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Once Upon a Time Season 4


Good God a Bear
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I feel like this is the most contrieved story they have done. I think it's full of retcons and OOC moments; Emma acting like she's 13 not a seasoned hero, Snow and Charming are now just nothing characters, Robin Hood is being a complete douche... he is equal to a guy cheating on his spouse as they go thru some debilatating disease. I believe Gold's motivations are only so mysterious because they probably haven't written that far ahead yet... and when it gets to it if he isn't trying to bring Neil back from the dead then his character has been assasinated. The Snow Queen's logic is so fucked up it would be rejected by the writers of Heroes. Storybrooke must now be the size of Rhode Island since our entire cast, excluding magical-muggle Henry, couldn't find a bright yellow VWBug. This story feels like a Monster of the Week episode that has somehow lasted half the season.

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Emma acting like she's 13 not a seasoned hero,

This was the last straw for me, in the last episode I watched. "Oh, no! My powers made exactly one bad thing happen because of clumsy contrived circumstances! I am terrible and not a hero and I want my powers to go away, and then I'll be happy at last and the day will save itself without me!" Every season she finds a new reason to chicken out for several episodes, and then she circles right back around to normal, and we're meant to accept her personality hamster-wheeling as character development.

 

I expect in a future episode she'll get her wish of losing her powers once and for all, flee Storybrooke in her stupid VW, abandon her loved ones, and go hook up with her perfect match, Clark Kent from Smallville.

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  • 4 weeks later...

With the Frozen story over I know where it went wrong for me.

 

1. Retcons. There were changes to Emma and the Frozen lore, arguably minor but still annoying.

 

Teen Emma living with the Snow Queen annoyed me because it really should shake Emma to the core, but it doesn't. It's a WTF moment for her but then nothing. Emma has now lived a fake life for a year in New York, plus has now had real memories of who knows how long removed from her life and substituted with what? Sure she gets her memories back, but just what was in it's place? Let's not forget being abandoned by her parents (yes, for a cause) and her lover (yes, forced to by pinocchio) and lived being unwanted by the welfare system and it's families. The fact that this woman even believes her name is Emma is a miracle. Instead of dealing with that real drama they fabricate turmoil over having magic. Enough already.

 

The Frozen universe was so well translated in look and feel but they felt the need to alter the royal bloodline... making the mother's side royal. This can be seen as a nitpick, certainly, but it irks me so greatly. The father now has nothing. Everything is all leveraged to the mother's side. If they kept magic thru the mother's side but the royal line thru the father then the parents together form up the important pieces for Anna and Elsa. Their retcon makes the father nothing but a sperm donor, plus it contradicts the film.

 

2. imo Anna makes Frozen work. This OUAT tale however removes her for the majority of the story. What we get is now a tale with no life and no bounce. Everyone is morose. When Anna does appear the drama still exists but her personality breathes life into the dialogue. All characters, even in scenes where Anna is not present seem affected just by her being in the script, it seems the writer's themselves found bounce just plotting her into an episode.

 

3. Gold has no purpose. He's being evil because what? We are just supposed to watch him abandon all character growth for what? There is only one justification for Gold's actions and it involves Bae/Neal. Everything Gold has ever done for good or evil was for his son. Seasons ago that first moment of losing Bae to our world was the result of Gold's misguided conclusion that without power he'd lose his son. It was never about power for power's sake. Gold has never done anything for any other reason. To now suggest he is a mustache twirling villain with plans for what? World Domination? Ugh. It's a travesty. All they had to say is he's trying to bring Neal back from the dead, you lay that plan and you can have Gold be as corrupt as you want and abandon all else. Doing that becomes a stomachable reset of his character instead of what looks like an expansion that has no connection to the character's defining personality.

 

4. Robin Hood is a douche bag. They could have written the triangle tension with him showing compassion to his wife, his son, his family. But no. Instead he barely gives Marian, who's only "crime" is existing, another thought. In addition his son is essentially a prop. He goes thru the story only thinking of moving his merry man into Regina's enchanted forest.

 

5. How about characters take a stand for once? How about characters say, "No. I will not do that. So just kill me." Why are we supposed to feel for Hook? He's another douche bag with no self control who allows himself to be repeatedly manipulated. It's magic! You say. No. It's dumb. It's Red Kryptonite and it's just as tired. Just once, someone say no. Force the manipulator down a different path. End the story for the "victim" with nobility. It's not like Storybrooke has a small population after all.

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That post is my favorite thing you've written all year. Maybe even in years. :heart:

 

All five points ring with truth, but #2 resounds the loudest. When I was still hanging in there, the writers seemed to think Elsa was the coolest thing about Frozen. Sure, she had a radiant dress and the most show-stopping song, but take those away and she's a whiny Silver Age Marvel mutant angsting about her first-world problems with her totally amazing super-powers. You're absolutely right: Anna was the heart, soul, wit, and point of Frozen. Reducing her to a MacGuffin was an insult and a waste of her character, at the expense of her mopey sister who moves a lot more Disney Princess merchandise.

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I miss how a lot of...uhh...things(?) about the characters in the first 2 seasons were very subtle, almost easter eggish. But now whenever a new character comes along it's like they were ripped straight from the Disney movie they were in.

 

Except for the new Ursula. Why can't she at least be wearing her signature black and purple color scheme?

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So... yeah. That moment for Gold may have been emotional for me had we known what his actual reason for doing it was for like realzees. Hard to feel for him, as awesome a character and as well acted as it was, given as he even said "the evolution" of his purpose. Poor Belle, however. Sure Gold kinda Bizarro style explains, "Me am evil so vacation can be had! ha ha ha!" Ugh. Why couldn't he have told Regina he needed to leave to bring back his son?! Why?! [insert dramatic crane shot]

 

Seems weird to me that Will Scarlett was brought in, specifically mentioned as having a spat with Robin which was why Robin sent him away prior to us meeting him and then none of that be used to help Robin's and Regina's story along. Given the astounding nobility shown by Marian there was a shoe that should have damn well dropped, but never did. Especially weird given they let us see a long involved conversation and goodbye between Robin and Will, granted from a distance so we can't know what was said... but yeah.

 

Also why was anyone in Storybrooke surprised or in need of Anna to explain that Gold was a liar. LOL That was a really really weird and forced moment. I wanted someone, Emma maybe just someone to reply, "No shit, really?!" LOL But it was actually a key revelation in the plot.

 

Lastly, the actress for Ursula is being seriously hurt by this costume choice, it's distractingly horrible. And her hair.

 

Afterthought: Lana's ability to emote The Evil Queen in a half second smile and then be Good Regina again is awesome, even if I am screaming for her to stay the goram course!

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