Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25926288-20160509005929/@comment-4427410-20160511164339

DatNuttyKid wrote: InfiniteFanPerson wrote: I am so disappointed in the writing of this show. When I first started this show, I thought it was something truely extraordinary. Fairytales were told to kids so that they could escape reality and dream big. Once Upon a Time twisted, not only the fairytales we all know and love, this concept into something unique, and personally, I never seen before: a show of fairytales so that adults can learn how to deal with reality. At the start of season one, Emma Swan represented the people that are stuck in a never-ending cycle with nothing to call their own. The writers of this show showed us that if you just believe (even if it is something as crazy or other-worldly as a curse town filled with fairytale creatures) you can end that cycle and find a new life. That is the show I fell in love with. I was in that never-ending cycle with nothing to call my own.

Season three and onward have disappointed me greaty. I would go into detail, but there are just too many things to list (I might have to make a post about it). Season five gave me the impression that Emma Swan would return back into that amazing character that represented something for people. In the second half of the season, the lesson I hope that the show would express is that sometimes you have to let things go and know that you will still be okay afterwards. This lesson could have resonated with a lot of people that had to let something go whether it be a person or even a home.

Instead, Emma Swan learned nothing; she never learned how to deal with grief that the writers hammered in since the begining of the season. Emma found her happy ending with Killian, but when Killian was facing death, Emma couldn't let him go. Killian becoming the Dark One could have represented the negative consequences of not letting something go when its time is up. Emma going to Hell to get the person she wanted the most back could have represented the desperate actions a person will do to not move on. In the last episode, Emma let Killian go. She learned to let things go and move forward because she had something else besides Killain: her family.

Family is the core of this show. You don't need a signaficant other or a fairytale happy-ending. Sometimes the truest love comes from a parent (Snow White and Prince Charming) to their child (Emma and Neal). A friend (Emma) to an unlikely, new friend (Regina). A mother (Emma) who never knew how to be a mother to a child (Henry) that showed her that she could.

This season may just be my last. I see your point, but y'know what? I think they did still cover that.

Emma did let Hook go in the last episode, and she even began to grieve and move on in this one. I think she did move on in this episode, and Hook's return then represents how things get better when you move on. If she had let Hook go without Hook coming back, they instead would've had to have, say, August suddenly show up and be her third (or is it fourth?) true love. So they used the same character to avoid alienating fans, but they still taught a lesson.

She didn't learn SQUAT. She didn't learn how to face permanent loss. Neal wasn't the real lesson. Emma had let go of him years ago. All she did was grieve over the loss of an old boyfriend, while facing a new love. With Hook in Season 5, all she did was take shortcuts. One after the other.