S03.E12: New York City Serenade

[Tara Ariano]

Hook heads to New York City and tries to get Emma to recapture her memories of her friends and family, who are now in dire trouble back in Fairy Tale Land.

Here's what Adam Grosswirth wrote about it.

[ApathyMonger]

So Emma totally had sex with a flying monkey, right? That's a thing that happened?

It was good to see Aurora again, though I was disappointed Mulan wasn't with the Merry Men. I guess Jamie Chung is still busy on that NBC magic girl show.

[formerlyfreedom]

It was awesome to see Christopher Gorham here as Walsh, and I was totally unspoiled, so when he said he was sorry Emma drank the potion, there was a definite exclamation from this living room. And yep, I'm guessing she totally did it with a flying monkey!

Nice to see the show back - can I just say how HAPPY I am that they didn't do the ole 'no one remembers what happened in Storybrooke' storyline? I was so happy when David remembered Emma, and I think this will make it much more interesting - in essence, they have the chance to turn Season 1 on it's ear, since everyone will believe EXCEPT Henry!

And my, but it was nice to see Killian back on my screen - 'Why are you dressed like that?' 'Why are YOU dressed like THAT?' Adorable.

[ApathyMonger]

I was disappointed they went with another curse again so soon. I guess the B-stories for the rest of the season will be flashbacks to the missing year in FTL, like in Lost Season 4. I wouldn't be surprised if this curse turns out to be Regina yet again.

[lashaffe]

Very pleased with the return episode. Does anyone else find amnesia Henry far less annoying? Anyways, glad to have Hook, Charming, the randomly cravat wearing Neal back on Sunday night. Okay, fine. I am happy to have the ladies back too, but a girl has to have her priorities. ;) I really hope this is not the last we have seen of Chris Gorman. It seems like such a waste to use him in only one episode and then turn him into a monkey. 

I am also excited about the Robin Hood / Regina fight and flirt that is about to commence. Been looking forward to it since they teased it in the Tinkerbell episode this fall.

Bring on the crazy Disney tie ins and horrible green screen work! (See Aurora and Phillip running away from the purple curse cloud.)

[daxx]

Does anyone else find amnesia Henry far less annoying?

Yes ,I like cursed Henry a lot more. I hope he keeps a bit of the snark once he gets his memories back.

[justmythoughts]

Just like the other episode, this had a speech from Emma as "I am a savior, there is no rest, no safety". 

I understand her point of view, but it seems like A&E lately agree with that.

Spoiler

Since we can have no happy momrnts, it is all pain, dark, sorrow... This show used to have nice conversations, snarky but fun interactions. 

Now it is all bad and difficult and rushed. I missed those happy CS moments, parents and daugter... Between underworld and Robins death and Henry stupid idea of destroying magic and the Regina pity parade... There is too much and too little. 

In comparison to now (S5) the previous seasons are full of good moments, treasured conversations. Emma knows nothing.

[KingOfHearts]

This episode has a very different feel to it. At least in the present. There's a realism that gives it an extra level of sophistication. I like how they handled Emma believing and her reactions to Hook. It's not amazing, but it's a very intriguing opener to the arc. It was the first episode I watched live.

Edited May 24, 2016 by KingOfHearts

[Camera One]

If they hadn't gone to Storybrooke by the end of the episode, it would have been fun to see a second episode in NYC, where Emma is having weird visions, where she goes to the grocery store and Granny is on checkout, and she goes to the bank and Snow's behind the counter, etc.

[KingOfHearts]

On 5/24/2016 at 6:55 PM, Camera One said:

If they hadn't gone to Storybrooke by the end of the episode, it would have been fun to see a second episode in NYC, where Emma is having weird visions, where she goes to the grocery store and Granny is on checkout, and she goes to the bank and Snow's behind the counter, etc.

It might have been too much of a retread, but I wondered what it would have been like if an unbelieving Emma went to Storybrooke. She would get some very weird vibes with everyone acting like they know her. I'd like to see her reaction to seeing magical shenanigans going on. Of course that would only last one episode tops before it got tedious.

