Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25926288-20171021005812/@comment-25926288-20171021225411

Esk's Grade Report

Plot (2 out of 3)

- The worldbuilding is leveled out. They left something's ambiguous enough to prevent it from being called poor.

- The episode has a mixture of plot elements from the season 1, but they do enough to distinguish it from the ones before. (Every show and movie ever has had similar stories, so it's a stretch to say that combining 1x05, 1x18, etc is copying, because it's not.) They have upped the ante a bit and it developed the sense of conflict that was lacking in the first two episodes. Pacing, Conflict, etc are key parts of Plot.

- In an objective lens (as I try to put these in), the underlying story might not be strong enough, even the string of mini-plots may not be strong enough.

Character (3 out of 4)

- Old: As a moderating element, these characters give a bit to be desired. Rogers, Weaver, and Roni give off the feeling to be discount Hook, Rumple, and Regina unlike the "bad parts highlighted" Season 1 Dark Curse individuals.

- New: Gonna break this in 2

- Jace, Henry, Lucy: Lucy is solid, not much else to say. Henry and Jace struggle to balance the idea of the predestined romance. Once has struggled with any predesitned romance that wasn't canonized elsewhere. EX: Robin and Regina struggled in quality due to the underlying notion that these two were perfect for one another, while the show demonstrated a number of ways why they weren't which was not intentional for the most part. In ye olde times, Henry appears infatuated by Ella, Ella seems to just be doing her own thing and be a decent person (as in Henry's a nonfactor). In this modern era, Henry appears more genuine (there's some turmoil and angst), while Jace seems to be doing her own thing, but the key is (besides angst): Lucy.

- Ella, Tremaine, etc: Ella's character is highlighted better in this episode. Ella's character is grounded in realism: A person who's self-sabatoging themself, trying to make things better. In prior episodes, Ella came off a cowardly, quick temper ball of confusion (which is fine if that was intentional, but it wasn't.) Tremaine also gets development. She was just evil because.....until we get a reason for her treatment of Ella. This creates a nice symbiotic thing that helps each of the characters.

- They haven't said Sabine's name yet, or Ivy or Tilly. If I were a casual watcher, I'd think they were the episodic guest stars. As an official introduction, Tiana leaves a chunk to be desired similar to Ella/Jace, but the background elements came through strong enough. Sabine....can't say much about her, or Ivy or Tilly. Could barely say much about Weaver...

Balance (1.5 out of 2)

- I think I discovered their writing style so far. (Down because if there was an attempt of humor, I couldn't tell). Adam and Eddy are good with over-the-top/exposition, Jane and Jerome are good with moderate and muted/dialogue, Hales and Goodman are good with the realism and bleaker aspects and matching a young adult audience. Personally, I was nervous when Hales joined and wrote as I thought casually that it would be cringy teen drama for some reason, but she brings a well needed element and I give her props.

Fandom Outlook (1 out of 1)

- I'll take "better than the other two" to make it the best we'll get.

Overall (7.5 out of 10)

<p style="font-weight:normal;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:14px;margin-bottom:0px!important;">- Adam and Eddy always do the premieres and they usually are well received. Might lean a bit high, but that's primarily taking the show as a reboot, then secondly as a sequel = "requel". I don't expect the Fan Outlook section to ever really change, but I find the weights are properly made Character > Plot > Balance > Fan Outlook. After all, only ratings tell us how the show is recieved bar the quality.