I think A and E learned a lot this year and one thing they learned is that splitting up the core cast for so long made the show feel really disjointed. It got to be too much for the casual viewer (in other people, who are not us) to see FTL of the past, FTL of the present and SB of the present. If Rumple and Belle were to stay behind then we’d be seeing FTL of the past, NL of the past, NL of the present (or NL-adjacent whatever that means) and SB of the present because there is no way they’d downgrade RC’s role in this show meaning SB would still have to play a major part.
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"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"