Once Upon a Time 4x22 & 4x23 Thoughts
May. 26th, 2015 11:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaOperation Mongoose
I found what the show chose to do with the whole Author re-write of history rather uninspired. I guess I went in hoping for something different and new, and was disappointed not to get it. Overall, it was only okay though I did love how it ended.
Liked
• The end. I was actually thinking about how I might give next season a pass because the show was starting to hit that point for me but then the end happened and now I'm really interested. Granted this is OUaT and the show runners are terrified of change so I'm sure by midseason at the latest everything will be back to normal. But Emma as the Dark One is a really fun idea so I'm interested to see what they do with it.
I loved how the end played out too (well, the execution was a little shaky) - the Darkness going for Regina (makes sense as she's the biggest villain left even if she's now turned over a new leaf) and Emma taking it into herself instead. I love that so much. ♥
• "She's the most powerful sorceress there is." - Henry re: Emma. Huh. This line just really stuck out to me because a) we've never had Emma called a sorceress before, and b) "most powerful", include more powerful than the evil queen. Was this just added in as a kind of awkward line so Regina could bring up Snow White or is there some deeper meaning with it?
• The Henry/Regina/Emma interactions were all pretty good.
• I liked Henry. Him as the new Author was perfect. But what exactly is the Author's job anyway? With the pen broken is this even going to change anything for him?
• Evil!Snow was pretty fun. I loved her first scene. The Snow/Regina face-off was great. I loved the dwarves as her black guard. Snow/Charming had an interesting twist to it. I both liked it and would have preferred a different approach. Snow keeping Charming as her loyal slave because James was her true love was a neat take however I feel like the show was trying to cram Regina's story too hard onto Snow and in doing so completely disregarded the Snow/Charming story. I guess the whole point of the new story was for the normal heroes to be villains aka unhappy but I would have loved Snow/Charming true love even as villains. The two of them as a villain pair would have been infinitely more interesting.
• I appreciated the mentions of Neal. Rumple's grief and request for how he wanted Isaac to write that part of his story was actually sad. Henry bringing up the possibility of using his Author ability to bring his dad back likewise worked well. [Never getting over them stretching the rules to bring back Maleficent. I can't believe I'm saying this but I wish they had brought his back.)
• I loved that Regina turning away from Robin in order to sacrifice herself to save Henry.
• Regina looked completely gorgeous when she was standing in the church doorway.
• I liked that Emma kept her memories. I liked her whole feral/trapped look and her later swashbuckling look. I liked her teaching Hook to fight and their scene in the loft when everyone returned was lovely. I loved her sword-fighting Rumple.
• "It's cold, there's no running water and things are always trying to kill you." - Isaac. Heh. In this I can agree with Isaac - modern world over Enchanted Forest for me too.
Didn't Like/Meh
• I was disappointed that the show decided to do this AU by mainly just switching the roles of the characters. I really wanted something new. Changing the stories up, or they could have kept everyone 'villains' but made them win instead of the 'heroes'. Also if all villains were given happy endings why didn't Regina get hers since she was in the Snow role?
• Despite being disappointed in how they chose to do the re-write I also wished we could have seen more of the world given. Specifically I really wanted more interaction between Emma and her parents, to see more of Maleficent, to see other reoccurring characters again, see more of kind of feral Emma and of all sorts of other things.
• The Apprentice removing the Darkness from Rumplestiltskin and him ending up with a pure white heart annoyed me. Rumple getting a clean slate is so freaking unearned! He spent this season conspiring and doing evil things. Plus I'm pretty sure that Rumple's heart pre becoming the Dark One was not that perfect anyway.
• The positioning of Regina as saviour was... meh? I don't know it didn't work for me for some reason.
• This is such a small moment but I think it encapsulates a lot of things that are irritating me about this show: when the Apprentice tells Emma that the Sorcerer is Merlin she turns and looks at Hook. What was the point of that? There's no indication that Captain Hook would know Merlin. On the other hand Henry would have the same background knowledge of Merlin as she would, so why the hell wouldn't she have shared a 'wtf is our lives' look with him instead?
• Why wasn't Henry with everyone else at the end? I can think of no real reason that he wouldn't have been there and there is every reason he should have. I wanted his reaction to Emma choosing to take Regina's place. The final exchange should have been between Emma and Henry.
• I was annoyed by Emma/Hook in that last scene. Not really because of them but because of how the scene was shot - Hook getting so many reaction shots, Emma's goodbye being to him, her last look is at him, the last reaction shot is his - and how it gave him precedence over her other relationships, specifically with her parents and Henry. It's weird because in season 2 before they became a thing I really shipped Emma/Hook but ever since I've mostly shipped them on and off. Sometimes I like them, sometimes they annoy me. I guess I just love Emma's relationships with her family over any romantic ones and would prefer most of the attention to remain on them.
