Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25926288-20171008010933/@comment-1916997-20180331193530

Participation Station wrote: CoolDudeAl wrote: Participation Station wrote: CoolDudeAl wrote: If you are truly a fan of something, you stick with it, even through rough patches, so if people gave up on the show, or fell behind and decided not to catch up, or whatever the reason is, then yeah, I would say they aren't fans, or at least they aren't commited fans. Also, regarding people who left because Snowing is gone or Emma is gone or whatever: liking one character or one ship means you are a fan of that character or that ship, not the show as a whole. Totally agree!

I for one am watching the show out of a sense of duty at this point. As you describe, there is a loyalty that develops over several seasons of enjoyment that cannot be ignored when the show suddenly drops out of the zone of enjoyment. I would argue that the ratings are inflated by people like me who watch it as a way to complete the story previously enjoyed rather than the enjoyment of any Season 7 episode.

I am also a fan of Mavel's Agents of Shield, so I was interested to watch Inhumans, but it was easy to stop watching Inhumans when it became obvious there was no real tie-in to Shield. In other words, Season 7 would have to outperform a stand alone, eight episode, unfamiliar show. So no comparison between Season 7 and Inhumans for fan base and willingness to watch, only the legitimate comparisons of no interesting characters or storyline. While I appreciate your sense of duty and watching to finish the show out even though you dislike Season 7, I should clarify that I am personally enjoying Season 7, at least as much as I enjoyed the other seasons. I know some people have said they are even enjoying Season 7 more than some of the previous 6 for various reasons. It all depends on what your favorite part of the show was though. If your favorite characters are Emma, Snow, and Charming, obviously Season 7 is going to be a bit hard to watch. Comparing Season 7 to the other seasons underscores the obvious distinctions. With an overlap of writers and production personnel, the niche minority of recurring characters (even in unrecognizable guises) have to be compared to their former incarnations. Still, the comparisons resemble a college basketball team in different years than in different games of the same players.

Emma and Snow were simply dreadful. Getting them out of the line-up is the sole redeeming feature of Season 7. Both are epic failures as actresses with extremely limited ranges. Emma had exactly two facial expressions and Snow had approximately zero. Belle could carry a scene with a casual stroll, so her absense is a disappointment made even more painful by the reminder of Rumpole's moping.

The Alice in Wonderland spin-off was closer to Once Upon A Time than is Season 7. Season 7 still has 4 characters (Regina, Rumple, Zelena, and Henry) that are the exact same characters from Season 6, plus a Wish version of Hook (who was briefly seen in Season 6). For that reason alone, it is closer to Seasons 1 - 6, than Wonderland. But I'm confused, if you dislike Emma and Snow, Season 7 should be a vast improvement, and you should like it much more than the first six seasons, where they were major characters the whole time.