Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25926288-20170327005929/@comment-31564770-20170328121736

While I totally get that for plot purposes they had to put an end to Serum Queen, sending her off to another world is a bit unfulfilling for me for three reasons.

1) They sent her to the WR for a fresh start. But, we know that WR Henry wants Regina dead, the kingdom is without leadership due to WR Snow and Charming's death and Emma returning to SB, and there was an EQ in the WR, whom we have never seen, but as we saw in 6x11 the people of the kingdom still remember and fear. Overall, the WR hates their EQ, or Regina who they think is their EQ, and the fact remains that even if Serum Queen isn't that person (technically) she looks exactly like her. Meaning the WR wants Serum Queen dead. Does that sound like a good fresh start to you?

2) I believe Serum Queen should've been reabsorbed. That way, we get the arc coming full circle and there are no loose ends such as the possibility of Serum Queen returning in some way. While the story as it went does provide closure, given what we know about the WR and given the fact that Serum Queen could return the story feels open-ended. It's not like when, for instance, Ursula left. In that case, it was extra super clear that Ursula is leaving and not coming back. Here, we have Serum Queen in an open-ended world doing open-ended who-knows-what. It didn't feel like an end. In fact, it was a start- Serum Queen's fresh start. And I want to know what she's doing with it.

3) Regina now feels somehow incomplete. Yes, we have both her and Serum Queen essentially the same in terms of heart composition, and therefore essentially the same as Regina was before she split, but now we have two. They've basically duplicated Regina. Yes, Serum Queen is slightly different personality-wise from Regina (I could write an entire theory on that but I won't because it would be super long. Unless you guys want to hear it.) but you can't just duplicate a person and send the clone on their way. Especially if that duplicate was made via personality split serum. Now, it feels like we still have a part of Regina loose out there, and therefore Regina as she is in SB isn't complete. There's still something missing.

For all those reasons, I wanted Serum Queen reabsorbed. The writers could still have given the same message of self-love, had Regina accept herself, and then instead of sharing the darkness out between their hearts have her merge the hearts together. Serum Queen is then reabsorbed into Regina, and we then have a scene in Regina's mind after the EQ part of her returns- something like EQ is struggling and trying to fight Regina still, but Regina just hugs her. Because they now have one heart and that heart has love, the EQ just kinda goes limp and accepts it finally. Then we cut out of Regina's mind and carry on our way. Job done, same message accomplished, and much more closure.