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

[AudienceofOne]

9 minutes ago, KingOfHearts said:

While it can be argued that the Olympian Crystal is the catalyst, it's so generic that it might as well be the Hat, Gauntlet or the True Love Potion.

MacGuffin is MacGuffiny. At least it wasn't the latest in the long line of "the one thing we need to create a portal", which has added up to "everything can create a portal and this 'portal' thing isn't that hard anyway".

[Jul 68]

10 hours ago, Arnella said:

 I just had a chill! I'm afraid they are going to do whole season ripping off the Star Trek:TOS episode, The Enemy Within.

There are some identity confusion as EQ pretends to be Regina and it causes mistrust and misunderstanding - Regina is now too weak willed to do anything about it - the Charmings slooooowly figure it out.- everyone apologizes to Regina (I throw up in my mouth a little) - they unite to defeat EQ - Regina/Good Kirk realizes she needs the Evil Queen/Evil Kirk side of her to be whole person - defeated EQ begs to live but Regina beatifically says that they will live on in balance together.  Cue Star Trek theme...

I think that their plan really is somewhere along these lines, with Regina's After School Special realization that she needs the EQ portion of her personality to be a whole person.  Also, that will be the only way to 'kill' the EQ.

Let's just hope they don't use a transporter to re-join them.

.....Kirk out

[KAOS Agent]

1 hour ago, KingOfHearts said:

It's all very random and does not organically lead from 5B. When the spoilers came out, we had no idea how this all was going to play out. We thought there was a major plot element missing that connected everything.

It was amusing that we were all completely clueless about the finale even with all the spoilers. It's funny that we actually thought we were missing something that would propel us into the finale and then it turned out that we weren't missing anything at all and the finale was just a mess of randomness to get us to the Evil Queen reveal. Looking at this as the S6 premiere rather than the S5 finale is probably the best way to go considering its disconnected-ness from the rest of the season.

It's nice to see that there are a few people here who enjoyed this episode though. The reaction from all corners of the fandom was pretty meh. A couple things made people happy, but everything seems muted. The ratings dropping mid-finale is a pretty decent reflection of that as well. I hope people continue to tune in next year although I think it's probably best if S6 is Once's last. 

Edited May 23, 2016 by KAOS Agent

[Camera One]

2 hours ago, KingOfHearts said:

There's really no rhyme or reason behind the selection of Hook, Zelena, Snow and Charming. (Which really makes me wish some of the secondary characters could have gotten a time to shine. It's so awkward to see Granny stand there unscathed while everyone else is sucked into the portal.)

The reason is that they are in the main cast and A&E had nothing else for them to do for 2 hours.  They were physically together in the same plot, but their relationships with each other did not change or develop at all through their adventure.  Just for novelty value alone, I wouldn't have minded seeing Granny, Archie, Blue and Grumpy getting sucked into the portal, and none of it would have been any different.

[kingshearte]

9 hours ago, KAOS Agent said:

Looking at this as the S6 premiere rather than the S5 finale is probably the best way to go considering its disconnected-ness from the rest of the season.

I would go even further, and say that it had basically no connection to anything in the whole series. My husband quit watching after 4A, so he's missed an entire season and a half, but he was in the room when I was watching, so he saw this episode. Aside from a minor point or two, he had no trouble whatsoever understanding what was going on. I don't exactly see that as a good thing for the season finale of a season-arc based show.

[Shanna Marie]

It occurred to me that Regina's speech to Emma may be the most toxic moment in their so-called "friendship." Regina says that she wants to rip out the throat of the man Emma loves, not because either he or Emma has wronged or hurt her, but because she hates that Emma has a reason to be happy while she's unhappy.

Yes, she wants to commit murder because she hates that her "friend" is happier than she is and wants her friend to hurt like she hurts.

Such a beautiful depiction of female friendship so close that they're like sisters. It brings tears to the eyes ...

[maryle]

Finally watched the last part of the final.

