S05.E22: Only You / S05.E23: An Untold Story

[Curio]

1 minute ago, Shanna Marie said:

They didn't really resolve that "magic is bad and must be stopped!" plot.

I kind of hope they did this on purpose, because there's a lot of potential there to explore. Maybe instead of destroying all magic, Henry could take it upon himself to start writing some magical laws. Right now, it's like the Wild West where any magic practitioner can do whatever they want because there's no rules. Technically, Gold had every right to do what he was doing with the crystal and Pandora's box because there isn't a magical law that says he can't absorb everyone's magic. Just because Regina and Emma didn't think it was a nice thing to do doesn't mean Rumple wasn't within his rights as a magical user to do it. If there's no magical law stopping Rumple, then why shouldn't he try to take all the power for himself? Killing people is obviously crossing a human/moral horizon, but taking all the magic for himself is a bit more of a grey area without any laws in place. 

If Henry actually wants his writing to be useful, he should start reading up on how to write legal forms.

[Daisy]

4 hours ago, Mitch said:

Okay, but why was Regina able to split herself with a magic potion...and then able to pull out a heart, and then the EQ floated over to the Dragon and pulled his heart out if there is no...or hard to find magic in the LWOM? I realize Emma in magic..but does everyone else know this as she makes chains appear on the EQ? Is this a retread of S2 "Magic works differently here" when Regina couldn't get her mojo going but then its like,"Oh no it doesnt!" I wish people would quit asking the producers if "Rumbelle has a future" ..or "Are Hook and Emma going to go sofa shopping soon," and ask them "Please explain your rules of magic..you do know that nothing makes sense and it is fairly obvious you don't know what the hell you are doing..."

Because Regina is still inherently magical the EQ was just the evil parts of her not the magic part of her. 

i guess?

Yeah clarification of the rules would be great. 

[Camera One]

Instead of Snow and Emma, I think Zelena should have been the one to suggest/encourage Regina to use the serum to separate out and kill The Evil Queen.  It makes no sense to me that Snow or Emma would have condoned the idea.  Zelena would have appreciated the idea to literally killing something to make yourself feel better, and the Mills women are open to magical shortcuts.

It is also a disservice to Robin Hood's memory that his note did little.  Was she hating doing good when she was with Robin too?  Was she in constant turmoil and suffering to suppress her evil when she was in a happy relationship the past year?  I seriously doubt it.  

Did Henry realize that he could no longer be the Author if he got rid of all magic in Storybrooke?  Since he never addressed that.  And what about Emma's magic?  What will happen next time a megavillain comes to Storybrooke?  Even Violet could have brought that up.

The lack of urgency in some of the scenes were really galling.  Henry and Violet eating pizza, for example.  Or Emma and Regina chatting at Neal's knowing Gold was close on their heels.  

Did any of the town's people want to go with the Merry Men and the Camelot folk?  Did they make an open call for anyone who wished to?   When did the Merry Men decide they wanted to leave?  How come they went back to the Enchanted Forest, while our intrepid heroes got swept away to the Land of Untold Stories?  

Didn't we already have a Henry-tries-to-destroy-magic episode?  Yes, and it was called "Welcome to Storybrooke".  In that episode, he also shamed the heroes for not being heroes. Remember these lines?  Didn't he learn this lesson already, like when he was 10?

Henry: What's wrong with her?
Emma: Nothing. She's just a little sick.
Henry: You guys are lying to me, aren't you?
Emma: No one's lying.
Henry: You are, just like you did about my dad.
Emma: Henry, I - He's right. No more lying.
David: Emma..
Emma: He deserves to know. Here's the thing, Henry. Cora's death... Mary Margaret was partially responsible for it, and that's why she's so upset.
Henry: No. No, no, she couldn't.

----

Neal: Henry, get out of the way!
Henry: Not until someone helps me destroy magic!
Regina: There's no way to get rid of it. You can't just blow it up!
Emma: Magic isn't the problem, kid. It's her.
Henry: It's not just her. It's everyone. Look what magic did to Mary Margaret. (to Regina) Look what it did to you! It's ruining everything. It makes good people do terrible things.

Edited May 18, 2016 by Camera One

[KAOS Agent]

Is it wrong that I want Henry to face consequences for his antics in the library? I kind of want Sheriff Swan to get a call from the NYPD who want to charge Henry with destruction of property and theft.

