FAVORITE AND LEAST FAVORITE MOMENTS … 4 X 14 ENTER THE DRAGON

I thought this episode was a mess. It was all over the place, complete with scene chewing, bad timelines, weird instances of characters doing stupid things, and a lot of bad dialogue.

I don’t mind camp and I don’t mind fast paced, but this felt rushed and incoherent. Also, holy LGBT baiting, Batman. It was all over this episode.

LIKED

Oof, not much to be honest.

–Cruella wasn’t in much. But I enjoy her.

–Regina had some good lines?

Skipping over the MIXED cause nothing really

DISLIKED

–Everyone tone it down! Camp is fine but you’re moving through scenes like you have to play this at the most over the top. Take a second to remember that you’re human!

–Holy drugged out and depressed Mal with bad hair! What WAS that??

–Stefan magically shows up at the right moment cause plot!

–TIMELINE WAT IZ THAT GUYZ

–The graphics get worst every year

–I hated every single second of Rumple manipulating Belle. This relationship is over. They can never come back from this. Ever. How does anyone expect Belle to forgive a man who just manipulated her AGAIN to get back his ultimate weapon of power?! He hasn’t changed. He will never change. I am convinced that Rumple is going to die at the end of this season.

–Aurora was not wearing the same outfit as when she woke up in 201…? Seriously give up on the timeline. It’s pointless at this point.

–Will is totally underused. He was such a great guy and he’s being treated as wallpaper

–So much baiting for SQ and then for LGBT in general. Honestly kept expecting that Mal and Regina were going to make out

–SB has trains now. WHAT. Where do they come from?! Where do they go?!

–Pirate oath that involves touching. The heck.

–Giving the dagger to the man who tried to kill your husband for 300 years. SMARTZ!

I’ve assumed that this Rocker!Maleficent is married to Labyrinth!David Bowie.

YOU. I LIKE YOU.

I loved the episode, I guess because I’ve strapped myself in for the ride at this point and I’ll wildly explain away (or assume an explanation is forthcoming until the end of the universe) almost anything that doesn’t make sense.

And in some ways this episode made me feel like we’re getting back to S1’s magic, though it’s hard for me to quantify how.

Liked:

–Trains in Storybrooke. Yeah, it’s a total WTH moment, but, TRAINS! (I like trains.)
–Regina’s declarations of wanting to be evil at one point made ME give a mad cackle. It was just that delicious.
–Belle & Henry & THE BOOK. I have only been waiting for 3.5 seasons to see scenes of this–and 411 was the first time. I LOVE IT. More please.
–Belle’s testing the dagger. The way Rumple/Hook turned his head to face her gave me chills. And at least she wasn’t being a total idiot about it–just naive and trusting (probably too trusting in Hook’s ability to change, but her superpower is supposed to be seeing under the surface; I’ll go with it if she has come to really trust him in the last six weeks as we’ve been shown).
–Belle admitting that she’s afraid and doesn’t know what she’ll do if Rumple comes back. Some people on Tumblr were like, wait, what? She’s scared of Rumple now? But I heard the vulnerable woman who had to banish her true love and doesn’t know if she can be strong enough not to go back to him if he comes back, even if he hasn’t stopped murdering the peasants. And that rings true with the Belle they’ve fleshed out in Family Business etc.
–Mal & Regina’s blossoming friendship. It worked for me.
–Emma noting that her superpower is going crazy. That needs to be addressed more.
–The Cabin! Long time, no see. I missed you, you silly convenient cabin in the woods.
–Belle & Rumple/Hook’s pirate vow. Honestly, it gave me chills. I was still trembling at the end of the episode and not from rage, just from feels. That whole scene was perfect in my view–I hate that Rumple’s still tricking her but it makes sense from him as he’s been constructed in S4 so far. And all the points to Colin for believably stepping into RC’s shoes for this episode. I swear Rumple as Killian is hotter than Killian as Killian and I’m not sure how that’s possible.

Disliked:
–What is the timeline? No, I won’t give up, but eesh. I mean, Rumple kind of addressed that it takes a long time but this does WHAT to Aurora/Phillip’s story? And where does this fit relative to Zelena exactly? (I shall have to think about that some I fear.)
–Love Aurora’s dress, but that’s not the only thing that seems out of synch with what they’ve said before about the sleeping curse (has to be taken willingly) and Aurora’s sacrifice. A contradiction too far, Sirs. Fix it please. I am totes okay if that requires more backstory from them.
–Regina accepting the possibility of harming child Pinocchio after last week’s apology. Kind of a step back for her, though I don’t find it totally OOC. Her text to Emma was so IC that I could hear it in her voice.
–Mixed feelings about August coming back. I mean, on the one hand, YAY and Can We Please Close Some Holes Up Now. But on the other hand, baby Pinocchio was so cute and happy with his papa.

