Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-3486995-20151205162354/@comment-25926288-20151206153432

My thoughts: 4b was squished and perhaps that's what made it look so bad.

4b rushed through the Marian debacle, rushed through the QoD stuff, rushed through any organic character growth, rushed through plans making Rumple look like some stooge changing his plans every episode, and left everyone a bit unsatisfied.

4b made me wonder if the writers could actually write good characters and plots without give presets like Frozen, because it all sort of went down the drain in 4b. 4b was returning to it's Once roots, but it increased the camp a bit too much. Before 4, there wasn't too much campy fun-fun, but then 4 happened and the levels of camp rose incredibly and if Elizabeth Mitchell wasn't so serious and wonderful, it would have turned out like dirty ice sludge. 4b had returned a bit, but it was too campy. I loved the premiere, but everything else was so 13 year old girl level. The QoD were mean girls and Rumple was the Saturday morning cartoon villain.

That's why however you view season 5a, it's always better than 4b. It's not as campy, though it's still a bit much.