[Rumsy4]

21 minutes ago, Camera One said:

Was she in constant turmoil and suffering to suppress her evil when she was in a happy relationship the past year?  I seriously doubt it.  

That's why Regina's talk make little sense. If she had said, I hate doing good when things aren't going the way I want them to, then it would have made sense. As is, it comes across as nonsense, and frankly, a disservice to her character. 

[InsertWordHere]

3 minutes ago, KAOS Agent said:

Is it wrong that I want Henry to face consequences for his antics in the library? I kind of want Sheriff Swan to get a call from the NYPD who want to charge Henry with destruction of property and theft.

Now hold on a minute. Violet was an accessory there. It's obvious she's going down a dark path. She should face the charges while Henry gets off scot-free. It's what Neal would have wanted!

[Rumsy4]

Just now, InsertWordHere said:

Now hold on a minute. Violet was an accessory there. It's obvious she's going down a dark path. She should face the charges while Henry gets off scot-free. It's what Neal would have wanted!

OMG!!! 

[Camera One]

Violet's father was an American, but he was so concerned about Henry not being a knight back in 5A?

[InsertWordHere]

3 minutes ago, Rumsy4 said:

OMG!!! 

What? At least she isn't pregnant. Even if she was, as long as Henry didn't know, it would be okay. In case you forgot, magic killed his dad. 

Alright, I am getting a little sickened typing about teenagers and pregnancy. Doesn't help that Violet's only about 3 years younger than Emma was. Good thing Violet is half from our world, now Henry won't have to ditch her for being from Fairytale Land.

3 minutes ago, Camera One said:

Violet's father was an American, but he was so concerned about Henry not being a knight back in 5A?

I like to think Morgan was just messing with Henry here. 

[Rumsy4]

21 minutes ago, InsertWordHere said:

Alright, I am getting a little sickened typing about teenagers and pregnancy. Doesn't help that Violet's only about 3 years younger than Emma was. Good thing Violet is half from our world, now Henry won't have to ditch her for being from Fairytale Land. 

I really think someone needs to sit Henry down and explain the facts of life to him. At any rate, Violet's dad needs to hear about this noble dad of Henry's. Henry keeps following his dad's footsteps a little too well.

[MMR]

[mwell345]

Quote

So, I will have more to say when I am not steadely getting deeper and deeper into this friendly bottle of Vodka, but I am going to strain my face rolling my eyes at Henry. I have never felt that level of second hand embarrassment at a TV show in my life. That was like how the fucking Care Bears solve their problems. In any real world, people would have ignored some dumb kid screaming about magic. Anywhere. That was just embarrassing. Henry was the worst this episode. 

First episode next season I want a portal to open up and suck Henry somewhere and have no one realize or care that he's gone. Because I know I won't.

[Curio]

These quotes were said before the finale aired:

Quote

HOROWITZ: We’re going to see some of Snow’s growth from, as we’ve seen this season, Mary Margaret to really embracing that she is Snow White. Long past wounds, particularly with Regina, are dealt with in this finale.

PARRILLA: The two moms are trying to stop Henry from destroying magic and trying to stop Gold, who is the ultimate darkest of the dark ones, from getting to Henry. The whole thing turns into a real blame game, with Emma and Regina arguing like crazy. 'It's your fault this is happening!' 'No, it's your fault!' There is a lot of pent-up emotion.

Did I blink and miss these moments? All I saw on screen was Regina whining about having to suffer karma for the hundreds of people she killed in the past, how no one can possibly understand her pain, and Snow and Emma rolling over and saying, "No, that's not true! You don't have to suffer! We forgive you!"

Edited May 18, 2016 by Curio

[Mari]

Well, Emma did point out that Regina had wanted to go to Hardee's.  Maybe that was her expressing her rage and despair?

[RulerofallIsurvey]

On 5/17/2016 at 7:10 AM, YaddaYadda said:

I think one of the things that I absolutely hated was that walk to Granny's after everyone came back from NYC, where Hook is asking Emma if she still feels guilty because he's back. 

 

20 hours ago, Rumsy4 said:

He sensed that Emma was feeling guilty that he was back alive becasue her BFF was in pain (WTF). So, we have another instance of Killian understanding Emma feels the need to coddle Regina right after Killian has been saved from mortal peril. 

I've been thinking about this, and it really just bothers me more and more.  Why was Emma feeling guilty?  Because Killian was alive and Robin was dead?  So what?  Most of us realize that Killian was not sent back because of anything Emma did...

