S05.E01: Dark Swan

[Rosiejuliemom]

In the episode that first introduced the Cru/Mal/Urs trio, Rumple had just stolen something from Camelot. At the time i was hoping that Rumple would end up going against Morgan le Fay. He didn't, but at least (given that this is the disneyfied view of the source material) we didn't get Madam Mim.

 

I would love it if Madam Mim showed up. Even if only for a split second in the background or a face in a crowd. Or, have Dark Emma respond to a beautiful, clear day with "I hate sunshine. I hate horrible, wholesome sunshine! I hate it, I hate it! I HATE IT!".  Come on, A&E, you managed to fit in Cruella De Vil , let's see a reference to Mad Madam Mim.

[Camera One]

Where is Zelena going to stash Zelena for several years (while she is not there to guard her) that Marian won't escape and ruin the entire game? (Marian did  just manage to get away from Regina). 

 

The same place she sent Glinda?

[Serena]

I'm kind of on a Zelena band wagon right now because she keeps saying things I'm thinking (like ragging on Robin for not recognizing Zelena was playing the part of Mariane. I loved her just doing yoga in her cell. She's kind of chilling).

I absolutely loved her in the episode. This is the most wrong I've ever felt, but... she's entertaining, damnit. Bex's comedic timing is flawless. I need her to stay. Should I start a Protect Zelena 2k15 Campaign?

[KAOS Agent]

I despise Zelena and her endless monologues, but if they want to have her pop up for a minute or so an episode to throw shade at Robin and bag on Outlaw Queen in general, she can totally stay.

[MMR]

I don't get why Emma looks like Dark one in Storybrooke. Rumpelstiltskin newer did, Zelena is not green there. Emma should look normal. And she should look like Dark one in Camelot. Loved how she looked in that season 5 promo, all glittery, white eyebrows and hair!

[tri4335]

I could handwave that she looks like the dark one there because she became the dark one in Storybrooke.

[Mari]

I don't get why Emma looks like Dark one in Storybrooke. Rumpelstiltskin newer did, Zelena is not green there. Emma should look normal. And she should look like Dark one in Camelot.!

I think it's a couple of different things at play.

The reason everyone's appearances changed, was they were cursed. It was part of the Land Without Magic curse. When they zapped back and forth between worlds in season 3, appearances only changed when the curse was undone and redone.

Emma might not look Dark Oneish on Camelot because she is still fighting and rejecting the power. If so, she'd get the glitter when she's far enough into the transformation to warrant it, and as long as they just portal back to Storybrooke, not get Land Without Magic cursed there, she'd keep her glittery appearance.

[HoodlumSheep]

I just figured Rumple felt like looking like Mr. Gold. Maybe he doesn't feel like looking like a crocodile 24/7? And I suppose it's for make-up time issues.

So if Emma wants to look like her DO self in Storybrooke she can.

Edited September 30, 2015 by HoodlumSheep

[kili]

The same place she sent Glinda?

Nope. Charming and Snow end up visiting Glinda before Zarian re-appaers in the future, so the jig would be up before she even got there. 

[Serena]

Yeah. Clearly, Emma *wanted* to look like that because she wanted them to piss their pants. If she wanted to start wearing red leather jackets and jeans again, she would. She's just into theatricality right now.

[Paron Xanthis]

RIP Sir Kay, we hardly knew you.

Wait.  That was Kay who got killed by the sword?  Huh.  Makes sense.  Kay was selfish, cocky, and arrogant in The Sword in the Stone, too.

[Shanna Marie]

Wasn't Kay Arthur's foster brother? And yet they have very different accents here.

 

I don't think Arthur and Hook look exactly alike, but I do think they look like they could be brothers or at least related (and that was even more obvious in a photo of actor Liam with Colin and Colin's dad). When Arthur and friends rode up at the end, the camera kept cutting back and forth between Hook and Arthur when Hook was challenging Arthur, and I kept waiting for someone to ask if maybe they were related. I'm not sure how they could be, aside from time travel wackiness. I guess Hook could have had a dalliance with a princess on the verge of her wedding during one of his little trips away from Neverland, and that princess had a "premature" infant who grew up to be Arthur's father. Otherwise, a kid descended from character Liam (it gets confusing having an actor with the same name as a character, but not the same character he plays) or pre-Milah Hook or any other relative would be far enough removed that you wouldn't expect them to look that much alike. Except, I guess, on TV, where any distant ancestor looks enough like the present-day character that the same actor can play the role.

