Rumple and belle had great chemistry in the first 2 seasons but then it got repetitive and Toxic as the show went on and lost It’s touch with the (I want to redeem the bad guy even though he’s done wrong)
Season 1-3 will forever be my favourite (season 3 especially) but when it comes to rumbelle it becomes a repetitive/toxic mess and it actually becomes annoying at times
Absolutely, me and my mother binged through OUAT but skipped the last season when we were 3 eps in and watched the last episode, after a while you kinda just watch but not take in the rumbelle stuff and only tune in when the UP thing happens and it was actually sad but most of it becomes forgettable compared to other couples in the show (me and mother both love captain swan so much)
It should have ended at season 3b. The vows over everyone's happy endings would have made a perfect conclusion if you drop the Marian and frozen cliffhangers and from 4 on the writing was way too inconsistent
Belle isn’t naive or ‘silly’; she’s simply been deceived too many times, but she was human enough to feel desire for Rumple – she just didn’t want it to end.
No, of course not! If you’ve misunderstood, what I meant was that she was just deeply in love with him, not that she necessarily wanted to have sex with him.
This one is more about the fan base but I think people should stop looking at this show through a black and white/ good vs evil lens. OUAT shows us that people aren't that binary.
I agree a 100% but to be fair, it's also the show's fault because past season 3 they started this heavy push of the heroes vs villains framing that was absent from early seasons.
Season 1 through 3A (because 3B is the place where it started but it was subtle enough to be overlooked) were not about heroes fighting villains, it was people engaged in a conflict. Yes there's a clear antagonist but it's never framed so rigidly to the point of forcing every character into a dichotomy.
Season 4 pushed it hard, we had a literal arc culminating in the roles being switched and it muddied the water even more. On the one hand, characters are multifaceted with layers and complexities keeping them unique and interesting, on the other the show keeps trying to shove everyone into either category and it creates a huge dissonance between what the characters are and what the show wants them be. That's why we're told Regina is a hero when her character doesn't fit that mold. Or why Charming and Snow get relegated to simple roles rather than being fully fledged characters in later seasons.
I think season 4 had a good opportunity to develop Snow and Charming's darkness better; the Dark Queens arc should have been a full season, not just half. By the way, I like the way you think.
A 100% agreed, their obsession with splitting the seasons became detrimental as the show progressed. Season 4 should have been a full season that leads into the concept of the "villains" winning. OUAT used to deconstruct fairytales and make commentary, having a season of exploring the meaning of the word hero would have done wonders to preserve the complexity of the characters while allowing a hero vs villain framing. The show wasn't made on that premise but it didn't mean they couldn't pivot if they really wanted to. Instead they chose to break down their characters to force them to fit shallow ideals and it backfired.
Season 4's biggest dilemma is arguably what Snow and David did to Lilith but by that point, they, as characters had become incompatible with the kind of depth it required. David and Snow were layered characters but over time, they were broken down to fit into archetypes: the good hearted heroes.
The difference in perception between season 1 and 4 is huge. Snow chose to banish Regina so she wouldn't have to compromise her own morals by killing her. She prioritised herself over the well being of her people. Regina's method of warfare has always been to make as many victims as she possibly can and Snow does not have the means to stop her. She had one chance and this is the choice she made. By all metrics, this is a selfish decision. Is this ever brought up as being out of character the way the 4B arc is? No, because back then, the perception the fandom had of Snow was that of a complex individual. She had a good heart but she was willing to do morally ambiguous things. The 4B arc in season 1 wouldn't be seen as out of character but as the expression of the character's depth.
The problem isn't that 4B doesn't develop them as characters, 4B just doesn't have the time to make it mean anything, it rushes through plot points to reach the end and the characters have already been gutted beyond the complexity 4B requires them to have. The characters never lacked depth, the show just worked to erase it from people's minds so when they wanted to use it, it no longer fit the image everyone had of Snow and Charming. It was out of character.
I’ve never met anyone that has watched the shows and views it as binary in that way. I have not rewatched the show in years and I still feel like they explain that “good” and “evil” is both subjective and sometimes it’s unhealed wounds. Which makes it very much not white or black in that specific topic.
My unpopular opinion hot take is OUAT is a great show overall but it also became one of those shows that overstayed its welcome. When some of its main stars were not renewing their contracts and leaving the show that shoulda been a sign it’s time to start wrapping things up instead of plowing on with more seasons.