It felt they were keeping all road free for the up coming next season. Like they were unsure the road they want to go, with almost every major character.  Rumple'story could go any realm now!  Emma is totally open for any storyline too! The only thing people are expecting now is a little bit if happy CS. They did not wanted be committed to anything except the EQ story and Hyde.

[Curio]

1 hour ago, Shanna Marie said:

It occurred to me that Regina's speech to Emma may be the most toxic moment in their so-called "friendship."

Yes, I agree completely.

[KingOfHearts]

Quote

Yes, she wants to commit murder because she hates that her "friend" is happier than she is and wants her friend to hurt like she hurts.

Regina doesn't actually want to murder Hook. She said that was her initial reaction because of her dark past as the Evil Queen. First instinct can vary from a person's real conclusion. Given her psychotic history, I found that to be realistic. She admits later she is trying to fight against those knee-jerks, and we've seen proof of that. In the last part of the episode, she rejected the persona that was going to hurt her friends. Now, without the devil inside, she won't have those murderous instincts at play. (Supposedly.)

Edited May 23, 2016 by KingOfHearts

[Camera One]

Don't worry, Adam said on Twitter that Regina's initial reactions and whether that was due to The Evil Queen persona will be "explored" in Season 6.  I'm sure we will understand it *much* better after 6A!  Sorry, the blue birds have arrived to help me do laundry so ta ta for now.

Edited May 23, 2016 by Camera One

[Curio]

11 minutes ago, KingOfHearts said:

Regina doesn't actually want to murder Hook.

It depends on which school of psychology you subscribe to. Also, responding in the Regina thread.

[Camera One]

One thing which struck me as strange in the finale was that twice in the episode, Hyde made some pronouncement that he was going to bring everyone with Untold Stories with him to Storybrooke, as if that was a threat or something.  They just seemed to be random extras standing around in the marketplace, so what's the big deal?  The cliffhanger at the end might be more powerful if Hyde and the Untold Stories Zombies take over every role in the town or something.  Plus it might give some clue about what the heroes are going to have to do next season.  Right now, I'm just assuming the Heroes have to help them tell their Untold Stories (whatever that entails), but that's just a guess based on previous season structures.  It's hard to be curious about next season when everything is so nebulous.

Edited May 24, 2016 by Camera One

[Lii]

It's like, hey, let's dump a bunch of side characters we're bored with off the show through a portal to make room for a new batch of side characters. Same filler episode fodder, different season. Can't wait for the inevitable unrelated Belle side adventure with them. 

[KingOfHearts]

3 hours ago, Lii said:

It's like, hey, let's dump a bunch of side characters we're bored with off the show through a portal to make room for a new batch of side characters. Same filler episode fodder, different season. Can't wait for the inevitable unrelated Belle side adventure with them. 

It kind of makes me wish Storybrooke was more like Deep Space Nine - a central port for fairy tale characters from far off lands. That should have been the cliffhanger - stable portals start popping up, allowing people to go to and from other realms with ease. World-to-world travel is already so easy that it would make sense.

Edited May 24, 2016 by KingOfHearts

[Camera One]

Ooh, that would have been interesting and a reason for Pocahontas, Indiana Jones etc. etc. etc. to drop by, whenever.

Edited May 24, 2016 by Camera One

[Lii]

THAT should be the spinoff. Please. Immediately.

Also, I'm going to rewatch DS9 again now.

[KingOfHearts]

Storybrooke just needs some purpose to existing beyond giving everyone running water and DVRs. Having magic there and retaining the same feudal society makes it pretty pointless. If it's the new Land of Untold Stories, I'm game with that. But something tells me the new characters will either move to Offscreenville or walk into a door portal one by one by the end of 6x11. (Or 6x21...)

Edited May 24, 2016 by KingOfHearts

[Camera One]

They could have explored whether any of the Enchanted Forest people walked through that door when the Camelot and Merry Men left.  Who's maintaining peace and order there?  Keeping the Ogre armies back?

