Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-26184894-20150614234938/@comment-25926288-20150617114252

So, in other words, he means there is poor payoff.

The call back to his examples:

Pan was hyped up as "someone we all should fear" by the most powerful of the group...but he didn't do much, his plans were wonky, and he suffered from seasonal Once OP villian syndrome, which would have been fine but Regina defeated him and we all know where Regina stands in power rankings.

Emma is the undecided by the writers to be magic of the truest love or just "savior" magic, whatever that is. She was stated by Hook to have defeated people she hasn't and everyone and herself calls her the Savior for no in-plot reason. Savior of the Dark Curse, fine, but anything else? Not shown. If they would have statd she will save the world from Darkness, then it would add not only hype, but potential payoff as well. Basically, she has been called the Savior (okay), but also this powerful sorceress...yet isn't allowed to function properly. We see her learn a single spell or two, but she randomly gets powers offscreen and never really uses them to fulfill her role (except with Cruella).

It's like being a supporter and fan of a certain athlete. You can love and support them with priase, but also criticize them when you see areas of weakness.

Note: I love the show completely, but everything has its flaws and everything can be improved.