Edited May 26, 2016 by KingOfHearts

[Shanna Marie]

It think it would have been most fun to have more time in New York around Hook before Emma finally took the potion, getting some real fish-out-of-water stuff with him. At first, she might have just read it as him being kind of weird, but then the more time she spent with him, the more he seemed to know her even though she didn't remember him, and the more he truly seemed to not understand things about her world, so she started to believe his wacky story, especially with the evidence she found at Neal's apartment and the photos.

Or maybe even if he convinced her to go to Maine before she took the potion, and she was only doing it to prove him wrong, until she got there and it was just as she said, and that was what drove her to take the potion.

Anything other than resetting everything but Henry's memories by the end of the first episode.

Meanwhile, I would have liked to see the Storybrooke people finding themselves still in Storybrooke. We knew it was a year later because we'd read it on the screen, and Emma knew it was a year later because she'd experienced it, so us seeing hugely pregnant Snow was no big shock to either us or Emma. The shock/surprise would have been Snow waking up to discover herself hugely pregnant. Then we could have had everyone running around, wondering what happened, and then discovering that anyone who got close to the town line disappeared. That could have been juxtaposed with Emma dealing with Hook in New York. The most interesting parts of that whole sequence of events took place offscreen, and they told us about it rather than showing it.

[Curio]

25 minutes ago, Shanna Marie said:

The most interesting parts of that whole sequence of events took place offscreen, and they told us about it rather than showing it.

The story of this show.

[Camera One]

8 hours ago, KingOfHearts said:

It might have been too much of a retread, but I wondered what it would have been like if an unbelieving Emma went to Storybrooke. She would get some very weird vibes with everyone acting like they know her. I'd like to see her reaction to seeing magical shenanigans going on. Of course that would only last one episode tops before it got tedious.

That would be funny, since in Season 1, we never actually had Snow White telling her she was Snow White.  It was Henry telling Emma who everyone was.

Even if they wanted Emma to remember immediately by the end of this episode, 

Spoiler

They could have shown everyone acting strange towards Henry, and Henry slowly figuring it out or being completely creeped out and wanting to leave.

[andromeda331]

In the second episode Emma asked Mary Margaret after dropping Henry off at school who he thought Mary Margaret was Mary Margaret said it was silly and Emma says she just had ten minutes of silly then Mary Margaret tells her he thinks she's Snow White. Emma kind of seemed surprised for a moment. They did quite a few scenes in season one where characters almost remembered like Snow when she picked up Emma's baby blanket and Charming when he was in Mr. Gold's shop looking at the unicorn mobile. They could have done that with Emma in the beginning of the episode when she was in New York or maybe Henry too. Or when he was back in Storybrook.

[KingOfHearts]

Quote

That would be funny, since in Season 1, we never actually had Snow White telling her she was Snow White.  It was Henry telling Emma who everyone was.

The roles would basically be flipped. Emma and Henry would be the only ones with fake personalities, while everyone else would be in-the-know. It would have been so cool if Emma had to hunt down the Wicked Witch as a bailbondsperson, not knowing her target's true identity. 

Emma: "She's a psycho who thinks she's the Wicked Witch of the West? Well I've seen crazier things in New York..."

Edited May 27, 2016 by KingOfHearts

[andromeda331]

12 hours ago, KingOfHearts said:

The roles would basically be flipped. Emma and Henry would be the only ones with fake personalities, while everyone else would be in-the-know. It would have been so cool if Emma had to hunt down the Wicked Witch as a bailbondsperson, not knowing her target's true identity. 

Emma: "She's a psycho who thinks she's the Wicked Witch of the West? Well I've seen crazier things in New York..."

That would have been so fun to watch.

[KingOfHearts]

I admit, I have a soft spot for this one because it was the first I saw live on TV. I binged through the first two and a half seasons during the winter hiatus. The wait was excruciating and the hype was high after that cliffhanger in 3x11. But... "New York City Seranade" is a bit of a letdown. Emma gets her memories and we're back in SB already. The flashbacks are just Snow and Charming bossing everyone around and Regina moping like she's the only person who has ever experienced loss.  

