Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25926288-20170320005548/@comment-25926288-20170320130854

Esk's Grade Report for the episode.

Plot ( 1.5 of 3)

- It was an okay plot. Rumple and Gideon's plotline progressed as well as Regina's and Robin and I think they all were done solidly. Hook and Emma's plotline is a retread of "Secrets and Lies" and is part of the Liar Revealed Plotline that is amongst the least popular plotlines in review criticism. The Dagger (retcon) wasn't that extreme; however, it did have discontinuity with seasons prior.

Character ( 2.5 of 4)

- Andrew and Dana are on an iffy radar for me, personally. I think they can achieve solid character dynamics, hardly ever achieving anything more. So...

- Emma and Hook: Very short-lived in terms of scenes. A tired plotline that doesn't even involve the true victim of the murder: David. To balance out the character development would be to include David as if to utilize the character development of the previous episode.

+ Regina and Robin and Zelena: Regina had another self-aware moment. Zelena and Regina are making amends. Robin is more complex than he seemed although borderline hammy.

+ Rumple and Gideon. It was solid progression into Gideon's psyche and humanizing Rumple. The best villains are those with humanity intertwined.

0 Belle was pretty much an accesory to the story. We never got enough to see her prespective on this matter. However, Rumple and Belle seem to be now avidly working together and bonding over that. Hopefully, Belle's still hesitant to do everything Rumple's way otherwise, she becomes dwarfed by his presence and the lesson learned will be "Ends justify the means".

General Consensus ( 1 out of 2)

- It has a new revelation that hasn't been received well at all. Updates change chage this evaluation, however, there are many opposed, a few in agreement, and several that are torn.

Balance ( .5 out of 1)

- It was a twist and turn down spiral road and I think the humor fell flat, rather than being less obvious as the previous episode.

Overall Score: 5.5 out of 10, or an D, or a lackluster episode. Even though I have personal opinions that appear to show I liked the episode, I try to be more objective with the scoring of the episode. I may be entertained, but it doesn't mean that the community as a whole has been, nor does it mean that the writing was top-notch. The flashback partially neuters the positives for the plot progression by utilizing discontinuous moments and an apparent misinterpretation of the Dagger. Each episode is scored in a relative vacuum. Thus the character grade is based on what's presented solely within the episode.