Once Upon a Time - Ranting about Season 5 (SPOILERS!!!)

So last year (wow, only last year) I got into the ABC drama Once Upon a Time. One of the very few English dramas I watch, and besides Modern Family, the only American show I have ever followed while it was airing. Basically, that means that I like this show a lot. 

Or at this point, I am very tempted to say that I liked it. Why? Because season 5 has been such a train-wreck. (SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT - LIKE REALLY SERIOUS ONES - YOU  HAVE BEEN WARNED)

I had really high hopes for this season. Emma became the Dark One, which meant all sorts of angsting and battling personal demons--perhaps the trigger that finally gets Emma to come to terms with her issues with abandonment and all that. I was all ready for Emma to become a real villain--see her do some terrible things, while having her constantly try and fight it. Season one was Emma's arc in coming to terms with her destiny, but I thought this was also going to be Emma's arc in coming to terms with herself. 

Well guess what? We got jack shit of that. No. Instead it was the freakin Captain Swan show. Okay--let me get this straight. Before season 5, I wasn't against Captain Swan. I didn't mind Hook and Emma. I didn't ship them, but Neal was dead so... I mean if she had to have a boyfriend then I guess it would be Hook. And in season 4, I was totally fine with it. Then we hit season 5 and I became very not okay with it. Why? Because like I said, I thought this would be the arc where Emma came to terms with herself.... instead it became the arc where Emma's life suddenly revolves around Hook and nothing else? Um. What? Just to be clear - I don't and have never hated Hook. True, he stopped being a favourite of mine after he turned fully good (I'd have liked it if he had stayed the gray, chaotic-neutral pirate--so not a villain, but not necessarily someone to trust. Kind of like... Rumple! Who I also have a lot of say about). With that being said..... what happened to his character within the last couple episodes after he became the DO really put the nail in the coffin for my tolerance of Captain Swan. It really did. I just don't see how this is a healthy relationship showing "true love" when we've seen multiple occasions of lying, manipulating, and verbal abuse. 

I'm getting ahead of myself though--let me start back at the beginning of the season with Camelot. Oh my god, Camelot. I was so excited to see how they did King Arthur, possibly because I loved BBC's version of Merlin. Did OUAT live up? Ehh.... 

Arthur's character just made no sense to me. By the end of it, I literally just wanted to punch him in the face every time he spoke. He had the potential to be an amazing hidden villain--doing all this plotting and having a genuine twisted motive, that made us feel empathetic, but turned him to darkness. Instead we get him acting like a god damn 5 year old because "boohoo Merlin gave me a broken sword and now I want to KILL HIM instead of HAVE HIM COMPLETE MY SWORD WHICH WAS WHY I WAS MAD IN THE FIRST PLACE. What the hell? Logic? Do you have none of it? Merlin can put your sword back together why do you want to kill him? You know, you won't look like a fool if he puts Excalibur back together, but instead you just want to kill him. Okay. Sure. Seriously, Arthur's whole plot was just dumb, which may have been why they seemed to literally just dump it and drop it back in Storybrooke. Like really, what the hell happened to Arthur, they just left him in the cell and that was it? Poof? Uh...... 

Merlin though. Oh man, Merlin was amazing. Yeah, his storyline was predictable once we got the name Nimue into he picture, but still. What a bad ass. And then they freakin killed him. What a waste. 

We also had the new addition of Merida in this season and... while I loved the movie Brave, I really didn't care about Merida at all, or her storyline. Although the side-episode with Mulan and Ruby was cool (mostly because of Mulan and Ruby). But, she was also a character that disappeared. Like actually, where was her continuation with going to kill Arthur and where the heck did she go in Storybrooke?! 

Don't even want to talk about Zelena. Oh god, that whole storyline is just gross and disturbing, and we really could have done without? Like. Really. Some people say that Regina allowing Zelena to keep and see the baby was a way to show her character growth, but I just see it as disgusting. You had a better way to give Regina a baby and have her become the genuine hero. Like with the whole Camelot thing--you really could have made her the savior who saved Emma. But nope, nope, of course they couldn't do that. I'm not a Swan Queen shipper, but even I like the idea of Regina helping save Emma from the darkness. Why? Because it parallels what Emma did for Regina. With the help of the Charmings and Henry of course, but Emma was the catalyst. But nope, instead Regina gets twisted rape!baby storyline with Zelena. Jesus Christ. What is this season. 

Rumbelle didn't get spared from the shitty writing and character development either. I loved Belle for being independent and to be honest, I liked her decision of saying she had to think about whether she wanted to get back with Rumple. I liked her saying that she had to mend her heart because it's true. Rumple treated her like shit, and she needs time to heal. And then we hit the finale and she's just like "ya nope, giving up my life dream because oh my god you did ONE GOOD THING". But then Rumple becomes the DO again and he also lied to Belle again, so I really don't see how they're going to get happily ever after after this. Belle shouldn't have to stand for this. Ugh. 

