FAVORITE AND LEAST FAVORITE MOMENTS from this episode 5 x 21 LAST RITES

[WickedRegal]

TheWatcher wrote:

Is there any reason, out of story, that RH needed to die with no afterlife for him? I understand it happening to Hades, but they could have killed RH by a blast of magic or pushing him out the window or something that gives the character final rest and peace for eternity, not….nothingness.

I suspect it’s because A and E don’t ever want to revisit Robin or be constantly plagued about seeing him again. They get that all the time with Nealfire. This way, with Robin, he’s literally obliterated and there’s no chance of going to the Underworld to get him, no magical handwave to bring him back. He’s gone for good.

Quote

Survived only by his son Roland who will be raised by the Merry Men, and Baby Robyn who will never know her father or her brother because they live in different realms.

[RumplesGirl]

Does anyone know if the show is spelling it Robyn or Robin?

"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"

[MatthewPaul]

Does anyone know if the show is spelling it Robyn or Robin?

Quote

ABC’s official recap spells her name as “Robin”, so I think that’s it. The “Robyn” spelling seems like it’s just the fans way of differentiating between the two:

http://abc.go.com/shows/once-upon-a-time/episode-guide/season-05/21-last-rites#recap

[RumplesGirl]

I’m just gonna keep calling her Baby Pistachio, like Baby Neal is really Baby Snowflake.

"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"

[Jhack]

I wasn’t planning on even joining the conversation, and even as I’m typing this I was having second thoughts, but this episode just wrecked me in all sorts of way so, here goes nothing:

LIKED:
— Snowing reunion. Especially with their theme. I never thought it would make me happy seeing them together again.
— the underground scene with Robin and Regina. Serious season 3 feels!
— Merida’s one-liners (“We’re literally drowning with books”). I love her. I wish we could keep her and Hades on the show.
— Hades’ deception. I totally saw that coming. It was a shame that his intentions were not pure because I was secretly rooting for him and Zelena.
— Sean, Lana, Bex and Greg’s acting on Robin’s death scene. It was so well-acted. Major props to Lana and Bex, those two women are so good.
— the roses in the arrow. very fitting.

MIXED:
Regina’s blank face expression during Robin’s funeral scene. The fact that she didn’t even shed a tear means that something is going on in her head, and I’m not sure whether I like it or not.

DISLIKED:
— Robin’s death. To kill yet another hero; a great father who’s far better than Hook ever will be… SMH. I realized I didn’t care about Hook or anyone else after this scene. I had to painfully watch it again to understand whatever happened next.
— “It’s time to take you where you belong.” I don’t get this. How was whatever Hook did enough for him to deserve to come back to life more than Robin? Robin Hood literally put himself in front of the line, and sacrificed himself to protect Regina.
— Emma grieving on Hook’s grave. Because she never did this to Neal. And he was her first love. NOT FAIR.
— Roland putting the arrow on the grave. Poor babe didn’t even get to say goodbye. I’m sure they’ll save that deleted scene for the DVD extras but it would’ve made things less painful if they included that in the episode.
— Robin. Lame name. What, are they running out of baby names or are their creative juices drying out? And I agree, RG, I don’t care what her name is, it’s Baby Pistachio.
— Hook’ come back and CS kissing in front of Robin’s grave. Yet another way to rub salt in the wound. Why couldn’t they just have him come back in the finale? It was just so disrespectful.

"There are bridges you cross you didn't know you cross until you've crossed." -- Glinda Upland, Wicked

[nevermore]

 

Oh, what to say. How did such a promising half season turn into such a train wreck?

LIKED:

Most of the acting on the part of Sean, Lana, and Bex.

The fact that Hades’s hair didn’t turn blue.

Rumple’s shoes.

And… that’s it. The rest is a ranking of dislikes in increasing order from befuddled annoyance to general disgust.

So, DISLIKED:

1. Arthur and Hook. I can’t with the whitewashing on this show. Now, this is the guy who magic-roofied his wife, and was up to all sorts of other bad juju. And now the guy gets to set the UW straight? Yikes. But aside from that, that entire misadventure in the UW was confusing, silly, and mildly cringe worthy. Also, I motion to introduce a drinking game (or a chocolate eating game for those who abstain) that, should you have the misfortune to rewatch this masterchunk, would provide some palliative relief. Drink (or eat a chocolate) every time that Arthur or Hooks says “quest.” Also, why precisely did Hook go off into the light and get picked up by Zeus and sent back? I mean sure, PLOT, but was Zeus just sort of lurking there waiting him to come through?

2. Moe French. What an upstanding dude. If Rumbelle ever actually get their act together, I predict some seriously awkward family dinners. For all we know, though, Belle’s been put on ice until the end of the series. But then, OUAT deals with awkward family problems with the grace and sensitivity of a two-bit mafia middle man. “No person, no problem.” (More on this below). So actually if Belle and Rumple end up together, Mr. French’s lifespan might end up being shorter than expected. Anyway, if after all this Moe actually does break her curse, I think we can be pretty sure that TLK means absolutely nothing.

3. Hades. Don’t get me wrong, Greg German’s outstanding, and I was pretty sure we’d end up with an unreformed villain, but… I mean the message I got from that whole thing was that all Hades ever wanted in life is to get his heart restarted so that he could use his brother’s Plastic Toy of Doom on some poor hapless victim. So the Lord of the Underworld, who’s been around for thousands of years, who’s had ample time to reflect on his own trajectory and on the vicissitude of mortals’ lives, has the emotional development of a toddler who wants to use the toy his brother didn’t wanna share? Wow. What outstanding storytelling and characterization.

