Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25491743-20160509174302/@comment-25926288-20160510023950

With the romantic trend of the show, Zelena was probably the best character to come out of the season since she was able to go against the grain. Zelena became more romance-focus, but lightly and she ends up choosing family over love. Being the only character that defied the strong winds towards Eros, I consider that a pro.

Everything else was either good (Regina and Hook's growth), decent (Emma's growth even though some of it is counteracted by contrivance), or barely registered (everyone else, even Snow).

On to plot, and 5b did a whole lot better at tying up things than 5a with its retcons and macguffins galore. The plot was solid, but as usual the middle borders filler or sluggish, but that's forgivable.

Conflict: What caused so much struggle with this arc was that Hades lacked any graspable motivation? Why, I'll torture Hook. No, I want no hope, but I'm gonna leave soon anyway. I want you, Zelena., but oops, I actually want it all! Even worse was some of the contrived moments that popped up, but soemtimes they could be forgiveable.

Setting: Great. Decent Worldbuilding. One of the best so far, even though it was somewhat lazy.

So, breakdown of the Underworld Arc by element:

Character: B

Plot: B

Conflict: C

Setting: A

Acting and costuming: +

Overall/Total Grade: B+ (It tried really hard, but it ran into its nasty habits aka LOST Potential)