Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-34924658-20161031211322/@comment-34657163-20180211035545

RANKING

1. Season 1 - The show was legitamately good at this point. It explored a lot of interesting themes but still kept it subtle, each episode was memorable, the main plot was clear: break the curse by getting Emma to believe, etc. I could go on about how much I like season one... (ironically I used to dislike it the most for reasons I can't even remember). It has some obvious problems (Regina and Grahm's "relationship"), but I'm willing to gloss over it considering it was the first season of the show.

2. Season 2 - The main plot wasn't really as coherent in this season but I'll forgive it for having excellent episodes individually. Episodes like Tallahasse, Manhattan, the Miller's Daughter, etc. felt really powerful. I think Tamara needed a backstory though. I think her just stumbling upon Storybrooke is pretty silly, and while the home office being the lost boys made sense, it just felt too ridiculous (even for a show about fairy tales).

3. Arc 3B - I think Zelena's backstory could have been developed better. Her becoming incredibly power in the span of one episode just doesn't sit well with me. Otherwise, the new curse worked really well. It was different enough from season one but familiar enough to be...familiar. I liked the time travel spell too.

4. Arc 4A - I find the Frozen arc really underrated personally. I can see how many consider it just a cash grab using Frozen's popularity, but the writers really did a solid job. Ingrid's story in particular was wonderful, and she was one of the best developed antagonists on the show (besides Rumple and Regina, of course). Rumple's relapse definitely upset me though, but I think his character in season four in general bothered me. I also didn't like Anna and Elsa wore the same clothes for pretty much the whole season (Elsa sporting a jacket????).

5. Season 3A - A really slow arc that felt like it dragged on (I found Neverland very unappealing to look at), but its last episodes and its overall character development keeps the season up here. We get to see Rumple's childhood, Regina slowly changing, etc.

6. Season 5B - This arc wasn't too bad but it suffers from being only an arc. I feel like it could have been much better over the course of a full season (without the horrific red filter of course). Souls of the departed was great, the Blind Witch and Cruella were fantastic, etc. Hades was just a really weak villain, and I feel like they could have used Peter Pan more. Plus, Marian could have returned, maybe Hook's father or David's parents, everyone else's dead parents...

7. Season 7 (so far) - The first three episodes were weak, but thankfully it picked up quite well with the fourth episode. Some characters could be developed better, and there is obviously the Gothel Hook dilemma, but otherwise, it seems like the writing did improve.

8. Season 4B - Ursula felt wasted (needed at least some scenes in the enchanted forest actually doing awful things), Maleficent having a child felt silly, then Snow and Charming being selfish and stealing said child was worse (tainted their characters - I do get the whole morality thing but it just didn't seem right), an author who can basically take away a person's free will, etc. I think instead of Rumple having a goofy villain plot (it started off ok but...), he could have been seeking the author to change his past decisions so he would change and stuff (instead of making his relationship with Belle even worse). Cruella was surprisingly really well done, and I appreciated the return of August. I was also happy with Zelena's return and that episode in particular made a lot of sense (the bow that never misses has more continuity then a lot of parts of the show).

9. Season 6 - This season wasn't necessarily bad, but it just could have been better. A lot of lore gets contradicted (the savior being made from true love, the dark curse, etc. ), the black fairy could have been developed better (Imo - idk how she started kidnapping children, could have been nice to see her actually create the dark curse), and the final battle itself (the swordfight) was pretty anticlimatic. I also think Emma could have just died, although that would be pretty dark. But it would have made more sense for season 7.

10. Season 5A - Was very disappointing. I'll just leave it at that.