Once Upon a Time Season 5 -- Let's Begin

[LindaM]

Let's see, three episodes ago, Mary and Francis had sex in a forest lake -- nude no less.

Last week, two blow jobs, 2 aggressive sex scenes and one more I have blanked from my mind.

Last night, hare and hounds, sex toys, sex games, bed games.

[Outlast]

Good heavens. Glad I'm not watching that! and I thought Outlander was bad (granted I didn't get past the first few episodes).

[LindaM]

Outlander is at least on a prem station (Starz) who has a rep for being outrageous.  Reign is on CW.  8:00 on regular television has restrictions hasn't it.  And believe me, Once was mild in comparison.

[LindaM]

Wow!  Oh wow!.  What else can I say about last night's episode.  Don't know if you have seen it yet or not but Wow! 

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First off, loved how Emma and her family faced down the evil Dark Ones.  They stood together and were going to fall together.  Emma wouldn't let her family be taken and I loved that.  even as a Dark One, she was a source of light.

Loved how Regina and Robin got their together bit on.  When they confronted Zelena over the baby and not letting her turn the child evil, I said yes.  Every child should have free will.  Then when Regina brought out the wand and Zelena taunted her, I thought don't mess with Mother Bear.  Sure enough this time Zelena didn't find a weak Regina.  She sent Regina flying back to Oz.

Hook -- well you know how I feel about him but he got redeemed last night.  First we get his back story (bitterness galore), then we get his hero efforts, WOW!  And why is it that the fathers of these people (except Charming and Neil) were such er bastards.  Don't get it.  I didn't like the reason Hook killed his dad. That was sheer jealousy but he made up for it by redeeming himself to Emma.

Rumbelle back together.  That should make you happy.  What makes me happy is Rumple has his old role back -- he's the Dark One now with Emma and her family knowing his secret.  Wow!  Will Belle find out?  Is Belle preggers? Of course she is.

And what a way to set up the 100th episode.  Now I just wonder how long they're be in Hades Storybrooke.

[Outlast]

I haven't watched it, but I did make sure it taped an extra hour because you warned me about Obama.

Judging by the thread titles at IMDb the Rumbelle fans are all pissed again, so I don't feel an immediate desire to watch more crap dragging down my favorites characters. Sounds like you liked it though.

[LindaM]

Yeah -- I can where Rumbelle fans are upset.  But hey -- it at least gives Gold his old role back, Belle and he are together (at least for now), he swore Emma that she wouldn't tell Belle, and the show seems back on track.  Hook's even gone!

[Outlast]

I think if you took out the part where Rumple rigged the sword so he could get his power back, then this would've been on ok episode maybe. I hated that Belle left (so very tired of the wishy washy way they've written Belle), but loved that she came back and they were happy... except none of it's real because Rumple is Dark AGAIN negating everything he's learned since season one! I understand that Rumple is sooo much more fun to watch as the Dark One than as pure heart Rumple, believe me I understand and agree that he's more fun when he's dark. The problem is they've spent so much time swirling around the drain of redemption and now they've ruined everything. How can Rumple have his happy ending now? I feel like the show promised me a happy ending for Rumple and Belle and yet now I know that as soon as they get back from Hell, Emma or one of the others (probably Hook or Regina) will tell Belle, she'll flip out again (at least this time it's for a decent reason!) and leave him AGAIN. I'm so tired of that pattern! If The Evil Queen can murder 100's of people (count pending) and be forgiven to such an extent they will let her take her sister's baby to have her happy ending... why can't Rumplestiltskin just be allowed to be happy? If they had to make him dark again (because they aren't good enough writer's to write him any other way) then why not dream up so convoluted reason that the darkness went back to him or they could've had Hook enchant the sword and force the darkness back into Rumple against his wishes (because the Rumple I believe in would've wanted to stay pure) or have Rumple sacrifice himself in a heroic fashion by willingly taking the darkness back to save his hated enemy Hook (which would REALLY stick in Hook's craw I bet!). You see there are so many ways they could write this show to be consistent in character without losing the fun aspects or the conflict.

The only thing I can think of re: Rumple's wanting the dark back is because Belle just left him again and maybe that's all he had left to live for? Even that doesn't really fit. I'm grasping at straws here!

I was reading through a OUAT forum hoping someone else might be able to help me feel better about this and I came across this post...

The biggest problem with this show are the redemption arcs. I honestly believe majority of the bad things about the show trace back to the decision to redeem the season 1 villains (especially Regina) rather then kill them off when their immediate arcs finished.

Once this characters were sticking around, redemption became a key theme of the series and everything else was damaged as a result.

People hate what the "new" Emma and her relationship with Hook? Emma being okay with Hook's criminal past didn't start with Hook. Once everyone made the decision to forgive Regina for everything she had done it became impossible to not forgive anyone else for anything. Now the show has no stakes. Whenever anyone does anything bad or something that hurts someone else we know it will be forgiven because the precedent has already been set.