Or was he?  When she met him, he was an evil, revenge-driven pirate.  And while he didn't change just for Emma, meeting her made him want to change - to be a better person.  So he became a hero on his own, even to the point of forgiving his own murderer, and earned his own redemption.  But in a small way, Emma deserves a little credit too, because she inspired him to try.  And Zeus sent him back to where he belonged - with Emma.  So why on earth should Emma, or anyone, ever feel guilty about inspiring someone to give up evil and become a hero?  That's seriously messed up, show.

Now let's look at Robin.  Who is not dead because of anything Emma did.  At all.  This might even be on Regina more than due to just bad planning.  He was a former thief who robbed from the rich to give to the poor.  And then he met Regina.  So what did Regina inspire Robin to do?  Give up helping the poor?   Stand around and agree with Regina 24/7?  Did that make Robin a better person?  He was already a better person than Regina, and he didn't even inspire her to do better - that was Snow and Emma.  Maybe, despite the cool lion tattoo, where he belonged wasn't with Regina.  (In my head cannon, his soul wasn't just destroyed forever, he is with Marian, his first wife - where he really belongs.)

Eh.  It sounded better in my head.  I feel like I'm forgetting something.  But here it is.

[Curio]

Quote

Well, Emma did point out that Regina had wanted to go to Hardee's.  Maybe that was her expressing her rage and despair?

That was such an out of character line, too. No way Regina would suggest Hardee's, Ms. I-Eat-Kale-Salads-and-Make-Fun-of-Emma's-Eating-Habits Mills. Why must these writers always screw over characterization just to throw in a "funny" line? At least be witty and use some continuity by having it be Mr. Cluck's.

Edited May 18, 2016 by Curio

[Randomosity]

Hardee's?? I missed that line, but definitely agree that it's out of character completely. Plus, a 10-second visit to the Hardee's website reveals exactly zero of them along the route from Maine to Boston to NYC. Why go out of your way to use a less-popular chain when it's inaccurate? Either Google to see what IS there or just freaking say McDonald's.

[YaddaYadda]

If I were grieving, and had to have kale salad, that might push me over the edge.

[Mitch]

Okay, I hate to agree with Henry, but really, this people are idiots if they don't think magic must be destroyed. We havent seen it do any good, as it just corrects the magical wrongs of others...(at the last minute,,,after a few extras die.) We also see that dark magic has more power then white magic..or what we have been allowed to see. Blue was supposed to be the most powerful but she runs and shrieks like an 8 year old when the shadow chases her and is not to be seen when the latest Big Bad comes to town and is easily sucked into the hat.  The Sorcerer is useless, Glinda got stuck in a winter world by Zelena... I have enjoyed a couple of the last episodes where Emma has made Gold her bitch... but that it that.

So it makes total sense to "disarm," everyone. Having Regina (EQ) Gold, and whomever, have that much power is like letting Iran have a nuke. If Snow and Charms ever had any sense...(I know, I know,) they would have tried to get rid of it long ago.

Okay, so the Henry wish scene (one of the most painful to watch scenes on any show or movie in the last few years) did that in itself restore magic to Storybrooke? To the whole world (people seemed to use it willy nilly in NY now)? I quit really watching much when the Dragon (as stand in for the writers) said "Yes and No..."

[Curio]

5 minutes ago, Randomosity said:

Plus, a 10-second visit to the Hardee's website reveals exactly zero of them along the route from Maine to Boston to NYC. Why go out of your way to use a less-popular chain when it's inaccurate? Either Google to see what IS there or just freaking say McDonald's.

This kind of lazy writing is exactly why we have so many continuity issues on this show.

[Mitch]

30 minutes ago, Curio said:

That was such an out of character line, too. No way Regina would suggest Hardee's, Ms. I-Eat-Kale-Salads-and-Make-Fun-of-Emma's-Eating-Habits Mills. Why must these writers always screw over characterization just to throw in a "funny" line? At least be witty and use some continuity by having it be Mr. Cluck's.

This is a gal who likes her pancakes so I can see her going for a little crap in the outside world.

Edited May 18, 2016 by Mitch

[Camera One]

2 hours ago, Curio said:

These quotes were said before the finale aired:

HOROWITZ: We’re going to see some of Snow’s growth from, as we’ve seen this season, Mary Margaret to really embracing that she is Snow White. Long past wounds, particularly with Regina, are dealt with in this finale.

