Early on in 5A, we had a brash, cartoonishly brutal, and a shell of her "former self" who seemed to just be around. If you can't guess, it's Merida. Around her mainstay episode, she was fleshed out more and then just sort of around.
Aladdin and Jasmine are sort of the same. I've been around to gauge the reception to Aladdin and Jasmine. Besides the newfound discovery that people have accents, it's seems to be in the middle or the lesser. So, my take is that they could be seen as unlikeable. Let's explore.
Story
In terms of story, Aladdin and Jasmine had a rather lackluster episode (which sits on my worst episodes list). Shallow, boring, and failed attempts at being charming...just like the characters themselves. Jasmine sits on some intrigue as does Aladdin, but does it warrant anything to stretch it out. What investment do we have in Fantasyland drama that involves none of our core cast and is just "Where's Waldo?"
Characters
Jasmine was introduced first in some major capacity. All her intrigue fell out the door and now she sits around going on and on about her kingdom. Understandable (but as I said, little stakes), but she comes off as a selfish nag. That transition from meek, sneaky princess to Zelda telling Link to save Hyrule doesn't do her many favors. But she gets some fleshing out with an assortment of conversations. That's not the same as her Will Scarlet-in-crime.
Aladdin is Will Scarlet without the charm of being a bumbling emote. I don't know what is with all these theif characters. But Aladdin is a miss seen easily in his introduction in episode 5. Instead of stealing food to eat and giving to those even worse off (a thief with a heart of gold), we get a (tryhard) charming guy who steals. That's it. No real reasons shown. Even robbed Doc because he could.
Truthfully, we've got no real reason to invest in their cause, but the writers realistically show how they wouldn't care about SB melodrama (But I wonder who's more important--strangers or the core cast?). Plus, they've got more development, I think, than David's search for his father, but David's kinda under the weather.
I think they aren't too bad, but I sort of miss the half-season exodus of the minor characters, only because I see them sticking around for a long time (given that we have two episodes left before the hiatus).
What do you see in their future? How are you recieving their major plot importance? Like'em, Hate'em, comment and discuss! Will they just catch the nearest portal out and have a single scene flash-forward to saved Agrabah?!