S06.E21: The Final Battle Part 1 / S06.E22: The Final Battle Part 2

[kitticup]

Boring.  I realized I don't care at all.  I don't give a sh@&) about Gideon, the black fairy, Rumple or Regina. 

the morality on this show is too much.  Defending yourself from being killed does not make you evil.  I am tired of the false equivalents.

I hate that neither Rumple or Regina have paid for all their evil magic.   If A&E want my continued viewership, they need to stop with the Regina and Rumple whitewashing.  

[InsertWordHere]

50 minutes ago, asabovesobelow said:

I did appreciate that quick but meaningful look that Regina and Rumple shared at the family dinner. It was a nice sort of closure for the two "evils" in Storybrooke to end up happy after all.

Prior to season six, I would have liked that look. Now I'm left wondering if it was supposed to be romantic wistfulness on Regina's part. 

[KAOS Agent]

KITSIS: I loved the dwarfs bowing to Regina.

No comment.

[Inquirer]

13 minutes ago, kitticup said:

If A&E want my continued viewership, they need to stop with the Regina and Rumple whitewashing.  

Best quit the snow right now, then.

[KingOfHearts]

Watching Emma in a mental institution for the first hour was a complete waste of time.

Driving by your old house does not guarantee warm and fuzzy feelings. Neither does retreading ground from previous seasons. Ooo! It's the beanstalk! Emma's apartment! The wedding hall! Jefferson's hat! Arendelle! If I wanted to feel nostalgic, I would watch the older episodes. It felt really forced and manufactured. 

Edited May 15, 2017 by KingOfHearts

[superloislane]

2 hours ago, Curio said:

I had the exact same thought! When Hook was falling, I actually got excited because I thought we were going to get a cool visual where it looks like Hook is going to hit the ground and die, but at the last second, the bean portal opens up and he falls through instead.

I thought the same thing! Apparently lots of people did but that would be far too interesting for this show to do.

I enjoyed it but the first half was far better and made me think it would only get better but then it actually just got a little worse. Emma's belief in the stories is what was keeping the magical lands intact so what if she loses her memories again? Shouldn't everyone be worried about that?

When Emma saw Hook's picture burning I thought for sure her belief would come into it and while everyone else was in danger from the world crumbling around them, Hook would poof away to Storybrooke because Emma had a little memory of him and believed but only in him. Clearly that did not happen.

The Hook/Charming stuff was fun and the only Captain Swan talk we got in the whole episode. Can someone please tell me why they were separated for two freaking hours with no payoff in the end?! And no Captain Swan TLK!!! Seriously why won't they let that happen? Oh by the way didn't they promise us a CS adventure? Still nothing!

Rumple killed the Black Fairy...exactly like I and I'd say everyone predicted. They couldn't try a little shock?

Emma sacrificed herself (because good can never fight back against people trying to murder them!) and the light inside her made Gideon a baby again and restored the lands? And it also restored dead people?

Regina got a Queen door and the dwarves bowed to her?! That was ridiculous! What did she even do here to get this treatment? Emma sacrificed herself and she didn't get any bowing or Queen titles!

Why was the Evil Queen back? I shared Zelena's sentiment of 'I'm so disappointed' upon seeing her.

Belle was more useless here than she ever has been in the entire show. I'm glad she got her baby back but her happy ending is still being stuck with Rumple?! Honestly I feel bad for EDR as this was what she got in her last episode!

Henry didn't annoy me but wow there was too much of him.

I have no care in the world for a grown up Henry and daughter basically repeating the show from the beginning. This is supposed to be a reboot? How is that even going to work without half of the other characters? They had a big two hour episode and true love's kiss between Henry and Emma here and she won't even be there next season when he's still there? That makes no sense.

Neither Emma nor David were cursed and yet they were woken by true love's kiss? I know they've destroyed the importance of it by this point but now they're saying it can cure stab wounds and falls from great heights?

I don't think I'll be watching next season. This is the series finale for me. I don't think I can watch them destroy the happy endings here - especially Emma and Hook's.

Edited May 15, 2017 by superloislane

[PixiePaws1]

The way that Henry has treated Emma with his double standards etc...no way do I buy  a TLK between them.

Going to miss you all so, so much.

[Inquirer]

27 minutes ago, KAOS Agent said:

KITSIS: I loved the dwarfs bowing to Regina.

No comment.

Did he honestly say this!?

[WatchrTina]

When I thought this was the series finale I was very happy with the episode.  I could whistle past that bizarro moment (when Emma goes home to an apartment that she apparently hasn't been to in over two years but still maintains somehow) and enjoy all the "happy beginnings."

Now that I know the show is coming back but will be missing half of the original cast and (most importantly) they are breaking up the two "happy beginnings" we saw in this and the prior episodes (Emma/Hook and Rumple/Belle/baby) -- well now I'm kinda pissed. 

[Camera One]

I thought this finale was pretty bad.  I wanted to like it... I really did.  But it was so weak and a lot of it was retread, not in a "neat call-back" way but a sleep-inducing way.

Starting the episode with the flashforward didn't get me interested in the new people at all.  The little girl didn't get to me like Young Henry did.  So I had zero interest in the cliffhanger for next season.  Why should I care and why would I want to see the same story again?

There were so many problems on so many levels.  

First of all, we had to watch 1 hour and 35 minutes of Emma not believing.  To top it off, she didn't remember herself.  She even threw the book into the fire.  Henry also didn't get her to believe.  It was freak'in Rumple killing The Black Fairy which did it.  How is this Emma's journey if she is given no free will for three quarters of the finale?  The Cursed Town with "Fiona" as Mayor was interesting for about one minute, except everything was the same.  That means more than 3/4 of the 2-hours was either really boring or really frustrating.  Nor do we see Blue, Granny, Gepetto, the Dwarves, or any of the supporting cast (other than Archie, being Fiona's lackey) getting a last hurrah.