 

It looked like the stones were at the top of a hill and Granny's landed at the base of the hill, so maybe that's why Emma didn't notice anything about their arrival but they were able to find her. They could look up and see her at the top of the hill, but it was far enough that the sound wasn't obvious (and she was rather focused on plucking arrows out of the air and trying to ignore Head!Rumple's voice at the time).

 

I like Hook's hair flopping across his forehead. That gives him a bit of a frazzled look, which is appropriate. He's barely holding it together.

[YaddaYadda]

Wait.  That was Kay who got killed by the sword?  Huh.  Makes sense.  Kay was selfish, cocky, and arrogant in The Sword in the Stone, too.

 

Yeah, that was Kay. Arthur didn't exactly mourn the guy, so I'm guessing there's no love lost there. 

[Rick Kitchen]

Don't forget that Kay was a bully and mistreated Arthur when they were growing up.

[KingOfHearts]

I've seen a lot of negative feedback on the time jump + memory wipe. It's a real turn-off because the show is recycling a plot it's already done sooo many times. I'd go as far to say it's decisions like that which cause viewers to lose interest. The writers could be much more original if the characters remembered but the audience did not. But since they can't see past what's right in front of them, they took the cheapo route and gave the exact same length of time from last season and the exact same format from 3B. 

 

Many viewers say they liked the premiere right up until the ending. I don't blame them. As well as Jennifer did as the Dark Swan, I found that scene to be jarring. I know it sure took me out of the story.

Edited October 1, 2015 by KingOfHearts

[tennisgurl]

Yeah, of the friends I have who watch this show in the "real world", all of them have commented on the lameness of the whole memory loss thing. It just boggles the mind that they decided to do something like this. Again! 

[Rumsy4]

People I follow on tumblr from other fandoms, and who casually watch ONCE, are flummoxed by the memory loss redux as well. So, we may consider the underwhelming reaction to this plot device to be universal.

[Curio]

This one episode was more exciting than 80% of last year.

This one episode also featured approximately 80% more Hook than 4B. Coincidence? I think not.

I finally have the time to do a proper write up for the premiere. If I didn't like the episode, I wouldn't spend so much time writing about it, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It was miles ahead of both of Season 4's premieres (granted those bars were set low), and probably tied or slightly ahead of Season 3's premieres. Yes, there were flaws and annoying retcons (I wonder if they've ever gone a single episode without retconning one detail...), but seeing JMO play this first transition into becoming the Dark One is so entertaining and I'm really excited to see her transformation into darkness. Yes, the reason why she's transitioning into darkness is bullshit, but I just have to accept that whatever happened in the past can't be fixed, so now I'm going to focus on watching Jen knock it out of the park and finally see some focus put back on Emma. 

 

As annoying as Rumple got last season where the writers took him a bit too far into 2-dimensional villain territory, I'm digging him as Emma's mental mentor into darkness. I'd honestly be okay if Rumple's role on the show stayed like this for the rest of the series. He's past the point of redemption for me, so I like how he's being used in smaller bits and the scenes play towards his strengths of being a master manipulator. And you can't really get mad at him for his prodding because he's technically just a figment of Emma's imagination. It's subtle, but I do enjoy how they've set it up where Hook has to defeat the crocodile if he wants to bring Emma back into the light—it just so happens that his crocodile is prodding Emma inside her mind. I really hope the show plays that angle more, along with the Rumple:Devil vs. Hook:Angel parallel they had going on. Sadly, I could see that being a one episode thing, or maybe they'll revisit it once more this season at most.

 

Also, what in the world was that one Dark One animal that Rumple temporarily shape shifted into? It was like a giant boar that breathed fire? Is that some mythological creature I don't know about? Or did they just make something up?

 

I also like how transporting from one place to another is a dark magic trick. We complain a lot about why the villains don't just poof in and out of places more often or why they choose to drive cars, but it makes sense that they still walk places and use vehicles if magically transporting drains a lot of dark energy from them.