I found what the show chose to do with the whole Author re-write of history rather uninspired. I guess I went in hoping for something different and new, and was disappointed not to get it. Overall, it was only okay though I did love how it ended.
Liked
• The end. I was actually thinking about how I might give next season a pass because the show was starting to hit that point for me but then the end happened and now I'm really interested. Granted this is OUaT and the show runners are terrified of change so I'm sure by midseason at the latest everything will be back to normal. But Emma as the Dark One is a really fun idea so I'm interested to see what they do with it.
I loved how the end played out too (well, the execution was a little shaky) - the Darkness going for Regina (makes sense as she's the biggest villain left even if she's now turned over a new leaf) and Emma taking it into herself instead. I love that so much. ♥
• "She's the most powerful sorceress there is." - Henry re: Emma. Huh. This line just really stuck out to me because a) we've never had Emma called a sorceress before, and b) "most powerful", include more powerful than the evil queen. Was this just added in as a kind of awkward line so Regina could bring up Snow White or is there some deeper meaning with it?
• The Henry/Regina/Emma interactions were all pretty good.
• I liked Henry. Him as the new Author was perfect. But what exactly is the Author's job anyway? With the pen broken is this even going to change anything for him?
• Evil!Snow was pretty fun. I loved her first scene. The Snow/Regina face-off was great. I loved the dwarves as her black guard. Snow/Charming had an interesting twist to it. I both liked it and would have preferred a different approach. Snow keeping Charming as her loyal slave because James was her true love was a neat take however I feel like the show was trying to cram Regina's story too hard onto Snow and in doing so completely disregarded the Snow/Charming story. I guess the whole point of the new story was for the normal heroes to be villains aka unhappy but I would have loved Snow/Charming true love even as villains. The two of them as a villain pair would have been infinitely more interesting.
• I appreciated the mentions of Neal. Rumple's grief and request for how he wanted Isaac to write that part of his story was actually sad. Henry bringing up the possibility of using his Author ability to bring his dad back likewise worked well. [Never getting over them stretching the rules to bring back Maleficent. I can't believe I'm saying this but I wish they had brought his back.)
• I loved that Regina turning away from Robin in order to sacrifice herself to save Henry.
• Regina looked completely gorgeous when she was standing in the church doorway.
• I liked that Emma kept her memories. I liked her whole feral/trapped look and her later swashbuckling look. I liked her teaching Hook to fight and their scene in the loft when everyone returned was lovely. I loved her sword-fighting Rumple.
• "It's cold, there's no running water and things are always trying to kill you." - Isaac. Heh. In this I can agree with Isaac - modern world over Enchanted Forest for me too.
Didn't Like/Meh
• I was disappointed that the show decided to do this AU by mainly just switching the roles of the characters. I really wanted something new. Changing the stories up, or they could have kept everyone 'villains' but made them win instead of the 'heroes'. Also if all villains were given happy endings why didn't Regina get hers since she was in the Snow role?
• Despite being disappointed in how they chose to do the re-write I also wished we could have seen more of the world given. Specifically I really wanted more interaction between Emma and her parents, to see more of Maleficent, to see other reoccurring characters again, see more of kind of feral Emma and of all sorts of other things.
• The Apprentice removing the Darkness from Rumplestiltskin and him ending up with a pure white heart annoyed me. Rumple getting a clean slate is so freaking unearned! He spent this season conspiring and doing evil things. Plus I'm pretty sure that Rumple's heart pre becoming the Dark One was not that perfect anyway.
• The positioning of Regina as saviour was... meh? I don't know it didn't work for me for some reason.
• This is such a small moment but I think it encapsulates a lot of things that are irritating me about this show: when the Apprentice tells Emma that the Sorcerer is Merlin she turns and looks at Hook. What was the point of that? There's no indication that Captain Hook would know Merlin. On the other hand Henry would have the same background knowledge of Merlin as she would, so why the hell wouldn't she have shared a 'wtf is our lives' look with him instead?
• Why wasn't Henry with everyone else at the end? I can think of no real reason that he wouldn't have been there and there is every reason he should have. I wanted his reaction to Emma choosing to take Regina's place. The final exchange should have been between Emma and Henry.
• I was annoyed by Emma/Hook in that last scene. Not really because of them but because of how the scene was shot - Hook getting so many reaction shots, Emma's goodbye being to him, her last look is at him, the last reaction shot is his - and how it gave him precedence over her other relationships, specifically with her parents and Henry. It's weird because in season 2 before they became a thing I really shipped Emma/Hook but ever since I've mostly shipped them on and off. Sometimes I like them, sometimes they annoy me. I guess I just love Emma's relationships with her family over any romantic ones and would prefer most of the attention to remain on them.