At least the Enchanted Forest stuff was a tad more interesting.  But as mentioned, it was also pointless.  Hook didn't need to get the bean.  The only purpose of that was to give The Evil Queen Version of Regina a chance to be the hero and sacrifice herself.  Although I hated that we got yet another heartwarming conclusion to The Evil Queen (wasn't her last featured episode enough), I did find the scene with her, Regina and Zelena entertaining.  Meanwhile, Snow was MIA for most of this segment.  And Belle was MIA for all of it.  Who's leaving the show exactly?  

And there was apparently zero stakes in "the realms and everyone in them getting destroyed".  Don't get me wrong, I'm glad millions of people didn't die because Emma stopped believing.  But who cares about the Evil Queen's sacrifice if she's right back where she started at the end (Robin proposed... who cares)?  Jasmine said "We hardly got our people out".  Everyone in Agrabah could fit into that circle?  Did everyone in all the realms have a way to get into the hat?  Why would people from Arendelle be there too?  Hello, did they forget that was in the same realm as the Enchanted Forest?

And then after everything, it was STILL Gideon who was going to stab Emma.  What a "twist", eh?  Basically, Emma should have just let him stab her a few episodes ago and Henry could just TLK it.  Since True Loves' Kiss now works against stab wounds too (as superloislane also said above).

I just HATED that the final dinner included that traitor Rumple being welcomed into Granny's.  The jerk wouldn't even help Henry when all the realms were being destroyed.  And they tried to destroy Beauty and the Beast one last time in that vomit-inducing "happy" montage which finished with the likes of Regina having the Dwarves bow to her, The Evil Queen on her balcony and then "Beauty and the Beast".  Are we supposed to be happy for Snow as she's stuck teaching the same lesson about birds?  David's dream was to be a farmer again, eh?

You'd think in a season finale, the characters who were leaving would get one final significant conversation, and we only got two - one between Rumple and Belle, and one between Emma and Regina.  Did Emma and Snow, or Emma and Charming, or Snowing and Henry even have one final ACTUAL conversation in this episode?  These are the episode pairings we may never see again, and nope, nothing.  

Let's end with the horrible speech at the end which was said by Snow, but basically straight from the mouths of Adam and Eddy.  "What now?  Now, we get to see what's next.  Now, we get to keep going on, we get to keep doing what we love (ie, making this show), with the people we love (ie, not Emma, Snow, Charming).  Sounds about right, eh?

Edited May 15, 2017 by Camera One

[KAOS Agent]

16 minutes ago, Inquirer said:

43 minutes ago, KAOS Agent said:

KITSIS: I loved the dwarfs bowing to Regina.

No comment.

Did he honestly say this!?

He did indeed. It was his answer to what were his favorite parts of the episode. 

[Nalan]

3 hours ago, Last Time Lord said:

Here we go again, and I cannot wait for the ride!

Neither can I!  I know this show has had its problems, but damn it, I still love it and will stick with it to the end!  So if there's a new story along the way, then sign me up!

[InsertWordHere]

4 minutes ago, Camera One said:

You'd think in a season finale, the characters who were leaving would get one final significant conversation, and we only got two - one between Rumple and Belle, and one between Emma and Regina.  Did Emma and Snow, or Emma and Charming, or Snowing and Henry even have one final ACTUAL conversation in this episode?  These are the episode pairings we may never see again, and nope, nothing.  

Let's end with the horrible speech at the end which was said by Snow, but basically straight from the mouths of Adam and Eddy.  "What now?  Now, we get to see what's next.  Now, we get to keep going on, we get to keep doing what we love (ie, making this show), with the people we love (ie, not Emma, Snow, Charming).  Sounds about right, eh?

A+++ to your entire post. This finale was awful. If it was a series finale it would be even more awful. If it was an arc ending episode in the middle of the season it would be awful. It was just awful.

All we get of the Charming Family and Captain Swan at the end is what we've been getting for seasons, a separation then a hug with a bonus wordless montage. No heartwarming conversations. No resolution to any family problems. Nothing. So they ended in a happy place. Well, they ended in a happy place in Season 3B and it was a lot more fulfilling for me than this was. I'd rather have Going Home's ending than this, at least that was interesting and emotional. At least my favorite relationships didn't spend most of the episode apart. 

[Camera One]

All I was hoping for one was last conversation with some of these characters, reflecting on the journey they had gone through in the last six years.  Was that too much to ask?  Well, they did write one for Emma and Regina, so obviously, they knew there was value in it.  The amount of filler was through the roof, and that doesn't even count the long lingering shots at horribly rendered CGI.

[Inquirer]

19 minutes ago, KAOS Agent said:

He did indeed. It was his answer to what were his favorite parts of the episode. 

Link please?  I believe you and all (because why wouldn't it be his favorite part?), but I still want to see it for myself.

Quote

You'd think in a season finale, the characters who were leaving would get one final significant conversation, and we only got two - one between Rumple and Belle, and one between Emma and Regina. 

Three - David and Hook, remember?

Edited May 15, 2017 by Inquirer

[InsertWordHere]

4 minutes ago, Camera One said:

All I was hoping for one was last conversation with some of these characters, reflecting on the journey they had gone through in the last six years.  Was that too much to ask?  Well, they did write one for Emma and Regina, so obviously, they knew there was value in it.  The amount of filler was through the roof, and that doesn't even count the long lingering shots at horribly rendered CGI.

They couldn't even be bothered to pretend to care for over half their regular characters in what might be the last episode for over half the cast. Hugs for all, just like we've been getting for seasons, because a hug makes up for everything they've been through, right? 

