This really felt like a season 1 episode. It did not bother me at all that this was filler. It was done well enough that it didn’t feel like filler when I was watching it. They twisted a classic story and gave me that magic feeling I haven’t felt in a long time.
8.5/10
Liked:
– Transition from book to flashback. Haven’t seen that in a long time.
– The twist on Ella’s story. Very season 1 ish.
– Finding out why her name is Cinderella.
– Gus Gus!
– Snow and Charming convos. They felt real. Yes, go back and be a teacher!
– Jekyll meets Frankenstein. Yes!
– Hook sword fighting with Henry, and Hook interacting with Alexandra. They are doing a very good job with Hook this season.
– The ball was nice. Costumes great. The conversations between Ella and the prince were great. The chemistry felt real.
– Snow being able to understand Gus. That made sense and she helped get Ella her happy ending.
– Lady Tremaine was ruthless. In the present and past. Thought she was great.
– Lasagna scene was great! Anything with Mr. Hyde is fun in my book.
– I liked the Archie scene. Emma came in but did not know he was with a patient. So it’s not her fault. But Archie ending his session early with Grumpy was a little not ok. But her talking to Archie is great!
– Regina and Zelena scene.
– EQ is always good. Yay Hyde and EQ duo!
Mixed:
– The connection between the key and Rumple and Lady Tremaine. Are there multiple keys? How did Rumple get it? I feel like there is a missing part of the story that I hope they tell us.
– Rumple’s tape to Belle. Idk, it didn’t do much for me. I don’t really get the point of Rumple doing that. Unless that allowed him to track where Belle was.
– The Dopey explanation. Eyes rolling…..I don’t need to see it but the explanation was pretty silly.
– Couldn’t care less that Anastasia wasn’t one of the step sisters. For me, Wonderland was a separate show but since A&E said it was canon, and there were alleged big hints, it’s annoying.
Disliked:
– Ella basically bragging about her ring. Horrific timing.