I saw the Once Upon a Time two-part finale on Wednesday the 18th, the day it was put up on netflix. I wrote down comments while I was watching but until today I didn’t get round to properly making them up into a coherent blog post.

This is the last blog post about Once Upon a Time – Season Five. I have blogged through the entire season, this is my 15th post. Writing 15 posts about 23 episodes is pretty good going. I’m too lazy to check the word count but considering I don’t think any of my posts are under 2k these days, and quite often they go up to 5k, that is a fair few words about what was the worst season of the show.

I love this show, I really do, it’s my favorite currently airing show. There is nothing else on TV (that I know about at least) that is remotely like it. However, that doesn’t mean it gets a complete pass. I call it how I see it, and the show itself and all the characters suffered through this season, no-one came out of it looking good.

I’m going to run through my comments on the finale and then I’ll do a series post-mortem, along with some hopes I have for season six.

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I haven’t blogged about Once Upon a Time for about a month. I write these posts, less to talk about the episodes and plot, and more about the characters and their motivations and interactions. It really is all about the characters.

When logic goes out the window and the comments start sounding like “it couldn’t possibly get worse … then it did” or “there is not enough headcanon in the world to explain that much fail” or “it can’t be worse than last week .. then seriously they cranked the stupidity up to eleven” etc. etc.

Watching the show recently has felt a little bit like slipping into an alternate reality. I’m watching characters say and do things that make zero sense, purely because the writers obviously decided they needed x or y to happen. I get the real world motivations but talk about breaking suspension of disbelief. If I’m thinking about the writers and the actors, rather than the show and the characters, then that is a big failure.

It’s fiction, it’s supposed to be immersive. It’s not supposed to make me scream at the TV because I’m so mad at the writers. Screaming is good only if it’s at characters, because that means I’m invested and it’s stirring emotion. I yelled at the TV when Young left Rush to die on the planet in Stargate: Universe because I was shocked – but I believed it! I believed that Young could do that and I have both hated Young and loved that show ever since. Talk about a defining moment.

Anyway, this post is going to be a catch-all for all my comments up to the finale, which I will get to see on Wednesday!

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Considering this was a big Rumplestiltskin and Belle episode you’d think I’d have a lot to say. However, there wasn’t as much subtext this week. In a lot of respects it was “what you see, is what you get”, like finally all the disparate elements come together in a big conclusion.

It wasn’t obviously a big conclusion and nothing was really resolved but for the most part, everything just seemed clearer this week. Plus everything I said last week about Rumple, Belle, their respective motives and feelings all still applies. I’m not going to repeat myself. In fact I’m struggling with what to do aside from quoting large parts of the episode and going “I agree” because it was a bit like that.

So was the episode good?

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I didn’t get to watch 5.16 – Our Decay until Friday evening. I’ve been busy.

Just like last week I wrote some notes to myself while I was watching the episode. I had to pause it a few times so I didn’t miss anything. I did think that maybe it would help me remember all the points I have. However, (edited to add) this morning I woke up having remembered something.

Wow this weeks episode was certainly awesome. Next weeks looks to be even more awesome! That’s kind of funny that I said that, given my friends opinion was that the episode was “meh” but then we have different favorite characters.

Anyway spoilers under the cut and all that jazz.

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Last week, the Once Upon a Time episode was Rumple-centric. This week, there was no Rumple at all. To get last week, the episode before it and the one after had Rumple as credit only. That kind of takes the shine of such an episode.

I half wrote this post while I was watching the episode. Just notes scribbled on my phone because I wasn’t sure I would have time otherwise. Fair warning, there’s no much ‘deep’ insight this week – lot more snark.

Seriously my main comment when the episode was finished was – “No Rumple again!” Which after last weeks cliffhanger, felt like a real letdown. It was akin to the two back-to-back episodes during 5A, where the first one revealed Hook was a dark one and the second was all about Merida and none of the main cast was even in it. Actually I think Zelena was in it, but she’s not exactly “one of the gang”.

So I suppose this episode wasn’t as bad as that. At least the main cast were all present, it was just after last weeks cliffhanger I expected (alright hoped) to see Rumple doing something. About the only really good about this episode was the ending – there was another cliffhanger and it was an interesting one.

On to the snark …

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I didn’t blog about Once Upon a Time last week. The episode was ok, Regina had some good lines but aside from that it wasn’t noteworthy in any fashion. Regina’s role was small and there was no Rumplestiltskin at all. The episode was Snow White centric and while I don’t dislike her, it holds no particular fascination for me. It was a filler episode and I guess that’s because they were saving all the awesome for this week.

This weeks episode was Rumple centric but Regina had some good development too. With my two favourites taking center stage, it was on to a winner even before we get to what actually happened. Was it actually a winner though? I don’t know, we all have our headcanon and then sometimes it’s hard to tell whether the tone of things has changed, my perspective has changed or if I’m trying to force my beliefs onto something.

Spoilers under the cut.

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Three months of waiting. Three long months between episodes. Seriously that hiatus is painful but it’s finally at an end. Last Sunday in the US the 100th episode of Once Upon a Time – Souls of the Departed aired. It was put up on netflix on Wednesday and I watched it that evening.

The 100th episode is a landmark occasion. It’s usually marked by something extra special and this was no different. They brought back a lot of old guest stars and there was a lot of callbacks to previous events. It was an episode for the fans and it wasn’t bad. However, it wasn’t that great either as much as it pains me to say that.

The episode itself wasn’t the problem – it’s the Underworld. I have such an issue with this storyline and I’m going to go into greater detail under the cut. Spoiler alert and all that jazz.

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This will be my 8th post about 5A, the first half of Once Upon a Time’s Season Five. It’s been a roller-coaster ride, with each episode twisting in ways I didn’t expect, blowing theories out of the water and generating new ones.

The journey is now over, the arc for 5B has been set. We know where we are going, or at least the main destination. The next new episode won’t air until March 6th, it’s going to be a long hiatus as despite the arc being wrapped up there are still many questions, some of which I rate as quite important. We all have our favourites and this mid-season finale made for a lot of uncertainty, and a fair bit of doubt, regarding the happy ending of my favourite character.

I will go along with the writers on most things because I don’t mind angst, I don’t mind the journey, so long as it ends up making everything right in the end. Now obviously I don’t know how long this show will go on for, if there are several more seasons (I can only hope) then if the journey is a long one then I can accept that. However, sometimes some things can not be undone, people can cross the line and go too far and then they can’t come back. So long as there’s hope I’ll go along with it, but if there is no hope that things will end how I want then I won’t be happy.

However, for now I’m willing to see where the writers are going to take this. I have some hopes and I have some suspicions, see under the cut for the Swan Song.

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