[Keb]

I -am- always thinking about the timeline and…yeah, tonight’s flashbacks were not very friendly to it.

[Keb]

Yeah, I’m feeling the 3A echoes hard here.

One concern/hope I have: These dead villainous characters, a lot of them, were brilliant characters, played by amazing actors, and I just hope that they don’t have so many toys off the shelf that they waste them. I’m hoping they give themselves a few episodes to play with some of them, and don’t try to cram it -all- in 43 minutes. They deserve better than the Belle treatment (Emilie also deserves better, as did…well, a lot of people).

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

[Keb]

Okay…okay…okay…so Zelena comes back to Storybrooke, right, and Belle’s all defending the baby from her because she DOES that, and so Zelena kills her (or wraiths her–it would be awesome if we brought the wraith concept back and did it well and FINALLY told Phillip’s tale).

Down in the underworld, Rumple learns that Belle’s soul is floating around deaded. And suddenly he needs to save his true love. Only he can’t, because he was stupid and he’s the DO now and for some reason that makes it impossible for him to do whatever thing it is that must be done.

But when he works out how, he manages to save both her AND Neal.

…that show I’d watch. It will never happen, but I’d watch it.

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

[Keb]

My new wishlist: Mayor Belle, protector of forgotten babies, vs Zelena in a battle of wits vs magic.

If Belle’s only majorly in one episode, let it be for this.

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

[Keb]

I just. Still. Whiplash.

I feel, honestly, betrayed by this choice. It negates Hook’s sacrifice completely (not that, say, any sacrifice of Rumple’s has ever been negated…) and it doesn’t make sense AND there was zero foreshadowing so it really did come out of nowhere AND he lied to Belle AND left her behind AGAIN.

And yet part of me wanted to see Rumple actually WORK to escape the DO curse and addiction to magic, and I felt robbed of that journey when the Apprentice pulled the darkness out of his heart. There was no character development in THAT decision…but there wasn’t any in getting DO Rumple back, either. It was just…okay, reset but with Hook taking the place of Henry, let’s go to <del datetime=”2015-12-07T05:26:26+00:00″>Neverland</del> the Underworld…without Belle because she is not worth building as a character in her own right, she’s just there to be the reward when Rumple does Good. Until she finds out he didn’t really. Because that would be sending the wrong message…*channels Regina from Skin Deep…when characters actually mattered more than surprise twists and the plot made a little more sense*

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

[Keb]

But as for leaving Roland, Baby Hood, and Baby Snowflake…yeah…I agree with you. What parent leaves their child to take a field trip to the Underworld.

.

REAL WORLD ANSWER…. those that serve in the armed forces and are deployed overseas.

Quote

…and that’s actually exactly the answer my father, retired Air Force, gave me yesterday when I asked (rhetorically) how the San Bernadino shooters could leave their baby to go into a situation they knew they might not come out of. So yes, sometimes you DO that but here it didn’t make a lot of sense.

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

[Keb]

That’s true, but military personnel usually have a better plan than “leave them with the fairies” which was the last stated plan we heard. I’m bothered by the way they set this upcoming arc up; Why does Emma need to put Henry or both her parents in danger to do this?

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

[Keb]

Still going wait what?

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

[Keb]

Liked:

–Zelena was extra entertaining. She is funny and fun to hate, and she plays off Lana so very well. (Still hate <del datetime=”2015-12-07T02:41:07+00:00″>some</del> most of her storylines but the character and the actress, I do adore.)
–Rumple giving Belle the means to live out her dream.
–Henry telling Belle everything (I wish we could see more of their friendship on screen but YAY this is proof that they have one)
–Belle coming back and forgiving Rumple (with some mixed feelings on this)
–Belle saying farewell to her father before leaving (Yay for remembering he exists!)
–Rumple…with powers…back…um…I like but don’t like and like whiplash here more on this later.
–Sweet family moments with the Charmings.
–Baby Killian was adorable.

Mixed:
–Rumbelle reunion, those two, the chemistry, just zomg.
–DO Rumple back with a darker dagger and a whiter heart wait what? (I really don’t know where to put this at all)
–Killian & Emma’s sacrificial plan. I was actually moved by Emma having to watch/help her 4th love die (JMo, you rocked this) and I do adore Hook even if I’m not the biggest CS fan. And while Emma’s idea of sacrificing herself to save her family is problematic, she was showing her savior side again and I appreciated that.
–I’m still going wait what whiplash about Rumple’s reveal to Emma.
–So both sleeping curses and magical comas allow you to hear your caregivers and even fall in love with them. O…kay. That doesn’t exactly go along with the mythology they set up for them in S2.

