once upon a time

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once upon a time season 4 finale

Obligatory disclaimers ahead – there will be many spoilers because there is much to discuss about the detailed plot points involved in the Season 4 finale of Once Upon a Time. (Have I mentioned lately how much I adore this show and the way the writers tell these stories?) I’ll give you a minute to escape from this post.

Still here? Good.

First of all, all the OMGs. What the writers did here with the flipped script (heroes acting like villains) is nothing short of brilliant. Some transformations worked better than others, such as Regina playing as the fairytale land version of Snow. I enjoyed watching that version of Regina, and the costume really worked for her. On the other hand, the evil Snow and Charming were truly terrifying. Snow White, in her original bandit role, was a character to be respected for her outlaw skills, but when paired with no moral compass, that made her truly feared as the Evil Queen character.

It was an interesting strategy to make the Author a villain.  This wasn’t something I expected, simply because the heroes and villains in the original book were so accurately depicted as the characters we saw play out in the past few seasons.  Snow / Charming – good.  Regina / Rumplestiltskin -bad.  But the character development was never quite that simple.  We saw Snow temporarily embrace the dark side.  We saw Regina and Rumple display some positive qualities that made them appear worthy of redemption, even though the goodness never quite sticks to the Dark One.  Let me add to that thought – THIS IS AS IT SHOULD BE.  Rumple should never be completely redeemed.  If that happens, Once will be ruined for me.

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random thoughts on the ouat season finale

Before I get to Sunday’s epic finale, let me just comment on the previous episode – I was very pleased to see that the writers allowed Henry to get his memories back and restored his belief in magic and the triumph of good vs. evil that has been the driving force in this series.

While there have been some compelling storylines with the adults on Once Upon a Time,  it is my belief that Henry is a critical part to making the fairytale real for the viewers.  I just wish that they hadn’t waited so long in this group of episodes to involve him.

Now to the adults – Zelena’s gone.  Good, although somehow I suspect she will be back at some point.  I really enjoyed her as a villain, and I’m glad the slight attempt to redeem her failed.  I mean, yes, in real life, bad people usually have some trigger in their past that causes them to choose the dark side and continue to make the wrong decisions about situations confronting them.  But in the world of Disney, villains have to remain villains.  Unless of course, said villains are the Evil Queen and Rumple….

Speaking of,  the finale brought an interesting twist to Regina’s story.   The reappearance of Robin Hood’s wife (thanks to Emma’s successful rescue attempt) will cause her to fight off some pretty dark thoughts and inclination to strike out against Emma.  We shall see if Regina’s redemption is permanent or whether she will return to being the Evil Queen.  My suspicion is that even though this is a crushing blow for her, her love for Henry and for Robin Hood will keep her from doing anything to Emma or to Robin’s wife.

I was actually rooting for Regina and Robin Hood as a couple, because I want her to be happy.  She has tried to change, and love changes people in a permanent way.  Is it bad that I want something to happen to Robin’s wife?  She seems perfectly lovely, but I just cannot let go of the idea of Regina and Robin Hood together.   Maybe this can be resolved without killing off his wife.  If so, that works for me.

I will keep saying this- Belle deserves a better man than Rumple.  The wedding was beautiful, but somehow this couple doesn’t work as well in Storybrooke as it does in the fairytale world.

So far I am 0 for 3 in the couples I support to continue into the next season together.   The next couple breaks this streak – Emma and Hook.

Many interesting things happened with those two in the finale – Emma wearing fairytale clothes (and a red princess dress!) and the two of them dancing at the ball being just two of those things.  I loved seeing Emma looking so girly and pretty for once.  It was such an awesome change.  I love Emma’s strength as a character, and her wardrobe usually reflects the tough woman she is, but it was nice to see a different side of her in this episode.

Even though I would not mind seeing Neal return somehow, I am now completely sold on Emma and Hook as a couple.  He is madly in love with her.  What other pirate would sell his ship to be with the woman he loves?  In pirate terms, that is quite a serious commitment, and I am glad Emma recognized that act as the sacrifice that it was.  Yay for Emma and Hook.  I am happy that she finally recognizes that Hook is worthy of her attention.

Last random thought – we saw ice coming from some unknown figure’s hand – is this supposed to be Elsa from Frozen?  If so, I cannot wait to see what direction they take her character next season.  So excited for the fall season.  I have a few unanswered questions that need to be resolved.

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i object

Yes, this post involves recent events on Once Upon a Time.  Spoilers upcoming.

You cannot kill Neal.  I strongly object to this.  While I appreciate the need to resurrect Gold / Rumple,  must we kill off Neal to accomplish this?  Of course the obvious caveats apply, mainly that no one really dies on a tv show, but still…why are the writers attempting to kill him off? It does not negatively affect what is happening between Emma and Hook to keep him alive, and this would just be yet another predictable conclusion to a storyline if Hook was the only good guy left alive.  I want more surprises.  I do not want to know everything that is going to happen on this show before it happens.   Do not misunderstand this – I am in favor of Emma and Hook as a couple, but I do not want this to be decided right now.   I would have liked her to have to choose between Bae and Hook.

The problem Once Upon a Time is starting to have is the amount of evil / bad characters turning good, or at the very least, redeemable because of a singular moment where they did the right thing.  Making the evil queen a sympathetic figure because of her love for Henry works in the context of the story.  But Rumplestiltskin / Gold needs to be evil.  That is when he is most compelling and interesting as a character.  A Rumple-Zelena matchup (whether they are united in evil or opposing one another in a magic dual) would have great potential.  I want to see something similar to those two options.  I want some bad guys to stay bad, and for Belle to move on and fall for someone other than Gold.  Belle deserves her own good guy.  Make this happen, OUAT writers.

So when are they going to find a way to get Henry’s memory back?  The belief Henry has in magic and the power of that belief is what made this whole story work.  Fairytale characters – existing in real life, in modern situations, without their memories, far from their original home – this is not an easy scenario to accept.  But we do, because Henry does (or did, before Pan’s curse). We started out sharing Emma’s skepticism of everything Henry was trying to tell her, and then we saw the evidence and embraced his reality.  Not having Henry deeply involved in the recent story is a mistake.  Yes, I know we need to develop the future relationships between Emma/ Hook and Regina / Robin Hood (he really needs a Storybrooke name BTW),  but the story lacks something without Henry”s involvement in it.

So, I hope two things happen in future episodes.  One, bring Neal back.  Make the future Emma / Hook pairing less inevitable.   Second,  let Henry remember his past.  That could only strengthen the story.