Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25926288-20160926005937/@comment-25926288-20160926114502

To be fair to the show, it's not their fault that you got hyped over something they did not mention. Holding not seeing Nurse Ratched, etc against them isn't fair as that's not what they ever hinted at. ABC does the promotional material, the writers do not.

They did a lot of set-up. Was it contrived? Well, yes because everything in the show is contrived. Even though I can be hard on the show, I'd give them some slack. It loks like they are in full redux mode to head into the end of the show, so likely they already had this idea planned, just not seasons between planned, lol.

Before I rewatch the episode, I can pretty much defend all the major plot arcs incoming.

Zelena's woes: Regina getting along with Zelena so quickly was a stretch, so it wouldn't be organic to just ignore their past altogether. Zelena is upset at Regina not because the side she never knew was gone, but because Zelena finally saw the similarities of her and her sister's situation. But then just as they are stating to get along, Regina goes and cut out her worries, leaving Zelena who has trouble with her dark part left with no real support or connection. Imagine if two addicted sisters sought help with one another and then one of the sister then was hit with amnesia. The bond would be lost and the struggle only with one sister.

Rumbelle: I was surprised that it actually showed progression. Sure it sems as though they aren't going anywhere but if you look closely it is. Rumple showed that he was (or looked like he was) finally ready to commit to True Love with Belle, but this time it's Belle who within reason doesn't love him. Their child being their is practically just Belle's inner self reminding Belle that Rumple destroyed his first family, why risk that again? This actually leaves Rumple in a conundrum where both wife and child do not want to be with him. Setting  up for a potential sacrifice, I think.

Emma's tremors: The only think super-contrived as it was not led into. We all knew that Regina and Zelena had problems. We knew that Rumbelle had problems, but Emma had no issues and this is the only part that I think deserves the flack that it is receiving. But it's set up, so it creates a solid plot which might go differently than we think.

Hyde-o!: It's better to put twists on the show than have an OP character go around. reveling in vague theats. The premiere is hardly the time for secondary characters. If you had to choose between townsfolk in the premiere or townsfolk spread throughout the season, I would suggest the latter. If Hyde wasn't imprisoned, it would leave a weird flaw walking around as Hyde then could kill them at any moment.