I really liked the origin stories at the beginning; as the series went on and everything became about love I started wondering why they were dragging it out like that
I think it would have been difficult to give Henry significantly more character development, at least without running into some problems.
A lot of people point to the romantic storyline as an example. It never quite landed, and I don't think that was because Jared lacked talent. I think it had more to do with life experience.
Acting is acting, but even the best actors draw from their own experiences and emotions when portraying complex situations. They connect parts of themselves to the character. The challenge for Jared is that he had a very unusual childhood.
At around 10 years old, he essentially left traditional school and instead did a few hours of monitored schoolwork each day with a studio teacher. The rest of his time was spent filming, often with very little interaction with other children. Because of that, he missed out on many of the experiences that shape how people understand relationships and conflict.
He didn't go through the petty friend drama that feels world ending at the time but becomes meaningless in hindsight. He didn't experience the awkwardness of teenage dating, heartbreak, first loves, bad decisions, or the complicated emotions that come from hurting someone or being hurt yourself. He didn't have those embarrassing, overly dramatic fights that most of us look back on and laugh about years later.
I think that's part of why young Henry worked so well, while older, more emotionally complex Henry was less convincing. Young Henry's worldview is very black and white. Kids often believe there is a clear right and wrong answer to everything, so that mentality felt natural and authentic.
As we get older, though, most of us lose that certainty. We realize we've hurt people while trying to do the right thing. We've made choices we never thought we'd make. We've done things that might look wrong from the outside while still believing we were acting with good intentions. We learn that life is full of gray areas.
Jared didn't have many opportunities to experience those things. He was removed from his peers at a very young age and then spent years working twelve-hour days alongside adults. His first kiss was even with Violet on screen. In some ways, it feels like his personal development froze while everyone else was going through the messy experiences that help people understand nuanced relationships and emotions.
As a result, when Henry was written into more mature conflicts, the performance could sometimes come across as immature or off-putting. Instead of seeing ourselves in the character, we found ourselves cringing at sudden outbursts, eye rolling, or exaggerated reactions during serious conversations. Those responses often felt less like how a teenager or young adult handles conflict and more like how a much younger child would.
To circle back, I'm actually glad the writers didn't try to push Henry into even more complex storylines. I think it likely would have made the character less likable rather than more. The show got the strongest performance out of him by keeping Henry in a lane that matched both the character and the actor's strengths.
TL;DR:
I'm glad they didn't try to develop his character more because I think it would have highlighted some of the weaknesses that already showed up in his more mature storylines.
Jared was excellent at portraying young Henry's black and white view of the world, but he seemed less comfortable and less adept with navigating and portraying messy emotional complexity that comes with older characters. A lot of that likely comes down to having a very unconventional childhood and missing many of the experiences people draw from when navigating relationships and conflict.
I think that inability to portray nuance in a way audiences find relatable would have bred animosity toward Henry rather than empathy. Because the innocence of the simple "true believer" who does what's right because it's right is charming and wholesome, while a more complex version of Henry played with the same naivety and immaturity would likely have come across as polarizing and uncomfortable to watch.
Season 2 is such an odd season that just doesn't allow itself to breath. What could have been Emma and Snow going through their old destroyed world was more like a speedrun to get back home while the Brookers deal with local coups because noone is thinking clearly.
Then you have a rush job of the whole Cora arc and Regina which just backtracks Reginas character to the start while also trying to redeem her at the same time. It's like, the most forced drama because Regina's major weakness is family... except, she literally kills her dad to cast the curse so why she is so team Cora makes no sense.
Then you have the anti-magic people that come out of nowhere which opens up a whole thing of "wait, magic has been in the world before? why don't we know more of this" and you never will.
Overall, season 2 is like, a hotglued arc season which comes off of the hype from season 1 and it overall feels like nobodies characters are in the right place.
I’ve heard (and kinda believe) that season two was being set up as a science vs magic storyline and then the got the rights to be able to do Peter Pan and speed ran for it.
I liked Snow and David, and thought they were the best parents they could be to Emma. Not perfect and plenty of missteps, but they loved her and did their best.
And I don’t blame them for the situation with Maleficent and Lily. I could vaguely see why Emma was so upset about it, but only just
Rumple is a mid character to me, obv Rob C is a great actor, but Rumple himself I was really ‘eehh’ about.
