Board Thread:Rant and Rave/@comment-24593235-20171007225142/@comment-32569754-20171013084402

DeviousPeep wrote: I feel awkward starting this thread because I didn't even think it was a bad episode, but I didn't wanna clutter the main thread with what negative opinions I do have.

While the episode was not bad, I felt a sense of emptiness throughout the whole thing. I miss the old characters a lot, even those I wasn't fond of by the end like Emma/JMo. It just isn't the same without them, and Belle and Zelena, who are my two favorite characters, both being demoted is very upsetting. Also have trouble accepting Andrew J. West as Henry. Just feels incorrect to me.

As for the new characters, let's start with Lucy. I can't stand her. Find her even more grating than S1 Henry. However, this didn't come as much of a surprise to me. I tend to never enjoy child characters. What did surprise me is how much I did not enjoy Lady Tremaine. I have nothing against Gabrielle Anwar, but... I cannot stand her voice as Victoria/Tremaine. It just annoys me, honestly, and I find the character very uncharismatic. Also, I took issue with the line about how magic is not power considering how that was a huge thing in the earlier seasons, magic being power. It just felt like a contrived way of the writers trying to make Season 7 different. I don't have much to say about Drizella other than being confused as to what she is to Tremaine in Hyperion Heights. Is Victoria still Ivy's mother? It seemed like Ivy was just her assistant, but that makes no sense. Why keep Jacinda as her stepdaughter but not Ivy as her daughter? I don't know, hopefully they clear that up. So far I'm not a fan of Alice. We didn't see enough Tiana for me to make a proper judgment, but I do hope to like her because I've waited years for them to write in The Princess and the Frog.

As for the returning characters, I wasn't into Henry. Emma in the pilot is what made me fall for Once Upon a Time, but I felt nothing for this Henry. Then it seems Roni is popular among everyone, but I think it's gonna take me a while to get used to Lana in this new role. Wasn't necessarily bad, just... different. I feel absolutely nothing for Officer Rogers and don't really care about Emma right now. I'm just looking forward to 7x04 and then whatever episodes Zelena is meant to be in. I guess Weaver was the best part about the returning characters, and he did the least.

My only other complaints, really, are when Jacinda went to kill the Prince and then just changed her mind. Felt weird and rushed, but I love the swordfight so that saves it. I didn't care for Tremaine killing the Fairy Godmother either. That was fine when Rumple did it in Season 1, but since they're redoing Cinderella I wish they made her an actual character this time. I'm also confused as to why Victoria holds so much power over Jacinda and Lucy. Why is she able to just take Lucy away? Does she have some sort of custody? I was confused.

Anyways, yeah, I wrote a lot, but I wanna make it clear that I didn't think the episode was bad. Honestly, it was probably one of Adam and Eddy's better written episodes in the later seasons. I'm just not sold on the idea of this "requel", and I probably never will be, but I guess I'm gonna keep watching. Didn't love the episode, but I didn't hate it. A lot happened, but there's a lot I just don't care about yet. I do hope it grows on me, but right now I do feel this sense of emptiness. I agree with most of the stuff you said. And I have to stress that I also REALLY don't understand how Victoria can just take Lucy away from Jacinda. Like WTF? In the real world I'm pretty sure Jacinda could report Victoria for kidnapping. The writers really did not think some of the things through with this episode. (Like how the hell did Henry keep his phone charged in the Enchanted Forest?) They focused so much on showing us how Henry and Cinderella met that they completely neglected to explain what the hell is going on. I feel that how Henry and Cinderella met should have been saved for a later episode, while the premiere was supposed to explain what is going on. Not the other way around. The season premiere explained virtually nothing. In fact it raised even more questions. That is a very bad way to leave your audience for a season premiere. You want to leave them intrigued, not confused. They could literally cut out over half of the episode and it would not make a difference.

One thing I am VERY concerned about right now is Regina's/Roni's screen time for this "soft reboot season". Her screen time in the premiere was very low. She hasn't had such low screen time for a season premiere since season 2. And that has me really worried. Is this the kind of screen time we can expect her to get for most episodes? If that is the case then I'm sorry to say that I'll have to stop watching if that's how it's going to be. Regina has always been my favorite character on the show, and if I'm being perfectly honest after the season 7 premiere I am not interested in any of the new characters at all. Especially Cinderella and Tremaine. Neither actress was pulling off the roles particularly well in my honest opinion. Right now the only thing keeping me with the show is Regina. And I see no reason to keep watching if we're hardly ever going to see her this season.

Anyway, you guys should go and listen to this podcast I've linked below. They actually make a lot of valid points. Go listen to it here:

https://oncepodcast.com/hyperion-heights-once-upon-a-time-podcast-305/