Edited December 7, 2018 by KingOfHearts

[profdanglais]

As a CS shipper, this is where I start to feel a bit let down by the writing. Could we not at least have had a bit of their conversation from the drive to SB? They must have had what, six, seven hours in the car. What the heck did they talk about, especially with Henry in the back seat with no memories. 

[Camera One]

I still don't get the rush to set everything back to the status quo so quickly.  Did they really need to go back to the same-old-same-old routine in Storybrooke right away?  What if they all woke back up in Storybrooke but Emma and Henry were gone for a few episodes?  

The flashback stuff in the Enchanted Forest was so poorly planned out.  Couldn't Regina work some magic on Snowing's destroyed castle to make it liveable?  Or was that beyond her magic?  Philip and Aurora were completely wasted.  

[Camera One]

I remember I was glad when I heard that Christopher Gorham was cast on "Once".  But the role was so lacking in personality it might as well have been a no-name actor.  There was no attempt to give the Wizard a backstory at all.  The Wizard could have been from the Land Without Magic so that could have been how some stories from the magical realms got to "our world".  

Spoiler

Of course, at that point, we didn't know about Fictional Kansas.  Was that where the Wizard on this show was from?  I can't remember if they ever addressed that.

[Shanna Marie]

On 12/7/2018 at 4:16 PM, profdanglais said:

As a CS shipper, this is where I start to feel a bit let down by the writing. Could we not at least have had a bit of their conversation from the drive to SB? They must have had what, six, seven hours in the car. What the heck did they talk about, especially with Henry in the back seat with no memories. 

And that would have been Hook's first real exposure to modern America. When Greg and Tamara brought him, he was in the back of a van, but this was a real cross-country road trip. He had a foreign accent, so they could have covered up his questions and reactions as him being new to the country if Henry was curious.

Really, I feel like we missed out on a lot of fish-out-of-water opportunities with Captain Hook in New York. All we got was his complaint about bologna. But how did he know about the zoo entrance to Central Park, or even about Central Park? I guess he knew Neal's address from having tracked Rumple down there.

Spoiler

Because otherwise, how tiny did Neal write to send him the whole story plus directing Emma to his place? And I don't think they even knew where Emma was, so that must have been the bean sending him to Emma.

It was weird that they had that conversation about Snow having to be reminded that it was "our" castle rather than Regina's when that was her childhood home. She grew up there. Wouldn't she have still thought of it as "her" castle?

And we see yet again that Snowing are terrible leaders. Snow's idea that her working with Regina would give the people hope was ludicrous. Would the people who's been terrorized by Regina really be reassured by having their rightful queen working alongside their tormentor? And then there was the way not to recruit someone to join their cause, with Charming apparently having just assumed Hook would join them then giving him the "I guess you're a pirate again" treatment. How about taking the, "We don't know what we'll face, we could use a good fighter, and you've been here after the curse, would you consider joining us?" approach? Make it clear he's welcome, given their history, rather than assuming and then insulting him when they assumed wrong.

It still makes no sense that Neal and Hook would have had to go back, since they weren't part of the curse. Since the Jolly Roger wasn't, either, they should have been able to hop on board the ship and sail well away from the town, even if Emma couldn't remember them.

I remember how hyped this episode was and how I anticipated it. They did the whole round of press, with the main cast all appearing on Good Morning America and The View. I think that was the first time I saw Colin out of character, and at that time he was still really, really shy in interviews, not at all comfortable with the process, and suddenly he has all the women on The View creeping all over him and treating him like he's his character. He pretty much just froze.

Anyway, I think I remember enjoying it when it was on because I was excited for it, then being a bit let down in the aftermath.

I'm not sure I agree with the idea to reveal the Wicked Witch so soon. We knew who the villain must be, based on the flying monkeys, so seeing her didn't reveal anything other than letting us know what she looked like. For writers who are so afraid of spoiling their surprise twists that they refuse to set anything up, they have a knack for spoiling their own surprise twists with pointless "gotcha" moments.