 

I've seen a lot of comments ragging on Hook for being an idiot for attempting to go after Zelena and Regina being the brilliant one for coming up with such a "great" plan to get to Emma. Now I get that that's how the show framed it, but when you pick apart their plans, the only reason Regina's worked and Hook's didn't is contrivance. One plan attempts to take on Zelena when she doesn't have any magic because of the cuff; the other plan allows Zelena to use magic and banks on Zelena being weak for a couple seconds even though the show has never shown a portal user becoming weak before. Which plan sounds crazier? Hook's plan would have been foolproof if Zelena didn't cast a spell on her heart, and then the writers had him carry around a butcher knife out of no where. Where does he even keep that thing? His wardrobe is skin tight, you'd think we would have seen him carrying a knife that size in his jacket at some point. It's just contrivance. And of course Zelena being weak for a couple split seconds is another huge contrivance. So it's hard to say one person was dumb and the other was smart when it's so obvious that the story is being dictated by the writers and the events aren't being played out organically.

 

Speaking of things that aren't organic: Henry, your mom was literally just sucked into another world and took on the darkness. Now is not the time to drink a giant soda and read a novel. 

 

I enjoyed Emma and Merida's interactions, and I'm thinking that it was a good thing I didn't watch Brave before this season. I'm watching Merida with no expectations except for the basic common knowledge things I know about the movie based on the previews and articles written about the movie. I just hope they don't spend an entire episode around Merida that takes away from the main focus of the season. But we all know that's inevitable.

 

I'm glad Hook was basically the driving force in the episode because he's the character (besides Rumple and Belle) that the Dark One mythology has impacted the most. Not only has he spent centuries of his life trying to defeat it, but now the love of his life has become the Dark One, and apparently he played a role in her becoming dark. He basically went from feeling on top of the world because he just found his missing girlfriend who just said "I love you," was able to talk her down from killing Merida, and was blissfully swinging her hand around like a dork...but then cut to a couple minutes later and he's watching that same woman make a grand entrance in Granny's as the Dark One and announcing that he and everyone would pay for what they did in Camelot, even though he can't remember what he did in Camelot. That sucks.

 

Also, this episode was seriously lacking in the Charmings. After Emma's speech to them in the finale, I was really hoping they'd play a big role in getting back to Emma. Apparently not.

Edited October 1, 2015 by Curio

[Shanna Marie]

As much as I rolled my eyes at yet another memory wipe, it's occurred to me that just as much as this seems to be the writers' go-to plot device, it could also be that this is the characters' go-to solution for any problem. They have this capability, so when people remembering what you've done or remembering what the problem is would get in the way, why wouldn't they use it? Most of the times when it's been used, it made sense for the characters using it. Zelena adding a memory wipe to the curse was actually a rather brilliant bit of strategy that would have worked if Neal hadn't managed to get a message to Hook because it gave her a do-over in the new location without her enemies knowing they were in danger and forced them to start all over again with figuring things out. The way Regina and Rumple use the memory wipes to erase their own bad behavior from the minds of the people whose opinions matter to them makes sense. The one time the memory wipe seems more outright plot device than something organic to the situation is the original curse, which still doesn't make a lot of sense as a means of revenge because how does it work as revenge for the people not to know what's going on and why they're suffering? The later add-on of losing your real identity if you cross the town line works as a way of keeping everyone in town, but the initial curse makes little sense.

 

So, depending on who cast the memory curse in this case and why, I'm not going to gripe because it might actually have been the best solution to the situation, and it would be even worse for the character to have that ability and not use it.

[tennisgurl]

So I really want to see more of the fire breathing Boar Dark One. What his story? How did he get a mystical dagger? And is he or is he not an evil version of Pumba from The Lion King?!?!

[Shanna Marie]

And is he or is he not an evil version of Pumba from The Lion King?!?!

The fire would have been coming out the other end.

[Writing Wrongs]

I'm confused about the timeline. Kid Emma is watching a movie about Merlin, Arthur and Excalibur. But Arthur doesn't pull the sword until Emma is an adult in Camelot. If Camelot and Storybrooke are in sync time wise, how could this be?

