#4+5

The CS bits were top notch. I do think Emma jumped the gun a bit with handing back the ring. It was a bit jarring to have her give the whole speech about working together and then tell him he had to sort this out on his own two seconds later. And while I get why she did it, giving back the ring was doing exactly what he feared would happen. 

I was glad that Killian wasn’t leaving leaving, but doing what Emma basically told him to, trying to find the man she agreed to marry. And I absolutely don’t agree with the headcanon he was going to leave without telling her. 

The flashbacks were repetitive, and Lana’s performance a the EQ has deteriorated too much to be enjoyable any more. But not intolerable.

Of course we do have Regina admitting she still does not regret all the harm she caused because it worked out better for her in the end. But I have to believe that is deliberate and we are going to see that paid off.

Regina’s story was not actually a bad story. It all came together well, had some lovely writing, and was a really beautiful resolution to a character arc.

The one problem? It wasn’t the resolution to Regina’s character arc. There was no build up. Regina has no history of self loathing or not believing she deserves to be happy, in fact we have had entire season arcs that built on her having the exact opposite issue. Regina’s issue is never being happy with what she has, always something more. 

So there was no emotional pay off. That scene between her and the EQ should have had me in floods of tears, and instead I was detached. It was lovely writing, but had no impact as the it was resolving something that had only been introduced that episode. It is the same as killing off a character, if you want the audience to care, it can’t be someone you introduced five minutes prior.

You know whose arc it would have been a resolution to? Killian’s. He is the one who battles with self loathing, and doesn’t think he deserves to be happy. He is the one who needs to learn to accept and love himself.

You know that "normal" adult life many have where they help out their significant other? They share their lives which means sometimes you have to look after them or dedicate time and effort to them. It also means you spend a lot of time together in general.

It crossed my mind that this would clash. I would try to take my role as S/O and have to say "Sorry but my family needs me there every 3 days or else everything will spiral into disaster."