1) I wouldn’t mind seeing other former villains split with Jekyll’s serum. Not only would it be fun to see the evil versions of the characters back, but it would also be fresh to see these characters directly face off against their worst selves. This could be a viable opportunity for character development, if they get to see just how bad their worst selves are first hand.
2) It would be nice to finally get Aladdin and Jasmine.
3) The explanation for what happened between Will and Anastasia. What if Will lost Anastasia to the Land of Untold Stories?
4) Finally exploring the search for Lily’s father, after being put on hold for an entire Season.
5) For Rumple to finally come to an ultimatum, regarding his love for Belle vs his love for power.
6) I would like more of a balance, in terms of how much screentime and development each of our regulars get. Sidelining some of our regulars has been a long ongoing problem with this show.
7) Better usage of flashbacks. Give us more flashbacks that actually serve a larger purpose. Not only do filler flashbacks take time away from present day story, but they also take time away that could have gone to more important flashbacks. We were robbed of a Hades and Zeus flashback this past Season. So in short, I still want flashbacks to be a part of this show, but only if they’re relevant and make sense for the story arc.
8) Maybe we do need to go back to Season 1’s structure of one arc spanning across the entire Season. I think the Untold Stories storyarc has the potential to last an entire Season.
9) Less usage of Magical MacGuffins. I swear I could create a logline for a typical episode these days by playing MadLibs. “On the next episode of Once Upon a Time, (insert character) must find (insert Magical MacGuffin) in order to (insert reasoning).” It’s like the writers have a plot generator akin to this.
10) Less recycling of previous Once Upon a Time storylines. Self-plagiarism has been a thing on this show for quite some time, but it was especially obvious in Season 5. It felt like we were going in circles. I’m looking at you, Rumple.