Liked
August being back with a real role to play. I didn’t mind the Swan stuff.
Rumple and Belle talking to each other sounded more like their real selves (if that makes sense) instead of the near constant yelling we’ve had for the last two seasons which mostly feels weird. But so does most of the Rumple story for the last couple of years… he’s evil incarnate! – he’s a vulnerable sweetie! – he’s evil! – he’s vulnerable! – his heart is pure! – he’s the darkest Dark One ever! ect.
Mixed
It doesn’t make sense that you’d get the Savior powers through murder. That’s really more of a dark thing. I hope we find out that it doesn’t work that way and that Gideon is just confused (or been lied too/manipulated by The Black Fairy).
Disliked
Charming and Hook being so quick to want to kill Gideon even after they knew who he was. I know the Once ‘heroes’ are tarnished at best, but can’t they act heroic once and a while? Isn’t killing anyone who angers or threatens them more of a villain move? This reminds me of Camelot when Charming killed that knight (Percival?) without a second thought, even though WE knew (can’t remember what he knew) that Percival was just doing the traditional heroic thing and trying to kill the villain. No matter how they paint her now Regina was a villain and her being a softer person now doesn’t bring back all the hundreds of people she killed. To put it in more modern terms a serial killer could change their life and want to make up for what they’ve done, but that doesn’t mean the justice system will just give them a hug and tell all the victims families that they can’t possibly still expect them to lock up such a changed person. I mean I love Rumple and he’s my favorite character, but I don’t really expect his life to turn into roses and ice cream if he really turns good someday either.
The wardrobe plot device was a little forced – how did August carve it so fast? I get that this is a different tree but it’s still weird that it’s bigger and it can take three back instead of just the two. And again how did he carve it so fast?!
Robin being back. How is this a thing that has happened? And why do none of these stupid ways to bring dead people back ever happen to Neil? I did enjoy the father/son chat between Rumple and Gideon, but it does feel excruciatingly like they are trying to recreate the Baelfire story that they should never have killed off in the first place by basically replacing him with Gideon.
Robin and Regina escaped from RUMPLESTILTSKIN… with a nail? That doesn’t make sense? He’s The Dark One Dearie! Surely he’d have noticed his flay-cell was empty in time to poof his way over to August’s workshop and quip up a storm.