How has this season been awful?

[angiebelle]

That’s funny…I actually liked the 2nd half of the season better! During the first half, while I still liked the show a lot, I got frustrated with the 3 simultaneous narratives and the fact that they kept Snow and Emma in the Enchanted Forest for so long. The 2nd half excited me with Rumple and Emma finding Bae/Neal and the storyline with Belle. My hardcore obsessing started with “The Outsider” when Belle fell over the line- I was a big fan before that, but that moment made me go nuts- I know a lot of people didn’t enjoy it, but as a kid, amnesia was one of my favorite tv tropes. (And wasn’t Belle absolutely wonderful in her centric ep?) It did drive me crazy that we only saw a few minutes of her an episode until “Lacey” though. The 2nd half of the season had the more highly anticipated episodes for me. “The Miller’s Daughter” was amazing, and it was fun seeing an early Storybrooke in “Welcome to Storybrooke.”

I agree that too much was going on though- the whole Greg and Tamara plot came out of nowhere. And there was constant action and drama when I was really wishing for the characters to be able to breathe. So much plot limited the great character moments. They were there, but not as much as I would have liked- many moments I was excited to see repeatedly got glossed over. I had been really eager to see Emma learning to cope with what was going on, but they immediately separated her and threw her in another world. It was fun to see her there for a little bit, but then I really wanted them all together.

I did love the reuniting of the Charming family in “Broken,” the moment with Emma and Snow in the nursery, Rumple’s scenes with Belle in the hospital, Neal learning he had a son, Regina’s redemption arc (I was so sad when she backpedaled), Snow and Charming learning Henry was Rumple’s grandson, Rumple telling Emma that she still missed Neal, Belle bonding with Ruby, etc.

[obisgirl]

I kind of agree with you Angie. The first half of the season with MM and Emma being in fairytale land, it reminded me of season two of Heroes and I hoped that they wouldn’t be stuck there too long. Parts of it were fun, like Emma meeting Hook. The pace of the show definitely changed once our heroes got back to Storybrooke. It doesn’t seem like they had much breathing room as you mentioned.

I’m hoping with the GOAT storyline, it is either wrapped up quickly next season or there’s a really big plot twist that will make their story worth watching.

[surayya]

Yep – we had blocks of episodes with & without many of our mains- that was one thing I REALLY disliked- I thoroughly enjoyed Regina’s stuff this season, at least in the beginning- but I did miss my favs when I hadn’t seen them for more than 2mins for 2 or 3weeks at a time 🙁 . I didn’t mind the 3 way storyline too much- which was meant to longer than it was! Only problem I had with it was there was like 15 subplots going & they tried to jam most of them into each episode regardless. When we focused on AFTL, the plot was way slowed down (to start with), so it was actually nice- then they started trying to do more ‘even’ splits in screen time & then increased the 3 storylines per episode (or maybe it just felt that way lol) & it all got very messy- so yep, I was glad when they went back to SB too! 😉

I wanted so much more of those wonderful S1 character moments, than we actually got in S2 & like I said, that was my biggest disappointment this season- I love the show because of the characters, not because of the magic or it being about fairytales etc. It’s the characters I’m invested in & have me tuning in week after week.

I think the best way I could describe S1 & S2 would be to say S1 was 1 major plot split over 22eps, with each ep containing many character arcs & mini storylines linking the episodes together & into the one major plot.
S2 was at least 5 major plots over 22eps, with each ep containing many subplots, some storylines & a few character arcs, with blocks of episodes linking together & into the major plots – so there was just too much all the time, with no time to really have characters grasping what was going on 🙁 I just hope they slow things down enough plot wise in S3, so we get more than a few mins of on screen character moments every couple of episodes- it’d be nice to feel sad or happy for someone on the show for more than a min before something major happens ie. someone or something trying to destroy them & we are thrown into action, what the what & action again 😉

[obisgirl]

@Surayya wrote:

I think the best way I could describe S1 & S2 would be to say S1 was 1 major plot split over 22eps, with each ep containing many character arcs & mini storylines linking the episodes together & into the one major plot.

S2 was at least 5 major plots over 22eps, with each ep containing many subplots, some storylines & a few character arcs, with blocks of episodes linking together & into the major plots – so there was just too much all the time, with no time to really have characters grasping what was going on 🙁 I just hope they slow things down enough plot wise in S3, so we get more than a few mins of on screen character moments every couple of episodes- it’d be nice to feel sad or happy for someone on the show for more than a min before something major happens ie. someone or something trying to destroy them & we are thrown into action, what the what & action again 😉

I agree.

[sacrlc]

I’m afraid I disagree with some of the viewpoints although different viewpoints are what makes life interesting. Vive la différence!

I’ve enjoyed both seasons and every episode and I’m looking forward to season 3 and beyond.

Yes, along with the core characters and their stories, there are a lot of other stories and characters coming and going. But that’s what keeps this show interesting and from becoming a soap opera, which it could easily do if only the core characters were in the show. Even what some call the slow episodes have value by adding some layers to the story and hints of further events to come. Gotta look for those Easter eggs and clues!

It seems in this day and age, viewers wants to see everything at once: current story, back story, motives, etc., all wrapped up in a bow right away. It’s like reading the last chapter of a book before turning the first page. Not always knowing what the significance of a plot piece is, or quickly knowing why something is being said or done in every episode adds to the curiosity and theories that, we must admit, feeds this forum.

That said, I was disappointed on how they did the “Dr Hopper is actually alive” piece. Very lame. Belle’s whining “I don’t know who you are”, “I don’t know who you are”, “I don’t know who you are” over and over again was overkill big time and so annoying, I had this urge to reach thru the TV and slap some sense into her. 😆

Alas, my biggest letdown is to find out we are losing Red. 😥
I already miss Jefferson.

Don't grow up. It's a trap.

[AllThatGlitters]

I clearly didn’t think this season was awful since I went from a casual viewer in Season 1 to full-fledged junkie by Season 2. I really enjoyed the first half of the season up to Queen of Hearts. I think what I enjoyed was that there was a good pace to the storylines, as the others have said. It is when it started back up from the Winter finale that I felt there was too much crammed into each episode. I have no doubt that it is difficult to fit everything they want to fit within a 40 min window, but they managed to do it quite well in Season 1 and the first half of Season 2 so I think they just tried to do too much. I am not a writer for the show, so I don’t know what goes on behind the scenes but I just hope they find that pacing again for Season 4. I will say I thought the last episode redeemed some of the lighter, fluff episodes we got this season.

Find me on tumblr: http://allthatglittersonce.tumblr.com

[TheWatcher]

Am I the only one one who feels the only downside of this season was the reveal of what August showed Neal? I mean a typewriter that says something he just could have verbalized since they were alone? What was the point?? And to make it worse they made it all dramatic and stuff. Definitely the worse reveal in my book.

"I could have the giant duck as my steed!" --Daniel Radcliffe
Keeper Of Tamara's Taser , Jafar's Staff, Kitsis’s Glasses , Ariel’s Tail, Dopey's Hat , Peter Pan’s Shadow, Outfit, & Pied Cloak,Red Queen's Castle, White Rabbit's Power To World Hop, Zelena's BroomStick, & ALL MAGIC

[obisgirl]

I agree.

[RumplesGirl]

That was my only complaint about “Manhattan” which was my favorite episode of the season.

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

[obisgirl]

that thing that really bothers me now about that big reveal and then Pinocchio becoming a kid again, we will probably never know how he knew that Nael is Baelfire. It’s just going to be one of those hanging plot holes we’ll never get the answer to.

[Author]

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