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Once Upon a Time is about to embark on a new adventure, and a lot of things are going to change for the characters of Storybrooke as the show heads into Season 6.
The first major shakeup is that the heroes are staying put in Storybrooke, the magical Maine town that’s been home to the inhabitants of the Enchanted Forest since the show began. The decision to stay in a central location comes after a few seasons in which the main heroes have ventured off to other lands for adventures. This means that now, the show will return to its original format with a season-long arc rather than epic tales that wrap up at each half-season, like Frozen or Neverland.
“After the last couple of seasons where our characters went on journeys to other lands, be it Neverland or the Underworld or Camelot, this season is about coming home and figuring out what life is like at home,” says executive producer Adam Horowitz. “That lends itself to a storytelling modality that’s more about these smaller arcs that hopefully build up to one big story by the end of the season.”
Since Once is returning to its roots for the location, it’ll expand in other ways — including a whole new set of characters. Last season, the show introduced the Land of Untold Stories, filled with characters we’ve “never met or may have forgotten” who have now taken up residence in Storybrooke. Dr. Jeykyll (Hank Harris) and Mr. Hyde (Sam Witwer) were the first Land of Untold Stories characters we got to know, but there are even more famous literary characters setting up shop in Season 6.
Read more here: http://www.tvguide.com/news/once-upon-a-time-season-6-what-to-expect/
[adrotate group="5"]This all sounds great….like really great. But can they actually deliver. What we don’t want is boring. These smaller untold characters could still take time away from the ones we love. Maintaining balance is key and also making sure there is in fact an overarching plot for the whole season (hopefully Jafar and Aladdin savior stuff), and not something where we see Jafar and Aladdin in the premiere and then don’t see them again until like episode 18.
I really hope that the writers get that if they are going to show Aladdin, that story needs to be about Emma. I don’t care about Aladdin and while it is cool to see him, i don’t care what happens to him. I care about how Emma reacts to meeting another savior, what she can learn from him, what it means for her as a character.
This goes for all the new characters. I needs to be about the main characters.
What bothers me about this is that they seem to think the missing part of the equation is simply Storybrooke; as if the small town is the missing piece of the puzzle for a great season of OUAT. But that’s super problematic when you break it down realistically. We’ve never NOT had SB.
S1= All in SB, with Flashbacks to the EF
S2A = split between SB and EF
S2B = SB with flashbacks to the EF
S3A = majority in NVL, but finishing up in SB
S3B = all in SB with flashbacks to the EF and once in Oz
S4A and B = all in SB with flashbacks per normal
S5A = all in SB with flashbacks to Camelot
S5B = majority in the Underworld with the ending in SB and Untold Stories land.
So…here’s the rub. S1? Fantastic. Absolutely killer season. S3B and S5A? Miserable! Horrible! No good! S5B? Better than the past few seasons (according to the majority of fans) than it had been in a long while.
So there is no correlation (no direct one) between quality of show and SB, as if SB is what is needed for a good season of OUAT. It’s not just setting, it’s what you do in the scene in question. The Underworld (while problematic) was a better season and the Oz season that took place exclusively in SB (present day).
The difference, for me, is that in past seasons SB felt alive, fleshed out and real. The stories being told inside the town were heartfelt and emotional, full of interesting and complex characters. The stories being told inside SB the past few seasons (S3B-5A) were devoid of those aspects. Putting us back in SB isn’t the problem; it’s what they do inside SB that matters.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"The biggest factor to consider is how getting rid of the Split-Seasons will effect this Season. A big criticism with the Split-Seasons was that the pacing was rapid-fire to cram everything into 11-12 episodes. That didn’t allow enough room to breath, and potential plot and character developments were neglected. Maybe there won’t be as many plotholes, and even more quiet character moments that we miss from the earlier Seasons. It should be noted that while Season 1 is still commonly heralded as the best Season by the majority of fans, Season 2’s reception was a lot more divided. There were fans who thought Season 2 was almost or just as good as Season 1, while there were a ton who thought that Season 2 was a huge disappointment. Nonetheless, that was where the show faced its first notable decline in popularity and viewership, and the trend continued with each following Season. Season 4A was the exception thanks to the Frozen hype. Only time will tell how Season 6 fares.
That is a very good point. I have loved things about them being in Storybrooke, but it isn’t the thing that makes the show good. Especially now that it hasn’t felt peopled, in my opinion, for a very long time. Hopefully that will change since a new group of people have come to town. They still need to do a better job showing reoccurring background characters, like they did in Season 1. Granny, Ruby, Graham, the dwarfs, the doctor. Those reoccurring characters make the place feel peopled.
Also, the problem is and always has been that the characters don’t react properly to what is happening to them. They don’t act like real people. The problem is the characters are not developed properly and their actions don’t further the story. The problem is the writing, so that is what they need to fix. Them being in Storybrooke, won’t make the action and reaction between the characters choices feel real and earned and make sense. That just has to be written better and deeper and realer and i am not sure the writers will ever be able to do that.
The biggest factor to consider is how getting rid of the Split-Seasons will effect this Season. A big criticism with the Split-Seasons was that the pacing was rapid-fire to cram everything into 11-12 episodes. That didn’t allow enough room to breath, and potential plot and character developments were neglected. Maybe there won’t be as many plotholes, and even more quiet character moments that we miss from the earlier Seasons. It should be noted that while Season 1 is still commonly heralded as the best Season by the majority of fans, Season 2’s reception was a lot more divided. There were fans who thought Season 2 was almost or just as good as Season 1, while there were a ton who thought that Season 2 was a huge disappointment. Nonetheless, that was where the show faced its first notable decline in popularity and viewership, and the trend continued with each following Season. Season 4A was the exception thanks to the Frozen hype. Only time will tell how Season 6 fares.