Writing this without looking at other’s responses.

I am giving this episode 8/10 points.

-half a point lost for drunk/sleepy Mal. That was weird.

-half a point lost for the co-ordination of Hook becoming Rumple again. Before the poof, Hook had an evil grin. After the poof, Rumple was frowning contemplatively. A smoother transition would have been 1) Hook’s evil grin 2) Poof 3) Rumple’s evil grin 4) Rumple’s frown.

-A full point lost for the unclear timeline in Regina’s backstory. Weak fireballs indicate that this was before she crushed the gypsy girl’ heart, as taking out a heart seems more advanced than fireballs. BUT she seemed more revengeful than just before she went to the tavern (at this time she seemed grumpy, and fearful, but not revengeful), which indicates that she met Mal after running out of the tavern, crushing the girl’s heart.

(I have always put several weeks between the failed resurrection of Daniel, and her crushing the gypsy’s heart, even though we saw the two in the same episode).

I am tempted to knock off a point for Belle not figuring out that Hook was Rumple, especially after he placed his hand on her heart. I can’t decide whether this was in character. Belle is supposed to be intelligent, and should have picked up on the little signs that the audience did, but most of the time she is written as not particularly bright, so *shrug*?

Potential plothole, but will wait and see:

If King Stephan did not recognize Regina, he might recognize her later on. She won’t be invited to the wedding as there won’t be one with Philip and Aurora cursed. However, the royal court will have other events, surely and Regina will be invited to those? Even if King Stephan and Queen Briar Rose will be too grieved to have lighter events, they will still need to meet other royals and nobles for political reasons. Or is it just the king that attends these, not his consort?

If this turns out to be a plot hole later on, the rating for this episode will change to 7/10.

I am wondering who the old man in the carriage was.Could he be the sorcerer or the author?

Just seems like he was in the right place at the right time to motivate Regina to go back to Mal so that Regina would continue her tutelage with Rumple afterwards. It’s as if he needed to intervene to make the story move along in the direction he wanted it to go…as if he needed Regina to be powerful enough to cast the curse. Or am I seeing too much into a plot device character? lol

About the only compelling moment was when “Hook” turned to look at Belle when she commanded Rumple to face her. The expression Colin used was quite chilling.

About the only thing I really care about is August being back, because I didn’t realise just how much I’d missed him, so I’m looking forward to next week to see more from him.

Am I missing something with the logic of the game of chicken with the train? They were testing Regina to see if she was bad, right? And Cruella said, “First one that saves us, loses.” Sooooo, if Regina passed the test and proved herself to be a bdagirl by not saving them, they’d all be crushed by the train? Which would accomplish what exactly if Regina proves herself to be on their side but they all end up dead? Seriously, am I missing something or does this make no sense? What would have made sense is if they’d confined Regina to the train tracks and made her destroy the train and everyone on it in order to save herself, thus proving she’s still willing to make others suffer so she can win.

Nitpick – Has no one thought to just flip the freaking page over and see what’s on the back of the pic of the door? Even if it’s another illustration instead of text, surely it could still offer some clue, instead of going over the same door pic time and time again? The pages are double sided. That door pic was used to illustrate a story. There should be more of the story on the other side of the page. Or even flip through the book to figure out where the page is missing from and look for clues in the surrounding pages? GAH!

I actually kind of enjoyed the over the top-ness of Emo!Maleficent. But I have to question whether stoned Maleficent, complete with her being shown actually shooting up, is really appropriate considering they keep wanting us to think this is a “family show”?

King Stefan was woefully underwhelming. That’s all we get of him? Really?

I’m gonna go back to referring to the timeline as the t-word, because thinking about the apparent inconsistencies of it makes me want to flip tables.

Belle wilfully giving Rumple’s Dagger to someone she believes is his mortal enemy is…something I can’t accurately convey my thoughts on without using multiple expletives.

Belle saying that Will is, “Nothing more than who he says he is,” gives me hope for my theory that Will’s only with her so he can snoop in the shop for a way to get himself back to Ana in WL.

-half a point lost for the co-ordination of Hook becoming Rumple again. Before the poof, Hook had an evil grin. After the poof, Rumple was frowning contemplatively. A smoother transition would have been 1) Hook’s evil grin 2) Poof 3) Rumple’s evil grin 4) Rumple’s frown.

That was really jarring. And it’s such a simple thing that should have been picked up on when they were shooting. I’m no pro when it comes to this stuff, but I’d imagine it’s a basic rule that if you’re shooting a thing where one person turns into another one, the second person steps in to assume the exact same posture and expression as the first one, so it’s a seamless and believable transition?

I am wondering who the old man in the carriage was.Could he be the sorcerer or the author?

I think in the press release he was just listed as, “Visiting Duke”, or something like that? I think he was just a convenient plot device.