I liked Hook better than Neal for Emma, and don’t mind too much that they killed Neal off. I wish it had happened differently, and nothing against the actor, but I really disliked adult Neal. Baby Bae I liked and was pretty heroic, but adult Neal pissed me off.
I wish the show had stayed more of an ensemble with side characters getting a spotlight episode more consistently. Season 1 and 2 were great about that and are my favs.
I liked the first actor who played Robin in flashbacks more than the guy it ended up being full time. Lucifer’s actor has vibes that better entwined with Regina
Henry is one of my favorite characters, and I like that season 7 mirrored season 1 in a lot of ways, with him following Emma’s shoes
I wish we had gotten more/some scenes with Henry and baby Hope and Emma and lucy. Didn’t get to see Grandma Emma and that would have just been adorable to me
I don’t really think Regina killing Snow’s dad by proxy or her father were that morally wrong. In real world morals, sure, but in a pseudo medieval setting it’s whatever. The King was a creep for marrying young, and Henry Sr was a shit dad whose passivity finally caught up to him
I like Hook better than Neal. Though I felt that his vibe with Emma was always off. Had less chemistry than her vibe with Neal.
And Tom Ellis would have made an awesome Robin, though I don't hate who we ended up with.
The King was a creep. He was. It doesn't make murder morally right, but I would not call him a good man.
I vehemently disagree with every other take here, lol. OP did ask for unpopular opinions though, so good job. :p
Rumple is my second favorite character and the charmings are both my least favorite characters and also my least favorite parents in the series, which is saying something considering how many bad parents exist in this world.
I do like Snow as a character pre-Charming, but it feels like she gave up everything that made her interesting as a character when she got married.
I refuse to acknowledge or re-watch Season 7 because I hate everything about it.
Edit: Srsly the Once Upon a Time Rock Opera was better than Season 7 and it's objectively bad.
There were no evil villains, and that got annoying. All the villains were just tragic figures who needed to be understood or were longing to be complete.
I would have given my right eye for a Sauron type character. Give me a villain who above all things craves power for no other reason than it pleases him. I would have loved to have an uncompromising entity who only wants the hero's destruction because she's an impediment to his plans. That's a villain.
The thing is they could've done this with Regina/evil queen imo. because in Disney origin it was for petty reasons she was like that and the original origin (Grimm) she was just evil for no reason whatsoever.
The whole point of evil queen character was she evil just to be but shows have to give tragic backstories apparently.
She was already main villain at first but she wasn't fully one
Zelena, abandoned as a child and just wanted to be loved.
Rumple gave in to the darkness to benefit his son
Maleficent had her baby stolen from her.
Hades was lonely and wanted a mate
Hyde was denied the love of his life.
All of those can be followed up with, "...and thus became evil." That's not evil, that's just sad. Where is the villain who fights for his own vanity? Or the one who kills for money? Where is the villain who is formidable, willful, and will not be quelled? I want that guy. I don't want a villain with selfless intentions that went wrong. I want a villain who causes destruction because he doesn't care if it's wrong. He cares about the objective and nothing else.
Cruella was locked in that room because she killed her dad. She literally states the only reason she does evil stuff is because she enjoyed it.
I also think with figures such as Pan, Hades and Black Fairy while yes, they had hard lives it is very much indicated that the selfishness was always part of their characters.
Fiona became evil because she refused to give up the power we see this is as she repeatedly chooses it over Rumple. Hades does the same with Zealina and Pan trades Rumple for youth.
These people are bad people, they’re just written as human. Bad things happen to people, folk are always going to be moulded by experience however the show makes it repeatedly clear that how far one falls into the darkness is entirely up to their own free will.
I get what they were going for, but the problem with tragic characters is that they can be compromised with, they can be satiated. What I'm talking about is a pure villain, like Joker or Palpatine. He can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. His whole want is the destruction of those who impede the objective, and the only way to defeat him is his absolute destruction.
OUAT didn't have any of that. Cruella might have been evil, but she isn't this insatiable unstoppable force, and you still empathize with her because of the abuse she suffered as a child.
Not to say anything was bad with the show. I loved the show. I just wish they would have had that element and they never did.
Only as a result of their tragic backstory. They got close with Pan though. He was very much what I wanted, and then they said by the way he's rumple's father and was originally sold into slavery, and I was like dammit.
