Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25926288-20160926013536/@comment-24674051-20160926175644

Ok, let's not go down the Rumple getting to the LWM route again. Everyone keeps coming back to this argument, and there is one thing that everyone wants to overlook. Rumple could get there via bean or some other portal, sure. But he'd be completely without his magic. We saw that when he was in NYC, twice. And Rumple is unwilling to give up his power. The road that he was searching for was on that allowed him to retain his power while still being able to get to his son. And the only way that has been presented in show is the Dark Curse.

(Ok, none of the above is confirmed in show, but it all makes sense, and it is the head canon that i am going with).

As for the spin-offs, Once would have a hard time facing off against the likes of NCIS, Law & Order, and other of the big shows on other nights. One of the big things that works both for and against Once is that it uses a serial format for its stories. It is great in that you can take a plot line and run it over several consecutive weeks (and when done well, you get some amazing stories that are fun). But, that kind of format makes it almost impossible to draw in new viewers, as noone wants to come in halfway through a story. Season 1 did the best with balancing the serial aspect while presenting a somewhat more episodic approach, which allowed people to jump in and not be totally lost in the story. A return to the season 1 format would do the show some good, if it is not already too late.