Reply To: 6 X 09 CHANGELINGS – – What were your favorite and least favorite moments

[Corbin]

This was the first episode I’d been able to catch on the night of in a while (I hadn’t even caught up with the show until this past weekend – the benefits of applying to college!) and, needless to say, I was left dismayed. “Changelings” is OUAT at its worst – a show definitively about fairy tales yet isn’t sure what it wants to be.

Favorites:
<ul>
<li>Well, we now know who the Black Fairy is. A payoff!</li>
<li>Snow and Jasmine at Granny’s. Little character moments like these are what make the show watchable.</li>
<li>Belle was headstrong in this episode, which is nice in that it’s different from her being sidelined/babysitting all the time.</li>
<li>The Evil Queen is and always will be an absolute joy to watch.</li>
</ul>
Least Favorites:
<ul>
<li>Just when we thought this show was done extending Henry’s family tree, they still manage to surprise us.</li>
<li>I am no longer fazed by Rumple as a character. He doesn’t surprise me with his actions because, as of 4×01, this is who he is as a character. Sure, he did something nice in not poisoning his wife, but if that’s what “nice” is now to a man who killed himself to save a town, then we’ve literally gone to “a whole new world.”</li>
<li>Speaking of which, I’m frustrated with the lack of progress in the Aladdin arc. We went from the first scene in the premiere being centered on him to him and Jasmine popping up occasionally to remind us that they’re alive and do randomly powerful things. (Like Aladdin suddenly becoming a genie. He should know better!) Why?</li>
<li>This speaks to the larger issue of Season 6: the lack of progress. Regina is still as unsure about herself as she was in 5×23. The Evil Queen has done nothing to advance whatever plan she has except for messing around with everyone else. S1Evil!Regina had motives for her insane actions, so why this doesn’t apply to her is beyond me. (Yes, I know, my questions are pointless.)</li>
<li>To get a bit more episode-specific, I really found Regina’s speech to Zelena cringeworthy. You can’t save someone and claim that you did that because “that’s what heroes do” when you’re depriving someone who is in a very similar situation of that right. It’s hypocritical, inappropriate, and counteracts the newfound morality that Regina has.</li>
<li>Where does this Rumbelle flashback fall on the timeline? Because, whenever they introduce another flashback, I’m left in shock over how “Skin Deep” happened.</li>
<li>Emma Swan bothers me. I know she’s no longer the person she was in S1-3, but she’s become something else: dependent. She can’t rely on herself anymore, and what the Shaky Hands of Doom do is give the writers an ability to show that. Even when she went searching for the shears in Gold’s – she ended up needing Hook to get her out! I don’t know if that’s intentional, but if it is, it’s misguided.</li>
</ul>
I say these things as a person who, compared to the past few seasons, actually likes this one! I smiled at the Snowing montage of last episode and I’ve liked the going-back-to-basics mantra, but this episode confirmed one thing: the writers don’t want this season to be the last one, but that has more to do with their source of income than their creative goals.