Did I blink and miss these moments? All I saw on screen was Regina whining about having to suffer karma for the hundreds of people she killed in the past, how no one can possibly understand her pain, and Snow and Emma rolling over and saying, "No, that's not true! You don't have to suffer! We forgive you!"

That would be the scene where Snow acknowledges that she had a role in bringing The Evil Queen to the world and take action to help her friend.  We now know their definition of the phrase "are dealt with".  So what would Mary Margaret have said, "Now Regina, there's a hard way and an easy way..."

[RadioGirl27]

SQ shippers have an interesting theory about that visit to Hardee's. Something about being a proof of them being endgame.

Edited May 18, 2016 by RadioGirl27

[Rumsy4]

4 minutes ago, Camera One said:

That would be the scene where Snow acknowledges that she had a role in bringing The Evil Queen to the world and take action to help her friend.  We now know their definition of the phrase "are dealt with".  So what would Mary Margaret have said, "Now Regina, there's a hard way and an easy way..."

Nailed it! Snow did foetal surgery on Emma to remove the Darkness from her. This was basically the same remedy. Apparently she didn't learn it never ends well.

[OnceUponAJen]

47 minutes ago, RadioGirl27 said:

SQ shippers have an interesting theory about that visit to Hardee's. Something about being a proof of them being endgame.

Isn't that the end point of all their theories?

[Mari]

1 hour ago, RadioGirl27 said:

SQ shippers have an interesting theory about that visit to Hardee's. Something about being a proof of them being endgame.

What?  How?  What?

Um...I am at a loss, because I don't get the even remote possibility of subtext there, let alone text.  What are they thinking?

[RulerofallIsurvey]

8 minutes ago, Mari said:

What?  How?  What?

Um...I am at a loss, because I don't get the even remote possibility of subtext there, let alone text.  What are they thinking?

"Wanna go to Hardees?" obviously means something different to SQ than it does to the rest of us.  It's those 100% Angus thickburgers, no doubt.  

[Curio]

Well, you see, the fact that they drove to a Hardee's means they probably went to the closest Hardee's to Boston, which is actually in Lake Katrine, NY. So why did they take a detour all the way to New York just to eat at a Hardee's? Because Regina really wanted one of those disgusting burgers that seems completely out of character for Regina, and of course Emma just had to drive over 400 miles to make her best friend happy. Never mind the rush to save Henry, Emma always puts Regina first, even before her own son.

I hate this show sometimes. 

[ABitOFluff]

Hardee's/Carl's Jr is famous for their sexist commercials with scantily clad women shoving burgers into their mouths. Regina must have insisted on Hardee's to watch ketchup dripping down Emma's mouth.

Come to think of it, some SQ fans I've seen are incredibly sexist, so I can totally see them being aroused by the thought.

Edited May 18, 2016 by ABitOFluff

[YaddaYadda]

I don't really get why there's so much focus on Hardee's. I'm sure the writers didn't even think anything of it when they wrote it in. Maybe they did a product placement, because there's nothing like a woman wearing a bikini taking a bite out of gross looking burger.

Maybe Regina is pregnant with Robin's love child and is craving greasy food, and she saw Hardee's was coming up at the next exit.  

[Curio]

7 minutes ago, YaddaYadda said:

I don't really get why there's so much focus on Hardee's. I'm sure the writers didn't even think anything of it when they wrote it in.

It's just one of those small writing details that bug me. I'm currently plotting out a graphic novel and I can't help but fact-check even the tiniest of details. If the story takes place in the middle of October in Boston, I'd be fact-checking to see if the leaves normally change color at that time. If someone is driving to a location, I'd Google the fastest route to that location and make sure the characters say the correct road names. Name-dropping a famous restaurant chain should require just a simple Google fact-check before you throw in the free publicity. Who knows, maybe a Hardee's did exist in Boston during 2013 or 2014 (is that where we are in the timeline right now?), but it would have been so much easier to say Mr. Cluck's or something.

Edit: Also, it's officially summer hiatus. These are the kinds of hard-hitting topics we get to analyze because they left us with nothing fun to speculate about.

Edited May 18, 2016 by Curio

[Mari]

I had just assumed they stopped at Hardee's because Regina thought Henry would go there, and Emma was cranky about it because Regina was wrong but insisted.