[Shanna Marie]

I'm confused about the timeline. Kid Emma is watching a movie about Merlin, Arthur and Excalibur. But Arthur doesn't pull the sword until Emma is an adult in Camelot. If Camelot and Storybrooke are in sync time wise, how could this be?

The same way we've had stories about Snow White for centuries, but she was only born in the past 50 or so years. Even the Disney Snow White would pre-date the Enchanted Forest Snow White.

 

They've never explained this, and even all the Author stuff doesn't explain it unless we learn that Authors can time travel.

[kingshearte]

This episode, when Emma announced her intention to find Merlin, i thought maybe she would be the one to meet Morgan. Or maybe to be her. But after that last scene, i'm just afraid that she has become Nimue.

Ooh, intriguing notion!

[darkestboy]

Opening episode was okay. I liked the intros of Merida and Merlin but not too drawn on the Camelot stuff just yet.

 

Emma as the Dark One is a mixed bag for me for now. Elements of Dark Willow there in a way.

 

Rumple wasn't needed for this episode.

 

I did like Zelena's snarkiness and craziness during her scenes with Regina, Hook and Robin though.

 

More memory loss stuff, no thanks, 7/10

[Shanna Marie]

The latest "my life at home with this child, argh" video my friend posted on Facebook of a child who is essentially one-third of Merida's brothers (complete with red hair) reminded me of the biggest plot hole in this episode: There's no way anyone who kidnapped those three children would still have them and not be offering money for someone to take them back after about half an hour. That's if they didn't find a way to escape on their own and destroy wherever they were being held. So it's hard to imagine them being in any sort of needing rescue situation. The kidnappers are the ones who need to be rescued.

 

Merida will get there and find the kidnappers tied up and being tortured while the kids are living it up.

[AudienceofOne]

I still can't reconcile this horrible "Emma goes dark" plotline because it's my opinion it shits all over the entire point of the show (good or evil is a choice, we have free will, we're all prone to both and what we become is our choice). Emma is good because she's chosen to be good. Rumple was evil because he chose to be evil. Emma and Regina both had really crappy lives but both chose to deal with it differently and it was that CHOICE that defined them as hero and villain. Not the first time the show has been determined to crap all over its own premise but this is the worst example.

 

But taking that in stride, this was actually quite a good episode. If I wasn't so annoyed about the premise of it, I would have enjoyed it a great deal. I particularly love Hook and Henry. Which is odd, because I've mostly found Henry's plotlines a giant yawnfest so far.

 

Chalk me up as someone who agrees with every person who pointed out that Emma is constantly held to a different moral standard than anybody else and for some reason normal, human reactions on her part are greeted with "ZOMG, you're going EVIL" from the text. It's really annoying.

Edited October 3, 2015 by AudienceofOne

[PixiePaws1]

Been looking at the scene with Dark Emma looking at Killian after he asks why she's doing 'this"...literally in the fraction of a second of the last frame of her face there's this flicker in her eyes of what looks like shock at what she is...at least that's what it looks like to me. At first I thought it was doubt or her feelings for him sneaking out but shock/surprise is what I really get coming through once I had several watches and a freeze frame. A 'OMG this is what I am now and despite what i say still not sure i want it' moment. What JMo can convey in such a small time frame ...just... wow!

[Christi]

Ok..just watched the premiere, but not the second episode yet. In reading here..we saw baby Neil and Roland? When? How did I miss that..and who is Roland?

Also what is this 4B stuff?

[HoodlumSheep]

^ Did you watch the latter half of season 4? Many agree that 4b has the worst stuff the show has pumped out, ever. The quality was not good.

Roland is Robin Hood's son. He was introduced in the latter half of season 3.

Snow was holding onto Neal, and Henry was protecting Roland in the diner when they went to Camelot.

Edited October 5, 2015 by HoodlumSheep

[Christi]

Neal is Rumps kid, right?

I did watch that last half of four..and agree...meh

[HoodlumSheep]

Neal is...well i should say Baby Neal (many of us here just call him Baby Snowflake) is Snow and David's son. She gave birth to him near the end of 3b and named the kid after Rumple's deceased son, Neal.

Edited October 5, 2015 by HoodlumSheep

[Christi]

Ok...too confusing naming him Neal!

Edited October 5, 2015 by Christi

[Curio]

Ok...too confusing naming him Neal!

