GENERAL: *sigh* I don’t know. It was fine, I guess. It has the same problems as a lot of episodes this arc where there are good ideas and some good executions on plot, but a lot of it rings hollow because it’s so flimsy. The AU world could have been really interesting if it had been more thought out, taking the history of the show and the universe into consideration. Instead the AU didn’t make a lick of sense and it felt like bad fanfiction in which the writers have things happens simply because they wish it, not because it lines up with any sort of consistent themes or world building.
Rating: 7/10
LIKED
–“What are you gonna do…throw a fireball at yourself?”
–“In this case, the cliche is true. I was born for this.” I always like when the show mentions its own mythic nature.
–LOL, Appletini
–Smart writing: Regina is also master of the lamp because she and the EQ are the same person.
–Emma humming like a crazy lunatic person. Both hilarious and cringe-worthy.
–Pilot callbacks all over the place. I have nostalgia pain.
–I like that, in a way, Henry makes Emma believe once more. That relationship should always be at the center of Emma’s story.
–“Nothing makes sense. Anything is possible.” It’s like the most literal description of this show since S3B I’ve ever heard.
MIXED
–Is Jasmine just randomly shouting “help me” until someone in the Ghost Town comes to find her…?
–How did the EQ get the lamp? Where were Jasmine and the Aladdin-lamp living; at last check they were at Snowing’s loft.
–Ok, Neal is still Henry’s father in the AU–yes, GOOD. But how is this possible?? It’s not even the tiniest bit possible if all the events of the universe stayed the same until the casting of the curse!
–Rumple locked up and as crazy as a loon. Just like the Pilot (but seriously, how can Emma have a son with Bae while Rumple is still locked up as the Dark One!! Why would he even be locked up if Bae had made his way back to the EF and lived there long enough to fall in love with Emma and have a child?)
–The Dementor turned the EQ into Nagini! (what the heck…?)
–The Black Fairy took Gideon. Soooo, she’s the next Big Bad. On the one hand, cool. On the other, Jafar is…doing what? His point this year was…what?
DISLIKED
–Yeah that sword was nowhere near the EQ’s face when Emma managed to slice her up.
–Normally the show’s costumes are on point, but man Aladdin’s genie outfit is horrid.
–This AU world doesn’t make a lick of sense. How did Nealfire die? Zelena isn’t here to trick him into turning the key in the Vault and Neal wouldn’t have had any need since Rumple never killed Pan, vanished, and the Curse was reverse-cast! I get that they don’t want to exclude Jared Gilmore, but this is frustrating.
–Why can’t Rumple use blood magic to find Gideon like how he found Baelfire?
–Regina literally runs up to dwarves and asks where Emma is without even pausing to question which type of world she’s in. She knows it can’t be present; if it’s the past, no dwarf is going to trust her; and if it’s a reality when Emma wasn’t the Savior, then it follows that she’s a defeated EQ and, again, no one would trust her!
–Rumple has a magic bean that can Regina and Emma back to Storybrooke. Ok, what exactly was S1 about cause I really don’t remember [/sarcasm]
–There’s a literal KEY TO THE KINGDOM??? What nonsense is that?
–RIP AU Snowing!