Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-24589671-20150323010258/@comment-5106672-20150323033347

I loved this episode! Really, really loved it!


 * I'll start off with Regina because I'm a stupid fankid, but she's so amazingly clever, and Lana did an incredible job at looking concerned-with-a-poker-face for August, horrified when Gold was torturing him and suddenly intersted when he spilt that the door is in Storybrooke. That's the conflicted character I love!


 * Season One continuity! I love when they throw some nod back at it!


 * They made Ursula, both flashback and present day, infinitely interesting. I love how she has grown on me with her backstory, I love how once again evil was made and not born. And I also love how they pulled an elegant explanation about the leg-providing Sea Goddess vs Sea Bitch apparent unclerity with the namesake thing. Anyways, I rooted for her so much that, after too much Supernatural and Game of Thrones, I was really afraid they'd kill her off because "villains don't get happy endings".


 * Speaking of which, I really had to force down my throat the Author's existence and the fact he decided of everyone's fate. So not only was I happy for Ursula getting her happy ending because the character grew on me, but also because of what Ariel said: villains don't get happy endings because they go about them in the wrong way. There's still hope for free will and "find your own happiness working for it" in the Onceverse!


 * By the way, Ariel turning out to be actually useful is the greatest twist on her character e-v-e-r.


 * The nod to Elsa: I loved it!


 * August's "interrogation" was the most insanely twisted, sick, creepy and freaking awesome take on the Pinocchio fairytale EVER. THIS is the OUAT I love!

There were a few things I was underwelmed by, though.


 * I so hoped we could collectively forget about the Dragon, just Rock Troll style, and take it as the plot hole / continuity error it was. But since they brought him up, I hope they're going to address how he could use magic in the Land Without Magic, why he was there in the first place and thus close the biggest inconsistency still pending from Season Two, courtesy of the ever-damned Home Office subplot.


 * Killian and Emma's scene. Yeah, I know it was supposed to be a big turning point in their relationship and a huge growth occasion for Emma as a character, but it just fell flat. It felt rushed and contrived to me, but perhaps because I was anxious to know whether Ursula would make it for the last five minutes or Gold would get her first. Maybe I'll change my mind rewatching the episode and knowing she's going to be fine.