Edited December 9, 2018 by Shanna Marie
the inspiration of the send button

[Camera One]

17 minutes ago, Shanna Marie said:

Snow's idea that her working with Regina would give the people hope was ludicrous.

 

That made no sense whatsoever.  They needed to bend over backwards to give a reason why Snowing would need to be conjoined with Regina.  They don't even try to make their contrived scenario work.  It was just easier to have Snowing say things that make them look stupid.  

I suppose inside her mind, Snow could have meant that people might feel safer if The Evil Queen wasn't off by herself but actually supervised by them, but to Regina's face, it was more diplomatic to say that it would give the people hope.

Edited December 9, 2018 by Camera One

[KAOS Agent]

This episode was a bit of a letdown for me after the extreme craziness of the spoilers and speculation during the break. I liked the real world New York part a lot, but the Enchanted Forest stuff was really disappointing for me. It does make the events of "Going Home" rather pointless to have it all reset immediately. It's kind of depressing to me to see Emma finally living the life she wanted and being so happy only for it to all be ripped away because of her Saviour status. 

I will say that I enjoyed Hook's reaction to bologna. I also liked that Emma was allowed to defend herself against Walsh and there was no talk of heroes don't kill or black hearts or darkness. It would be nice if this show could keep this going, but we all know that's a pipe dream. 

[daxx]

I do wish Emma getting her memory back would have taken a bit longer and it would have been interesting if the storybrookers had lost all memories, not just the year. 

It would have been so much more interesting if they’d spent any effort on the EF showing them restoring the kingdom.

Using Snowings castle would have been better than Regina’s. There would be more emotion about the damage done by the curse.

Regina whining about losing her son when Snow just lost her daughter a second time is frustrating.

[PixiePaws1]

2 hours ago, daxx said:

Regina whining about losing her son when Snow just lost her daughter a second time is frustrating.

God YES!!!! 

[Camera One]

Henry is also Snow's grandson but apparently, post-season 1, there's no bond there and/or we should just ignore it.

[KingOfHearts]

19 hours ago, Camera One said:

Henry is also Snow's grandson but apparently, post-season 1, there's no bond there and/or we should just ignore it.

Mary Margaret had a closer bond with Henry and she was just his teacher he stole credit cards from.

Edited December 10, 2018 by KingOfHearts

[andromeda331]

This episode was such a disappointment. There were so many things they could have done. Waited a couple episodes with Emma, Henry and Hook in New York City. Seeing Hook's reaction to the city. Sending everyone else back to the EF could have been so interesting. What's it like to be back after almost thirty years? Being used to electricity, grocery stores, and all the modern convenience? It should have been hard to re-adjust. Some would be happy yes, but some would be trying to figure out how to bring many of those ideas to the EF. 

Yes, let's hear how miserable and sad Regina about being separated from Henry. Who cares that Snow and Charming have been separated from their daughter for a second time and now their grandson. They should be devastated. They should be trying so hard to find away back to Emma and Henry. What's it like for Neal to be back? Sure he came back for a day or in the early part of season three. He's been gone for a hundred years or so. I do like him going to look through his father's castle he should be finding all kinds of things that could take him back to the LWM. Remember Rumple was looking for ways to keep his magic. Come up with a way that it doesn't work. Maybe Zelena is sabotaging. They really should have waited longer before introducing her. 

Only in ONCE does the person who murdered her husband think that his castle still belong to her because she married him. I kept waiting for Snow to point that out. Returning to EF should have been hard for Regina if she had really changed. More people she hurt or destroyed, everyone that remained should hate her and/or scared of her. Losing Henry should help her to realize what she did to other people and feel bad about. It also drives me crazy they kept taking about how they can't go back to LWM. But why? Its Regina's punishment. Its not everyone else's. It was her cost for undoing the curse (which I do think she deserved). Its not anyone else's. At least show Snow, Charming, and Neal doing everything they could to get back to the LWM. It can still fail once again maybe Zelena's doing. But show it. Explain why no one else can go back when its Regina's punishment and her cost. 

