Spoiler Discussion: The apple was poisoned?!

[Mathius]

Quote

Series creators Eddy Kitsis and Adam Horowitz are excited to spend a season back in Storybrooke and “dig into each of our characters and explore what makes them who they are,” 

It's funny, they've said something along these lines every season and half-season, and they almost always fail to deliver.  The "exploring" they do is either the same rehashed shit as always (everything about Regina and Rumple) or something totally contrived and inorganic (Eggnapper Snowing! Captain Swan the Dark Ones!) I actually think I have much less of an idea why these characters are who they are than I did at the start of this show!

Edited September 8, 2016 by Mathius

[Serena]

7 hours ago, KAOS Agent said:

How sad are the spoilers when we're reduced to discussing which outfit is Jen's and which is Emma's? It's hard to drum up excitement about the season when there's nothing to even begin to speculate about.

Hey, that is very important speculation! Discussing Emma's outfits is how we figured out Emma would have amnesia in the 3B premiere!

If what Emma/Jmo is wearing is a messy ponytail, you don't wanna see what I usually do to my hair when I'm in a hurry...

Edited September 8, 2016 by Serena

[Rumsy4]

1 minute ago, Serena said:

Hey, that is very important speculation! Discussing Emma's outfits is how we figured out Emma would have amnesia in the 3B premiere!

Hah! That we did...

[YaddaYadda]

What she's wearing for 6x06 is really not unlike what we saw her wear in 5x20 during her flashbacks with Cleo. The clothes Emma wears tend to be in tune with her mood, so floral, whites, soft lines, for me at least, it seems to indicate that she's at a point in her life where she might be enjoying the moments. Considering there's a lot of crap going on in town with the EQ and the Land of Untold Stories brigade, for Emma, that's kind of a huge step if she is keeping things separate that she's not letting the town problems interfere with her personal life.

Also, she might get to do magic with a real Savior? How about that! 

[Curio]

Am I the only one who's disappointed with how they've been dressing Jasmine? Her outfits just seem so...blah. Where's the splash of color? At least give her an aqua scarf or something. 

[Serena]

She's very stereotipically small town teacher-y.

[tri4335]

3 hours ago, Curio said:

Am I the only one who's disappointed with how they've been dressing Jasmine? Her outfits just seem so...blah. Where's the splash of color? At least give her an aqua scarf or something. 

 

53 minutes ago, Serena said:

She's very stereotipically small town teacher-y.

But she is not cursed so why wouldn't she dress to express her own personality, which we would all expect to be more colorful?  Maybe it's in town ordinances that you have to dress blah!

[RadioGirl27]

8 hours ago, Serena said:

If what Emma/Jmo is wearing is a messy ponytail, you don't wanna see what I usually do to my hair when I'm in a hurry...

Lol, me too!!

I don't like Emma's new outfit (each piece of clothing is nice individually, but all together are a big no for me), but it's very similar to other things she has wore in her flashbacks, when she was a "street rat". I guess that's what they want to reflect.

[KingOfHearts]

Quote

 but it's very similar to other things she has wore in her flashbacks, when she was a "street rat

I can't wait to see her and Aladdin get flashbacks and sing "It's a Hard Knock Life" back and forth.

I feel bad that Lana is having to do so much more work playing two different characters. It has to be exhausting, especially in the scenes where both are featured.

Edited September 8, 2016 by KingOfHearts

[mjgchick]

Nah the person we should all feel bad for is Tatiana Maselany because she plays practically her whole cast members. Let's hope Adam and Eddy does not have any ideas. 

I have a question, would anyone be ok to have James and David full time? 

[Souris]

LOL, yeah, nobody should complain about playing two characters when Tatiana plays 10+ and counting -- sometimes four in the same scene!

I have noticed that Emma has worn several floral outfits this season, and I can't remember her doing that before. JMo's SDCC dress was also floral, and she tends to like to make her SDCC outfits mean something in terms of Emma's storyline for that season (such as wearing all black & white before Dark Swan). I don't know what they're saying about her storyline -- if anything at all -- but it's something I've noted.

Edited September 8, 2016 by Souris

[Serena]

Maybe Regina will have less scenes because they're wasting all of Lana's time on double EQ/Regina scenes? 

[Curio]

If I had to pick one, I'd take more Evil Queen scenes over Regina scenes any day.