And they had two hours. Think of the finales that have done more with half or even a quarter of that time. This was awful. 

Edited May 15, 2017 by InsertWordHere

[KAOS Agent]

12 minutes ago, Inquirer said:

Link please?  I believe you and all (because why wouldn't it be his favorite part?), but I still want to see it for myself.

Here you go. Note vague spoilers for S7. The various post finale interviews with the showrunners demonstrate exactly why I can't stand them. I doubt I'll be back for S7. 

[Leia1979]

I actually wasn't sure if I wanted to watch or just end on last week. I peeked at the first post here and decided it was safe to proceed. And it was mostly okay, but it could have been so much better. I didn't care about Rumpel or Gideon at all, and I think Emma in the hospital went on for too long. But Hook interacting with his new in-laws was entertaining.

3 hours ago, Katherine said:

 I actually found myself excited during the first hour. I thought there was a chance that Hook might be the one to go get Emma in Boston. I thought there might even be a TLK to help her get her memories back. Fool me once, writers, shame on you...fool me for the past three seasons, shame on me.

Same. I get that they wanted to echo back to past seasons. Getting Emma to believe again (again), revisiting the beanstalk, those were all great. But there was a great chance to revisit the start of season 3B by sending Hook to Boston. Curio's OUAT in Offscreenville scene is a perfect way to incorporate that (and also count me among the many who expected Hook to use the bean when he fell off the beanstalk). And as many others have said, why couldn't the final TLK finally been Hook and Emma? We didn't have to make this a repeat of season 1. I mean, dammit show, it's been three seasons since the glorious season 3 Back to the Future finale (still my favorite), and we still couldn't get a TLK. As Hook said, maybe they weren't predestined, but that's no reason for the relationship not to be true love.

There was an awful lot of effort for that bean to be useless. I don't see why Emma's belief couldn't have stopped the destruction giving them time to open a portal. And I still don't understand how every realm other than the land without magic now suffers from Tinkerbell disease.

3 hours ago, Shanna Marie said:

I'm a big fan of "coming full circle" storytelling, but this seemed more like copying and pasting. You don't repeat things almost exactly. You use the repetition to show what's changed. That's why it should have been Hook doing the TLK at the end. That's the thing that's changed for Emma. She'd already accepted Henry as her son and had a TLK with him. Why repeat that beat? Why not show the additional thing in her life that's different from the beginning?

Absolutely! They seemed to be too tied to repeating the past rather than showing how things have changed over six years (even if it's been only two or three for them--but maybe they shouldn't have reminded me just how young Henry was at the start).

At least they gave the impression of a happy conclusion for most of the main characters, but I found some of those unsatisfying. I was momentarily worried that Emma was really going to die when she sacrificed herself. I've been burned by a few other series that have done something similar, so I guess it could have been worse. 

I'm counting on fanfic writers to come up with an alternate version of this episode. Until then, I'll be over in a corner rewatching 3x21 and 22 along with the beanstalk episode from season 2.

[PixiePaws1]

So much fanfic to read that will become my new headcanon...fandom is full of amazing and creatively talented writers who show up A&E for the rubbish writers they are. 

No happy ending for Milah while her arsehole ex gets his.

How many people still walking about heartless because Redeemed Regina is too busy being bowed to by dwarves to bother returning them...no happy ending for them!

Edited May 15, 2017 by PixiePaws1
Spelling...*sigh*

[Camera One]

8 minutes ago, KAOS Agent said:

Here you go. Note vague spoilers for S7. 

That interviewer was really something.  Tears in their eyes in the final montage?  Give me a freak'in break.   Apparently, Dwarves at Regina's door was on their top three moments too.  Stop validating these horrible writers.  

Quote

HOROWITZ: And seeing not “happy endings” but their lives continuing. 

We've actually seen this type of montage before.  They're talking about it like it's the best thing since sliced bread.

Quote

TVLINE | Was there anything you wanted to include but because of time just couldn’t?
KITSIS | No,  we really made sure we got what we wanted.
HOROWITZ | It just felt right to us, and hopefully the audience will agree

Right, it was perfect.  They are so full of themselves.

[Katherine]

Count me among the many who were expecting Hook to use the bean to open a portal before he fell. Is that what Adam and Eddy were trying to do? Set it up one way and then subvert our expectations with one of their "clever twists"? It just seems like there was so much set-up for a big Emma/Hook moment in this episode, but then it was never paid off. I guess that's their MO. We Captain Swan fans should just be glad we got that five minute wedding last week, I guess.

I wonder if a large part of this was also due to their desire to prove that Emma is a strong female protagonist who doesn't need a man. I'm 100% for a female lead ending up single, and I really like the familial love theme in this show, but I think Adam and Eddy tried to satisfy both sides of the fanbase and the writing quality suffered as a result, so now neither side ends up happy.

For me, Once Upon a Time will always be the show that never lived up to its potential. I don't know if I've ever been this consistently disappointed in a show. I guess the fact that I can be so disappointed indicates that Adam and Eddy must've done something right to get me so invested in the first place. But to be honest, I credit that more to JMO, Colin, Robert, and the actor who played Young Baelfire. Remember Bae? :(

Edited May 15, 2017 by Katherine

[Katherine]

I was also disappointed by the lack of screen time for Snow and Charming. They were such a huge part of the first few seasons, and Ginny and Josh seem lovely. I felt like they deserved more than a two minute retread of their TLK (no matter how lovely it was). As others have pointed out, why was more closure given to Regina and Rumple when they're the ones staying?

I did find it amusing that Regina shared the most screentime with..herself. How fitting.

