Board Thread:Spoilers!/@comment-4936165-20140827005907/@comment-24674051-20140828184222

I think the only characters that "came out of nowhere" are Greg and Tamara.

Any good story, you have times where a character is introduced, or the character fades out. But the introduction and interaction of the character fits the existing storyline. The only real purpose for Greg and Tamara was as filler to lead into the Neverland Arc. Unlike Cora, Hook, Pan, Zelena, or the others, Greg and Tamara's characters felt very one-dimensional and forced. Cora, Pan, Zelena... You could feel the emotions behind their characters, you could see the depth of character development. They were all well thought out and planned.

Greg and Tamara, there was nothing there. They did not feel planned out in the slightest, but rather just something that was plopped in to move the story forward. It honestly felt like cheap storytelling, and one of the reasons I rank the last part of Season 2 as really weak.