This is a weird thing to be annoyed about but Emma makes scrambled eggs and serves them to Henry and then they leave. She didn't even clean the pan? That's going to smell Emma.   

I really love the dress Emma wears on her date with Walsh. She looked great.   

Edited December 12, 2018 by andromeda331

[profdanglais]

4 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

This is a weird thing to be annoyed about but Emma makes scrambled eggs and serves them to Henry and then they leave. She didn't even clean the pan? That's going to smell Emma.

Not weird at all, that bugs the heck out of me. She's going away indefinitely and she makes no preparations for it at all. Who's going to water her plants while she's gone?

[Camera One]

7 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

It also drives me crazy they kept taking about how they can't go back to LWM. But why? Its Regina's punishment.

Back then, I think I accepted their "explanation" that if the Curse was never cast, the "walls" between the Land Without Magic and the Enchanted realms were back up.  I don't remember exactly but was it all the exceptions that came after which makes this less believable?   Though this was 3B and they had been in Neverland and had learned about Shadow Air.  I'm not sure if Ariel could travel to New York with the "walls" in place.  

It would have been more emotionally gut-wrenching (but less Regina-centric, sadly), if everyone had been returned to where they were before the Curse.  Snowing would have gone back to the nursery, for example.   Who cares if they didn't all stay together in the flashback? Perhaps everyone who didn't come with the Curse like Hook or Neal could have been randomly sent to Oz or something.  This could explain how Hook got to NYC, and maybe Hook and Neal could have had an adventure in Oz before Neal sacrificed himself in some way.  

Edited December 12, 2018 by Camera One

[KingOfHearts]

5 hours ago, profdanglais said:

Not weird at all, that bugs the heck out of me. She's going away indefinitely and she makes no preparations for it at all. Who's going to water her plants while she's gone?

Spoiler

And they never explain what happened to her apartment. There's not even a throwaway line about her moving stuff out. In S1, there's an entire scene showing Emma unpacking her Boston apartment stuff at Mary Margaret's. Here, the apartment is just forgotten about and so are all of Henry's friends. What about Emma's job? Henry's school? I do not understand to this day why they could've have just stayed in New York and visited Storybrooke on weekends. At the very least, make arrangements so the move makes a smooth transition. 

Edited December 12, 2018 by KingOfHearts

[tennisgurl]

Its pretty rich that Snow is still playing cheerleader to Regina as her husband stands next to her in the bloody shirt from where Regina's guards stabbed him almost to death. Yeah, remember how you were sobbing over his nearly dead body while Regina was laughing at you? Thats the person you want as your bestie? And what is this crap about people having "hope" seeing Regina and the Charming leading them? They would probably feel hope seeing their true leaders in power again, and the psychopath who has terrorized them for years in jail! None of them know about her sob story or her fighting the urge to kill people for five seconds, or have the weird feels Snow has for her, they just know her as the crazy lady who murdered their friends and family. 

This is definitely one of those "all the good stuff happens off screen" episodes that so sadly become what this show was known for. How did Hook get around modern New York, not knowing anything? What did they all talk about on the way back home? And, of course, we miss out on the whole town going back to the EF, and just set that reset button as quickly as possible. Now everyone but Henry has their memories back, are back in Storeybrooke, and are just hanging around I guess? All that drama last episode, and we get everything back to normal in about twenty minutes. Of course. There was so much potential that was just dropped out of fear of change, or lack of imagination.

I do like the Captain Swan stuff, and Henry and Emma seem so sweet in their happy New York life. Emma just seems so light and happy, before her stupid Savior stuff dragged her back. I mean, I am glad she was reunited with Hook and her family, but I wish she could have had that happy life for longer. It really bugs me that they apparently just left their apartment, school, job, and life all behind, and thats never really dealt with. I mean, that was a nice apartment in prime New York real estate! That must have cost some serious cash! Hows that deposit, Emma? 

