Reply To: FAVORITE AND LEAST FAVORITE MOMENTS from 4 X 16 BEST LAID PLANS

[Keb]

This episode really sparkled with magic in places, though there were a few notes that bothered me.

Liked:
–The scene with the key reveal was as magical in context as it was as a sneak peek.
–The author being the peddler was SO classic fairy tale
–I love that Ella sent them the glass unicorn mobile.
–The namedrop of Walt. Author or not, that made me smile.
–Emma magicking a new page.
–Killian demonstrating some maturity about Emma having a guy friend.
–Mal altering deals with Rumple. And I was very moved by her loss.
–Getting Jennifer’s and Abby’s looks perfectly aligned for this ep–Abby’s a good young Emma anyway, but there was NO question they were the same person here. It was beautiful.
—More Oz is coming!!!!!
–Rumple carefully moving Belle to the bed and promising to come back for her if he can…things about that scene I didn’t like, but I was still going awwww at his making her comfortable being a priority. And just…the way he looks at her still moves me EVERY time. I will never stop shipping it.

Disliked:
–Not letting Henry be there when the author was freed. Geez.
–We now have MULTIPLE episodes where Belle’s only appearance is not only silent, but unconscious. Way to treat your “regulars,” A&E. (I am still grateful she was in the episode at all, but come on.)
–Mal can knock out all of Storybrooke save the people who’ve been under the Sleeping Curse before…but when Snow and Charming steal her BABY, she can’t even knock out Charming? (He hadn’t been under yet at this point!)
–They did mention Cora’s death but the math for this was so similar to the candle’s magic–an even trade, I get mine in exchange for someone else’s.
–Come on, retconning Snow’s pure heart? Annoyed. I kinda like the vow to be heroes thenceforth, but seriously, that pure heart nonsense is getting so inconsistent that I just can’t with it anymore. In a show where you literally can SEE a person’s heart blackened…it ought to make SOME sense. Especially as they keep using it as a major plot point (oh, we can see Glinda, but Regina can’t–just, how?).
–Okay, the Apprentice and Blue BOTH seem to have a penchant for sending villains to our world on the theory they’ll then be harmless. But…uh…just…um….this is all kinda their fault, author or no author. And while they explained DQ’s lack of aging a bit by giving her only 19 years without magic, wth with Ursula & Cruella? They now have to account for 30 years of aging for those two (and it’s CANONICAL they entered our world 30 years ago, no guesswork there–Gold said it).
–August and Emma talking and still not addressing all those issues left unaddressed from the past. I know they’re not relevant to the current plot but *sigh*.