 

and there not being a Hardee's nearby is not evidence for anything.  It was probably the name of a sponsor, or the commercial that was running when they were writing the episode.  There's subtext, and there's delusion.  I know which one this seems more like.

[Randomosity]

It's not about evidence or subtext or delusion or SQ. It's just lazy writing. Small inconsistencies can take away from the larger show-watching experience (the main reason that Vancouw York bugs me too). What they really should have said is Dunkin Donuts because in the Boston area, you can't walk five feet without accidentally stumbling into at least three of those.

Edited May 18, 2016 by Randomosity
holy crap, phone, stop adding random letters

[InsertWordHere]

I'm not sure this helps, but the Hardee's would have been between Storybrooke and Boston, not Boston and NYC. They had already been to Hardee's when they stopped at the bus station in Boston, then they were trying to find a map when Regina snarked about Emma's pigsty. 

[Curio]

So they drove from Storybrooke, Maine; to Lake Katrine, New York; to Boston, Massachusetts; and finally to New York City, New York just because Regina specifically wanted to eat at Hardee's. Good ol' REC. ;)

[Randomosity]

19 minutes ago, Curio said:

Edit: Also, it's officially summer hiatus. These are the kinds of hard-hitting topics we get to analyze because they left us with nothing fun to speculate about.

 

Ha. True. If next season had much interesting going for it, I would not be googling Hardee's locations.

1 minute ago, InsertWordHere said:

I'm not sure this helps, but the Hardee's would have been between Storybrooke and Boston, not Boston and NYC. They had already been to Hardee's when they stopped at the bus station in Boston, then they were trying to find a map when Regina snarked about Emma's pigsty. 

Nope, there are basically no Hardee's anymore in New England, so that doesn't change a thing.

 

I also fully realize that my nitpicks about things like Hardee's between Maine and NYC, and Vancouver being a poor substitute for NYC (especially the way this show sets up its scenes), are because I coincidentally have spent 7 of the last 12 years living in Vancouver, Manhattan, and Boston, and also grew up in the largely Hardee's-less northeast (I do remember one for a few years when I was in elementary school). If they were inconsistent about whether or not there was a Taco Bell near Boise, Idaho, or whether the Memphis, Tennessee library had lions and a fountain, I'd have much less to say! :)

[Dianthus]

So rather than participate in this discussion in any meaningful way, why not just post a giant photo of the EQ holding a fireball and grinning like a damn psycho. Yeah, that's the ticket. Regina's gonna end up looking like a total moron after spending several episodes coming to a blindingly obvious conclusion, but so long as she gets to gobble up more screen time (not to mention the scenery), some of her more ardent fans just don't seem to care.

[Sarcastica]

2 hours ago, RadioGirl27 said:

SQ shippers have an interesting theory about that visit to Hardee's. Something about being a proof of them being endgame.

Wat?

Bless their hearts. 

[legaleagle53]

1 hour ago, YaddaYadda said:

I don't really get why there's so much focus on Hardee's. I'm sure the writers didn't even think anything of it when they wrote it in. Maybe they did a product placement, because there's nothing like a woman wearing a bikini taking a bite out of gross looking burger.

Maybe Regina is pregnant with Robin's love child and is craving greasy food, and she saw Hardee's was coming up at the next exit.  

She can't be.  She took a potion that rendered her sterile, remember?  That's why she had to adopt Henry.

[YaddaYadda]

9 minutes ago, legaleagle53 said:

She can't be.  She took a potion that rendered her sterile, remember?  That's why she had to adopt Henry.

Oh, I knew that. I was just being sarcastic. Between crushing the heart of that groom, and Cora's return, that episode was everything I didn't wanna watch.

[kili]

Quote

She can't be.  She took a potion that rendered her sterile, remember?  That's why she had to adopt Henry.

She can be pregnant if the writer's want her to be. It's Magic! People don't stay dead on this show - why would they stay sterile?

I just hope they don't have any more babies. Three baby stories in the last 3 seasons is three baby stories too many. Especially when these babies spend all their time off-screen while their parents go off on dangerous missions rarely considering that one of them should sit this one out.

We still have to get Belle's baby sorted out, so Regina isn't allowed to be preggers...though it would be fascinating if both the EQ and Regina were now pregnant - one pure light and one pure evil. We could rehash the Emma/Lily plot and who doesn't enjoy a good rehashed plot. That stuff practically writes itself. 