Apparently, Jasmine and Aladdin's actors are already on a plane back to Los Angeles. I'm assuming they're just taking the next episode off (Captain Nemo's episode) instead of being gone from the arc for a good chunk of time. At least, I hope that's the case...

[YaddaYadda]

Not for nothing, but the episode they were filming in Steveston was 6x06, so they are in at least 2 episodes. Jsmine was also in 6x04.

[InsertWordHere]

I don't think having both Regina and the Evil Queen in multiple episodes is really that different from the multiple times a season they have flashback Regina plus present Regina in an episode. I mean, sure, it's probably rough having to play off a body double and film the scene twice when Regina is interacting with herself but it's not like LP is underused during a regular season. 

Edited September 9, 2016 by InsertWordHere

[KAOS Agent]

I'm still laughing at some of the teaser articles put out so far. The Evil Queen is evil, you guys! Bet you'll never guess who her target is. It's someone totally and completely surprising. Stumped? It's Snow White! That target is completely out of left field. How does someone even write that with a straight face? And Snow's going to have a hard time dealing with this super evil character because she's friends with Regina and apparently that makes it hard for her to confront the Evil Queen, who is apparently a separate character that is trying to kill her. What? 

[mjgchick]

If these writers don't get the fuck out. Snow shouldn't have a hard time if she is convinced Regina isn't the Evil Queen. Are you kidding me writers? Grow some uterus and end this Snow White. You finally get to kill the woman who ruined you and your family and friends life.

[Serena]

8 hours ago, InsertWordHere said:

I don't think having both Regina and the Evil Queen in multiple episodes is really that different from the multiple times a season they have flashback Regina plus present Regina in an episode. I mean, sure, it's probably rough having to play off a body double and film the scene twice when Regina is interacting with herself but it's not like LP is underused during a regular season. 

It's different amount of screentime. Imagine there's 1 Regina scene and 1 EQ scene in an episode: it takes Lana 2 days to film (all times are make up by me) and the combined screentime is 10 minutes. Now imagine that instead of having 1 R + 1 EQ, you have a scene where Regina and the Evil Queen are on screen together. That would take as much time to film as having 2 separate scene, but it would take up half the screentime in the episode.

[YaddaYadda]

8 hours ago, KAOS Agent said:

I'm still laughing at some of the teaser articles put out so far. The Evil Queen is evil, you guys! Bet you'll never guess who her target is. It's someone totally and completely surprising. Stumped? It's Snow White! That target is completely out of left field. How does someone even write that with a straight face? And Snow's going to have a hard time dealing with this super evil character because she's friends with Regina and apparently that makes it hard for her to confront the Evil Queen, who is apparently a separate character that is trying to kill her. What? 

Yeah, remember when Mary Margaret said she didn't wanna be Mary Margaret anymore, but wanted to be Snow White again?

I don't know but if the EQ is targeting MM, it means that Regina still harbored resentment towards her, end of story.

[Curio]

You know what would be great? If at the end of this arc -- when Regina finally absorbs the Evil Queen back inside her -- Emma and David actually do their Sheriff jobs and immediately throw cuffs on Regina and throw her in jail for the crimes the Evil Queen committed in Season 6. Because guess what? They're the same person! They've always been the same person! Just different marketing tactics.

Anyone have guesses as to what Henry and Hook are up to right now? The writers only let them film together on screen if they're doing something important for the plot, like releasing Zelena or teaming up to save Emma in the AU. Otherwise, they're usually relegated to Offscreenville. Maybe they want to help Emma be less stressed so they're also helping with giving people their happy endings? 

[RadioGirl27]

51 minutes ago, YaddaYadda said:

I don't know but if the EQ is targeting MM, it means that Regina still harbored resentment towards her, end of story.

This. If the EQ loves Henry because Regina loves him, if the EQ hates Snow (or Emma) is because Regina hates her (them). You can't have one without the other. 

[YaddaYadda]

1 hour ago, Curio said:

You know what would be great? If at the end of this arc -- when Regina finally absorbs the Evil Queen back inside her -- Emma and David actually do their Sheriff jobs and immediately throw cuffs on Regina and throw her in jail for the crimes the Evil Queen committed in Season 6. Because guess what? They're the same person! They've always been the same person! Just different marketing tactics.

