About Rumbelle, I think the the ship hasn’t been treated as well as it could have been, by the writers. So in a heartbeat they went from “That’s the reason why I have to stay” to “You don’t get to decide what I want. I do.” I mean, HUH?
I totally get that the writers have to create tension in all the ships – they can’t just write Happily Ever Afters too early, otherwise there would be no show. 😆 But I think with Rumbelle their fight/separation was really sudden…at least it felt sudden on screen. I think one or two MORE scenes – like Rumple tearing down Belle’s posters of her father…or Belle finding out what Rumple did to Moe last season – would have made their conflict a lot more understandable. But instead, they had Rumple spinning gold and Belle leaving him.
BUT that’s off topic. I think we have to give a lot of credit to Jane Espenson for some of the show’s great ships, because she wrote/co-wrote “Skin Deep” and “Tallahassee”. I just hope that when other writers get a hold of Emma/Neal they think of creative ways to generate conflict in their relationship. I hope the “you abandoned me, you abandoned me, you abandoned me” doesn’t become the “you’re a coward, you’re a coward, you’re a coward” of the Emma/Neal ship, if you know what I mean. 😕