[kili]

Quote

There are some identity confusion as EQ pretends to be Regina and it causes mistrust and misunderstanding - Regina is now too weak willed to do anything about it - the Charmings slooooowly figure it out.- everyone apologizes to Regina (I throw up in my mouth a little)

They kind of already had that plot when Cora came to town and transformed herself into looking like Regina. She committed all sorts of mayhem, poor Regina took the blame and everybody apologized when they realized it was Cora all along.

That doesn't mean it won't happen again. A&E recycle plots like they think it will save the planet.

[Mitch]

11 hours ago, KingOfHearts said:

It kind of makes me wish Storybrooke was more like Deep Space Nine - a central port for fairy tale characters from far off lands. That should have been the cliffhanger - stable portals start popping up, allowing people to go to and from other realms with ease. World-to-world travel is already so easy that it would make sense.

I like that idea...but that means A & E need to think things out...("OWWW my head hurts...let's just pull a magic object out , save the day and call it a day.") but they should have used the stupid Author plot (I still can't believe that Henry can write things and they just happen, makes no damn sense, especially in Hades, how can you write someone's happy ending, dont they need to find it???) I would have taken DC comics version of the multiverse (though they have screwed it up time and time again) where all of these realms are on different vibrations, and the Monitors, who exist outside of time,  are responsible for watching them.This could have been the Author (and they could still have him go rogue and power mad..thus causing the different realms to start to disappear as he is messing with reality...giving the gang a much better reason to find out who is he other then..."My happy ending."  They could have brought Malifenct back that way, he writes a different realms Mal into SB/Enchanged Forest reality, thus causing the collapse of those realms.(but keeping it consistent that "Dead is dead." .and the "Heroes and Villains," reality world would be an actual world with roles changed, instead of some all powerful book and pen creating that world.  The book doesn't create, its a portal to the other worlds. Anyway fanwanking but the point would be, the Land Without Magic is the first world that all the other worlds split from, (say someone did exile magic from our world eons ago, and the split happeend.) so (in comic terms) we are Earth Prime and that is how Storybrooke can exist here, and SB, with magic becomes the connection to all the other worlds...thus explaining the easy portal jumping that seemed to have stumped a crafty Rump for hundreds of years, and how our world has all the other worlds stories (but they don't seem to have ours.)

Bringing it back to this episode the EQ is not part of the Regina we know, she is an entirely different entity from another realm..with different motives then just killing Snow or Emma (yawn..) Maybe her world is dying because of dummy Henry and his pen (he tried to go back and fix Regina's past and instead destroys another world) and she wants our world and for Regina to not exist here...or something.

But A & E can't keep their own rather cartoon world of Once straight so several different realms?

[Lii]

16 hours ago, Camera One said:

They could have explored whether any of the Enchanted Forest people walked through that door when the Camelot and Merry Men left.  Who's maintaining peace and order there?  Keeping the Ogre armies back?

Oh, the Ogre armies that were ravaging all the kingdoms for hella hundred years, you mean? Those Ogre armies? Pretty sure they went home after Rumple left. I heard a rumor that they actually only came in the first place because they had beef with that dude too. I mean, everyone else does.

[daxx]

I believe Aurora said the ogre problem was solved in New York City Serenade. The insinuation I believe was that Zelena cleared out the ogres when she and her flying monkeys came.

[RulerofallIsurvey]

So Zelena and her flying monkeys could rid the land of ogres, but the Dark One (and all previous Dark Ones) couldn't?  Huh.  That doesn't seem right to me.

ETA: unless it really was as Lii said.

Edited May 25, 2016 by RulerofallIsurvey
Lii may be on to something.

[KingOfHearts]

As much as I hated this finale, I still loved team Wicked Hero going through Steampunk World. I really enjoy the concept of a variety of different characters going on a mission and having to use everyone's different talents to complete it. While this trip needed a bit more character flavor from the mains and regulars, I'd like to see other adventures in the future. It was like getting a sample of what made 3A so great. Excursions for the usual pairings, like with Emma/Regina, pale in comparison.

5B would have been more entertaining if everyone had not been split up. Working together would have been more satisfying and given some credence to the fact so many people tagged along.