Disliked (and for an episode that I didn’t hate, there’s…a lot.)
–So…Camelot mattered how? The characters are where now? Violet is…who again? The only thing that they actually achieved from the Camelot arc was Excalibur…and now the characters are…where? Is there still a crazy power-mad Arthur out there plotting with King George (actually, that would be an awesome twist)? Is Gwen ever going to realize what was done to her? What happened to Lance and his mummy?
–Forgetting the dwarves halfway through the episode. Belle drives to the town line and doesn’t see Dopey? The sacrifice/substitutes get summoned to the lake and they don’t bring any of the dwarves, who were marked? They set them up to matter and then just…dropped them. Nobody even remembered them after the first half of the ep.
–Robin & the Charmings get Worst Parents in the World (along with Cora, Papa Jones, and Malcolm…) awards for first banishing Zelena and then abandoning three children (two infants! and one under the age of 6!) to go to the underworld…so that the fairies can raise them while they’re gone? I mean…what?
–Belle likes those kids so maybe she can take up mayoring AND fostering.
–Emma & Rumple reallythink they can take off with everyone but Belle and tell all of them about Rumple’s new little secret and Belle won’t find out when Henry texts her everything?
–Seriously, they LEFT BELLE BEHIND AGAIN? (Yes, yes, maternity leave for Emilie, but SERIOUSLY?)
–Belle coming back…I loved this but it was so…sudden. The whole THING was so sudden. If she hadn’t driven out of town but had planned to leave a little later after actually making some plans…it would make half a lick of sense.
–No, seriously, everything is way too squished together.
–Trying to squeeze that flashback in where they did on the timeline…I was hoping it would make sense. It did not. And the sleeping curse to keep PapaHook alive? Wait what?
–So what did Hook do with his baby brother? Just leave him there to become another orphaned villain? Where is Liam II now? He’d have to be about Henry’s age, wouldn’t he? Has he been attending Snow’s classes at Storybrooke Elementary?
–Rumple’s plan to take back the DO power. How? Excalibur crumbled. And he pointed out that the sword makes its own calls about miracles it performs.
–Also the motive. What was his motive? Just Hook’s call that Rumple loves power more than Belle or Bae? Is that…it? Have we reduced the complicated character who brought me nearly to tears when he let Belle go (again) to just…lust for power?
–I mean, SERIOUSLY. YES I AM STILL ON THIS. Serious whiplash here. Why would Rumple, after losing his son and Belle to his former lust for power, after becoming the purest hero who ever lived, after going to hell and back, after watching his heart turn to coal and KNOWING what the power does to him…why would he go back to it? Did he think it was all he had left when Belle left him? Is it just the addiction? It just…seriously lacked a motive in the episode. …and they’ve also given up on foreshadowing, haven’t they?
–They’re so intent on giving us whiplash now that they are making characters like Belle so OOC you can’t pin down who they really are anymore; her motives don’t exist because if she actually had driving goals for her character they couldn’t go SURPRISE SHE IS LEAVING HIM and then SURPRISE SHE IS BACK (in less than 24 hours I should add). And that’s what they did with Rumple too this episode. Twists are fulfilling and exciting when they feel inevitable after the fact, because while they weren’t expected, they make SENSE for the characters and the story. S1 was great at that. S5…feels like it’s groping for some way to shock us instead of telling the stories they lure us in for. Occasionally it’s worked (Emma breaking Henry’s heart, at that moment, did work) but it’s just not working in general. And the major things get spoiled/predicted anyways, so it’s not like they’re really throwing us off the scent this way…they’re just making us angry when the characters we love do things that don’t make sense for them. *coughbabysnatchingcough*
–They left Belle behind. Again. Which means that for the first half of next arc, she won’t be there. *sigh* And she’s going to find out about the new darker dagger eventually and then leave Rumple and then probably come back which will make everyone hate her no matter what she does at this point–she’s either not feminist/independent enough because she wants to be with her true love, or she’s a jerk for leaving a man who loves her as much as Rumple…they’ve written her into a corner she cannot win from….though it just hit me that she CAN now free Rumple from the DO curse with TLK at some point, when he chooses her over power (something that really bothered me in 4B when they kinda took that option away from him) but I have NO IDEA how they could write them to that point from this one and still keep both characters likeable for the audience. They’ve done the same plot lines to death with them (we’re separated, oh we’re together, oh you lied to me) and eventually even for someone who LOVES Rumbelle it’s tiring and harder to see why THIS reunion should stick…they may have made Rumple cross too many lines to ever come back from it now (which for many people was about a season and a half ago).

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

[Keb]

Since one of the sneaks did have the dwarves mentioning that Dopey’s still a tree, and Belle is apparently going that direction, I wonder if she will save Dopey.

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]

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