I’d like to see both be redeemed, though I use that word rather cautiously. I don’t necessarily need them to turn into happy, saintly people who sew clothes for the poor and sing birds out of trees, and I also don’t need them to be broken people who wallow in the guilt of their past actions.
I’d like them (and for the most part all of the characters) to come to a place of peace, even if it’s not an absolutely perfect, wonderful, utopic ending. I don’t need to see one villain dragged down to the depths while everybody cheers and dances on their grave in order to feel satisfied with the ending. I tend not to see stories in terms of villains and heroes, but in terms of people who want different things who work together, against, or diagonally with each other at different points in time 🙂
I’d like Regina to put her obsessive, angry need for revenge aside, realize that she was wrong (a big one, as I don’t think I’ve really seen much of that from her yet), and develop some healthy relationships. Props to Daniel for telling her to “love again!”
I’d like Belle to lift Rumple’s curse, as I think it has some tangible affect on his free will, and I’d like him to find Bae and have some sort of closure with that, which does not necessitate that they have a big happy family with tons of step-siblings and barbecues. I don’t know how much of this stems from my shipping, and how much of it stems from what I consider a good story arc, but I want Rumple and Belle’s love to endure. This might be because I’m quite invested in the Beauty and the Beast aspect of their story, and I think that thematically, that fairytale necessitates that the Beast be redeemed by love. Additionally, they’ve thrown around the phrase “true love can break any curse” and for me to truly believe that, I want to see that it ends up being stronger than all the ramifications of Rumple’s curse and is ultimately strong enough to redeem the Dark One, which would be an amazing statement about the power of love. I would be quite sad if that storyline didn’t make it to endgame. It would diminish the “power of love” theme that the show keeps hammering on, in my mind.
I’d like him to stop needing magic as a crutch. He seems to know he’s a monster, he’s confessed that he’s a coward, and he’s expressed regret in the past, for example, in the scene with “Bae”/August. He does seem to be trying to change, but I think that he’s operated in monster-mode for so long that it’s his default reaction when he feels threatened or endangered (such as with Smee). Though, I will contend that from what we saw, he wasn’t particularly violent with Smee, who had just kidnapped and tried to mind-wipe Belle. Compared to DarkRumple who turned a man into a slug for accidentally skinning Bae’s knee, I see that as a small step forward. (My head canon says that he didn’t beat the snot out of Smee off-screen 🙂 ) I actually love the struggle they’re portraying with his character.
That is one key thing I’m missing with Regina’s arc… the closest thing we’ve gotten is the “I don’t know how to love very well” confession from her, but that doesn’t go far enough for me. Adam seemed to hint that Belle might confront Regina about locking her up and I’m -really- hoping for that confrontation. That will be a chance for Regina to show her true colors as far as her pathway to redemption!