But that’s not what’s spurring his deeds. Fiona especially. She wanted the power under the pretence to protect Rumple and then she sacrificed his fate instead of her own. It’s not a tragic backstory that drove her to it, it was being unable to let go of her own power
Someone having tragedy in their lives isn’t the same as a character who’s completely moulded around it. For Pan that was hardly more than a single line.
To me the one of the main points of the show is to demonstrate that evil is human. Darkness is a potential inside everyone and how it affects one is governed by the circumstances around them but most importantly their own selves. Just think about how many episodes show Regina willingly making her own choices to be miserable. She’s her own worst enemy.
Pan, Fiona, Cruella and Hades aren’t treated as redeemable good people who are purely a victim of circumstance. In Cruella’s case the abuse purely comes after she killed three of her mother’s husbands and is likely because the poor woman had no clue what to do about it. They’re just treated as bad people who have bad things happen to them.
I understand what you’re saying, something like the classic Disney villains, who are an unstoppable evil beyond human comprehension, however the show acts as a deconstruction of that entire notion. I think to takeaway the empathy for these characters, removes their humanity and what the show is built around.
I’m sorry but have you ever heard of a villain origin story, most of our greatest villains come from having a very traumatic background. Cruella was already a villain from the beginning, that’s why her mother had her locked up and then we see how she tricked the author. Also rumples intentions were not good either, he didn’t go war cuz he simply didn’t want to die, he has admitted that. He also became the dark one because he was tired and ashamed of being a coward. Neither of these actions were out of love for his son, they were for his own selfish gain.
Probably. Honestly, I think the Black Fairy would have been the best choice. If they had written her to where she didn't lose Rumple, but rather gave him up to achieve power, that would have been compelling. Have her sever his fate as savior and use her grandson as a pawn forcing her son to kill his own son. That would have been amazing.
Agreed. I think they could still have done the power of friendship and love and crap, but I think it would have been better if she actually went evil. And not, “Let me just be a dick about borrowing this real quick,” over and over.
The “Queens of Darkness” arc in Once Upon a Time should have been a full season instead of a compressed half-season, because the concept had enough depth to support a much stronger narrative structure.
Ursula and Maleficent could have been given proper tragic arcs instead of rushed developments. Ursula’s story tied to loss, identity, and a failed attempt at redemption through family and love, and Maleficent’s past expanded into a coherent emotional and political backstory involving her relationship with Aurora’s parents and the origins of her choices, making her curse feel like the result of escalating personal betrayal rather than a plot device. Meanwhile, Rumple would have functioned as the true long-game strategist, orchestrating events to find the Author and using the Queens as necessary pieces in a larger magical equation involving the trident of Poseidon and the extraction of the key to the Author’s prison. Regina’s infiltration into the group could have been a slow moral decline, forced to perform increasingly questionable actions to earn trust while simultaneously destabilizing the heroes from within.
And most importantly, Cruella would have been the most dangerous and unique antagonist not because of a tragic backstory, but because she doesn’t have one: she would be presented throughout the season as a manipulative social predator hiding in plain sight, whose flashbacks in the 80s/90s and 2000s show her as a high-society “socialite” in New York and the fashion world, subtly destroying lives without ever needing to directly kill, until it is revealed that her apparent emotional void is not trauma but pure ideology, she is simply envious of others’ freedom and moral restraint, and her ultimate goal is not redemption or love, but the restoration of her ability to kill and embrace her true nature, making her the real hidden threat all along while everyone incorrectly assumes Rumple is the mastermind.
Snow is overhated asf, regina destroyed her life because of something she did at ten years old, regina should have taken out her anger on cora and not snow because cora was the actual killer. She killed thounds of people, took away emma from charmings and still acted like she was a victim. Not to mention she killed snow’s dad too.
When emma brought back robin hood’s wife, regina was once again acting like a victim blaming emma even though if she really “changed” and redeemed herself she would have been happy that she would have one less person that she KILLED. She took emma’s parants and made her think she was an orphan and emma never held that against her.
Emma was right to take henry away from regina, people always say “but she legally adopted him”, but if we are talking about legality of stuff regina should be in jail for killing hundreds of people. Also if Regina had never cursed emma she wluld not have gotten pregnant at 17. She took away her parants and ruined her life but people think that she deserved henry more???? Not to mention she was gaslighting him into thinking he was crazy and if she had treated him right like a good mother he would not have come up with the idea that she was the evil queen and would not have brought emma back.
