Board Thread:Spoilers!/@comment-26225812-20150618081046/@comment-24950802-20150707230642

After four seasons (which is actually quite a lot) of that character constantly and consistently making bad decision after bad decision and yet somehow always thinking he's justified in what he does and saying it was for the best (Can he actually still believe his own words? He's becoming a parody of himself, when he said he was only doing what he thought was best to Belle at the end of 4.22 I had to chuckle), I'm not sure I ever want Rumple to be redeemed. As you said, if he started walking on a path towards redemption now, it wouldn't mean much because the initiative didn't come from him, his darkness was taken from him, the choice was made by someone else. And they would have to spend the next half of the show (presuming it runs for that long even) making it right by the first four years, balancing it out. I mean, as implausible as Regina's own redemption is because she was SO awful in the past, we've still had two seasons of her as a baddie, and two seasons of her as a hero, give or take. We can suck it up for her. For Gold, it's more complicated than that. The writers would really need to work extra harder to make his redemption believable, acceptable and successful, but we all know they like to half-ass everything. The complicated romantic triangle twist they came up with last seaosn of bringing Marian back from the dead (a very refreshing twist on a tired TV cliché) was resolved by Zelena being Marian. Whatever. But I'm getting off track. My original point as I started writing this was, Gold's redemption will always seem forced, but they're gonna go for it anyway, most likely. I can't picture the show ending without Rumple either dying a noble, heroic death (again) or being redeemed, and living happily with Belle. Either one is gonna happen, no matter how contrived it is, so we better prepare for that. But as far as your "bold storytelling" idea goes, I would not have wanted that because, well, flaws and all, I like Rumple as a character. His one-step-forward-two-steps-backwards routine doesn't make him as "complex" and "layered" a character as much as it makes him just plain stupid, but I still like him, and, obviously, I love Robert Carlyle in the role. OUaT would suffer without his regular presence. I do not ship Rumbelle though. In the least. It kinda sickens me.