Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-5679696-20170324191900/@comment-5679696-20170324191917

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Even though I actually quite liked the adaptation of this story, I think it came in a bit late. I think it should have been introduced in 5A. At this point, everyone wanted to get rid of free Emma from the Darkness. Once they got Excalibur whole again they'd have to kill the current Dark One to destroy the Darkness once and for all. But killing Emma isn't an option, so they have to find Dr. Jekyll, whose serum can allegedly separate Emma from the Dark Swan and then they can stab the Dark Swan with Excalibur. After applying the serum, the Dark Swan escapes with Excalibur and casts the Dark Curse with Merlin's heart (much like Hook did in the actual episode).

Meanwhile, in present day Storybrooke, nobody remembers about the Serum, so they have no idea that the Dark Swan is not the original Emma. So it can be revealed in the last couple episodes that Dark Swan had found a way to kill Emma without dying herself, and therefore after they defeat the Dark Swan they descend into the Underworld to retrieve Emma.

This would let the writers avoid the whole Dark One Hook crap, and also give more sense as to why Regina and all the Snowing family go to Hell.

Additionally, it would be a set up for the whole Serum Queen thing, which would still take place in the season 5 finale, and whatever way Regina/the EQ find to kill each other can be revealed in season 6, with a little flashback/mention as to how the Dark Swan originally killed Emma.