Edited May 26, 2016 by KingOfHearts

[Curio]

2 minutes ago, KingOfHearts said:

As much as I hated this finale, I still loved team Wicked Hero going through Steampunk World. I really enjoy the concept of a variety of different characters going on a mission and having to use everyone's different talents to complete it.

For as little as we saw them, I really enjoyed the Wicked Hero Team and kept wishing to see more of their story instead of the been-there-done-that Henry/Regina/Emma stuff. But even though they were cordial to each other, they didn't really work as a team where every person brought a unique gift to the table. Zelena had her magic, Hook attacked Hyde with his hook, but those are just weapons—that's not very deep characterization. The closest we got to digging into their characterizations is when Snow was able to tap into her motherly instincts and tried to talk down Hyde from choking Hook to death.

As it was, the four of them just kind of waited around for someone else to save them, which isn't the most exciting way to write an action-adventure scene. Sure, the new characters got to show off a bit, but the main characters the audience actually care about didn't get a whole lot to do. While they were stuck in the cage, Snow, David, Hook, and Zelena should have had a conversation that mirrored Emma's motivational speech during the Season 3 premiere.

[KingOfHearts]

I'm pretty sure the writers' plan was to bring back the Evil Queen somehow, and then once Hyde was on the table, they decided to split her completely. I'm still stumped about destroying-magic plot, though. What were A&E trying to accomplish? Why was a non-consequential trip to New York so important? 

The splitting concept is just a rehash of Shattered Sight. If you imagine anyone getting split, would their dark personality really be any different from who they were under the SS curse?

[Camera One]

7 hours ago, KingOfHearts said:

I'm still stumped about destroying-magic plot, though. What were A&E trying to accomplish? Why was a non-consequential trip to New York so important? 

They probably just wanted a road trip of some sort for Emma and Regina, over their shared son.  And New York was a natural destination for Henry, plus the set for Neal's apartment is probably easy to pull out.  Maybe they envisioned that fountain scene before writing the episode.  Heck, they might even have conceived of Rumple doing magic at a swanky hotel in NYC first, and wrote around that.  With these Writers, you really can't tell.

[Rumsy4]

43 minutes ago, Camera One said:

Maybe they envisioned that fountain scene before writing the episode. 

You know what, the fountain scene was probably the kernel around which they plotted the finale. That's why the finale was so "magical".

[KingOfHearts]

I could have bought the whole "destroying magic" plot if Henry had actually been successful. While it still would have been contrived and annoying, at least it would have held some purpose. As it stands it didn't need to exist at all. But if magic had either been destroyed, that would have made S6 ten times more intriguing. I'd like to see all the new villains working without their crutch.  

[Camera One]

I agree that finally having Storybrooke without magic would have been much welcomed and more of a cliffhanger.

Unfortunately, these Writers are not adverse to writing filler before the "big" twist at the end of an episode.  A lot of the main plots of individual episodes also don't need to exist.... this just happened on a grander scale for the 2-hour finale.

[Curio]

13 hours ago, KingOfHearts said:

But if magic had either been destroyed, that would have made S6 ten times more intriguing. I'd like to see all the new villains working without their crutch.  

13 hours ago, Camera One said:

I agree that finally having Storybrooke without magic would have been much welcomed and more of a cliffhanger.

Agreed. To Adam & Eddy, having the Evil Queen return was the coolest cliffhanger scenario in their minds because they love writing for her. But for the audience and the story, not having any magic in Season 6 is a much more interesting angle to work with than seeing a rehash of a character we've dealt with dozens of times before in flashbacks.

[KingOfHearts]

The cliffhanger really hinges on the hope that seeing the Evil Queen will give the audience a boner. I didn't exactly get chills down my spine when she said, "The Queen.... is back!" It's just over the top for the dullness that it is. Remember when this show had nuance? Yeah, it's starting to get hazy for me too.

Edited May 29, 2016 by KingOfHearts

[Dianthus]

Hell, if I were a guy, my junk would've turtled back up inside. That's like the opposite of a boner, right? I dunno. OTOH, there's the old "crazy in the head, crazy in the bed" thing.