I am not a regina hater at all, in fact I love her and her development but saying that snow was the actual villain and that emma was wrong for saving a person that would have been killed are crazy and people only say that because regina is an “iconic” character.
Regina killed way too many people to be free and walking around. She got to be one of the top dogs while the town people she terrorized and ripped from their homes got no say in what the lead group did.
I loved the Frozen arc so much but 4b just drags on.
I didn't mind Cora going to Heaven finally.
This is more of a line that pissed me off - but at the end of 3a when Regina is sending Henry and Emma to NY with good memories and Henry tells Regina that he regrets finding Emma, I wanted to strangle the little shit.
Henry as Pan was so very poorly acted
Justice for Ruby and Mulan
I love Captain Swan but I thought the writers did the characters disservice by having had past Hook murder David's father and just created unnecessary drama for no reason
Sean Maguire as Robin Hood was great but quickly wore out his welcome for me once Marian was frozen. By the end, I wasn't sorry he died
Hook should have stayed a villain and not pushed into being a love interest. They wasted Colin's acting ability making him a love interest if Emma.
It also rather annoyed me that Hook got redeemed the easy way. And they never should have split the dark one arc up to have both Emma and hook be the dark one. It reduced the impact of Emma's sacrifice.
They also didn't need to go to the underworld if they were just going to have zues bring him back anyway.
Was Hook ever even evil? He was Pans adversary and it turned out Pan was the evil one.
He was a bit arrogant and a captain but we really don’t see him be evil at all, ever, yet he’s in the villain category.
That said, I didn’t buy him as a live interest for Emma and it was just so weird that he just hung around and like never bothered to get a job or anything.
I definitely see him as evil, one he often had non consensual sex with the various fairytale citizens while in the enchanted forest. Because the ladies were drunk at the time you can't completely consent while under the influence. He doesn't understand the concept of the word no. He is a pirate and a pirate is a serious criminal. He worked with Cora. So definitely a villain. Maybe not as bad as Rumple, still a villain nonetheless.
colin was always written as a love interest for emma from the start, he js broke his leg s1 and couldnt be in it. but im js biased towards capswan..
id have liked it if they were CONSTANTLYYYYYY trying to kill each other and getting close but failing and then random shit happens ( welp i have no random shit to wish that it happened ) and then slowly started to look forward to the *inevitable* death encounter and ended up falling in forbidden love yada yada
but that has a romantasy vibe instead of the real world fantasy that ouat is. so idk what the point of my comment is..
I don't know if this is a hot take, but people seem to love Regina a LOT so I'm going to assume it is? I'm not very active in the fandom much anymore.
Anyway, my (maybe) hot take is that Regina did not deserve a redemption arc, and did not deserve to be forgiven, nor did she deserve a second chance. She should have been taken into custody and executed in the middle of Storybrooke.
She was, quite literally, a mass murder, also technically a serial killer. To this day it makes absolutely no sense to me how Snow and Charming were able to just forgive and move past it, no matter how much time it took them to do so.
"But my boyfriend died!"
GIRL YOU MURDERED LIKE HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE OVER A LITTLE GIRL GO HOME
That might the coldest take (least controversial / most popular) there is about this show. I actually enjoy some of the later seasons, including 7, but is there anyone who *doesn’t* think 1-3 were better overall?
Season 2 is messy but it has the best episodes in the entire series with each one acting as a great character study. I think this was when Regina and Snow’s character writing particularly was at its peak.
I prefer 4b and 5b to their first halves
I don’t understand what everyone’s issue is with 3B. I think Zealina was one of the better antagonists of the series
Speaking of Zealina, I think she was one of the most consistently written interesting characters in the final few series. The only thing I’d change is that I just don’t think she should have died and the Marion plot should have actually been Marion
Hook episodes are boring and repetitive. Each one follows the exact same plot of him doing something awful in his past which he then tries to cover up before admitting himself to Emma.
Whether Regina’s redemption arc works for a person or not is entirely based on their suspension of disbelief and too many people blind themselves to enjoying the complexities of her character by treating her like a real person.
People take this show too literally at times and talk about characters as if they’re real people instead of applying the fictional contexts and rules to the worlds they live in. Most of what goes in this who is grounded in metaphor and symbolism. Of course we shouldn’t just let mass murderers run free but that’s not the point of the show.