 

Weird and insensitive are other acceptable adjectives.

[Christi]

Right? Wow

And certainly not the most royal name Ive every heard

Edited October 6, 2015 by Christi

[Shanna Marie]

This one is a drastic improvement over the previous season. There was actual tension, conflict, and action, and it wasn't all silly and manufactured. Colin was the MVP, with a rather gripping intensity that seemed to have forced everyone else to raise their games. The energy level in scenes with him was so much higher than scenes without him. JMo got a lot of the praise in this arc for showing Emma's inner torment, but it really struck me on this viewing just how well Colin showed Hook's emotional turmoil. I did like newly minted Dark One Emma's struggle, though I was less thrilled with the full-on Dark Swan.

However, I did want to say Shut Up, Regina. The episode would have been better without her. I had to roll my eyes about how someone who spent the episode making threats, even to her "friends," and insulting people could be just too good to be able to use the wand. It's like the show was waving the "she's good now, see?" flag a bit too strongly. Then there was her inexplicably knowing about the baby blanket and where to find it when we've had no indication that she would know anything about it. Emma told Snow about it, and then Hook saw the box of treasures in the sheriff's office. Why couldn't they have just had Snow get the blanket? Why did they have to give Regina that one? And there's her self-righteousness with Zelena. True, Zelena isn't citizen of the year, but it's not like Regina has room to criticize her.

Oh, and what the hell, Merlin? What is his thing for creating things that require evil to operate? There's the magic pen that needs dark Savior blood to work, and now there's the wand that requires dark magic. But didn't the Apprentice say it needed both light and dark? Are they saying Zelena has light and dark magic? Wouldn't it have required Regina and Zelena working together?

I loved Brave, but I didn't like the use of Merida here. I guess she has reasons to be darker and angrier, but this seems like a different character entirely. And why didn't Emma ask her for directions to Camelot? She was threatening the peddler to get directions, then suddenly getting the wisp is the only way she can find Merlin.

Spoiler

Especially since we later find out that Merida knew about Arthur, so she'd have known how to get to Camelot.

I don't think I've rewatched this one since we later found out what was going on, and I'm not sure it holds up in context. I suspect there are going to be a lot of spoiler bars in this arc.

Spoiler

While the Dark Swan revelation is nice and dramatic, it makes no sense in the context of what's really happening and what Emma wants to do. I still think that all the Dark Swan act is purely contrived because that's what they wanted to show, while it's the worst possible way for Emma to go about achieving her goal. What she wants is to buy time to find a way to get the Darkness out of both her and Hook without Hook figuring out that he's a Dark One. Well, given the aforementioned intensity and emotional turmoil, it would seem to me like playing all Dark Swan and telling them they failed her would only make him dig and investigate more and stay obsessed with trying to help her. We find out later that she can look "normal," so wouldn't a better way have been for her to pretend that they fixed her and act like she doesn't remember, either? Then everyone can be happy and focus on figuring out what happened with the curse (though that would be less urgent if everything else seems okay) and dealing with the Camelot folks. Hook would have no reason to be digging around. Maybe she's mad at her parents for arguing against saving Hook in the first place, but there's no reason otherwise for her to be getting all creepy and awful with her parents. It was basically done to create a cliffhanger, not because it's something the character would have likely done in those circumstances.

[KingOfHearts]

This is the first episode where Zelena starts being tolerable and somewhat entertaining. She's still as batshit as ever, but everyone treats her like the villain she is and she's not overused. Her motivations (to escape captivity and raise her own child) are clear and make sense. In this episode, everyone is acting like they would in the current situation. There's still plenty of fun, like using Granny's to get to Camelot via cyclone, but it doesn't diminish the drama. It's weird how sometimes the show can be as contrived as ever, yet still flow well. The only contrivance I really don't like here is the wand powered by both good and evil - mostly because it's arbitrary. 

Spoiler

And then we find out later Regina couldn't wield it because she "didn't believe in herself". What a load of BS. Zelena had insecurity issues out the wazoo, so did her innate talent just override that? IT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE, WRITERS.

[daxx]

I hate the fact they put in an Emma flashback to little Emma and it was so useless and pointless.

[Camera One]

2 hours ago, daxx said:

I hate the fact they put in an Emma flashback to little Emma and it was so useless and pointless.

