Board Thread:Spoilers!/@comment-27060727-20160929050506/@comment-25375217-20161126031010

Except Rumple has repeated the first three steps several times, and here we are. Hook and Regina have stuck to that five-step plan pretty well. (Besides Hook having to start over with his Dark Oneness, but he actually skipped the first three steps! Granted, those are the most important steps, but...)

Yet when we actually saw Merlin and a Dark One "showdown", Merlin was turned into a tree. Or, better yet, his heart was crushed.

I'm sure that's what will happen, but I still hope we'll see a real showdown.