Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-34924658-20161031211322/@comment-30389283-20180208125722

Chameleon-Guy wrote: I really don't think 4B was bad, like, you all say it sucked but care to explain why?

I liked it because:

1. Cruella was an awesome villain.

2. I liked Maleficent's sympathetic arc.

3. How the characters were all gray, Snow and Charmings did bad things and acted selfishly, okay, but they were also manipulated by Isaac, so it's a middle ground, complicated and interesting.

4. Build-up to Emma's darkness arc...

5. ...Which resulted in an unexpected twist, we thought Emma was no longer going dark, but eventually she sacrificed herself to become the Dark One.

6. A team up of Disney witches, and various episodes dedicated to their "happy endings".

7. Interesting backstory for Snow and Charming that brought them back as major players.

8. And a general focus on the main cast after the Frozen arc focused mostly on guest stars (sadly). Especially Regina who deserved it.

9. The return of various characters including Pinocchio/August, Geppetto, Aurora, Ariel, Cora, Robin and Zelena, etc.

10. Evil Rumple... which I always love.

11. The Marian = Zelena twist, really surprising.

12. The only Robin centric episode.

13. The Heroes VS Villains episode, that was amazing and heartbreaking. Yes, I included it in 4B since it's a bridge episode between the arcs.

14. Started to explore the lore of the show with the Author, and the storybooks, the Sorcerer, etc.

15. The finale was awesome, a 2 hour adventure that explored the possibilities of heroes and villains having switched roles.

So this is why I loved the 4B arc. Of course some things were off like Lily which was never to be seen again and some arcs were neglected later, but it's not a problem of 4B itself, it only opened them and then the rest of the show ignored them and never cared to finish them, like Will's arc as well, he was underused but he was never a major player. As for Rumple's plan, remember this show has little logic? It's based on twists and turns to engage the viewer, and there are many plotholes so it's no use to try to explain those, just enjoy Once and don't focus on its lack of logic. I agree with the majority of the points. I like 4B overall but I think its major flaw is that there were too many things going on (QoD, Lily, Zelena, Author etc) in a very few episodes. It would have probably been better to build an entire season around these storyline.