Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-26159109-20160731061041/@comment-24674051-20160801164804

have not rewatched season 5 yet (will do that when it comes out on Netflix later this month). But just thinking about it retrospectively, I was definitly entertained, and they didn't do anything that would make me NOT want to watch the show, It could have been better, but it was not as bad as some might suggest.

breaking it into story arcs:

1. Dark Swan - the plot was definitely overhyped, as we did not get nearly enough time with "Dark Swan", nor was she as sinister as she could have been. I liked the Premiere where they set the premise that Emma would try to not give in, but showing that at some point she would indeed give in, but from there is just fell apart. They really should have spent more time with the Dark One Mythos and Dark Swan, from a story perspective, because what was delivered was rushed. (Particularly when they added 2 episodes that had very little to do with moving the Dark Swan story)

2. Hero Rumple - ultimately a total waste of time. He wakes up with a clean heart, gets a chance to become the hero, and quickly reverts to his old ways. They really needed to develop that sub plot (returning Rumple to the Dark One status) over the course of a few episodes, rather than hitting us from out of nowhere in one scene.

3. Dark Killian - Interesting concept, but made no sense with the original storyline. Emma didn't need to turn Killian Dark, and the whole point of Dark Killain seemed to be as a bridge to get us from Dark Swan to the UW. And I think that the writers could have found a more interesting way of doing this.

3. UW - Not sure about the premise to get there ("Let's go rescue the pirate"), but enjoyed the opportunity to see some old favorites without needing to break the walls of death. The story did get more back to the "Story of the week" like we had in Season 1, but the underlying plot thread wandered incoherantly. There were too many changes in direction without a reasonable setup. And Hades could have been a decent villain, but was really just a mess.

4. Finale - LoUS part was simply setup for what we are getting this year, and for what it's purpose was, that storyline was good. (plus featuring the charmings working with Killian and Zelena was a well chosen dynamic that worked). the Other story line of tethering and destroying magic, though, made no sense, and really just served as a means of expose for Regina, which led to the splitting of Regina and the EQ.

And I'm not even going to discuss the character assassinations that they managed during the season.

And i know I sound negative. as I said, I was entertained and enjoyed the season, but really felt let down in retrospect.