Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25926288-20171216015812/@comment-24386552-20180203192343

Out of the ten episodes, this one while not the best, would rank at least in the top half but just by a sliver. Obviously, Beauty, One Little Tear, Wake-up Call would be my top three and everything else trails a little behind the other. I also think this episode could've benefited from an extra episode, a better previous episode (*coughs* 7X03), or both. It definitely felt rushed and at this point the writers know how annoyed viewers get that they even have to break the fourth wall with lines like "I'm not here to discuss timelines."

On the plus side, at least things happened. We found out how the curse was cast, how Alice retained her memories-ish, why the curse breaking must be done cautiously, why Ana is really important, and of course the S6 finale teaser content. Unfortunately, we still have another month to figure out the rest of the rushed plotlines and how we got all the way to these places.

'''Character Notes:

The Amazing:''' Still loving Alice, Drizella (Adelaide Kane never fails to disappoint and has easily trumped a certain protagonist), Regina (As much as I hate that she had to cast the curse again, one could call it bittersweet irony), Zelena (despite doing what she did to Robin Hood back in S4, she is always a breath of fresh air), and last but not least... Rumple.

The Intriguing:

Henry, Gothel (she certainly brings a certain calm flair we haven't seen since Ingrid), Tremaine (her little and random appearances in this episode really stuck out to me), Anastasia, and Robin.

The Meh:

Jack, Sabine/Tiana, Witches with no personality just hoods and shrieks, Lucy, Hook (While he did stuff this episode, he didn't hold my attention), and Tiger Lily (I didn't mind her before, but she kind of fell flat in this episode).

The Nope:

Cinderella/Jacinda: Ten episodes in... and I'm still not feeling her. Am I the only one? I know she's really not popular, but at the same time I feel she should be far more important. There's just so much not going on for her that it's just nope. The love between her and Henry? Nope. The character on her own? Nope. Originality and reality? Double nope. I don't know. I try to get invested and end up falling asleep. I also try hard not to compare her to S1 Snow but even then, Snow wins by a landslide.

(Rant to be continued in next post)