[KingOfHearts]

Another big problem with this finale - everything is so detached. Its plot threads are very loosely tied together. Regina's darkness, Wicked Hero, Rumpbox and Henry destroying magic are all so isolated from each other. That cheap plot device known as the Olympian Crystal isthe only common element. (And even then, only in three out of four of those stories.) What makes it all worse is how little everything is connected to S5. While the S3 and S4 had their own stories, at least there was some sort of setup or lead-in from the preceding arc. The only event that served as any form of catalyst prior to 5x21 was Belle cursing herself.

How can I care about what's happening if it has no relevance to what I've been watching the past several weeks? I agree with what others have said - it feels like there's huge chunks of story missing.

Quote

You know what, the fountain scene was probably the kernel around which they plotted the finale. That's why the finale was so "magical".

How do you even begin to write this finale? "Well in S5 we focused on Camelot, the Underworld, and bringing Captain Swan back together. Obviously the next step is to make Henry want to destroy magic for five minutes, re-introduce the Evil Queen, and do our own spin on Jekyll and Mr. Hyde! It just flows right into it!"

Quote

I agree though that it felt very clunky rather than cohesive.  Frankly, like one event triggering some random event which enabled the next event.

It technically is a functioning cause-and-effect timeline. But from the perspective of storytelling logic, it has no cohesion or order.

Edited June 2, 2016 by KingOfHearts

[Camera One]

I suppose the cause and effect cascade was:

Rumpbox (was the trigger) --> Henry motivated to destroy magic --> Wicked Hero (getting sucked thru portal but bringing back one last dose of Jekyll serum) --> Regina's dark split 

I agree though that it felt very clunky rather than cohesive.  Frankly, like one event triggering some random event which enabled the next event... a very roundabout way to get The Evil Queen back.

Edited June 2, 2016 by Camera One

[YaddaYadda]

The finale reminds me of when I used to have term papers that I really didn't wanna write because I hated the topic so much. I would just write something that jumped all over the place because I just wanted to be done and over with. I'd start writing it at the 11th hour, spend my night at it, and hand it in with zero remorse because I hated it so much, and let the chips fall where they may. I know, super mature!

One thing I noticed was that the first hour might have been a bit more cohesive than the second one. The second hour jumped the shark with the gang of New York. I would have been okay spending 2 hours in the Land of Untold Stories, and never dealing with the rest.

ETA - I also just realized that A&E wrote only the second hour when I thought they'd written both hours. I guess they were busy with their other show, which might explain the massive fuckery of the second hour, and how little sense it made.

Edited June 2, 2016 by YaddaYadda

[Camera One]

23 minutes ago, YaddaYadda said:

ETA - I also just realized that A&E wrote only the second hour when I thought they'd written both hours. I guess they were busy with their other show, which might explain the massive fuckery of the second hour, and how little sense it made.

I had no idea... I agree the second half was more disjointed than the first half, since they needed to jump from one contrived point to the next to get to the "cliffhanger".

[KingOfHearts]

A few extra thoughts:
* Henry recognizes Hyde immediately. How did he know who it was? He hadn't seen him before.
* The Captain Swan scene is not only underwhelming in the romantic sense. They both went through hell (literally) and lost each other repeatedly. Smiling and saying "I love you" is more of the "Welp, we dodged another one!" vibe. It's not like Madame Mim waltzed into town and they just defeated her. S5 was such a big deal for them as a couple and there's almost no closure. At least Emma didn't leave him to go boozing with Regina this time.
* I'm not too keen on seeing Regina post-split toward the end. I think wondering how it would have affected her could have been a nice cliffhanger. (Like Rumple losing his darkness in 4x23.) Feeling "free" is boring and anti-climactic for something that is so unnatural and extreme.
* Regina destroyed the Olympian Crystal with magic. She took something from the gods and deleted it in a matter of seconds. But was it me or did it just sink into the ground?

 

[Camera One]

Smiling and saying "I love you" is more of the "Welp, we dodged another one!" vibe.

