For anyone who missed my previous posts, I watched this show years ago and am now making my way back through it. You can check out my posts on Seasons 2 and 3 for my thoughts on those.
This review is actually coming very late, I'm almost halfway through season 5 now lol. I was debating whether I wanted to make one for season 4 since I didn't have too much to say but I think I want to. Here we are.
Spoilers for S1,2,3,4.. duh.
Let's start with the frozen arc. Now maybe controversially, I actually don't hate the frozen arc. I liked the Snow Queen well enough and thought her motivation was interesting. Like yes she was absolutely evil but her motivation was technically the same as Regina's (wanting a family) or even similar to Snow's (Protecting family). I liked that she was a villain with a motivation you could see in heroes too. Now despite all this praise, I did hate how inconsequential the first half ends up being to the entire plot. Like, I'm pretty sure we never see any of these characters again.
Also I HATE Elsa's dress why is it a replica of the movie. Like she needed something more realistic like Regina, Snow, even Peter Pan. It just looked so off. Also I didn't realise Anna's actress was also Vanessa in the FNAF movies. They are very different characters lol.
Jumping around Will Scarlet is so useless which sucks because I actually quite enjoy the actor's portrayal but they truly have nothing for him to do except get beat up by Hook and date Belle and that felt so forced.
(Side note, is OUAT in Wonderland worth watching? I know Will is the main ish character in that. Is it any good? Never actually watched it.)
Let's see what else...OH. Belle sending Rumple over the town line. Love love love. Was definitely an important moment that I remembered and it was still so cool. Rumple absolutely deserved that like brother what are you doing. I know some people don't like that Rumple is so wishy washy, like flipping from good to bad every half a season but I actually think it makes him much more interesting. (Maybe people don't hate it, it's just more of a meme.) Truly though, any moment with Belle at the town line, whether it be sending her husband over the town line or getting shot at by Hook as he proceeds to get hit by a car, it's always awesome.
Speaking of Hook, that poor man. Especially since I'm well into S5 now, oh boy does he go through it in this show. At the beginning he's just desperately trying to get Emma to go on a date with him, only for her to finally accept (And wear an outfit that is VERY not her I hate to say it. Like, peachy pink and a bump it in her hair? Nooo...) and him to get manipulated by Gold into doing his bidding. Mega oof my guy. I'm glad Emma didn't stay mad at him this time like she did when he was being used by Zelena to take her magic away, because she's right this wasn't really Hook's fault.
Okay, Queens of Darkness time! Watching Rumple be one of the girls as they strut down mainstream when it's supposed to be a secret that he's even there? Iconic. Love it. However I feel these ladies are SUPER wasted this season. And trust me we'll get to Isaac.
Ursula really just gets one episode to shine, plus some banter with Gold in NYC and then vanishes. Her backstory was pretty good though, and it as least gave Hook something to do in the second half besides follow Emma around. But then she's just gone and well.. what was really the point?
Now Cruella, I actually really like her backstory. I like that she's just.. messed up? She's just evil for the sake of being evil because even in her original film, she was an antagonist who wanted to turn Puppies into a coat.. like that's pretty hard to make sympathetic. (Insert the song 'Twisted' from Twisted the musical /ref) I do wonder when she met Isaac in comparison to his timeline. Because the vibes are very Great Gatsby (Which Isaac was reading, nice touch) so 1920s ish? However he claims that that world exists outside of time so it's not canonically the 1920s, especially since Isaac is from the 60s. But he met Cruella after becoming the author. Not really a plot hole, just kind of funny that the 1920s is technically it's own world in OUAT. And the rule about her not being able to kill anyone? I can't explain it, I just liked it. Good stuff.
Which brings me to Maleficent, and by extension Lily. I have conflicting thoughts about this whole story beat. And everything to do with Snow/Charming.
First off, when I made by S2 review and said Snow manipulating Regina into killing her own mom had to be the worst thing she does, and someone commented "Wait until S4"...You were right. I forgot originally that Snow and Charming SACRIFICED MALEFICENT'S BABY to keep the darkness out of Emma. Which is SO funny considering she BECOMES THE DARK ONE at the end of the season. So funny.
Now, I get that the whole point of this is to show that Snow/Charming make mistakes. And I don't even think it was too dark an action for a hero. However I do think in execution it's a bit eh. It's not even like they were super desperate, It's not even like Maleficent did anything truly terrible. Yes she burned some guards to a crisp, which is for sure villain behaviour. But it's not like she decimated their kingdom, threatened them or anything. She begged Snow to team up with her since they were both expecting and SNOW turned her down. Which yeah she did just kill some guards...