4. So… let me get this straight. True love is absolute sacrifice, to the point of total annihilation. Hmm. That is not a good message. But wait, Hades and Zelena shared a TLK. So True Love is still True Love even if the two people in question are essentially happy to watch the rest of the world burn. Well then.

5. And this brings me to Robin. After Neal, this was the most ridiculously unnecessary, and absurdly cruel death on this show. Poor Roland is now a complete orphan. Both mom and dad are dead. And why? I suspect because, once again, OUAT’s creative bankruptcy means that instead of telling complex and compelling stories about people’s complicated entanglements — say, the Neal/Emma/Hook triangle, or, in this case, the Regina/Robin/Zelena mess, the show decides to simply kill off the undesirable character who was “in the way”. And because OUAT has to constantly up the ante — the super duper biggest everest worst villain ever! The deadest of all the dead! — A&E decided to not just kill off Robin, but annihilate him. Why not have him die and then show him moving on? This was utterly, unnecessarily cruel.

6. So, Emma Swan cares absolutely nothing about anyone or anything other than being with her boyfriend. Ok, then. Because as a general rule a make out session over the casket of a close friend who just died seems so wildly inappropriate and callous that I’m going to assume that Emma’s not someone we are supposed to feel particularly positive about.

[Keb]

Okay, this episode made me ANGRY. What is it they have against fathers on this show? Rumple’s not allowed to be one, Neal isn’t, now Robin isn’t…but Hook (whom I love as a character and don’t really want dead either) gets an actual Deus Ex Machina to stay alive? (And why doesn’t Arthur get the same, hm? He did just as much!)

That said, there were some good things I guess.

–Genuinely was surprised that Zelena killed Hades.
–Arthur finding a way to redeem himself, good setup…too bad we’ll never see any of it.
–Yay Merida wasn’t forgotten!
–Regina acknowledging that it was a jerk move to force Robin to give his daughter to someone he has very little reason to trust.
–Wicked Sisters coming together is beautiful.
–Moe gets LINES. And PLOT. and CONFLICT. and CONTINUITY.
–Emma bossing people around and getting told by Rumple EXACTLY what she needed to be told. Yes, it IS largely on her that they’re in that mess.
–Rumple’s face when Moe calls him on his kiss not working. Poor evil puppy.

Mixed:
–Moe refusing to wake Belle. It’s SO in character that I can’t help appreciating it, but still, less Belle. Also Rumple immediately going for the threats with the cane of feels. Liked and hated in the same moment.
–Robin’s daughter being named Robin…this isn’t as bad as Neal (or naming the kid Marian) but still. If they kill off Maurice and name Belle’s kid after her dead Grandpa…
–Hook getting a second chance. It means yay, more of Colin’s lovely face and Hook’s banter, but good golly is it a sucky storytelling choice, and it makes the other meaningful deaths less sacrificial and more insulting.

Disliked:
–Deus ex machina would have worked for me for characters with more ties to the rest of the cast (like Neal). Hook’s ties are STILL mostly limited to Emma and Rumple, which skips right over the Charming/Mills bit instead of tying them together. The Underworld plot did NOTHING to reinforce his bonds with the others, save for one brief moment with Charming…
–Hook’s redemption consisted of finding some pages at almost no risk to himself. The heart concept was “too easy” but this was a challenge? And Hook had a lot to redeem himself for. He’s said so himself a thousand times. He murdered his own father out of jealousy; we saw it.
–Just HOW did killing Arthur help Hades in the least? I really didn’t get that.
–So Arthur’s just gone. And the people of Camelot? I suppose now Gwen and Lance get to love each other and rule the kingdom, or what? (I presume we will get some tie up of this in the finale, but ugh.)
–So there isn’t any hope for the people in the river of lost souls, is there? Bleh. I was hoping that Hook would be able to save THEM while he was down there, and actually EARN his inevitable redemption.
–Zelena killing Hades. It was a good twist but very very sad for her.
–Robin’s death. They played it off as if everyone in Storybrooke was crushed by it, but his relationships with everyone besides the merry men, his children, and Regina were not developed at all. His sacrifice was only for Regina’s sake, which yay, true love, but…I dunno, it lost some impact because he’d been used to sparingly. If they’d played up the relationships with him and Belle, or Will, or anything…but he spent most of the time in the background when he wasn’t kissing Regina. And the Marian thing really made his character less likable for me. The Robin Hood that was willing to face Rumplestiltskin to save his son and wife, that one I would have felt worse about dying (and poor Roland!!!!!!!!). This one, whose character has been pretty much destroyed over the last season and a half, I don’t know how to feel about.
Also, giving Hook back for next to nothing when an act of True Love and bravery wasn’t enough to save Robin in any way…ugh.

Keeper of Belle's Gold magic, sand dollar, cloaks, purple FTL outfit, spell scroll, library key, copy of Romeo and Juliet, and cry-muffling pillow, Rumple's doll, overcoat, and strength, and The Timeline. My spreadsheet: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6r8CySCCWd9R0RUNm4xR3RhMEU/view?usp=sharing

[Author]

Posts