Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25926288-20160926005937/@comment-26179141-20160926071849

Oh boy, what a premiere. I think overall some bits and pieces were a little too hasty, although I can see that being partly explained by the fact that there are now way too many storylines for the series to focus on with the amount of main characters and recurring characters running around.

What I did like about the episode:


 * Regina and Snow's discussion in front of the town hall. As the series has progressed, I've loved seeing the two characters develop each other in a way. Loved the scene and absolutely loved that they gave it enough time in the episode.


 * The Morpheus reveal. The series has never before made me yell out "no way! no way!" and bang the table with my hand, but I enjoyed this reveal a lot. It was quite possibly my favourite twist of the episode (with those being handed over with a shovel).


 * Hyde. Sam Witwer has an excellent presence which hopefully lets him be a great villain for this season.


 * Zelena. She started off the episode as a comic relief, pointed out that Regina is not the only one who lost a loved one (although I do criticize that Zades or whatever the shipname for Zelena/Hades is was built far too flimsily last season and thus has less meaning) and hopefully will be part of an exciting dynamic between her and the EQ.

And the negatives:


 * Like others have said, underutilizing the recurring cast. The main things I can pick off the top of my head - Archie was brought back for absolutely nothing meaningful, and Jekyll is pointless (and tbqh, I could not care less about him).


 * The flashback. Sure, it had a connection to the Savior theme that was kicked off in the episode, but was there any point to throwing Aladdin and Jafar in at this point? I would've rather had the flashback in another episode and left the premiere with that couple minutes of extra time to relieve the pressure caused by an abundance of present time plotlines.

Overall, a nice premiere. I can see this being a very challenging episode for a person who hasn't seen the previous seasons, but hey, continuity lockout has been a thing for ages in this series.