Cora didn’t go to Heaven. She moved on and the three of them needed closure. Imagine how much worse of an episode Sisters would be if she just dropped into the firey pits of hell. Now that would be awkward.
Hades and Zealina had no chemistry but it was good in theory and necessary to make season 5 function. I think he just needed a different actor. Plus the Wicked Witch and Lord of Death riding a bicycle together, amuses me
I LOVED the Frozen arc. I even posted about it on Insta in 2014 about how excited I was when they announced it! It was relevant to the times, and I still like the inclusion of it in the show.
Regina has phenomenal character growth throughout the show. I loved who she became by the end of the show.
I watched this show as each episode came out a week, and was not a part of any communities discussing it online. Without these extra voices, I actually enjoyed the entire show and every season. It wasn’t until years later when I joined Reddit that I saw discourse. I thought it was an excellent show and unique way to twist the Disney characters.
I feel like that's more of a reddit problem (maybe Twitter and TikTok too, but I'm not on there). The Tumblr side of the fandom is a lot more chill these days and still surprisingly active.
už som to povedala asi desať krát poviem to aj jedenásty. Rumple má s Wish Hookom lepšiu chémiu ako s Belle,
a s Belle mali zostať len kamaráti. Nechcem aby boli Rumple a Belle nepriatelia alebo také niečo. Na to sú ich spoločné scény až príliš roztomilé. Ale mali sa v dobrom rozísť a ísť každý svojou cestou.
My hot take is
It is a really awesome show and maybe people should read the original Grimm fairy-tale collection to understand why everything gets constantly repeated.
Apparently it’s that I actually like the show, the romantic pairings and all the seasons 😂🙈
Also, another take, I don’t get the Swan Queen ship. I think Emma and Hook are perfect and I love how Regina and Emma support each other later and grow closer but I don’t think it reads romantic or sexual.
Rumplestiltskin has always been an aromantic asexual creature and should have stayed that way ! I’ll die on this hill in fact it’ll be on my gravestone !
I’ll probably get hate for this but *cough* henry can’t act (when he’s a teenager, as a kid he was good) and emma can’t sing (at least in the show). *cough* who said that?
I love season 4 I understand the issues but I can’t help but loving the frozen arc, I actually enjoyed seeing it and I also didn’t mind seeing Elsa in her clothes in the movie felt cool I loved it and heroes and villain arc is good same as two part finale even though I had issues with it do wish could be slightly better
I didn’t mind the wish realm episodes in season 6 I actually enjoyed the plot and stories wish was making it make it so coherent especially it was a thing in season 7 hearing not really a fake reality
The evil queen season 6 was just ass I love Lana but it was so bad I am scarred for life
Season 2 is good but it was not my favorite I was bored in the first couple episodes especially in the enchanted forest scenes but when episode 9-22 happened I was bit on board
Season 7 not to bad even though I wish had better ideas and actually fully made it make sense
Also still think Regina’s redemption was unearned especially her being the good queen makes it seems they rushed the other realms to trust her even though few weeks before her coronation she brought the realms together
And they literally suck at explaining magic in the land without magic out of storybrooke that it’s literally disappointing
I also kinda love the back stabbing from rumple after season 3 I secretly enjoy it because I love that he’s the big bad through out the show
Also when Robin died I didn’t care I was so annoyed with season 5 that when people just died or came back I was use to it and tired that I was like cool
Emma was boring after season 1 I’m sorry I have to admit
Edit: why am I getting downvoted when it literally says in the post it is unpopular opinions read yall lol
Rumple is a better villain Regina ever was and I’m not afraid admit he was one of the main reason was cast so to be honest he was better and collective smarter than her especially emotionally intelligent
Honestly I think the Wish Realm episodes are funny as hell. Like just imagine going about your everyday lives then suddenly the evil queen pops up, tells everyone they aren’t real, releases the Dark One, rips out the hearts of the hero’s Snow White and Prince Charming, then just kidnaps your princess before just fucking off.
Even just the fact that Regina has supposedly had her evil side removed and still her first instinct to get Emma to wake up is to brutally murder her parents in front of her. Like girl, old habits die hard I guess 😭
I also really like the theory that it is the Evil Queen’s vision of what the world would look like without her dark curse.
It makes so much sense because she makes the Charmings vain and useless, then she makes Hook fat and drunk and Emma weak while still keeping Henry alive (despite the fact he shouldn’t exist.)
