen" This is my biggest issue with bringing Marian back the way they did - what was the point in showing that Regina killed Marian in the past if we're not going to see Robin react to it when he finds out! It has the potential to be a really good story line but instead it just makes me really mad when it's completely glossed over.. I loved all the Emma/Charming & Emma/Hook scenes - I am very excited to find out how Emma and the Snow Queen are connected, the way Elizabeth Mitchell played it I really think she was surprised to see Emma in the forest and I don't think she knew Emma was in Storybrooke - which makes me wonder if Rumple brought her to Storybrooke for some reason - they definitely know each other and I feel like Rumple is being more like S1 Rumple i.e. before he knew Belle was alive and his focus was on finding Bae.