I think we can all agree that endings are not the strong point of Once Upon a Time.
This was an exciting season, and there was so much potential. There was the fantastic angle of Emma as a dark one, and Killian Jones and the man he was with his blood lust. There was Rumplestiltskin as a hero, there was Regina Mills as a normal Regina Mills because Regina Mills is awesome. There were the Charmings, and everything in between. There was so much that they could have done.
Yet, Once Upon a Time writers seem to have an inability to commit. They always begin with fantastic ideas and get side-tracked into some other world. I wrote about what a world Once Upon a Time had become – with Emma’s darkness, and the woven tale of Arthur, who is not a villain driven by anger or revenge, but of madness. The lines between good and evil were blurring, and then, this happened.
The fact of the matter is, Once Upon a Time has problems picking plot lines. The concept of a mid-season finale proves this. They would be in one world for approximately thirteen episodes, in another for the rest.
These plots are ridiculous, because not only do they abandon the plot and the concept after those thirteen episodes, relevant characters are never heard of again. I wonder what happened to Lily, the anti-savior?
After all, you’d think it was important to follow up with the story of someone who changes into a dragon, is the daughter of Malificent, and a character which was supposed to be a vessel for all of Emma’s potential darkness? And anyway, once Emma becomes the Dark One, what happens to the person with Emma’s potential for darkness?
And again, it’s the same problem. Previously, this issue was understandable, because certain villain came and went with the lands that they were part of. Peter Pan, The Ice Queen, The Evil Queen, the Wicked Witch, they all came and faded – with some of them making lasting impact.
Once Upon a Time relies too much on its characters having major epiphanies towards the end of any season to make the whole character development relevant. I was enjoying Rumplestiltskin as a hero. And that had to go as well.
The concept of going to the Underworld sounds great! Except I know it will be there for only thirteen episodes again. Instead, the writers could easily pick a running theme, a running concept, a blurring of good and evil for the whole of the season, and write it skillfully and believably.
Instead, we get insane character development for thirteen episodes, with one episode of nullification and one new complication.
And while we’re at complications, can we talk about Belle? Someone needs to tell her that she’s picked the wrong guy. Will Scarlet is an infinitely better guy for this, for crying out loud. It’s completely irrelevant to the whole problem I just spoke about right now, but Belle needs to have a sit down and a conversation with herself.
I suppose we wait for March, and for Regina, because of all the characters, she’s had the most consistent and believable character development of all time. The rest of them (Ahem, Rumplestiltskin) walk around with bipolar problems, with the worst cases of PTSD. Regina, you are my savior.
Until March sixth, then.