Edited May 15, 2017 by Katherine

[PixiePaws1]

If any obnoxious shit throws shade saying Emma looks 'tired' or 'washed out' or 'needs makeup' in that last scene of CS in the bug..please kindly point out they've likely been banging each other senseless on their honeymoon but they finally FINALLY had to go back to work.. (and that red light was for show..they really were heading out to the woods to bang some more!)

This is MY happy ending.

[Camera One]

Are we supposed to believe that Storybrooke will be peaceful from now on?  What happened to a Savior's job is never done?  This season should have enabled Emma to lose that mantle and be free from it.  

[Rumsy4]

2 hours ago, Camera One said:

I thought this finale was pretty bad.  I wanted to like it... I really did.  But it was so weak and a lot of it was retread, not in a "neat call-back" way but a sleep-inducing way.

Starting the episode with the flashforward didn't get me interested in the new people at all.  The little girl didn't get to me like Young Henry did.  So I had zero interest in the cliffhanger for next season.  Why should I care and why would I want to see the same story again?

There were so many problems on so many levels.  

First of all, we had to watch 1 hour and 35 minutes of Emma not believing.  To top it off, she didn't remember herself.  She even threw the book into the fire.  Henry also didn't get her to believe.  It was freak'in Rumple killing The Black Fairy which did it.  How is this Emma's journey if she is given no free will for three quarters of the finale?  The Cursed Town with "Fiona" as Mayor was interesting for about one minute, except everything was the same.  That means more than 3/4 of the 2-hours was either really boring or really frustrating.  Nor do we see Blue, Granny, Gepetto, the Dwarves, or any of the supporting cast (other than Archie, being Fiona's lackey) getting a last hurrah.

At least the Enchanted Forest stuff was a tad more interesting.  But as mentioned, it was also pointless.  Hook didn't need to get the bean.  The only purpose of that was to give The Evil Queen Version of Regina a chance to be the hero and sacrifice herself.  Although I hated that we got yet another heartwarming conclusion to The Evil Queen (wasn't her last featured episode enough), I did find the scene with her, Regina and Zelena entertaining.  Meanwhile, Snow was MIA for most of this segment.  And Belle was MIA for all of it.  Who's leaving the show exactly?  

And there was apparently zero stakes in "the realms and everyone in them getting destroyed".  Don't get me wrong, I'm glad millions of people didn't die because Emma stopped believing.  But who cares about the Evil Queen's sacrifice if she's right back where she started at the end (Robin proposed... who cares)?  Jasmine said "We hardly got our people out".  Everyone in Agrabah could fit into that circle?  Did everyone in all the realms have a way to get into the hat?  Why would people from Arendelle be there too?  Hello, did they forget that was in the same realm as the Enchanted Forest?

And then after everything, it was STILL Gideon who was going to stab Emma.  What a "twist", eh?  Basically, Emma should have just let him stab her a few episodes ago and Henry could just TLK it.  Since True Loves' Kiss now works against stab wounds too.

I just HATED that the final dinner included that traitor Rumple being welcomed into Granny's.  The jerk wouldn't even help Henry when all the realms were being destroyed.  And they tried to destroy Beauty and the Beast one last time in that vomit-inducing "happy" montage which finished with the likes of Regina having the Dwarves bow to her, The Evil Queen on her balcony and then "Beauty and the Beast".  Are we supposed to be happy for Snow as she's stuck teaching the same lesson about birds?  David's dream was to be a farmer again, eh?

You'd think in a season finale, the characters who were leaving would get one final significant conversation, and we only got two - one between Rumple and Belle, and one between Emma and Regina.  Did Emma and Snow, or Emma and Charming, or Snowing and Henry even have one final ACTUAL conversation in this episode?  These are the episode pairings we may never see again, and nope, nothing.  

Let's end with the horrible speech at the end which was said by Snow, but basically straight from the mouths of Adam and Eddy.  "What now?  Now, we get to see what's next.  Now, we get to keep going on, we get to keep doing what we love (ie, making this show), with the people we love (ie, not Emma, Snow, Charming).  Sounds about right, eh?

100% with you. The more time goes on, the more pissed and upset I am becoming. This was the worst season finale I have ever watched for a show. A series of pointless crap. Rumple saved the day by murdering his mother, but didnt even have to sacrifice himself like he did with Pan. He gets rewarded with Belle and baby Gideon. Emma sacrificed herself once again. The two TLK recipients were not even cursed. Captain Swan got a side-hug, a cheek kiss, and one line. Dwarfs bowing and scraping to Regina for some reason and calling her Queen. Clone Queen at Knifingham Palace and about to become engaged to Robin apparently. Rumple sharing a table with all the people he victimized, including Hook, while Milah floats gently in the river of Lost Souls. Snowing share no meaningful scenes with their daughter. This episode was a bunch of pointless retreads and emotionless callbacks. I want to purge this season from my memory. Anybody have some tea?

[Aliasscape]

You know when I found out next season wouldn't have my favorite cast member even though it was renewed I was disappointed by the renewal. I was like what kind of stupid revamp have they thought up, how annoying is it going to be?

But you know, I gave up seasons ago on this show really meeting all my expectations, actually having a morality I agreed with, actually knowing how to plot and pace a story. Once  I realized I had to let all of that go and give up on it ever truly improving its story telling abilities, watching the seasons became a bit easier. I definitely no longer was as invested or analyzed every little thing because I simply understood the story they were telling and gave up on them telling the one I knew would have been better.