Anyone have guesses as to what Henry and Hook are up to right now? The writers only let them film together on screen if they're doing something important for the plot, like releasing Zelena or teaming up to save Emma in the AU. Otherwise, they're usually relegated to Offscreenville. Maybe they want to help Emma be less stressed so they're also helping with giving people their happy endings? 

If they slap the cuffs on Regina for whatever the EQ does in Storybrooke, then they'll have to also slap them on Emma and MM because they are accessory. MM literally gave Regina the syringe to inject herself with the potion.

About Hook and Henry, my guess is whatever they're doing is some kind of variation for "Operation Light Swan" but it will be onscreen this time. Whatever they're doing probably has something to do with Emma. Operation Light Swan had to do with the house and starting to build a future, so I'm thinking that whatever they're doing probably goes along these lines. 

[Curio]

2 minutes ago, YaddaYadda said:

If they slap the cuffs on Regina for whatever the EQ does in Storybrooke, then they'll have to also slap them on Emma and MM because they are accessory. MM literally gave Regina the syringe to inject herself with the potion.

Honestly, I'd be cool with that. It'll be like Seinfeld and the entire main cast just ends up in jail.

[Rumsy4]

In all these seasons, the writers have ruined Snow by writing her as bland and stuffy MM, but only decided to change that so she could be a rival to the EQ. How sad that the writers brought "Snow" back only so they could have the 1000th iteration of Snow vs Evil Queen. They didn't want boring Mary Margaret in the role of antagonist for their favorite villain. 

[YaddaYadda]

38 minutes ago, Curio said:

EW Spoiler Room: Scoop on Quantico, The Blacklist, Arrowand more

I get that the road to redemption is a long and difficult one, but isn't this what we've been looking at since season 3? I must have been asleep last season when Hook was being all heroic.

The season needs to start, I just can't with these half-assed non spoilers anymore. I'd rather they don't give spoilers at all if I have to read how they're going to address Rumple's haircut (which seems completely logical), or how Hook is on the road to redemption (which color me shocked, I had no clue!), or how the EQ is setting her sights on Snow.

I had no idea any of this was happening! 

[daxx]

Hook all in on the relationship... Also shocking!

[Rumsy4]

And Emma said ILU when not in a crisis!! Amazing!!

[mjgchick]

Emma will ask Hook to marry her by the time Henry's had his own family at this point.

[Shanna Marie]

Really, Hook and Emma's relationship isn't moving that slowly when you think about it, since the timeline is so compressed. Apart from whatever time they were together during Team Princess, they spent maybe a week in Neverland together, were apart for a year, then spent maybe a week or so together before their first real kiss. They were dating for maybe two months (perhaps half that time in crisis mode) before she became the Dark One, and then they had six angst-filled weeks in Camelot before he became the Dark One, another couple of weeks barely seeing each other while she worked on her plan to save him, and then he was killed. Then there were however many weeks they were together in the Underworld. So, really, about four months of dating, although they were very intense months. They're more or less on track. This is even maybe a little early for them to be house hunting together. The problem is that all the other relationships move at warp speed, with I love yous and True Love Kisses coming within days or even hours, which makes Emma and Hook look really slow. It also doesn't help that the writers throw artificial roadblocks at them to slow them down even more, like apparently Emma struggling with her Savior role and Hook striving to be a hero (all exciting, brand-new content for this season!), which will take away from their relationship development.

13 minutes ago, mjgchick said:

Emma will ask Hook to marry her by the time Henry's had his own family at this point.

More like Henry will be taller than Hook, shaving, and starting to lose his hair or go gray by that point, but he'll still be going to school, rebelling against his parents, and giving everything "Operation" code names.

[Curio]

31 minutes ago, YaddaYadda said:

I get that the road to redemption is a long and difficult one, but isn't this what we've been looking at since season 3? I must have been asleep last season when Hook was being all heroic.

It might be repetitive, but honestly, this is the best for his character in the long run. He's the only main villain on the show who actually works hard to redeem himself under the radar without anyone really pushing him, so the fact that we take for granted that he's going to spend yet another season working towards becoming a hero on his own is a good thing.

[KingOfHearts]

Hook sacrificed his life for Emma, then Emma went to the Underworld to save him from death. They're proven to be a True Love, too. After all that, I don't think "ILU without crisis" is good payoff. It's like going on an international trip, then being proud of yourself for managing to get to the grocery store. You do everything that shows you and your boyfriend belong together, yet you still need to take time to date casually? I'm not trying to rush them, but the ILU was no big accomplishment. All that development over S5 and they were right back where they started. There's no sign they'll be moving anywhere significant in S6, which bums me out.

