Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-26159109-20150722160646/@comment-5106672-20150722190000

To me, S2 still managed to get a good balance between plot and character exploration in that the present-day narration forwarded the plot while the flashbacks focussed on characters. We even got a whole episode centered around Victor Frankestein that was only framed by the Rumple subplot and not just an accessory to the main plotline. Those are the moments that I've been missing the most lately, although a few of them have popped up in S4B, such as the Cruella and Ursula flashbacks.

As for Rumple, I could have agreed with you had there been some foreshadowing of sort, but there was none whatsoever. That could mean Rumple didn't realise Henry was the boy from the prophecy, but it's a silly explanation given Henry's pivotal role in breaking the Curse and, by proxy, leading up to the journey to find Neal through Emma. Also, yes, Rumple could have figured that out once Hook attacked him in NYC, but since no clue was provided about Greg and Tamara's allegiance to Neverland, once that immediate threat was overcome there was no point in still seeing him as part of the prophecy, or the prophecy not having already been changed. Which means that Rumple's attempted murder before Henry's kidnapping has pretty much no reason at all. He basically switched from fond of him to murderous out of the blue. To me, the prophecy and the Home Office are poorly thought devices to lead to Neverland Arc and are part of the Neverland problem itself.