Outtie's Season Five Episode ranking
Devil's Due (5.14)
The Dark Swan (5.1)
Her Handsome Hero (5.17)
The Bear and the Bow (5.6)
Birth (5.8 )
Our Decay (5.16)
Swan Song (5.11)
Siege Perilous (5.3)
Last Rites (5.21)
Broken Heart (5.10)
Nimue (5.7)
Labor of Love (5.13)
Firebird (5.20)
Dreamcatcher (5.5)
Souls of the Departed (5.12)
Only You (5.22)
The Broken Kingdom (5.4)
An Untold Story (5.23)
The Price (5.2)
Sisters (5.19)
The Brother's Jones (5.15)
The Bear King (5.9)
Ruby Slippers (5.18)
Overall I think season five was somewhat poor with only one truly great episode and 4 or five good ones interspersed among a messily plotted story arc. Camelot was an interesting place to visit, but ill used overall, especially regarding Merlin who was relegated to the background despite having what (I assume) must be one of the more interesting and certainly longest histories in Once! The Underworld held together better, but it still meandered and ultimately looking back I don't feel satisfied with the ending where we lose Robin Hood and regain Hook.
There were a few very good moments/reveals with Excalibur being the bottom half of the dark dagger (The Dark Swan?) Hook being a 2nd Dark One; stupid though the idea of having 2 dark ones at once may be (Birth), Rumple introducing Emma and Milah (Devil's Due) and then him consigning her to the river of lost souls.
Less wonderful however were 'The Sands of Avalon' (The Broken Kingdom), Charming murdering Percival (The Price?), Merlin's pointless death (Birth), Emma's bizarre motivation for behaving the way she did in the first half (I'm gonna make you (her family) pay for what you did to me) being a shield to hide Hook's dark One status (all first half of season), The River of Lost Souls never being emptied via Pan Pipe (come on writers it was RIGHT THERE to be used!), Hood's oblivion death/Hook's annoying return (Last Rites), Henry trying to destroy magic for dumb reasons without a thought about his extended family (Only You) and just generally nobody in the 'hero' group giving a crap about Rumple or Belle, both of whom are family, one of whom saved all their lives and the other of whom is supposed to be their friend. That whole group is so hyper focused inward that they completely ignore the feelings of anyone outside that group unless they're a one-off character that needs closure and then leaves (Herc & Meg).
