Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-26159109-20170417104929/@comment-25926288-20170418142100

I have negative thoughts, but I'll only express one as i feel that it is more reasonable and objective.

There were too many macguffins. Anyone that follows my train of thought know that I try (with others) to put a magic system around the puddle of ideas that the writers give us. Does Once have a magic system? Yes. It's just pretty "as the plot turns". This episode exemplifies this. I'll go through them.

1. Shadow tree sap--- Makes no sense. Completely made up. Technically, it could make sense, but Pan didn't need it as he had magic. The tree should have been specified. All that was said was "Duh, that tree over there is where Pan kept his magic! Go get it to go home!" Then, Hook somehow knows to rip off his shadow. This is a poor macguffin because it was never explained whatsoever in the episode. Noone can realy present an argument against this. The "fans could figure it out" argument only goes so far. This is the fiftieth magic tree this show has had. How would anyone know what it does?

2. Short wand. Actually, pretty fine. I wish that they actually didn't Chekov's gun Black Fairy with an ultra-convenient weapon. This is almost as bad as the Olympian crystal which popped out of nowhere and axed Hades and then was gone. If you want to do a Chekov's gun at least do what they did to Ingrid with Gerda's letter.

3. Pixie dust. Suddenly it's pink. In Once's magic, it is pausible that pixie dust can do all in its power to connect true loves, even portals. The issue isn't "where was the flower?" It is that it is vague magic that can do everything. If that is the case, then is True Love really the strongest magic of all. I give it a pass in how it works, but the way it appears (whenever great darkness/dark magic appears) means that it would be all too common to have this very power magic. I guess it's equal to a genie sale.

4. Silver cup. I don't know any reason for that cup to be used to free Snow and David. I guess they didn't want everyone to kiss Snow and David, but there had to be a better way than "Cheers, to the Charmings!"

5. Rumple with a convenient potion. Get this man away from vague potions.

On another note, as I discussed in an explanation of my grade report, that in a relatively objective sense, a lot of the dialogue was transparent (you can see the plot's gears turning) and some was just terrible. "Get the pirate. Make him pay." The Rescue scene was pretty poorly done. I'll recap with near exact dialogue.

Scene begins. Emma bursts in through a portal. They cried out each others name.

Hook: What are you doing? Run, now! (no pauses, just straight through towards TL, but talking to Emma prior)

A tuffle buffle, Emma reaches Hook.

Emma: We've got to go!

Lost Boys: "Where is she? Where's TigerLily? She got away! (all in three to four seconds seconds)

That scene was super rushed. (All of this dialogue and action happens in like 15 seconds)