This was their usual pathetic attempt to create intrigue... ooooh, what a mysterious warning.

Edited April 7, 2019 by Camera One

[KingOfHearts]

I liked their use of Sword and the Stone. I just wish it was more subtle and used at an earlier point for foreshadowing. 

I still like the dagger/excalibur twist to this day. It's really clever at retconning while also being completely believable. It explains why Rumple said in 3x02 he couldn't destroy excalibur.

[Camera One]

I agree the dagger/excalibur twist was clever.  I suppose it's not really a retcon since we never knew the origin of The Dagger, anyway.  This was the half-season with the mythology of The Dark One.

The Sword of the Stone didn't work for me since I'm still not sure about the point of Merlin's message.

Spoiler

He could astro-project himself from inside a tree?  If so, why didn't he give better instructions to his dumb Apprentice?  

Edited April 7, 2019 by Camera One

[profdanglais]

Agreeing with everything @Shanna Marie said in her second spoiler tag. 

On first watch, I thought 

Spoiler

that Emma and Hook might have been in on it together, something about that final interaction between them in the diner. I was really hoping that they would be working together behind the scenes to trick the darkness or something. That would have been so much more satisfying that what we ultimately got. 

[tennisgurl]

Using Sword and the Stone with little Emma was a cute little moment of actually using Disney media in the story, but as with many little Emma flashbacks, it really doesent mean much of anything.

I love how Hook just spends the whole episode either frantic to save Emma, or increasingly frustrated at how no one seems to be actually doing anything. His long suffering sighs are a BIG mood watching this show. And of course Regina's first reaction is to make it all about her, even after Emma is swallowed up in a hurricane of evil after sacrificing herself for Regina.

[daxx]

15 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

And of course Regina's first reaction is to make it all about her, even after Emma is swallowed up in a hurricane of evil after sacrificing herself for Regina.

The writers also made it all about Regina by having her bring Emma’s baby blanket instead of Snow, she should have brought it, or Hook since he was the last to see her box of things.

[Shanna Marie]

On 4/10/2019 at 8:08 AM, daxx said:

The writers also made it all about Regina by having her bring Emma’s baby blanket instead of Snow, she should have brought it, or Hook since he was the last to see her box of things.

That still makes me so mad. There was an entire scene in season one in which Emma and Snow discussed the baby blanket and its significance. Then Snow would have remembered the blanket and Granny making it once she got her memories back. There was an entire scene in season four in which Emma got out her box of belongings at the police station, which included the blanket, and then Hook looked at her treasures, so he'd have known where the blanket was now. Never at any time had Regina seen the blanket or understood its significance.

The appropriate scene would have been something like:
SNOW: I know! Emma's baby blanket. It was the one thing she had from us, and she held on to it all this time.
HOOK: I know where it is now. I'll go get it.

Instead of:
REGINA: I'd never heard of it or seen it before, and it was in a place I wouldn't normally go, but I just happened to go to the police station and I found this blanket with "Emma" on it, so let's use that for the spell.

One thing I wondered: what happened to Emma's stuff during the Missing Year? Did she have time to pack her keepsakes and belongings before she and Henry left town, and did she then bring them back when she, Hook, and Henry came back to town? Emma's stuff wasn't from the other world, so did boxes of belongings just randomly sit there in the woods for a year until the town re-formed around them? The blanket was from the Enchanted Forest, so it might have gone back with them and then come back with the new curse, but what about stuff like the picture of Neal and the glasses?

[KingOfHearts]

23 minutes ago, Shanna Marie said:

One thing I wondered: what happened to Emma's stuff during the Missing Year? Did she have time to pack her keepsakes and belongings before she and Henry left town, and did she then bring them back when she, Hook, and Henry came back to town? Emma's stuff wasn't from the other world, so did boxes of belongings just randomly sit there in the woods for a year until the town re-formed around them? The blanket was from the Enchanted Forest, so it might have gone back with them and then come back with the new curse, but what about stuff like the picture of Neal and the glasses?

She probably packed it into the bug when she and Henry left town. Since she retained all her memories pre-Henry and assumed she lost her old apartment in a fire, she probably guessed she could only salvage that one box. It's a little weird to save a box of keepsakes, but I suppose if it were important enough to her she would.