So Regina gets back, and is instantly a total asshole again. Acting like hot shit, snapping at people to call her "your Majesty", being an ungrateful snob to Robin and his crew, all that soon to be Bold and Audaciousness that we all know and tolerate. What a great way to show how much she has changed! And, of course, its all about HER and what SHE lost. Never mind that so many people were just pulled back to their old lives and probably separated from each other, or that Neal lost his dad, Belle lost the man she loves, and the Charmings will never see their daughter or grandson, its all about Regina and how sad SHE is. And its pretty ballsy of her to be assuming that anyone her knights chased totally asked for it, or that she gets the castle of the man she murdered right away. She did show a few moments of actual self awareness, but they were very few and far between. 

Look, we`ve returned to the Forrest of Coincidence! 

[KingOfHearts]

Snowing's apathy for Emma is actually completely in sync with how they view her from this point on in the series, despite how jarring it is in this episode. I totally believe this is the same Snowing that had the chance to be with their daughter during the Curse and didn't take it. They only ever seem to care about Emma whenever they're in danger and need a Savior.

[Shanna Marie]

On 12/12/2018 at 6:05 AM, profdanglais said:

Who's going to water her plants while she's gone?

The same person who maintained Neal's apartment during the entire missing year. Just imagine what his refrigerator was like after all that time. Tamara drove a U-Haul into town when she brought Hook there. Was that supposed to be her moving her and Neal's stuff? But if Neal had moved out of that apartment, why was his stuff still there? Even if he'd just gone back to pack his clothes, why would he have left Henry's camera there?

On 12/12/2018 at 9:44 AM, Camera One said:

Back then, I think I accepted their "explanation" that if the Curse was never cast, the "walls" between the Land Without Magic and the Enchanted realms were back up.

That was the impression I had, that it required magic on both ends for magical transport to work, which was why Rumple had to resort to the curse in order to reach Bae, since stuff like the silver slippers and Jefferson's hat didn't work. I've never been entirely sure what the deal is with magic beans. Was the one Blue gave Bae special, the only bean of its kind that could take someone to the World Without Magic? Beans were supposedly rare, but then they weren't.

On 12/12/2018 at 9:44 AM, Camera One said:

It would have been more emotionally gut-wrenching (but less Regina-centric, sadly), if everyone had been returned to where they were before the Curse. 

That would have made a lot more sense, and still could have been Regina-centric, since didn't she show up at the nursery just as the curse hit to see Snow holding her husband's body? So, she and the Charmings would have been sent back there, some of their friends would have ended up back in other parts of the castle, and others would have been in their own homes. I don't know where Hook and Neal would have ended up, since they weren't there for the curse. Maybe it would have worked like the bean portal apparently did when Neal was unconscious, where it took you "home" if you weren't guiding it consciously, so Neal would have ended up either in the village or at Rumple's castle, and Hook would have been on the Jolly Roger in the middle of the ocean, or else back to whatever land he was originally from.

On 12/12/2018 at 7:50 PM, tennisgurl said:

Now everyone but Henry has their memories back, are back in Storeybrooke, and are just hanging around I guess? All that drama last episode, and we get everything back to normal in about twenty minutes. Of course. There was so much potential that was just dropped out of fear of change, or lack of imagination.

I think this is one of those things where they value surprise but don't know how to use it. I guess they were saving the revelation of Snow's obvious pregnancy for late in the episode when Emma saw it, but Emma had experienced the year and while her mother being pregnant again was a slight surprise, she knew her parents had been gone a year and knew Snow wanted another baby. Wouldn't Snow waking up in the morning to find herself nine months pregnant be more of a surprise? Show them going from the town line to waking up back in town with no sense of the passage of time and really freaked out by the changes they discover, and then fit in the flashbacks showing what happened that they don't remember.

[KAOS Agent]

1 hour ago, Shanna Marie said:

I think this is one of those things where they value surprise but don't know how to use it. I guess they were saving the revelation of Snow's obvious pregnancy for late in the episode when Emma saw it, but Emma had experienced the year and while her mother being pregnant again was a slight surprise, she knew her parents had been gone a year and knew Snow wanted another baby.