[InsertWordHere]

I wouldn't put it past them to say separating Regina from the Evil Queen has caused one of them to become fertile again. 

[Curio]

3 hours ago, Mitch said:

Okay, I hate to agree with Henry, but really, this people are idiots if they don't think magic must be destroyed.

Okay, so the Henry wish scene (one of the most painful to watch scenes on any show or movie in the last few years) did that in itself restore magic to Storybrooke? To the whole world (people seemed to use it willy nilly in NY now)? I quit really watching much when the Dragon (as stand in for the writers) said "Yes and No..."

I don't know if all magic needs to be destroyed, but it's definitely a conversation the magical and non-magical people need to discuss instead of constantly brushing it under the rug. This episode did nothing to further those discussions, and worse, it's probably the last conflict we'll have on the show about it. There's a huge magical power imbalance between "good" magical practitioners and "bad" magical practitioners, and then there's all the innocent non-magical people caught in the crossfire. Emma should take it upon herself to start regulating magic use, but if this episode is anything to go by, the writers don't care at all about magical politics.

And yes, I think the "Clap Your Hands If You Believe" wish scene restored all the magic to Storybrooke. At least, I think it did? The episode was really vague about the magical rules. So apparently Rumple was able to suck up all of Storybrooke's magic and store it in the crystal (AKA a complete rehash of his Sorcerer's Hat plot from Season 4), and the crystal grew brighter and brighter every time a coin was thrown in the water, meaning magic was being restored.

Edited May 18, 2016 by Curio

[YaddaYadda]

27 minutes ago, Curio said:

And yes, I think the "Clap Your Hands If You Believe" wish scene restored all the magic to Storybrooke. At least, I think it did? The episode was really vague about the magical rules. So apparently Rumple was able to suck up all of Storybrooke's magic and store it in the crystal (AKA a complete rehash of his Sorcerer's Hat plot from Season 4), and the crystal grew brighter and brighter every time a coin was thrown in the water, meaning magic was being restored.

Okay, so basically what happened is that when they made the first wishes, the crystal started glowing because the magic started being restored. It wasn't enough so we had the second-hand embarrassment moment where I was Rumple (we were totally sympatico in that moment), when everyone started making wishes, the magic was restored to the crystal, and when they went back, Regina did her voodoo to untether Storybrooke's magic from the crystal (because I'm assuming that's how it was powered in the first place anyway), and we got TLK's rainbows across Storybrooke before the crystal vanished, and Hyde showed up (because magic).

I didn't understand the panic about something happening in Storybrooke. There was no magic in it for 28 years, it wasn't going to vanish off the map. 

Edited May 18, 2016 by YaddaYadda

[InsertWordHere]

So Henry knows about Geppetto's parents and the town trapped in the snowglobe and no one's tried to do anything about it? Not even when Gold was gone for six weeks last season? Did they revert to normal when magic was temporarily gone? No, that doesn't work because Gold pointed out that Storybrooke was without magic for 28 years and the dolls were in the shop that whole time. 

How many other people are trapped in objects in that shop? I assume Henry has also seen Hook's hand there but that's no big deal, just another one of Rumple's trophies. Meanwhile, Hook feels guilty about some rings.

[YaddaYadda]

I liked that a needle with the sleeping curse was just casually there on the counter.

[Shanna Marie]

I really need to make a "makes no sense" keyboard shortcut macro for discussing this show. Anyway, the more I think about it, the less sense it makes:

1. Henry apparently decides that he needs to destroy magic after hearing Emma worry that Regina will turn into the Evil Queen after Robin's death. He's later acting like he's angry at Emma for believing that, even though Regina had admitted that it was true, and Henry actually seemed worried and like he was destroying magic to keep Regina from becoming the Evil Queen. So why was he mad at Emma if he was worried about the same thing? Besides, Regina doesn't need magic to act like the Evil Queen and be evil. She was ordinary Mayor Mills with no magical powers when she was gaslighting Henry, framing Mary Margaret, and generally making everyone in town miserable. Destroying magic wouldn't prevent Regina from being an evil bitch. Likewise, Rumple was still an ass who kept everyone under his power without magic. It's not about the magic, it's about the evil.
2. While Henry is right that magic is dangerous and has caused problems, it also causes good things. Yeah, two of his dad-like figures, Neal and Robin, were killed using magical means, but his other dad-like figure, Hook (who has spent way more time with Henry than Neal ever did) just walked out of his grave and into Granny's, thanks to magic. People can die and be hurt due to non-magical means. They can be shot, thrown off a cliff, run over by a bus, drowned, have cancer, be poisoned, etc., etc. But coming back from the dead pretty much requires magic. So Henry's reaction to Hook's magical return to life after he acted utterly devastated at his death and at the news that he wouldn't be leaving the Underworld with them is that magic must be destroyed? I guess it's all about Regina, since Henry was reacting to Regina's reaction to Hook's return. Or something.
3. Didn't Henry know that Belle was in Pandora's Box and under a sleeping curse, since Emma and Regina were talking about that in the scene in which Henry overheard them? So he didn't consider that destroying magic was going to doom Belle to eternity in a box? And then there's Maleficent, who can't live outside the magical boundaries of the town, and we didn't yet know if the magic bringing Hook back to life would work in a world without magic. So in destroying magic, Henry ran the risk of killing both his step-grandparents on his father's side. Not to mention he was trapping a couple of kingdoms full of people in this world, leaving them without the ability to ever return home via portal. All because he was having a snit.
4. As I mentioned before, they never bridged the gap between "magic is awful" and "everyone, believe in magic!" They may have wanted enough magic to get the gang back to this world, but then was there no discussion about whether to untether the magic from the crystal?
5. And then there's the part about people not getting to act like human beings because they're being treated like chess pieces being moved around the board to set up the plot. There was already Henry's weird sudden move to "magic is bad" after a massive magical miracle for someone close to him. And then there was Emma and Hook's reaction. She walked into the Underworld to save him, failed, and then got him back. He thought he was moving on to the Afterlife and found himself back with her. Are either of them going to let each other out of their sight for a long time? But they didn't even play that like there was any dilemma. She grabbed her coat and ran, and he didn't chase after her. You'd think that the non-magical frequent victim of magic who's just been magically saved would have been a great spokesman for not destroying magic, and he and Henry have a bond, plus he's shown himself to be good at tracking down people even in a strange world. But the writers wanted an Emma and Regina road trip, so they didn't let the characters react like any human being would. If they wanted Hook left behind, they needed a solid reason, like there was some crisis in Storybrooke he needed to help deal with. Or Rumple's threat about the danger of what Henry was doing could have included the suggestion that Hook might not survive without magic, forcing Hook to stay behind in Storybrooke and spurring Emma on to stop Henry. The writing didn't even suggest much devastation for Emma when she thought Hook and her parents were trapped in another world. She just got him back from the dead five minutes ago, and now she's lost him again, and the most we got was a pained expression (which may have been all JMo, as the script didn't seem to remember that this might be a really devastating thing for her).

[InsertWordHere]

7 minutes ago, YaddaYadda said:

I liked that a needle with the sleeping curse was just casually there on the counter.

Now they don't need to really solely on Jekyll's needle to give Hepatitis to everyone! And oh yeah, didn't Henry also say it's been used on "dozens of people?" I thought sleeping curses were supposed to be rare.

[YaddaYadda]

Just now, InsertWordHere said:

Now they don't need to really solely on Jekyll's needle to give Hepatitis to everyone! And oh yeah, didn't Henry also say it's been used on "dozens of people?" I thought sleeping curses were supposed to be rare.

They are rare like true love (tlks) and portals.

Also the sleeping curse that Zelena used on Dorothy is the same one Belle used on herself. 

[kili]

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Besides, Regina doesn't need magic to act like the Evil Queen and be evil. She was ordinary Mayor Mills with no magical powers when she was gaslighting Henry, framing Mary Margaret, and generally making everyone in town miserable. [snip] Likewise, Rumple was still an ass who kept everyone under his power without magic

Lest we forget that Regina contracted Rumple to kill Kathryn to complete the frame job of Mary Margret. Regina was furious when she found out that Kathryn was not dead. And Rumple beat Mo to a pulp without magic as well. So, Regina and Rumple are completely capable of killing people without magic.

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I liked that a needle with the sleeping curse was just casually there on the counter.

Seems pretty carless.

Henry should also probably remember that the needle was used by David to contact Emma/Snow in the EF so that they could figure out how to save them (because Blue never bothered to tell them she had a wand that could create portals to the EF with a flick of the wrist - thanks Blue!).