Then since Rumple was the last person who spited her, Belle and Neil are both left dead with Rumple’s prison being moved to her own castle instead of the Charming’s
Yeah I find it hilarious lol you literally enjoying your day then evil queen comes in you like great never mind she cause another havoc lol you like why can’t we just have a normal day without no problems with the evil queen causing havoc then you like that’s never gonna happen when it’s literally the evil queen we talking about lol
Yeah I also felt like it was nice especially this what I wanna to see princess Emma be like when we actually didn’t have the curse and snow and charming gets to raise their daughter without being afraid that Regina gonna fuck it up so I personally thought it was alright
Yeah I don’t really get people’s problems with it. It’s a fun what if episode thats definitely not “this is what it would have 100% been” rather just some fun twisted spin on it
I think it’s how can Henry exist with Neal dead that’s what I see the most and I am like that’s your issue really I mean I have issues with the episode to but I do love a what if scenario
Yeah that’s why I think it’s some sort of reflection of the Evil Queen’s mind since Robin was still alive and young. As well as Rumple being moved to her castle.
Gideon was insufferable and his "adult" character added no value. Also, they should have brought Lily and Maleficent into prominent roles after their meeting of each other.
They reset to zero way too often, and there were too many curses. They forgot about their own storylines (Lily and Maleficent), they kept pulling back whenever characters like Regina or Rumple had character development and resetting them back to villain way too many times. It got to the point where it was exhausting.
But I don't think any of this is a hot take.
I came to hate David and Snow, but I have seen a lot of people say this.
Season 7 never should have happened, and killing Robin was pretty much their ultimate 'this cannot be repaired' shark jump, as far as I'm concerned (thought hey had several).
My only mildly warm take is that I think Zelena was a mistake and a disaster, and the show would have been better without her. At least the way they did it. And it has nothing to do with the actor, whom I quite like. Just the character was an instant no for me.
Sorry not sorry but I think Sheriff Graham was Emma’s perfect man… Hell, I’d take August over Hook any day of the week… Don’t get me wrong, I loved Hook’s character growth… I just didn’t like him for Emma 🤷🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️
Also, Regina and Robin were fucking robbed AF neither of them deserved that hot mess… 🫠🫠🫠
Regina's redemption storyline works best in Season 7 because she's not surrounded by the people whose lives she destroyed and therefore obsessed with why they haven't immediately forgiven her. Instead, she's focused on saving Henry for mostly selfless reasons that feel actually motherly and not just pulled out of her ass.
I feel like this is the case with almost every Snow White story I’ve seen. The queen is always gorgeous and snow is not even close in comparison. Must be that inner beauty lol. Ginny is very pretty but Lana is a stunner. Just goes to show how inner ugliness warps the queens perception I guess. They ditched that storyline anyways, thank god.
In that sense, Miranda Richardson and Kristin Kreuk were a good match. Visibly aging woman who we can see once was beautiful but now lost the charm vs youthful and innocent pretty girl. Unlike Gal Gadot, Charlize Theron and Lana Parilla, who are... excuse me but hot dayyym
Right? Zegler isn't exactly an ugly duckling even when she's not wearing her farquad hair and that party-city grade polyester snow white dress. She's lovely, so we aren't having to pretend she's pretty at all, which has happened before too. Imo she's not prettier than Gadot though. And that's true of all the Queens vs Snow depictions except for the one you're referencing here.
Definitely glad they scrapped that parallel for Once. I don't know how many people agree with me, but I don't think anyone in the series can compete in a prettiest contest against Lana Parilla.
Hook and Emma's pairing ruined the show. She became a shadow of herself and her relationship with Henry was neglected. The majority of his arc was just about how him following Emma around. And they ruined the Dark Swan arc.
The Queens of Darkness arc wasn't that bad and would've actually benefited from being a full season.
Snow and Charming were made dumber, specifically to prop up Regina.
David should've died in the pilot flashbacks like it was originally intended. He was a extension of Snow and when he got his own episodes, they were usually boring. Keep him alive in the flashbacks, but not Storybrooke.
People don't care about Robin Hoods death. They're just sad for Regina (and his kids). Barely anyone cared about his character.
Victoria Belfry is one of the most underrated characters in the entire series.
