After watching that teaser, my first thought wasn’t “Rumple has gone too far.” It was “A&E have gone too far in milking this for drama, and bending the relationship (and both characters) into something utterly awful and pretty nonsensical. And are still somehow expecting the audience to keep engaged.” The Rumbelle writing has gotten so bad and so repetitive that I think at this point it actually breaks the 4th wall in a way that none of the camp and over the top ridiculousness of EQ and assorted villains manages.
I honestly think they’ve gone completely overboard with this. And it’d be one thing if they were virtuoso writers and had their audience’s unlimited trust. Then fine. But they can’t even develop their easy storylines. And as wonderful as Lana’s acting is, even EQ’s narrative impact diminishes from being caught up in this soap opera. I never thought that Rumbelle of all things would be the thing that makes me want to stop watching this show. I’m fine with a sad ending for them, but the drama needs to be believable and compelling. Whatever this is is not it. This is the writing equivalent of forcing us to chew someone else’s stale chewing gum.