Board Thread:Show-Related Questions and Answers/@comment-25926288-20150331013024/@comment-5106672-20150331210203

CoolDudeAl wrote: WhatTheEvenBelle wrote: The flashbacks for 3.02, 3.04, 3.06, and 3.10 were completely irrelevant and unnecessary in my opinion. They could have used the flashback portion of those episodes for much for relevant stories such as Tink getting to Neverland, Neal as a Lost Boy, the origins of the Shadow, or Hook gaining his freedom. As much as I love "Ariel", it wasn't really that important of a story. It woulda made better filler sometime later on in the series. As for 3.04, I see absolutely no point in that whatsoever. 302 was to parellel Emma with Snow, 304 was to show more about Pan, Rumple, Bae, and the Lost Boys, 306 was because they were bringing Ariel into the present day plot (and they had promised her since season 1), and 310 you might have a bit of a point on, I forget what the point of showing Snow and Charming and Medusa had on our present day plot. But overall I want to remind you that flashbacks are to give us insight into characters, but with a focus on our main cast. So seeing Snow and Charming in the grand sceme of the show is more important than something like the origins of The Shadow. An arc's flashbacks should not totally revolve around things only in that arc, because then after that arc, we won't have gained any info that actually adds anything to future arcs. This can be seen well in the Frozen arc. We got all those flashbacks with Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Hans, and Ingrid, but they more or less confirmed they are done with these characters, so we got a whole half season of flashback that isn't really going to add anything to the show going forward. The few things that are actually being used (The Apprentice and Lily) had really nothing to do with the Frozen arc, but they wound up being the most important flashback elements because we are now able to see how they are going to move our present day plot forward.

That is partly true, but with a substantial difference: the S4A flashbacks were all part of a big Frozen fanfiction the writers were doing. They NEEDED to be wrapped up around themselves because A&E could only borrow the characters and play with them, but then had to give them back as new. No Frozen character could actually evolve, except for Ingrid (who did), so that's why the Frozen flashbacks ultimately go back to square one.

On the other hand, with Neverland they established a new realm with completely new rules, a new villain who has at least as much time worth of scheaming as Rumple, someone who even Rumple, who's the most powerful being in the EF, fears, and they basically explained none of that.

True, as CoolDudeAl pointed out, each season and arc has left us with unanswered questions, one way or another. But let's see.


 * All the open questions we had in S1 were the build-up for Season 2.


 * Many open questions left behind by S2, and some unanswered ones from S1, are getting an answer now.


 * S3B didn't leave many questions, it was quite a self-contained arc.


 * The questions left by S4A are getting an answer now.

On the other hand, all the questions left open by S3A are very much pertaining to the arc itself, rather than the gneral plot, and since that is over, it's very difficult they'll serve as a build-up for future arcs or storylines. Which is why the Neverlan arc remains the weakest, imo: many things that happened were merely plot points to forward that specific arc and weren't thought through.