Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25926288-20160404010039/@comment-24674051-20160404181318

First, I enjoyed the episode.


 * 1) Turquoise is my headcanon name for Zelena and Hades. and while I think there may indeed be attraction there, it was definitely rushed. I liked that Zelena kindly but firmly turned his advances aside. And I don't trust Hades. He has more going on than he's letting on about. However, I will say that, compared to some of the other pairings shown, I actually felt the chemistry between Hades and Zelena more.

Rumple's exposition to Belle was very well done, and quite frankly long overdue. And the truth actually frees him a bit. Emma, Hades, Hook, or anyone else will no longer be able to play the "help me, or I'll run and tell Belle" card. It also opens a door that can lead to fixing the relationship. Belle finally found out the truth without resorting to a gauntlet leading to the real dagger, or any other way that shows that Rumple was lying to her. Yes, he did lie to her, and that still needs to be addressed, but at least the truth came from him as well. And it frees him to finally grow as a character, and maybe come to terms of what it means to be the Dark One and find a way of chanelling that power for something other than selfish purposes. (as opposed to the 2-dimensional flip flop we've seen over the past 2 seasons)

I was happy that Snowing and Emma/Killian took a momentary back seat. But the acknowledgement of the lack of foresight on Snowing's part (in leaving Neal behind) was nice, and I am curious to see where Snow's final bit of bravado is going to take the rest of the arc (it seems we may finally have our beloved Snow White back finally).

Zelena, though, was the star of this one, and her performance was brilliant. her interaction with Scarecrow and Dorothy, her Melancholy on the celebration of Abandoment day, her interactions with the Munchkins, were all brilliant. Her interactions with Regina and Robin were poignant. She gave us the picture of someone that, despite all of her brokeness, truly and deeply loves her baby and wants what is best for it. Of someone that is willing to do whatever it takes to protect their child.

Henry sleepwriting is just weird, and felt like a kind of ripoff of the artist character from Heroes. Hopefully they will elaborate on what is happening with Henry a bit more, as it does seem that he is able to record stories without being there to witness them, just not the stories that HE wants to record. But overall, I like that they are letting him be an emotional teenager (and one that is a little off center, as he should be given his family dynamics), and also giving him more to do with the story.