Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25926288-20161017010001/@comment-24674051-20161017150657

Loved the episode.

First, to respond about the children. Aside from Paige, we also had Hansel and Gretel that we met in season one. and there were other children at the school at the time. Those were victims of Regina's original Curse. Snow's curse brought a few more, most likely, and Violet is a leftover from Killian's Curse. As for the new ones, Snow specifically mentioned that there were new students brought over from the LoUS (like Tom Sawyer, who we breifly saw, and I'm hoping to see more of in a later episode). I'll be interested to see what kind of trouble Tom gets Henry into.

Ok, back to the episode at hand. First, the backstory for Jekyll and Hyde was well done, and I liked the twist that Jekyll was the villain to be wary of. Hyde was dark, but Jekyll was darker. And they did a good job explaining the relationship between Rumple and J&H, and why they might have been interested in Belle as far back as the s5 Finale. Hyde's whole intention was to have Rumple watch while the story played out, which was Jekyll killing Rumples "twu luv" as revenge for what happend to Mary Lydgate and Rumples part in it.

Snow teaching again is an interesting side plot, and having Jasmine, excuse me Shirin, as a teacher's aide is an interesting twist. Although I think by the end of the episode Snow had figured out that Shirin is the princess in her story, even if she has not yet learned that it is in fact Jasmine. Aside from Jasmine and Aladdin, I see a possible adventure in store for Jasmine and Snow in the future (possibly something related to helping Aladdin and Emma).

I liked how they got Robert's new haircut into the show, and I'll agree with the EQ that the new cut is an improvement. I laughed when Regina remarked how it brought out Rumple's eyes, since that was also the EQ's first comment. I appreciated the hint that the EQ and Regina are more alike than they are different.

And Belle is finally getting to grow. She actually stabbed Jekyll as soon as she realized he was a danger, and she stood her ground firmly with Rumple. and has more than a little sass in the process. It's about time that princess stood up.

Killian is also turning out to be quite the hero. First, leaving Belle the JR with a direct line to him in case of trouble (which he somehow got the message when Belle used the 'Phone' to stab Jekyll), and then showing up and defending Belle from Jekyll. Nice to see Killian actually growing apart from being Emma's doe-eyed puppy dog. Rumple owes Killian big time for defending Belle and their son.

And while I am disappointed to see J&H depart, I am not surprised, and really there was not much more that they could provide in terms of plot movement. They set the ball rolling, now it needs to grow naturally.

On the downside, no Zelena this episode. and very little Emma.

But overall, another strong episode, and I'm likeing where Season 6 is going.