Watching this finale, I actually enjoyed it.  Because for a brief moment, I actually had some of what I wanted from this show 4 seasons ago. I really had wanted season 2 to have a limited number of believers as they surreptitiously fought the evil queen with no obvious magic in an otherwise seemingly normal  town.  While giving up on that, THIS town, with many of these types of issues would have been way better to me as the arc for the end half of this season.  Maybe not the Emma not believing part, but Black Fairy in charge with everyone else seeming to live in a normal town. I definitely would have preferred Snow and Charming running around the Enchanted Forest trying to get back to Emma rather than the only one can be awake at a time plotline. I would have liked them finding ways to see each other and communicate between realms. (And yes, even I thought Hook's bean would send him into unbelieving Storybrooke. Maybe Eddy and Adam realized that's what everyone would expect and thought changing it would be cool and non predictable. They like to think surprises are more important than logic)

I had realized in the end what the new setup was going to be and I don't feel completely against it. I  didn't find myself completely dreading the next season. All the characters I knew and loved won't be around to be used in ways I don't like. There will be entirely too much Regina as always I"m sure though. If they can manage to hold off on too much obvious magic for a little while in season 7, I may manage to sit through some of it. They  basically made me want to give them a small chance (with realistic expectations  considering who is behind it all of course.)

This was likely all made a little easier by the fact that I never really shipped anyone, I always cared more for Emma and her family's relationships (even though they never got enough attention.) 

[AudienceofOne]

That was actually quite a good episode. I enjoyed it a lot. Of course, it made very little sense.  But it didn't make sense in a way that was not as annoying as it usually doesn't make sense. If that makes sense.

[profdanglais]

I haven't seen the episodes yet, but reading this thread it occurs to me... if they wanted to call back to Season 1, why not have Emma be the one to make everyone else believe? That would show how much her character has developed much more than the thousandth retread of Henry the Truest Believer vs Emma's Walls. You could have all the characters cursed in Boston, and Emma goes about her life slowly realising that she feels inexplicably connected to some of the strangers she sees around her. Then she could find her wedding ring or something and have a flash of memory. She starts having conversations with these strange-but-familiar people, and as she does the memory flashes get stronger until she becomes convinced that they are all cursed storybook characters. She wonders if she's going crazy, she considers committing herself. Then she meets Hook in his cursed personality (or Henry, if you must) and it all comes back 100%, and so she gathers all the others together and reminds them all of who they are. They slowly start to remember, but can't quite break through the curse. Then Emma TLKs Hook (or, you know, Henry, if you must) and breaks the curse. Boom. Call back to S1, but with some character development for the main bloody character. 

[Cindy McLennan]

If TWoP still was, my recaplet tomorrow would have been one word: CODSWALLOP.

Eff Eddy and Adam. Wow. I went from fangirl to hater in 2 hours. This was THE most disrespectful end to a story -- any story -- ever. My hatred can not be expressed.

On 5/14/2017 at 10:07 PM, justmythoughts said:

That is It! This show ended 2 min before the "oficial" season ending for me. My happy ending was that last supper scene (quite resembling of the religious thing... Was Emma Jesus? lol).

How are A&E not ruining all this happines with no JMo, Gosh, Bex, Emilie and with a grown and bitter Henry? I don't trust them. 

Only liked the final minutes, the happy ending, all the rest was shenanigans to waste my time. 

BF was easily erased from earth... see Rumple, easy as breathing. And Rumple is  miracously forgiven and all his mistakes repeated, rinsed, repeated again forgotten. Sigh.

Now, I'll pretend they are all happy and nothing else will happen, but more happines and love. 

I just want to recognize that "Last Supper" visual, because I did notice it.

But now, I want to douse the entire series with gasoline and drop a match, because what a load of shit.

Edited May 17, 2017 by Cindy McLennan

[AudienceofOne]

8 hours ago, Curio said:

I'm glad we spent an entire freaking episode on an adventure to retrieve a magic bean that wasn't even used. There was literally no point in retrieving the bean since Rumple breaking the curse is what sent them home anyways.

Chekhov rolled in his grave at least three times that I counted. And I probably missed a few.

7 hours ago, ParadoxLost said:

Oh,  and Emma has been in a mental institution for two years but still has an apartment and job waiting.

To my mind, this is what really clued her in to there being something wrong with reality. She's looking at Henry's bad cartoons and thinking, "Wait, I never paid rent! Why is that candle still here? Why didn't the agency care about my two years in a mental institution? Why is everyone saying Henry's only 14 when he looks about 22?"

7 hours ago, Chicken Wing said:

I haven't made up my mind on whether to come back next season, but if this is going to be my series finale they wrapped everything up pretty nicely for me.

What is this "next season" people keep referring to? This show is done, buddy. DONE. I don't care who tries to tell me otherwise.

7 hours ago, Daisy said:

What was the point of having Emma + Hook be a thing at all. They never had true loves kiss, I never got the belief that Emma loves Hook as much as Hook Loves Emma, and once again Emma doesn't remember Hook. At all. And when she does remember, it's not "Where's my husband? " it's "Oh hey Dad! Mom!"

Actually, it was just "DAD!", which remains my favourite part of the episode. I don't think she and Snow even looked at each other through this whole thing.

7 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

Here is the thing.  If this really was the series finale I would have really liked it.  ...

It all just made me wonder all the more why there is going to be  season seven.   

What is this "next season" people keep referring to?

7 hours ago, Shanna Marie said:

The episode playing out in my head was a lot more interesting. I had Hook saving himself from the beanstalk fall by throwing down the bean as he fell so that he fell through the portal (how did he survive a freefall from that high?) and landed near where Emma was, and then Emma, who'd been having flashes of him and who had seen the picture of the guy she was having flashes of when she burned the book, would suddenly be facing this pirate who claimed to be her husband, and then Hook could have been part of making her believe

You and me and about every other person watching, if this forum is anything to go by.