Edited April 11, 2019 by KingOfHearts

[Shanna Marie]

2 hours ago, KingOfHearts said:

She probably packed it into the bug when she and Henry left town.

I was going to wonder how she had time to pack since they were basically racing to get out before Pan's curse kicked in, but then I remembered that it's this show, where they can see the curse lurking in the distance for a whole day. She had time to pack everything, get her car tuned up, have her nails done, and then have a dramatic scene at the town line.

She wasn't planning to stay in Storybrooke when she went from New York with Hook, but she brought her keepsakes? Maybe she just kept that box in her car the whole time. That's how they were saved from the "fire," and she never unpacked them in New York, so they were already in her car when she came back.

And maybe there's a touching Once Upon a Time in Offscreenville scene in which Snow shows up at the town line with her box of mementos to say goodbye and to make sure Emma has her treasures. Then they stayed in the car the whole time, and she took them out of the car at the police station to look for the video camera.

But I really think the writers kept forgetting about the curse reverse and missing year and how it would have affected things, like Ursula and Lily, or Emma's stuff in Storybrooke (everything she brought to town that wasn't created by the curse and that she didn't take with her should have just been left there -- and was everything in Storybrooke created by the curse, or did they ever order things online or get things shipped in from outside?).

[Camera One]

I never got this far on the rewatch, but I watched a bit of it to figure out Will's timeline in the "Wonderland" spinoff.

Watching snippets of this episode did not make me want to watch 5A at all.  I don't consider the show to have really jumped the shark fully until the 5B finale, but the scenes I watched either bored me or annoyed me.

There was Regina and Hook insulting each other which got on my nerves.  Then there was Zelena suddenly knowing all about Merlin's wand and how to make it work, for no good reason.  And in the flashback, there was the tedious conversations between Emma and Head Rumple and of course, there was Merida ('nuff said).

I did notice that we got to see Emma with shaky hands (for the first time?) trying to "stop" herself from using her super Dark powers of strangulation unintentionally.  

Zelena meditating in her cell was foreshadowing that she would eventually open a yoga studio, right?

It still bothered me that The Apprentice was awake for so long and said absolutely nothing useful.  Blue was actually sitting with him for a long time before the scene where everyone came into the room and he promptly died, so I want to believe that the Apprentice told Blue everything or she had a secret past with Merlin, etc.  

The Apprentice's dying words was that he was given the wand when he first became Merlin's apprentice, and it requires the wielding of light AND dark.  So did it never work for him for all these years?  Since he wasn't dark.  And the problem in this episode was Regina couldn't make it work either because she had gone "soft", so they had to go to Zelena.  

And don't get me started on Belle carrying around the iconic rose.  I'm going to believe that Blue gave her that, so she could be alone with Rumple and kill him but something prevented her from doing so.

Edited June 10, 2020 by Camera One

[KingOfHearts]

On 6/8/2020 at 12:16 AM, Camera One said:

And don't get me started on Belle carrying around the iconic rose.  I'm going to believe that Blue gave her that, so she could be alone with Rumple and kill him but something prevented her from doing so.

LOL. I really wish this to be canon. Where's the dark version of Blue we speculated to exist all those years? 

Quote

Zelena meditating in her cell was foreshadowing that she would eventually open a yoga studio, right?

 

She should've been a yoga instructor in S7.

Edited June 10, 2020 by KingOfHearts

[Shanna Marie]

On 6/8/2020 at 12:16 AM, Camera One said:

The Apprentice's dying words was that he was given the wand when he first became Merlin's apprentice, and it requires the wielding of light AND dark.  So did it never work for him for all these years?  Since he wasn't dark.  And the problem in this episode was Regina couldn't make it work either because she had gone "soft", so they had to go to Zelena.  

Still more proof that Merlin was actually either evil or insane. Why did he keep coming up with magical stuff that required darkness to use it? There was the wand that required someone to be a certain degree of dark before it could be used, and a dark person who'd really reformed wasn't dark enough. They still had to be a little dark. Huh? And then there was the magic pen that required the blood of a dark Savior. Wouldn't you hope that a Savior wouldn't go dark? Why have a magical device that won't work unless a really bad thing happens?