Board Thread:Show-Related Questions and Answers/@comment-5679696-20160905210537/@comment-25926288-20160906140628

CoolDudeAl wrote: Avatar Beta wrote: 5a rocked until after "birth." They threw away every promising plot point and wasted an entire ep on "brave." They picked up the main 5A plot after The Bear King though, so it wasn't that bad. Besides, I liked how they set up Red and Mulan VS Zelena in 5A and had a payoff (for Red at least) in 5B. It was quite peripheral to everything. No core cast except Zelena. It was almost like a spin-off episode (which we all agree was poorly placed).

I think what Avatar is saying that they threw away potential.......and they also did that episode, not that the episode led to the tossing away of precious plot. And I would agree, although I think the "solid character progression" stopped at 505 and then 508+ was plot intensive.