TMI Tuesday — now that we’re in the middle of hiatus, what are your feelings about s6 as a whole? What do you think about the big changes teased for s7?

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I am so, so, so sorry that this has been sitting in my inbox for so long! I didn’t have time to reply when you sent it because I wanted to give a thoughtful response and to be honest it’s been non-stop ever since. Thank you so much for sending this question in! You’ve sent me questions like this before and I love questions like this 🙂 You are the best!

I’m going to put the answers under the cut because I’ve gone on a bit. Given you asked about season 7 there are spoilers under the cut.

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Thoughts on Season Six
The phrase “time heals all wounds” comes to mind. Distance means perspective, it sort of takes the edge off things. I had a very emotional reaction to a lot of 6A. I stared at the TV in horror after I think it was 6×07. I always used to watch Once pretty much immediately the first chance I could but I found myself procrastinating about watching it. To be blunt I didn’t want to watch.

The only reason why I sat through 6×09 was because the mid season finale had aired and I’d been told it was better. I still found myself pausing episode 9 and questioning my choices. I find the world and the characters of Once captivating. It’s so full of potential, they are so interesting and layered. The actors are phenomenal but some of the writing and the plots … I really did consider just quitting because I wondered why I was putting myself through this.

Anyway, 6B was better – a lot better. Although after some of 6A I think to be honest the only way was up because rock bottom had definitely been reached. 6B still wasn’t great but I always have tried to focus on the good, and to explain away the bad. I justify it within character where I can and blame the writers where I can’t. That was at the time though and you are asking what I’m thinking about season 6 now.

Well like I said – time heals all wounds. I will never, ever rewatch certain parts of season 6. I feel physically sick just mentally replaying Belle calling Rumple “worse than evil” for being afraid of failing. I blame the writers 100% for that because I don’t want to blame Belle. I love Belle and that was a horrific piece of dialogue.

TV is supposed to be a positive thing – a happy thing in life. So like I said I try to focus on the good and distance helps with that. I remember the good parts of season 6 more than I remember the bad. Distance does help make me feel more positive in general about the show. I know after I finished season 5 I felt a little like I’d fallen down a rabbit hole and slipped into an alternate dimension, because what I was watching just hadn’t made sense.

Over the hiatus I managed to make it make sense. I justified it within canon and then I was ready and actually eagerly anticipating season 6. More fool me I guess given what happened but Once is one of my favorite currently airing shows. There’s nothing else on TV like it and despite everything I’ll miss it when it stops airing.

I don’t know if this properly answers your question but it’s the best answer I have. Season 6 gave us a lot of gifts in terms of fanfic. It was visually stunning. Oh and I can’t forget – two Regina’s! Honestly that was the best reason to keep tuning in. I definitely feel more positive about it now after some distance but I haven’t yet completely blocked out some of the worst parts.

Thoughts on Season 7
I watched the first couple of seasons of Burn Notice! I have them on DVD for some reason though I don’t recall how or why. I’ve not seen past that but honestly Gabrielle Anwar looks exactly the same. I’m going to be waiting for her to go “Michael!” in a very exasperated tone heh 🙂

Anyway, I’ve not really been on tumblr all that much last few weeks so I’m not fully informed on spoilers, but then you did ask this a couple of weeks ago before most of them come out so … that’s probably about right!

It’s weird my gut reaction when they announced all the new regulars was to go “well if they are going to have a large cast, why cut so many that people loved like Belle?” and then I thought about it and I realized why – money. It all comes down to money. For each successive season that someone is a regular they get a pay rise. So bringing in new people means they can pay them substantially less than the old cast. As always once I understand something I can’t really be annoyed about it so yeah that’s cool.

To be honest it’s no surprise to me that the characters are under another curse. They pretty much had to be and we always knew it for one simple reason – aging. I know that Rumple technically wouldn’t age because he’s the dark one. However, Hook is only as old as he is because of Neverland, he ages normally in this world and outside of a curse so does Regina. So for them to look the same they would need to have been cursed within at least ten years of the season 6 finale.

I have a lot of questions as to how the curse works. It’s confined to a suburb of Seattle but how is the curse in Seattle? I’ve always headcanoned that Maine was like a crossover point between the land without magic and the Enchanted Forest. That’s where Storybrooke poofed into existence, that’s where Emma came through – that’s where Lily/Cruella/Ursula came through etc. Now obviously there are magical tears if you like other places. Dorothy got caught in a whirlwind in Kansas for example. I’m hoping there will be an explanation for the setting but Once isn’t particularly good on details like that, so I’m not holding my breath.

Regarding the new curse identities I don’t think we know what Regina’s is yet but Hook is an officer and Rumple a detective from the filming pictures. That’s going to be so much fun. It’s a completely different wardrobe. Imagine the AU gifsets our talented gifmakers could make with the new material 🙂

Basically my thoughts on the big changes for season 7 are just that I’m going to try and enjoy the ride. There are things that I want and I think I already answered that in another question from you 🙂 I want Regina being a protective mother and grandmother. I want Rumple being a protective Grandfather. I want Regina and Rumple working together to take care of the bad guys. I don’t know what we’ll get and I’m trying to keep my expectations in check.

Again I don’t know if that answers your question. Generally my thoughts are quite positive regarding season 7. My two favorite characters are still on the show. I’m interested to know what’s happened. I’m willing to wait and watch and see it unfold. I hope very much that Belle and Gideon are fine and that Rumple will be reunited with them before the end of the season. They got their happy beginning and I want them to have their happy ending as well!