7 hours ago, Curio said:

I had the exact same thought! When Hook was falling, I actually got excited because I thought we were going to get a cool visual where it looks like Hook is going to hit the ground and die, but at the last second, the bean portal opens up and he falls through instead. That way, the bean adventure isn't completely useless, the rest of the gang trapped in the Enchanted Forest are stuck without a way back which makes Rumple's sacrifice much more significant, and Hook could have actually had one significant scene with his wife where he helps Emma remember like he did in Season 3.

In an episode of endless callbacks, that would have been the perfect one.

At least have Hook use the bean immediately. Why did he go back to the castle first anyway? This is like when Jasmine and Aladdin had the wish to take them to Agrabaha... and then didn't use it for absolutely no reason.

4 hours ago, superloislane said:

When Emma saw Hook's picture burning I thought for sure her belief would come into it and while everyone else was in danger from the world crumbling around them, Hook would poof away to Storybrooke because Emma had a little memory of him and believed but only in him. Clearly that did not happen.

At this stage, I think I'm just copying and pasting the same comment over and over again for emphasis.

Quote

 

The Hook/Charming stuff was fun and the only Captain Swan talk we got in the whole episode. Can someone please tell me why they were separated for two freaking hours with no payoff in the end?! And no Captain Swan TLK!!! Seriously why won't they let that happen?

You know, I think this is a question I would like answered seriously rather than rhetorically. I wonder if the writers actually hate the ship and are being forced by fans to continue it? Because they have done nothing for three years but separate them and not in a "love conquers all" way but in a "we don't want them together" way. I love me some Captain Charming but you've got to worry about a show that has the main character's love interest in more scenes with her father than her.

3 hours ago, Katherine said:

I wonder if a large part of this was also due to their desire to prove that Emma is a strong female protagonist who doesn't need a man. I'm 100% for a female lead ending up single, and I really like the familial love theme in this show, but I think Adam and Eddy tried to satisfy both sides of the fanbase and the writing quality suffered as a result, so now neither side ends up happy.

If this was the case, they wouldn't have had her spent the full two hours as a doped-up zombie victim. She's been an extremely passive character the past few seasons and in this was almost reduced to a McGuffin. She's pretty well lost all agency in her own story. No wonder JM wants to move on. Not to mention the fact that her "third way" solution wasn't a third way at all. In the "kill or be killed" scenario, it was the second way with a "twist". The "twist" being that the battle didn't matter at all so her willingness to sacrifice herself was essentially meaningless.

Basically, this is a show about a woman that saved the world by being born. And we didn't even get one of Hook's awesomely-effusive-if-somewhat-inaccurate "You're a Hero, Swan" speeches that I FLOVE the most when she's done very little to the resolution of the storyline.

I did appreciate that Snow's "inspirational" speech at the end made no sense. It was the OUaT episode to out-OUaT OUaT after all.

Edited May 15, 2017 by AudienceofOne

[Rumsy4]

33 minutes ago, AudienceofOne said:

I love me some Captain Charming but you've got to worry about a show that has the main character's love interest in more scenes with her father than her.

Pretty much. 

Quote

Basically, this is a show about a woman that saved the world by being born.

It's pretty mind-boggling that the Final Battle that's been mentioned from the beginning of the series boiled down to "because prophecy". 

On another note, does anyone else have an issue seeing Clone Queen as a real character. Right from the start she's seemed like a theatrically exaggerated AI-version of Regina. I still am not seeing the point of the EQ split at all. And who cares if she gets engaged with Fake Robin? If she thinks Henry is her son, why leave him? Is she planning to live in the palace with fake Robin while he steal from her and gives to the poor? 

[Arnella]

Whatever, show.  I did a lot of fast forwarding but it was hard not to just skip to the end.  I agree they should have spent more of their time and CGI budget visiting the old characters AND should have ended with that shot of Emma & Killian but I was ok (as in, glad it is over) with finale EXCEPT for:

-The inclusion of clone Regina at all, let alone being a selfless hero (it was just for that fashion porn shot of her dress blowing back and showing her legs, wasn't it?).

-My man Grumpy BOWING to Regina... Just NO.

-I am not a Christian but that last supper shot was creepy and awkward even though I know it was so they could jam into that final scene shot which brings me to ...

-I didn't expect it to be Henry since it would make NO sense after ALL that has happened that he would be away from his family at all or not know that they needed him or do to his own child what happened to Emma or need said child to force him to come help them.  No way; no how... that makes any kind of sense... but it's A&E we are talking about.  If there is a seventh season, they WILL jam a round peg into a square hole and tell themselves that it's juuuuuust right.  Oh wait... it's another curse by someone awkwardly related to him, right?  A&E always into recycling...

I want to say that I won't be back but it is indeed like watching a train wreck so I don't know.  I have always said that I was here for Robert Carlyle but it's been a bit painful watching him this last season.  As good an actor as he is, he is obviously miserable being stuck in this contract.

Edited May 15, 2017 by Arnella

[Rumsy4]

17 minutes ago, Arnella said:

As good an actor as he is, he is obviously miserable being stuck in this contract.

He renewed his contract to be in Season 7. He's been bored for a while. Not miserable.  

[Notwisconsin]

9 hours ago, Last Time Lord said:

Was this the only episode that had no flashbacks and all the action happened concurrently? I think it helped the pacing tremendously.

No, they had a sneaky flash-forward. That was something they got from Westworld.

Quote

 Didn't they know that all they had to do to stop the Nothing was give the Child-Like Empress a new name?

Beat me to it! Damn!!!!!!

Edited May 15, 2017 by Notwisconsin

[Curio]

We never got that third "as you wish."

Also, Emma still doesn't know about Graham. Hook still doesn't know Rumple pushed Milah into the river. We still don't know where the hell Will is or what happened to Mulan or Red. Emma's supposed "best friends" never bothered to show up to her wedding or help her with the final battle.