Edited September 9, 2016 by KingOfHearts

[Curio]

1 minute ago, KingOfHearts said:

I'm not trying to rush them, but the ILU was no big accomplishment. All that development over S5 and they were right back where they started.

25 minutes ago, Shanna Marie said:

Really, Hook and Emma's relationship isn't moving that slowly when you think about it, since the timeline is so compressed.

True, but it's all about relativity on this show. Zelena moving in with Regina so quickly only makes it look worse. But hey, if this show manages to stick around for ten seasons, I'm okay with the turtle-in-reverse slow pace for Emma and Hook.

[mjgchick]

I guess we should be lucky that Hook and Emma is about as realistic in terms of a committed relationship we will get. No one can say Hook and Emma were love at first sight. More like lust at first sight and that's not a bad thing. 

So if all they can give them is "they navigate trying to be a couple while struggling with their own demons." then I might be ok with that. Just show and not tell Adam and Eddy.

[Curio]

Quote

we are going to see Hook doing his best to be heroic this year

I just remembered they never wrapped up the stupid Brennan/Liam 2.0 story. I guess we'll eventually get a story line where Hook finds his half brother and tries to reconcile things.

[Rumsy4]

11 minutes ago, Curio said:

I just remembered they never wrapped up the stupid Brennan/Liam 2.0 story. I guess we'll eventually get a story line where Hook finds his half brother and tries to reconcile things.

You get a quarter from the hope commission for that level of optimism. ;-) 

Taking the discussion about Emma to her thread.

[RadioGirl27]

1 hour ago, KingOfHearts said:

Hook sacrificed his life for Emma, then Emma went to the Underworld to save him from death. There proven to be a True Love, too. After all that, I don't think "ILU without crisis" is good payoff. It's like going on an international trip, then being proud of yourself for managing to get to the grocery store. You do everything that shows you and your boyfriend belong together, yet you still need to take time to date casually? I'm not trying to rush them, but the ILU was no big accomplishment. All that development over S5 and they were right back where they started. There's no sign they'll be moving anywhere significant in S6, which bums me out.

You should start to get ready for the great payoff for season 6 in this front: "After lots of angst and self-loathing for what he did to Nemo and sacrificing himself for the forth and fifth time for everyone in Storybrooke, Hook accepts that he maybe (but only maybe) is a hero now and deserves to be happy, and he decides to invite Emma to dinner at Granny's". Amazing development! Great payoff!

[KingOfHearts]

1 minute ago, RadioGirl27 said:

You should start to get ready for the great payoff for season 6 in this front: "After lots of angst and self-loathing for what he did to Nemo and sacrificing himself for the forth and fifth time for everyone in Storybrooke, Hook accepts that he maybe (but only maybe) is a hero now and deserves to be happy, and he decides to invite Emma to dinner at Granny's". Amazing development! Great payoff!

Everything you loved about S4 minus Elsa!

[mjgchick]

I just cackled realizing Natalie wrote that article. It must've hurt her soul to do it. 

 

Id love Elsa back at this point. She and Hook are the only people who don't take Emma for granted. -_-

Edited September 9, 2016 by mjgchick

[YaddaYadda]

33 minutes ago, KingOfHearts said:

Everything you loved about S4 minus Elsa!

So nothing then?

[pezgirl7]

Three days ago Colin posted a photo of Hook's old coat, and two days ago he posted a photo of his chest (!) and he's wearing the old black pirate shirt, so I'm guessing Flashback. Can anyone tell what vest he is wearing?

https://www.instagram.com/p/BKKBgODgJsF/

[daxx]

Kinda looks like the red vest.

[Rumsy4]

23 minutes ago, pezgirl7 said:

Three days ago Colin posted a photo of Hook's old coat, and two days ago he posted a photo of his chest (!) and he's wearing the old black pirate shirt, so I'm guessing Flashback. Can anyone tell what vest he is wearing?

https://www.instagram.com/p/BKKBgODgJsF/

Sorry, pezgirl--all I can focus on is that glorious chest hair on display. ;-) 

[KingOfHearts]

Here's some dialogue from the promo stills.

