Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25926288-20160926005937/@comment-25926288-20160926150644

Second-Defense of the the Episode.

I've seen across the web, from fans to reviewers, that the episode wasn't too great. I would argue that it was but one has to look a little deeper and you'll be almost there! (PaTF reference)

This has been (I think) the first episode since Going Home (3x11) where there has been this much character insight. There are two aspects of character development highlights: character moments and character insight. Character moments are cool moments of character but not necesarily development. Example, Belle not accepting Rumple in this episode was a neat character moment, but it doesn;t give greater insight on Belle. Belle's character insight would actually be her dreamscape (partially). The only people that didn't have character insight was Snow, David, Hook, and Emma. (Hilariously, this bunch I think a ton of CSers like). Regina, Zelena, Rumple, and Belle were all part of great insightful and meaningful moments.

I hope that the backlash towards this episode convey to the writers that fans don't want to see good character development. The plot is the only thing that's shaky, but I rather it be shaky earlier than shaky later. (Example: See 4B/5A/5B where the premiere had solid plot set-up but failed to deliver). If this is the only contrivancy plot episode then it'll be long-forgotten.