Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25926288-20160307020620/@comment-26159109-20160307200632

Eskaver wrote: From around the web, I've gathered this feeling:

The episode seems to be 7/10, good but lackluster. Yet the main issues they tend to have had were: - CGI looks bad (which can't be a real complaint because it has always been that way, so that can't always be a negative for every episode). - Using SB as the Underworld is DUMB and lazy (even though you just critiqued their bad CGI and green screen effects AND that we saw a portion of the traditional Underworld with Hades). - Hades wasn't played by James Woods (I think they should stop doing mental gymnastics and realized that JW would be expensive (and remember those effects you keep whining about) and the fact that he's tremendously old, plus this show isn't your live action Disney) - Hook wasn't saved yet. (This one is the real kicker. WHy would any reviewer think that Hook would be found in the first episode). - Everything else is filler. (Yeah, but I don't need a one episode season.) - Neal was in the episode too long. Not enough Hook. Too many cameos. (Yeah, I don't know what they expected.) - And lastly, The emotional moments in the episode weren't earned.

Yeah, I guess I'll have to give up on humanity. This episode easily tops the end of 5a, the middle of 4b, and the filler episodes combined. Sadly the ratings don't show it, but most of these common complaints were, in their words, lackluster. A lot of critics are biased. If they are Hook/CS fans then of course the episode was bad in their opinion cause god forbid we had an episode about Regina with one Neal scene at the beginning.

I'll try to be as objective as I can. I get why people think the emotional moments weren't earned, but Lana's acting civered for that in my opinion, Greg was great as Hades, seeing Cora again having scenes with Regina is great, they have great chemistry.

I know I get critical a lot, but I felt this episode was solid. I think that season 5 is the worst season of the show, but Souls of the Departed, along with Dreamcatcher are better episodes than any episode from season 3B and season 4, and that says a lot coming from me.