I don't know why anyone thought this might be a surprise. Ginny was so obviously pregnant in "Going Home" that there was no surprise to be had. They spent the first half of the season with Snow wanting a baby, normally tiny Ginny is expanding and they wrote a year's time jump into the story. Who's shocked that Snow is pregnant? I think the way they did it just goes to this show telling us the interesting events that happened off camera rather than showing it. Snow waking up nine months pregnant would have been fun to watch. Instead, they that moment was a quick throwaway explanation told to Emma. 

[Camera One]

2 hours ago, Shanna Marie said:

I've never been entirely sure what the deal is with magic beans. Was the one Blue gave Bae special, the only bean of its kind that could take someone to the World Without Magic? Beans were supposedly rare, but then they weren't.

That would have been a simple way to explain why Blue said it was so rare.  That bean could have been different than the garden variety of the giants.  The next time magic beans came into play against was Season 2, so they could have explained something then.  Did they think "Tiny" explained why magic beans were no longer cultivated?  But it didn't, since that was in the relatively recent past, when David's twin was around, but Rumple would have lived centuries before that, when Tiny and his family would have continued to grow and plant beans?  

23 minutes ago, KAOS Agent said:

I don't know why anyone thought this might be a surprise. Ginny was so obviously pregnant in "Going Home" that there was no surprise to be had. They spent the first half of the season with Snow wanting a baby, normally tiny Ginny is expanding and they wrote a year's time jump into the story. Who's shocked that Snow is pregnant? I think the way they did it just goes to this show telling us the interesting events that happened off camera rather than showing it. Snow waking up nine months pregnant would have been fun to watch. Instead, they that moment was a quick throwaway explanation told to Emma. 

They should have said Neverland sped up Snow's pregnancy somehow.  This show is about magic, and they didn't even take advantage of it to explain stuff like Henry's rapid aging, or Snow's sudden pregnant look.

2 hours ago, Shanna Marie said:

Wouldn't Snow waking up in the morning to find herself nine months pregnant be more of a surprise? Show them going from the town line to waking up back in town with no sense of the passage of time and really freaked out by the changes they discover, and then fit in the flashbacks showing what happened that they don't remember.

That would have been more interesting to watch.  Oh well, I suppose it could have been worse.  There could have been a "Who's the daddy" storyline when we find out Snowing divorced in the missing year and hooked up with different people.

[Shanna Marie]

3 hours ago, Camera One said:

Did they think "Tiny" explained why magic beans were no longer cultivated?  But it didn't, since that was in the relatively recent past, when David's twin was around, but Rumple would have lived centuries before that, when Tiny and his family would have continued to grow and plant beans?  

They did say something about it taking a century to grow the crop they were about to harvest, but then we had the beans in Storybrooke being ready within a few weeks, and they managed to grow a whole field from one small cutting. That century should have put the previous crop within Rumple's lifetime (though that kept changing, as well), and you'd think the giants would rotate crops so there'd always be a crop coming up if it takes a hundred years to grow the beans (except when it takes weeks).

3 hours ago, KAOS Agent said:

Who's shocked that Snow is pregnant? I think the way they did it just goes to this show telling us the interesting events that happened off camera rather than showing it. Snow waking up nine months pregnant would have been fun to watch. Instead, they that moment was a quick throwaway explanation told to Emma. 

The audience probably wasn't at all surprised. Emma shouldn't have been surprised. The surprising thing would have been for Snow, when it seemed to her that she'd become nine months pregnant overnight -- is she under some kind of spell that made her instantly ready to give birth, or has time passed that she doesn't remember? Meanwhile, there are the reactions to the other Storybrookers. I think it might have been fun to see the reactions of everyone to finding themselves still in Storybrooke, thinking no time has passed, but then they see Snow.

[Camera One]

6 minutes ago, Shanna Marie said:

I think it might have been fun to see the reactions of everyone to finding themselves still in Storybrooke, thinking no time has passed, but then they see Snow.

I actually visualized that, and it was fun.