[CCTC]

52 minutes ago, Rumsy4 said:

He renewed his contract to be in Season 7. He's been bored for a while. Not miserable.  

He is still giving competent performances, but it has been awhile since he has shown anything new (largely because the writing gives him the same thing over and over). Great actor, but it has been awhile where I have been compelled to watch Rump;e/Gold when he has been on the screen.

I know they have underutilized the Charming family, and in some ways Emma individually, but I think they were still the show's "heart".  It will be interesting to see how that void is filled next year.  The show does casting pretty well, so maybe it will be better than expected, but I think A&E might also underestimate the value of the non-(reformed)villains.

[Selina K]

I didn't like it. No Hook & Emma. Henry saves the day. Cute Charming moment. The double Queen is back - I was definitely clamoring for that! No wait, sorry, I rolled my eyes and said, Oh God save us while my husband laughed.

I got stuck right at the opening screen because I saw monorail and heard this

[JonasArm]

15 minutes ago, CCTC said:

He is still giving competent performances, but it has been awhile since he has shown anything new (largely because the writing gives him the same thing over and over). Great actor, but it has been awhile where I have been compelled to watch Rump;e/Gold when he has been on the screen.

The poor man has been stuck with Emilie de Ravin and her awe inspiring performances for 6 years (and bad scipt). To still manage to reach that level is pretty impressive.

[Arnella]

4 minutes ago, Selina K said:

I rolled my eyes and said, Oh God save us while my husband laughed.

HA!  I can't watch this with anyone else because they notice my squirming and exasperated sighing and ask "I thought you liked this show?".

[darkestboy]

This should've been it. This should've been the episodes to have ended the series once and for all and with all the absences next season, it's too late in the day for a reboot to realistically work if we're being honest.

I am surprised Fiona didn't try a different type of curse, effectively doing the same one that Regina did all those years ago with almost similar results with Henry and Emma to be honest.

I did like the gang working together in the Enchanted Forest - Charming/Hook on the Beanstalk, Snow saving Charming, Zelena and both Reginas working together etc.

The final battle along with Fiona's defeat were a bit of an anticlimax but I didn't mind Gideon being a baby again and I loved the scene with all the characters at Granny's too.

Not sure if having older Henry and his daughter mirroring how the show began is the wisest of reboot ideas though, 8/10

[WatchrTina]

7 hours ago, Leia1979 said:

There was an awful lot of effort for that bean to be useless.

Isn't the bean the way in which all the people trapped on the rocky pedestal of doom (the last bit of Snow White & Charming's castle) got back to Storybook?  They didn't show it but I assumed when the smoke monster from LOST stopped eating the ballroom the bean miraculously got all pearly-white and shiny again (because Emma believed!) and then they dropped it like it was hot, a portal opened in what was left of the floor, and they all jumped (fell) through it.  Then they all went to look for Emma (after first stopping at home to change into modern clothes).

Quote

I got stuck right at the opening screen because I saw [the] monorail

Oh gosh I had forgotten that, though I thought it was a subway train.  What DID that have to do with the episode?

Edited May 15, 2017 by WatchrTina

[Sarcastica]

8 hours ago, Camera One said:

I thought this finale was pretty bad.  I wanted to like it... I really did.  But it was so weak and a lot of it was retread, not in a "neat call-back" way but a sleep-inducing way.

Starting the episode with the flashforward didn't get me interested in the new people at all.  The little girl didn't get to me like Young Henry did.  So I had zero interest in the cliffhanger for next season.  Why should I care and why would I want to see the same story again?

There were so many problems on so many levels.  

First of all, we had to watch 1 hour and 35 minutes of Emma not believing.  To top it off, she didn't remember herself.  She even threw the book into the fire.  Henry also didn't get her to believe.  It was freak'in Rumple killing The Black Fairy which did it.  How is this Emma's journey if she is given no free will for three quarters of the finale?  The Cursed Town with "Fiona" as Mayor was interesting for about one minute, except everything was the same.  That means more than 3/4 of the 2-hours was either really boring or really frustrating.  Nor do we see Blue, Granny, Gepetto, the Dwarves, or any of the supporting cast (other than Archie, being Fiona's lackey) getting a last hurrah.

At least the Enchanted Forest stuff was a tad more interesting.  But as mentioned, it was also pointless.  Hook didn't need to get the bean.  The only purpose of that was to give The Evil Queen Version of Regina a chance to be the hero and sacrifice herself.  Although I hated that we got yet another heartwarming conclusion to The Evil Queen (wasn't her last featured episode enough), I did find the scene with her, Regina and Zelena entertaining.  Meanwhile, Snow was MIA for most of this segment.  And Belle was MIA for all of it.  Who's leaving the show exactly?  

And there was apparently zero stakes in "the realms and everyone in them getting destroyed".  Don't get me wrong, I'm glad millions of people didn't die because Emma stopped believing.  But who cares about the Evil Queen's sacrifice if she's right back where she started at the end (Robin proposed... who cares)?  Jasmine said "We hardly got our people out".  Everyone in Agrabah could fit into that circle?  Did everyone in all the realms have a way to get into the hat?  Why would people from Arendelle be there too?  Hello, did they forget that was in the same realm as the Enchanted Forest?

And then after everything, it was STILL Gideon who was going to stab Emma.  What a "twist", eh?  Basically, Emma should have just let him stab her a few episodes ago and Henry could just TLK it.  Since True Loves' Kiss now works against stab wounds too (as superloislane also said above).