Emma could be best friends with Milah and Zelena next week and it would still be inline with the messed up morality the show created.

You think the heroes are stupid? They have to be to excuse the continued existence of the people who were once villains.

"Yeah but Snow and Charming do bad things too". The show has a messed up morality but the Snowing kidnapping plot was included in the story to force the message that anyone can do bad things and be redeemed. Snowing characters were sacrificed for Hook, Regina and a lesser extent Rumple. If the Once villains hadn't been redeemed this story line wouldn't exist and Snowing's bad decisions would have stayed in the normal range. 

Granted this didn't really help me feel better, but it does make sense. Because the show chose to redeem Regina (and by redeem I don't mean she changed completely or anything, I just mean that the show treats her like a hero and usually completely paves over the bad things she does whether in the past or in the present) and so now anyone can be forgiven anything because Regina did worse and she's gotten away with it.


I don't know. Sorry for the overlong post. At least I finally watched the finale.

[LindaM]

Okay I've been giving this some thought and came up with this.  We know Merlin "supposedly" died.  I say it that way because I don't think he's really dead.  I think he's waiting to reappear and this was part of his plot.  Rumple took the darkness because he knows he can control it.  We can't have all good and we can't have all bad in the world.   We have to have good and evil for us to have free will.  Gold has been bad and still has a conscious. 

This theme has been played out before.  Go back and watch the Tom Baker's "Key of Time" year.  The guardians then stated that the universe couldn't exist unless both were in it.  If we had only the light, it would be boring and the same goes for dark.  There has to be a mixed.  Same thing was shown with the last season of LOST.  That's my biggest beef.  These people were all connected with LOST and have done it before.  They're wimping out.

I'm really not upset about Regina.  With Regina being Henry's mother they had to find  a way to keep her. Rumple is the key villian and that's been the case all along.  Rumple isn't what he was during season one in the Enchanted Woods.  He doesn't want world domination or even domination of Storybrooke.  It's more like he wants to be left alone and then Belle came and his world view changed.

Now I'm running on. Gold has been a hero when he was bad before.  He can do it again.  But someone/somewhere has to be evil. Zelena as the Dark One won't work.  And I hearing a new character for the 100 episode has been cast and the description sounds like Satan. Could he ultimately get all the evil?  If so Rumple could return as good Gold but then he'd be boring again.

[LindaM]

Wow!  This is another big episode and may mark the return from the Underworld.  The cemetery in the rain just happened but I don't think it is the one from what was supposed to be one of the last episodes.  They're hitting it out of the park again.

[LindaM]

All I will say is that episode 18 was good.  Can't say too much or give plot away.  Will say I think Belle made an error.

[Outlast]

All I will say is that episode 18 was good.  Can't say too much or give plot away.  Will say I think Belle made an error.

She wants her father, HER FATHER! to wake her up?!  She does realize that just because she's asleep that doesn't mean Hades can't take the baby out right?

This episode 

[LindaM]

 
Belle's not thinking. Either she's the dumbest person in the Enchanted Forest or Regina gave her too many drugs.  Or Zelena could have messed with her brain cells.

   Come on -- you and I both know who will have to wake her up and it won't be her father.  He doesn't give "true love's kiss."

[Merry Prankster]

MP has a question for  the superfans:  Does the sleep spell put the baby in stasis, i.e., the baby stops developing until Belle wakes up?

The Underworld must make the heroes a bit wool-headed.  What about baby Pomegranate,  who is hiding in the woods with Robin because of the fear Hades might do something to her?  Did anyone even think to look for her so Snow could take her back to Storybrooke?

[Outlast]

MP has a question for  the superfans:  Does the sleep spell put the baby in stasis, i.e., the baby stops developing until Belle wakes up?

The Underworld must make the heroes a bit wool-headed.  What about baby Pomegranate,  who is hiding in the woods with Robin because of the fear Hades might do something to her?  Did anyone even think to look for her so Snow could take her back to Storybrooke?

The subject of baby stasis has yet to come up in Once despite the proliferation of sleeping curses. The only storyline I can point to is that awful story with Hook's father who was under a sleeping curse for a hundred plus years and didn't age...so presumably if he had been pregnant at the time than the baby wouldn't have aged either? I don't know it depends on whether the sleeping curse is pro-life or pro-choice. Either the baby is a separate human being that hasn't been cursed and thus will continue to grow or a cell clump that will nap along with mummy.

I was wondering about baby Pomegranate too. Why not take her out of the the underworld or maybe I don't know...HENRY.

[LindaM]

Henry has to stay and write -- whatever he writes gives them clues. 

I wonder about baby green beans also.  Only thing I could figure if they went to get her Hades might get his hands on her. 

The whole statis thing is weird.  At least maybe they won't celebrate the May month like they use to on ABC daytime.  It was so bad, we dreaded the advent of May on Soaps because we called it "dead baby month".  Every May, a baby died.

My question is:  how will it end.  I figure they will escape, Hades goes with them, and they kill him.  Unsure though.