That scene felt so anticlimatic that I actually laughed.  I was holding my breath to see what they would say to each other, and to hear that again with the swelling music took me out of the moment.

Ditto for the final scene with The Dragon and The Evil Queen.  Why is he always so helpless?  It was just annoying to watch.

[RadioGirl27]

Yeah, the ILY was anticlimatic and, not only that, it ereased all the development as a couple they had had during the season. They are back to season 4. The writers have treated all the misery from the season as if it was nothing more than a little crisis.

[YaddaYadda]

I get why they did what they did with Emma, and I get that it's something that Hook wants to hear when they're not about to die, disappear to another realm, or whatever, but it's not like he's any better at it himself. But after everything they went through this season, and the list is kinda super long, and the whole true love test, him being returned where he belongs, after all those beats Captain Swan's arc, yeah, an ILY at the tail of all of that is sort of lame.

I get it,  Emma is changing, she has changed, she's able to say that to him without danger looming, or thinking she's about to lose him, or that she might not come back, but it just feels like we're circling the drain.

[AudienceofOne]

11 hours ago, YaddaYadda said:

 but it just feels like we're circling the drain.

No more so than the impeding season where we're going to have to endure Reginas 'fight against her darkness' while she learns a valuable lesson about her redemption that she's already learnt like, five times before.

[YaddaYadda]

22 minutes ago, AudienceofOne said:

No more so than the impeding season where we're going to have to endure Reginas 'fight against her darkness' while she learns a valuable lesson about her redemption that she's already learnt like, five times before.

Hey, you're preaching to the choir, man. We'll see how that goes, though I'm really hoping the writers will surprise us. A double dose of Regina is more than I can take personally.

[KAOS Agent]

Remember when we watched Emma fight against the Darkness and no one except Hook bothered to even try to talk to her? Remember how Emma was steadily being mind fucked by Rumpel/Nimue and basically going crazy? And in this episode, it was all, "You don't know anything about Darkness! Being the Evil Queen by choice was like a million times worse than becoming possessed by an evil entity that never shuts up and never lets you sleep! My Darkness is just so much harder than yours!" I really hate this show sometimes. Basically, I think it was this dialogue from Regina that turned me off S6 completely. I can't watch an entire arc where Regina literally battles the Evil Queen. I just can't. If you love her, that's great, but I cannot deal with someone who whines about how hard it is to not kill people. It's hard to tell whether the writers want me to see things the way Regina does or not, but I usually veer towards yes, so that bit where I'm told Emma can't understand the Darkness basically said that the Dark Swan arc meant nothing for any character in terms of growth and I wonder why I should even bother continuing with the show.

[YaddaYadda]

It's the use of that stupid as fuck argument that Emma being the Dark One doesn't count because she got to the edge, and didn't jump, when 2 minutes before, Regina was pointing out that Emma tore Violet's heart out.

You know whose heart she took and actually almost crushed? Merida's. The only reason she didn't get cross the line was because Hook talked her down. And you know what else Emma almost did? She almost killed Zelena. The only reason it didn't go that far was because Hook was there, and worked to free her even though he didn't even trust her.

I'm pretty sure Merlin told Emma that if she tethered Hook's life to Excalibur, that would be her final step into the darkness. I don't know if the writers forget, or if they just don't give a shit in order to advance their plot points, but maybe Emma and Regina never talk again, because Emma is always trying to coddle her ass, and never gets it because Regina is really special in her pain, and no one gets her. 

Edited June 7, 2016 by YaddaYadda

[Shanna Marie]

This episode/these episodes pretty much killed whatever Regina goodwill the arc had managed to create. Yeah, I rolled my eyes at her disregarding Robin's qualms about leaving his baby with the woman who raped him and murdered his wife because Regina thought she'd changed five minutes ago, but I could write that off as her enthusiasm for redemption. This, though, got into all kinds of "oh, poor, sad me, I must be under a curse because my life is so terrible." She was so focused on her own loss that she didn't seem to even consider that little Roland has now lost both parents -- what kind of curse is he under? Or that Pistachio will never know her father (I guess she had it coming). But no, it's all "because I was the Evil Queen, I'm not allowed to be happy." And yet in the same speech she talks about the impulse always being there and that she hates being good. You know, if you hate being good and your first impulse is to do evil things, then maybe you're not so great. You do get points for not giving into the urge, but if the urge is so strong that you're miserable being good, then you haven't totally reformed.

