I don’t think the split season has worked in the sense that two arcs per season means that neither arc gets fleshed out properly before it’s then on to the next arc of the new season. It would’ve been much better if it had been one arc that was split in half. Either a) the first half ends with the villain’s victory and the second half is the heroes over coming their defeat or b) the heroes win the first half and the second half is the villain plotting their revenge. (The only arc I’m glad wasn’t longer was the Frozen arc).
Neverland would’ve benefitted greatly from being spread over more episodes especially as they would’ve had time to insert a little bit of Storybrooke into every episode so it wasn’t missed and would also break up the constant darkness. They could flesh out the Neverland characters more especially the Pan/Felix/Tinkerbell dynamic. Why was Felix so loyal to Pan? Why was Tinkerbell supposedly trusted by Pan? What was Tinkerbell up to on Neverland? etc. They could explore the Neverland backstory of Hook and Baelfire more. Neverland has so many unanswered questions and had so much potential that was not utilised because of lack of time.
Again the Oz arc had potential that was not utilised due to lack of time. Neal’s death should’ve been this big momentous occasion that had far reaching consequences especially as Rumple trying to find him was the very basis of the show to start with. As it was, his death was 315, his funeral was a scene in 316, then that was it. Neal’s death should’ve had an impact on the rest of the season and continuing into the seasons that followed. Instead the characters seemingly forgot about him after the funeral. Had Neal lived, whilst he may not have been important to the story of 3B or season 4, he would’ve really come into his own and shined in the Dark Swan arc of 5A. 5A was made for Neal and they screwed it up big time by killing him off in 3B.
Zelena was annoying in 3B. Coming off of Pan, the show needed a high quality villain and Zelena wasn’t it. She was bratty and it’s kind of hard to feel sorry for her when Rumple shivs her in the jail cell. 5A proves that Zelena can be fun and she was the highlight of that half season. Either that’s a damning review on the quality of 5A or 3B completely wasted the potential of Zelena, turning her into a cardboard villain.
Another less than favourable thing about 3B was the creation of OQ. It was too rushed. There was absolutely no reason why Robin would be so gung ho about Regina upon meeting her for the first time. She was the evil Queen as far as he knew. Whilst he may have started to develop feelings for her over the course of the missing year when he realised she wasn’t so bad, which we didn’t get to see- another criticism, the fact that the reason given for the attraction was “soulmates” was completely ridiculous. Instead of taking the time to SHOW us why Regina and Robin should be together, the writers are telling us they’re meant to be without taking the time to back up their claim. Robin and Regina’s first meeting leads to an unintentionally funny moment where Robbin helps Regina up but leaves a clearly heavily pregnant woman lying on the floor.
This season is when Snow’s character was assassinated and the assassination has only continued as the series has gone on. She was so dumb in 3B, she was demanding, she was just a general pain in the arse. 3A, she’s one track minded. She wants another baby because she didn’t get to play mommy to Emma. She tells Emma, her daughter with abandonment issues, that essentially she’s not good enough as a daughter because the relationship they have is not what Snow wanted. To put it bluntly, Snow became a condescending bitch in season 3.
3A was a lot better than 3B and kind of tied up the story started in season 1 despite the wasted potential and rushed storyline due to lack of time. 3A could’ve easily been a bittersweet series ending. 3B was where PLOT and SHINY started taking control over CHARACTER and SUBSTANCE and where the quality of the series started to go downhill.
All magic comes with a price!
Keeper of Felix