As for not seeing SNOW….. WE saw Little Snow in parts of the episode…. My gdSon was watching the part where Regina choked little Snow and it scared him…. I had some cuddling to do after that….
I think there will be times that Snow / Emma are being filmed in other scenes else where while the actions of Regina / Gold / SB are being filmed.
I like how the segment of a story is fully explored and we get information that answers questions before we get more questions. All action and no character development would make the show uninteresting to me. I love the interaction between the characters and am willing to wait until the story develops.