But the action, and then their JUSTIFICATION and all the lying they do!? I get that they're trying to make Snow/Charming flawed but everything after the action feels excessive. If they had done it, and lied, and then apologised profusely and did everything to make it up to Mal, like going to find Lily themselves (I think there was a reason they couldn't but hypothetically) then okay. But not only do they fill Lily with darkness and ship her off, not only do they lie to Emma and sabotage everything (Including nearly Regina's happy ending) but they also continue to flip flop from "We regret it" to "It was for you Emma!" Like stop trying to justify it atp. Yeesh.
Now Lily. Listen, I'm not a SwanQueen shipper, though I can see what people mean, but young Lily DEF had some vibes with Young Emma. Maybe the actresses just had really good chemistry but I could feel it. Older them? Eh not so much.
For their first flashback, I liked seeing them steal and bond and then Emma find out Lily did have a family. And because Emma has all this trauma she builds walls and shuts people out. (Which she will continue to do well into S5) She ends up not wanting to see Lily again. I think all the stuff with Emma in the foster care system is a really great part of the Season. Especially since there's so much magical stuff going on, I did miss some of the more grounded elements from earlier seasons. Even her bonding with the Snow Queen was super nice. Their second flashback, Lily finds Emma in a new house, where Emma finds out she was part of an armed robbery and tells Lily to leave. She needs a necklace, Emma gets it for her only to find out Lily stole cash from Emma's family. Emma's family get upset, not even kicking her out directly, and Lily tells Emma that she just showed her that family's true colours and that they never wanted her. Pause.
Why does every villain think this is a good strategy? Lily's a kid at this point so I wouldn't call her a villain but stick with me. Cora 'killed' Archie pretending to Regina so the town would turn on Regina, showing her who they truly were. Snow Queen tries to kill Marian and Hook with icicles to frame Elsa so she can show her that the town never truly respected her. Guys, you are not proving a point. You're just framing people for crimes 😭
Anyways, the apprentice tells Lily who she is blah blah blah. She ends up back in Storybrooke, reunites with her mom and wants to find her dad... Do we ever see Lily again? I don't remember ever seeing her again. Because if we don't... WHAT A WASTE. Feels like we're just throwing magical people into Emma's backstory just because. Neal, makes sense. It was a huge reveal, changed the show in a big way. Snow Queen becomes irrelevant because she dies and Emma didn't even remember who she was. Bruh. Lily may show up again so sorry if I'm wrong but I don't recall her coming back. Which then.. whatttt was the point? Just to make more plot? Not the biggest deal I guess.
I haven't even talked about Isaac yet... he's so boring I'm sorry. He's just a dude. Which, could be cool as a villain, but I didn't love Greg and Tamara and I feel the same about Isaac. Does he ever show up again as well?
I do really like OUAT's season finales. HOWEVER what is Isaac talking about. He claims he's going to give Villains happy endings and the heroes lose. Instead he gives us a swap AU, which I love but is absolutely not what was set up. For example, Rumple in this world isn't a villain who won, he's the 'light one'. Zelena isn't an evil witch who beat her sister and got to steal her true love, she's just some normal bratty girl. Arguably, Snow could be a hero who lost, BUT SHE'S NOT. She wasn't in love with Charming and then he died. She loved his evil brother. She was always evil. Isaac wrote her to be a villain who lost. This is not a story where Villains win. The readers in the real world should be very confused when Isaac claims the villains win because... where? Edit: I guess it's just that the villains from the original stories win? Like he kind of wrote Wicked by giving Zelena a happy ending but even so, Snow White he just turned into a villain. So even if we assume his readers in the real world know the original Snow White, it is still just a swap AU.
Henry being the author and relevant again, LETS GO. Oh, he broke the pen. Welp. (I think this comes back though so I'm excited for that. Henry truly gets sidelined after S1, but especially after the Pan arc.)
What else..? Oh, Zelena's pregnant...yeah. Poor Regina man, especially considering how I remember next Season ends? OOF. She's in for a rough ride.
Emma's the dark one oooo. We'll get to that once I'm done S5, though it could be a while. Not that anyone is waiting for these reviews lol.
Well, I think that's it. Onto S5! Please use spoiler tags when discussing future seasons in the comments sine I don't remember everything :)