Jekyll: "Sorry about my airship. I've always been terrible with parallel parking."
Emma: "Archie! Where have you been the past two seasons!?"
Archie: "Counseling August, Lily, Will, Maleficent... just to name a few."
Emma: "Oh, thanks for the Starbucks!"
Archie: "Actually... it's for Dr. Jekyll. Sorry, Emma. I always, *ahem* admired his work."

Let the Jiminyll ship sail.

Edited September 12, 2016 by KingOfHearts

[Shanna Marie]

17 hours ago, pezgirl7 said:

he's wearing the old black pirate shirt, so I'm guessing Flashback.

Well, we've got to see what horrible, horrible thing he did in the past when he was at his worst (for real, this time, and no, not when he had his hand because Captain Hook is more iconic than Captain Killian Jones, but still, swapping the hand for the hook will make him evil again).

I love the airship design.

[Curio]

Quote

The first major shakeup is that the heroes are staying put in Storybrooke, the magical Maine town that's been home to the inhabitants of the Enchanted Forest since the show began. The decision to stay in a central location comes after a few seasons in which the main heroes have ventured off to other lands for adventures. [...]

While it seems like the influx of new characters could overcrowd the small town, this could be a great new direction. Once Upon a Time can use these new characters -- whether they're friends or foes -- to refocus the story on its core players without getting distracted by new surroundings. New characters can open old wounds for our favorite characters, or put them in situations that force them to grow. These interactions lead to a better story that won't distract from character growth as a grand setting like Neverland or the Underworld seemed to do.

That's not a shakeup...that's a step backwards. Personal opinion here, but the show is generally more exciting and inventive when it forces the gang to go off to a new land. (I don't really count Underbrooke as a new land—it was essentially Storybrooke with a red filter.) The main reason Storybrooke was so interesting in Season 1 was because there was still the big mystery about who each character was and we were building up towards breaking the curse. But once the curse was broken, every arc that has been stationed in Storybrooke has been weak. 2B, the repetitive hero wheel-spinning and Zelena stuff in 3B, nearly all of Season 4 and especially the Operation Mongoose nonsense, and the Storybrooke portions of 5A were weaker compared to the other story lines. However, the 2A adventure to the Enchanted Forest, Neverland, the Season 3 finale, and Camelot all benefitted from interesting new settings.

I'm fine with staying put in Storybrooke for some of Season 6 (especially if it means we finally get some of those kitchen sink conversations), but it seems like a huge wasted opportunity to not let the present-story gang travel to Agrabah for a longer arc. Maybe they'll get there in the spring, but when your TV show has a plethora of world-hopping options available to visit fun and exciting worlds, you should probably utilize that.

[KingOfHearts]

S6 is going to be such an incoherent mess... this is what I signed up for.

[Shanna Marie]

15 minutes ago, Curio said:

I'm fine with staying put in Storybrooke for some of Season 6 (especially if it means we finally get some of those kitchen sink conversations), but it seems like a huge wasted opportunity to not let the present-story gang travel to Agrabah for a longer arc.

I may change my mind after I see how they handled it, but I think their big mistake was bringing the Charmings, Hook and Zelena back from the Land of Untold Stories during the finale. That would have made for a better cliffhanger than the Evil Queen silliness. Even if Henry managed to restore magic, if that hadn't instantly opened a portal. Then we could have done a Team Princess kind of thing of them trying to get back while the Storybrooke gang was trying to reach them, and along the way they could have met some of these characters. Then after a few episodes, let them come back, but then they realize that some of the Untold Stories came back with them.

[sharky]

My first reaction to the promo shots? I really hope they incorporate Robert's Trainspotting haircut into the story because that wig sucks. Oh, and Captain Hook is hot.

[YaddaYadda]

14 minutes ago, sharky said:

My first reaction to the promo shots? I really hope they incorporate Robert's Trainspotting haircut into the story because that wig sucks. 

I actually don't mind the wig. And they said they would address the haircut.

Also, Nemo is there to cause Hook trouble apparently. I wouldn't be surprised if he teamed up with the EQ.

[KingOfHearts]

Quote

I wouldn't be surprised if he teamed up with the EQ.

We really think any antagonist will team up with EQ, don't we? Zelena, Hyde, Rumple...

Edited September 12, 2016 by KingOfHearts