I'm presently away from my normal routine so this will be an abridged Monday Recap, with a full breakdown to follow next Mon, BUT the short version is I am cautiously optimistic. LOADS of interesting potential
This ep was mercifully light on Royal Derpitude eg: Charming, Snow, and Henry, which I am SO ON BOARD WITH. OUAT has way too many interesting characters to waste another season on those three.
Other setups/mysteries which should dovetail nicely into the three major new storylines:
- Whose
housepalatial mansion are Rumple and Belle having honeymoon secks in? It's not Jefferson's old home. Whoever it belongs to is going to be (rightfully) pissed. - Villains take over!! This is the one I'm really interested to see. We've seen fairy tale heroes team up against evil, but we haven't seen the villains really band together with common cause since S1. We've seen them network (Hook & Regina), and we've seen them form temporary alliances (Regina & Maleficent), but not since Regina cast the Dark Curse in S1 have we seen the villains come together and say "We deserve a happy ending too."
- Hook and Emma. My goodness, trouble in paradise ALREADY? This can't bode well for the SS Captain Swan. And Hook, no good comes to those who declaim to the Four Winds of Heaven that they have "all the time in the world". In fact, it usually assures that they don't.
- Marian/Robin/Regina. We knew this was coming, but it's not going to be simple. More on this triangle later! (No, really.)