With that being said. Rumple becoming the dark one--while I don't necessarily like that decision, it is surprisingly one of the choices that I don't see as being out of character for him. Why? Because the guy has been free of Darkness for what... 6 weeks? After having been the DO for hundreds of years... you don't give that shit up easily, AND he'd lost his son and his girlfriend, and was frankly, about to die anyway. Yeah, he pulled Excalibur out and beat Hook, but for what? He was the "hero" who ended up with nothing--so yeah, I can totally see him giving in to despair and going, fuck that, at least when I was the DO I had a ton of dark evil magical power. With that being said.... why does he have the DO dagger again and not Excalibur? Did he break the sword again? Dumb plot hole because the writers clearly didn't think things through? I'm more inclined to think the latter. 

Honestly. By the time the season finale came along, most of my faith in the series had died, but I was still prepared and ready to watch it and then wait patiently for 5B this March. Well you know what? I'm not going to watch 5B. I'll watch the first episode, sure, with Cora and Pan returning but after that I'm out. I'm done. I just can't deal with this anymore. Unless I hear news of Daniel, Graham, Neal, Merlin?!, or any of the good guys making cameo appearances, I'm done. 

Everything up until Hook dying was fine and good. Seriously. I actually thought it was interesting and I was all excited for Emma to die and that's why she was in the Underworld (and her family barges in to save her). Instead, we get Hook dying (which believe me, he should've died the first time).... a HERO? REALLY? Because he makes a last second heel-face-turn and then suddenly he's all redeemed and good and then we have Emma using the "I'll always fine you line" and that just made me rage. Why? Because what about NEAL? Look, I don't think Emma and Neal should be together, or should date, but I truly think that despite everything Neal still is Emma's true love. I firmly and 100% believe that, and I also believe that THIS ARC should have had Neal in it. I feel like if Neal had been there instead of Hook thing would have been so much more emotional. Even the romantic aspect because Neal would be so torn that Emma was the DO, and I think Emma would be even more terrified to admit her feelings for Neal because of the darkness inside of her, and not wanting to hurt him, but also being overwhelmed by her past fears of being abandoned by him. So much good potential right there. All gone. 

No. Instead. Captain. Swan. Show. In fact, this show has become so much about Captain Swan that they have managed to find a plot that will BRING HIM BACK despite the fact that everyone else who had died was surely and 100% dead. And for some reason the whole scooby gang is 100%  okay with this too, no questions asked. Graham? Dead. Neal. Dead. Daniel? Dead. Oh but look, all the villains are back! But all of Emma's past loves. Regina's past loves. Oh, what about Mila? Like sure, we get Regina's dead, but I don't see anyone else.  And Emma is doing all of this for Hook and that is it. I just hate how her story arc has turned from discovering her destiny and coming to terms with her fears to......... making everything about her being in love with Killian. Seriously. She is willing to split her heart for him. I don't even see when or even why she loves him so much. I really don't. She wasn't even willing to go this far for Neal, but for the sexy pirate. She'll go to the end of the earth and beyond for "true love". Ugh. 

I mean. I get it. Part of her journey to coming to terms with her fears is learning to love someone--that is great! Okay. I can deal with that. Which is why I was fine with Hook/Emma in season 4 - because she was learning to love someone. I think that is a huge step for her. What I am not fine with is after she has learned to love someone.... stalling any further character growth and simply having her story revolve around her boyfriend, who honestly treated her terribly while she was in Storybrooke, and especially after he became the DO. You can make all the explanations you want for why Killian turned evil so fast, but then that means his change of heart makes zero sense. He wasn't trying to fight the darkness at all after he became the DO and then suddenly, at the very last moment, he's like "oh wait, maybe I can be a good guy". Uh. Ok. Sure. Sure. At least with Rumple we saw the conflict and the agony he went through to fight the darkness. When he killed Pan by sacrificing himself that was a spontaneous act borne out of desperation and love for his son. Hook's turn though was just.... walk in the park. No big deal. See,  he was always a good guy you guys! Psht. Give me a break. The dude killed his own father. There should've been way more struggle for him to do what he did. 

Wow. Okay. This ended up really long. Sorry if this is really hard to read. Like the title said, I was ranting. I was just so upset after watching the mid-season finale and I felt so disappointed and frustrated that I just had to let everything out. I kept all my reserves for this season under wraps hoping beyond hope that it would get better. That it would all be resolved nicely. That Hook would end up dying and Emma would yet again,  have to move past that, but she would with the strength of her family. Yes--it would be rinse and repeat but that's what this drama was about for me. Family. Coming to terms with your loss and your pain and moving on. Instead we got this gigantic train wreck or a season with useless returning characters, useless new characters, plots that went nowhere or shrivelled up and died, and a emotional storyline that was anything but emotional. 

Good job OUAT writers. You have just lost yourself a fan.

And it's sad too. I just read my post last year about OUAT and it's so obvious how excited I was about it and how much I loved it. Then this season happened. *sigh*.