Board Thread:Spoilers!/@comment-26225812-20150618081046/@comment-4427410-20150724035329

I never sympathized with Rumpel's willingness to manipulate or kill anyone in order to find Bae. Despite his goal, I found his actions repulsive.

Emma did commit evil in Season 4. She murdered Cruella de Vil. I realize many of you will excuse her action, claiming that she was trying to save Henry. However. . . she seemed so intent upon killing Cruella that she failed to consider that the latter and Henry were standing near the edge of a cliff. If Henry had not ducked, he would have fallen over that cliff with Cruella. But Emma was too engulfed in her own anger to notice.

I don't understand why people actually thought Rumpelstiltskin was simply going to follow the path of goodness and righteousness, following his sacrifice in "Going Home".  People do not redeem that easily.  Regina didn't. Neither did Snow White. Emma is still a corrupt woman who not only murdered Cruella in a fit of anger, but also seemed to have no problem with knowingly possessing a stolen vehicle. '''It's quite normal for people to regress every now and then back into bad habits. And a well written character would do the same. . . especially if the main narrative isn't over yet.'''

'' Honestly, good, I have no problem with that. This way we get to be entertained without having to worry about a character being ruined. Whenever the show tries to make their characters more complex and human by making the heroes do bad stuff because we all make mistakes, those mistakes they make are always so profoundly stupid. . .  ''

I have a problem with the way Emma became the Dark One. I don't want her to have an easy moral out. It's lazy writing. This tells me that Kitsis and Horowitz are unwilling to explore how low Emma can sink. And when she does, they either deliberately ignore the matter, brush it under the rug, or give vague statements on her actions (like her murder of Cruella). It seems the pair lack the guts to really explore Emma's potential for evil (without the benefit of magic). Instead, they either ignore it, be vague about it, or allow her to be evil via a magical spell or entity. I guess that's why Emma has become nothing but a Mary Sue to me.