I agree to some extent that it was different for Emma because she had an outside entity trying to force her to be evil, rather than it coming from herself, but that actually made it worse for Emma. She really was dealing with an outside force, not some imaginary construct who is the same person with a different wardrobe. It has to be harder to fight against the Dark One than to fight against your own dark urges.

I still haven't been able to make myself rewatch this all the way through. I got partway through and decided I had better things to do. In season three, I'd rewatched the finale at least four times by this point.

[Curio]

32 minutes ago, Shanna Marie said:

It has to be harder to fight against the Dark One than to fight against your own dark urges.

Cue Adam & Eddy giving an interview where they say, "Regina has it so much harder than everyone else because it's so much harder to fight your inner urges than the Dark One curse."

[TheGreenKnight]

On ‎6‎/‎7‎/‎2016 at 1:30 PM, Shanna Marie said:

I still haven't been able to make myself rewatch this all the way through. I got partway through and decided I had better things to do. In season three, I'd rewatched the finale at least four times by this point.

I've already re-watched this one more than the season 3 finale. Somehow whenever I get to the end of season 3, those two episodes are just too boring to sit through again. I usually watch the Rumpel scenes again and then jump to 4.01. But 4's finale is still the absolute worst of them all.

[Notwisconsin]

I've finally seen it after it sat there on my DVR for a month. This show has jumped the shark. The "wishing well" scene reminded me of the "clap if you believe in fairies" scene in the original Peter Pan (written by JM Barrie a century ago). Only this was aimed at adults not little children.

The idea of another place like storybrook is cool. But the rest of it was awful.

[Shanna Marie]

I finally managed to rewatch this episode(s), and yeah, it was as bad as I remembered. I had to make liberal use of the FF button. To start with, the lack of reaction to Hook's death and resurrection is rather astonishing. There's the whole wake for Robin with no mention that anyone else important to them died recently, and the characters didn't know he was back. Violet was consoling Henry on Robin's loss, when I'm not sure I can recall a scene of them actually exchanging dialogue, while she didn't mention Henry losing Hook, who apparently has been teaching offscreen sailing lessons and who has teamed up with him on three "Operations" so far, plus was house hunting with him. Then Hook comes back from the dead, after they'd left him in the Underworld and apparently had a funeral, since there's a tombstone, and the reaction ranges from "oh, I thought your flight didn't come in until tomorrow" to "oh, this is awkward because I specifically didn't invite you, and now Emma's brought you as her plus one." If even a mild acquaintance I believed to be dead walked into the room, you can bet I'd react more than that. Henry, in particular, should have been allowed to have some reaction, given the number of fathers/father figures/potential fathers he's lost at that point. Getting one back should be a really big deal, but I guess if he's been shown to get something good out of magic, that kills the rest of the plot. Maybe he should have run off before he knew Hook was back.

The other problem is that they focused on the most stupid and boring side of the plot. The gang trapped in the World of Untold Stories, where airships fly overhead and Old West cowboys are hanging out with Napoleonic War soldiers, could have given us something similar to the season 3 finale, a rollicking adventure that plays with what we know about stories. Instead, we mostly have our gang trapped in a cage while we spend more time with Rumple talking to a box, Henry eating pizza, and Regina talking again some more about how sad her life is because she was a villain.

Then the real crisis is mostly caused by a bad case of idiot plotting. While Emma and Regina didn't yet know about the portal when they first talked to Henry, why didn't they explain that they'd come after him to stop him because there was a chance that destroying magic would have very bad consequences for people they cared about? They bothered to come stop him and didn't explain why? Once they'd had a chance to talk with him, he shouldn't have still gone on to try to destroy magic. The scene at the fountain was just plain painful.