I just HATED that the final dinner included that traitor Rumple being welcomed into Granny's.  The jerk wouldn't even help Henry when all the realms were being destroyed.  And they tried to destroy Beauty and the Beast one last time in that vomit-inducing "happy" montage which finished with the likes of Regina having the Dwarves bow to her, The Evil Queen on her balcony and then "Beauty and the Beast".  Are we supposed to be happy for Snow as she's stuck teaching the same lesson about birds?  David's dream was to be a farmer again, eh?

You'd think in a season finale, the characters who were leaving would get one final significant conversation, and we only got two - one between Rumple and Belle, and one between Emma and Regina.  Did Emma and Snow, or Emma and Charming, or Snowing and Henry even have one final ACTUAL conversation in this episode?  These are the episode pairings we may never see again, and nope, nothing.  

Let's end with the horrible speech at the end which was said by Snow, but basically straight from the mouths of Adam and Eddy.  "What now?  Now, we get to see what's next.  Now, we get to keep going on, we get to keep doing what we love (ie, making this show), with the people we love (ie, not Emma, Snow, Charming).  Sounds about right, eh?

 

This!

All of this. 

[txhorns79]

Quote

Isn't the bean the way in which all the people trapped on the rocky pedestal of doom (the last bit of Snow White & Charming's castle) got back to Storybook?  They didn't show it but I assumed when the smoke monster from LOST stopped eating the ballroom the bean miraculously got all pearly-white and shiny again (because Emma believed!) and then they dropped it like it was hot, a portal opened in what was left of the floor, and they all jumped (fell) through it.  Then they all went to look for Emma (after first stopping at home to change into modern clothes).

I think they all transported back when Fiona was killed and the curse was broken.  The bean was just a time waster.  

Edited May 15, 2017 by txhorns79

[Good Queen Jane]

6 hours ago, Camera One said:

Are we supposed to believe that Storybrooke will be peaceful from now on?  What happened to a Savior's job is never done?  This season should have enabled Emma to lose that mantle and be free from it.  

Well, if we follow the religious implications apparent from that unsettling Last Supper picture, the Savior died, sacrificing herself for the others, rose from the dead, and will be taken up to heaven, where she will live happily ever after.

[Primetimer]

Is it a tale as old as time, or a neverending story?

View the full article

[Curio]

I can't help but feel like I just witnessed another HIMYM-esque ending where the showrunners were too stubborn to change their original finale plan they plotted out six years ago. Listen, I get that the show started with Emma and Henry's relationship and it was nice to see some parallels to that, but as the characters and relationships grew over six years, Henry and Emma's relationship deteriorated and lost some of its impact. Henry no longer saw Emma as his mother first but as the Savior who needed to save everyone. Going into the finale, I would have said Henry and Regina had a stronger bond than Henry and Emma. And whether you ship them or not, I think it's pretty clear that Hook eventually turned into the one character on the show who loved Emma the most, with or without the Savior title. It just feels like I watched Hook—a character who worked tirelessly to support Emma for years—get sidelined for Henry—a character who's gotten increasingly annoying and sanctimonious and sat around slurping a giant soda when his mother became the Dark One and disappeared. But no, A&E always planned to have Henry reciprocate Emma's kiss in the "series" finale, so that's what had to happen, and all other previous seasons and other character developments be damned.

Ugh, the more I think about this finale, the more bitter I become. The fans deserved better than this.

Edited May 15, 2017 by Curio

[Leia1979]

11 minutes ago, Curio said:

Ugh, the more I think about this finale, the more bitter I become. The fans deserved better than this.

Pretty much. I woke up an hour before my alarm this morning feeling annoyed about the finale. It's just a tv show, but I've invested a lot of time in it over the last six years. 

I guess several characters got some sort of happy ending--including ones who didn't deserve it. (We'll just conveniently forget all those characters that the writers got bored with.) So I guess that means Emma's job is done now. 

[InsertWordHere]

The most telling thing for me about this finale is that they chose to take up screentime twice with two versions of the same character on screen at the same time, and both of the actors for those characters are returning next year. Meanwhile, over half the cast that's leaving barely gets significant material for one version of their character. 

If you would have told me that I'd be most upset over the ending for the dwarves out of all the characters on this show, I would not have believed you, but how dare they have Grumpy of all people bow and scrape to the "Queen?" I actually said "ewww" out loud when I realized what was written on the door. Gross. Grumpy deserved better.

1 hour ago, Good Queen Jane said:

Well, if we follow the religious implications apparent from that unsettling Last Supper picture

 I can't get over this. Unsettling indeed. And they had Snow, Snow! in the Judas seat. At least have it be Granny, then we could have fun imagining what Granny's been doing behind the scenes to betray them throughout the course of the show. I think Hook was right about that lunch special.

Edited May 15, 2017 by InsertWordHere

[Arnella]

10 minutes ago, InsertWordHere said:

Grumpy deserved better.

Damn straight!  I've been saying this since Season 1.

[sharky]

9 minutes ago, InsertWordHere said:

And they had Snow, Snow! in the Judas seat. At least have it be Granny, then we could have fun imagining what Granny's been doing behind the scenes to betray them throughout the course of the show. I think Hook was right about that lunch special.

Actually, if you move to the left from Emma and go by actual face-to-face matches, Judas is Baby Neal. As I posted on tumblr, this would make sense depending on what happens to him next season. Baby Neal was named after a man who abandoned Baby Neal's orphaned sister and left her to rot in jail where she gave birth to his nephew. That has to have affect on him. Also, he would be about the same age as Joffrey from Game of Thrones. So calling it now, season 7's big bad is Baby Bagelfire.

If the writers really wanted a pilot call back, I was hoping we would've had Emma leaving town only to be stopped in the road by a random pirate falling from a green light in the sky. Then you could get a call back to the pilot, that time Hook got hit by a car and their beanstalk stuff. Another missed opportunity.