See I thought they brought back more of these scenes in the last couple seasons (season 6, season 5b mostly. Like Regina meeting her father in the UW and Henry finally meeting his other grandfather whom he was named after. Cora getting valuable time with her two sisters was amazing. Rumple and his father, Pan. Charming and his twin brother. Snow taking to Red about being gay. Henry talking to Emma when they found Aladdin’s corpse in that cave place. Hook saving Henry and then Henry saving Hook and basically welcoming him into their family. The EQ interacting with Henry and seeing the differences between how Regina treats him and how EQ does. Hook and his brother Liam. Snow and Charming writing to each other in between going to back to sleep for this new curse. Hook opening up the storybook and reminding Emma that she comes from true love and that she can conquer anything. Savior character moments between Aladdin and Emma. Emma going back for counseling with Archie and talking about why she’s afraid. Countless scenes with Regina and Emma who now are good friends (this may be the best developed relationship on the show). Heck, they even gave us the ACTUAL moment Charming and Snow first met which I was initially worried about but ultimately thought was very successful. And that’s to name the select few that came to my head.
So again, are people just not seeing this or are people so fed up with how most of the show is done now that they fail to see that OUAT has clearly gone back to more character moments in the last year and a half and it absolutely has given it more of that season 1 vibe. Anyone who doesn’t see that isn’t looking hard enough and is just too caught up in the hate and the relationship stuff to notice that these scenes have been taking place more frequently as of late.