Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25926288-20171028005802/@comment-25926288-20171105032112

Esk's Grade Report

Plot (2.5 out of 3)

- Solid, through and through, with minor story progression.

- Downed a bit as part of it progress was temporary in nature and part-tangential. Worldbuilding aside, as it at least got the point across about travelling across the Once Universe.

Character (3.5 out of 4)

- Old: Rumple and Belle. What can I say? While some things happened offscreen, the writers managed to keep highlights of the characters intact so that they can be dealt with. Rumple quickly jumped to magic, but then tossed it away. Rumple was afraid, but then was able to be brave for Belle. Rumple wanted to control is life and deage Belle, but he let loose his iron grip on life that magic gave him. Belle also pointed out coming back again and again and even leaving him in the dark for once.

- Alice, while really hitting the Wonderland references hard, at least had the dialogue a little more clever (which should be a key trait of hers). Ex. The "Who are you?" to Victoria when she asked about her identity. Alice is solid in action, backstory has to fill us in.

- Everybody else...great. Jace toned down her angst a bit, Ivy gained sympathy points (Characters need much of three aspects: sympathy/likability, competence, and proactivity) and we got to see all at work. (Not counting: Personally, I think Roni is a bit pushy in an annoying kind of way.)

-Downed a bit because Tremaine seems out-matched here (given that the Witch did that the previous episode).

Balance (2 out of 2)

- The emotions were at a high with huge emotional moments and huge humorous moments. If we had a ranking between Espenson/ Schwartz and Kitsis/Horowitz, this falls right in the middle. Not too hot, not to cold, but just right!

Fandom Outlook (1 out of 1)

- Pretty positive overview, especially in comparison to the others.

Overall (9 out of 10)

I usually try to aim on the conserative side, but this was amongst the top episodes based on the writing alone. Perhaps this approach favors the story they are telling this season, more than the over-the-top plot-plot-plot or the muted tones. When Once is character-driven, wonderful things happen.