I have never understood this. For me, the split season has done the opposite. The show drags and drags and drags and is boring for it. The split season has immediately created this problem each season. You know exactly what is going to happen, maybe not how, but you know the end. Henry will be saved and Pan will be gotten rid of, the wicked witch will be defeated, the Snow Queen will be defeated and the sisters reunited, the author gotten rid of and the queen’s of darkness taken care of, to rid Emma of the dark one curse, to save everyone from the Underworld and defeat Hades. There are these very obvious plot points that you know are going to happen.
There is no doubt that the villain of the half will be defeated and will hang around til they are defeated near the end of the half. That makes the entire arc, in my opinion, slow and boring because you are just waiting for an inevitable defeat and so i don’t care about anything that happens to the character or their sad backstory because they are a dead man walking. A dead man walking who isn’t going to ever kill anyone of consequence. It just doesn’t work. That is why i think they need to get rid of Hyde almost immediately. I would do it in the first episode, which i know they aren’t, or by episode 3, but i could see episode 7 if they wanted to wait. He needs to go because it is obvious that he will eventually be defeated, so i don’t care one bit about him or his character development. It is just a waste of space and is not something they should waste screen time on.
Though still there are the things we know. Hyde will be defeated and Regina will get her evil back. At least the one thing has to do with a main character. Hyde doesn’t have anything to do with anything, but foreshadow what may happen to Regina. So he just needs to go and quickly.
Especially now that it hasn’t felt peopled, in my opinion, for a very long time.
Yes, exactly. It has felt like a ghost town for some time, as if the only people who live are the CharMillStiltskins (and various love interests and villains).
As for split seasons, I still think they could have worked for the benefit of the show had A and E not decided to tell two totally different stories each season. No other split season show I know of does this. It’s still a continuous season dealing with the same problems, one half picking up from the last.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"The biggest factor to consider is how getting rid of the Split-Seasons will effect this Season. A big criticism with the Split-Seasons was that the pacing was rapid-fire to cram everything into 11-12 episodes. That didn’t allow enough room to breath, and potential plot and character developments were neglected. Maybe there won’t be as many plotholes, and even more quiet character moments that we miss from the earlier Seasons. It should be noted that while Season 1 is still commonly heralded as the best Season by the majority of fans, Season 2’s reception was a lot more divided. There were fans who thought Season 2 was almost or just as good as Season 1, while there were a ton who thought that Season 2 was a huge disappointment. Nonetheless, that was where the show faced its first notable decline in popularity and viewership, and the trend continued with each following Season. Season 4A was the exception thanks to the Frozen hype. Only time will tell how Season 6 fares.
I agree with most of this. RG is right. SB isn’t the biggest reason why it did well in the beginning because obviously we have had storybrooke every season. But here is the difference. We have only had a full season in storybrooke once, and that was Season 1. Half seasons did not do it justice for reasons Matthew Paul stated above. It should have made the story more concise with less fillers, but they still managed to screw a lot of it up.
I’m excited for the possibility the show improves and I think it’s possible because we are getting a full season in storybrooke to flesh out the characters and treat storybrooke itself as a character, instead of just a place only the main characters hang around in. Storybrooke was a new world in and of itself in season 1. It was a world created by the Evil Queen. This world has become stale over the years, mainly because we always get more excited to see what a different realm will look like (Neverland, EF, Oz, Arendelle, Dunbroch, Camelot, Underworld). It seemed even the writers felt this way. This is natural of course. We want to see something new. But the writers forgot about the world that intrigued us from the very beginning, and that’s the town that all the fairy tales we thought we knew were transported to by the Evil Queen to get revenge and power. Making it all about storybrooke again (let’s see the Jolly Roger, the well, the mines, Regina’s crypt of hearts and potions, the town hall, Granny’s, the clock tower, the library, Archie’s office) could potentially bring the show back to what attracted us to it in the first place.
However I will say, they need to make storybrooke relevant and important to the overall plot. In prior seasons it was about breaking the curse in storybrooke. Then it was about potentially leaving storybrooke to go back to the EF. Then it was about intruders from the real world in storybrooke. If they make storybrooke relevant again, introduce new characters who live in the town too but also highlight forgotten main character development and emotions with small story lines and one overarching one for a full season, this one should be better than the last few for sure.
The problem is that they split the season and then there was more filler, not less. That was the problem. They just filled the episodes full of stuff that had nothing to do with anything except characters who were always going to either die by the end of the half or just disappear to never be seen again. They wouldn’t use those characters to develop the regular characters. The regulars are the show.
Though i also really hate things about being in Storybrooke like Snow is still a teacher because just why or that Charming is the or a sheriff instead of Emma’s deputy. It is also nonsensical that Regina cares about being the mayor or that that even matters when she vanishes or goes evil now and again and no one does those things. Then you have things like the merry men living in the forest or the fact that their are houses for sale or how they can even be bought. The problem is that the show really should have worked through all the how does the town still function in much earlier seasons and they never did, so there are so many just logical, world building questions that you just can’t think about because it just doesn’t make sense.
PS. What is going on with the posting? It seems like it takes hours for a post to appear? Is this a moderator problem or a server problem or just something that is happening to me?
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