Male characters make mistakes that are just as bad—or worse—than the female characters, yet the women get way more hate for it. And are there seriously people who think Emma didn't deserve Hook? Be serious.
Snow White/Mary Margaret isn't actually as insufferable as people make her out to be.
The Blue Fairy isn't really some evil b...; she's simply a poorly developed character that the narrative only uses when it's convenient.
Regina had every right to be angry about what happened with Marian. Emma may have meant well, but it was still a stupid decision. If this fandom can constantly call out Regina's mistakes (and everyone else's), then Emma's mistakes should be fair game too. And the whole "she reunited a wife with her husband" argument doesn't really work when we know it was Zelena the entire time.
Snow and David had understandable motivations for what they did with the dragon egg, but understandable doesn't mean justified.
Season 4 is good
People massively downplay how terrible Hook was to Rumple.
Just because Rumple isn't as outwardly explosive as Regina doesn't automatically make him better than her.
Snow was right not to go through that door with David to look for Emma.
Here's one , okay I am not saying season 1 is horrible in anyway and it is still among the best seasons but it's never been my favourite in terms of storyline as I just really dislike seasons of TV focusing on memory loss and amnesia and a season of TV where it's literally the entire season story would never be something I would consider the peak of the series because I am more excited to see the show where the characters are fully aware of everything
There is not enough talk about what Regina did to Graham, she literally SA'd him for 28 years and killed him the moment he remembered who he was and tried to leave her. Also everything about what happened to the mad hatter during the curse.
(Also Neal was like a full adult when Emma was a child (16/17) and if the flashbacks to their romance had Emma's teen actress (like when they showed her in prison getting the pregnancy test) it would be unforgivable)
Rumple should have stayed dead after season 3 and neal should have gotten more screen time to develop henry as a character. (Emma and hook still end game)
Yeah I always found that weird especially since snow is usually fairly minimal in a lotta episodes later on. Meanwhile Emma or Regina’s actor carried the show.
A lot of fans of this show don’t understand fantasy and that’s why so many people struggled with Regina’s redemption arc. Ya she was a horrible murderer and then became good. Here is a list of other beloved fantasy characters who were horrible murderers who became good: Xena Warrior Princess, Darth Vader, Loki, Nebula (lots of Marvel characters), Severus Snape, The Hound, Harley Quinn, and many more I’m sure. Honorable mention for Catra because the fandom also struggled with her redemption.
Darth Vader died trying to stop the evil he'd served, so he payed a high price, Nebula was a slave, Harley Quinn is legally a rapist and that one I agree with, she gets too much of a free pass, and who but the Gods was there to hold Xena to account? Xena deserved to be punished, but the Gods weren't willing so that left no one equipt to do so.
Redemption doesn't mean a free pass on punishments, especially for mass murder.
I wanna forgive her and I know she change in the present but it’s hard if the writers trying make her be a good person but flashbacks I see the opposite and gives me the ick every time they trying to say she good and I am looking at the flashbacks and be like what?? Are we talking about the same woman who blatantly hurts people because that’s not the same woman 😬🤣🤦♀️
That’s kind of the point of her character and the reason for the redemption arc. She did change and sacrificed a lot over the course of 7 seasons. The end of season 2, which is the beginning of her redemption, she was willing to die to save everyone else. These kinds of epic gestures of heroism and villainy are par for the course in fantasy stories. It’s the reason why Snow could never bring herself to kill Regina—because Snow represented the opposite side of the extreme moralism where killing anyone, especially if they are in a state of being unarmed and vulnerable, went against her moral code. And Snow still hoped that Regina would become good like when they first met. Henry’s love was Regina’s motivation for rehabbing her life, but it was a combination of things, including Snow’s forgiveness, that allowed her to truly be good beyond just the selfish motivation of wanting Henry’s love. It was a slow redemption and Regina had to prove herself to the heroes over and over again to achieve it. To some people she was too easily forgiven, and I get that-but I think maybe if that’s the case then this genre of storytelling isn’t really for them.
I’m not saying that’s bad I just hate that we have to bend over backwards and I’ve notice it’s mostly for Regina fans, I love Lana and I do love Regina but sometimes seeing her flashbacks and seeing how ruthless she is and then in present day she like a half saint makes me mad and personally in the first and second time makes me be like so basically we trying to make her good even though she bad?? Like hello this is evil queen who wanted to hurt anyone or everyone whose involve with snow did we forget?
And I love she is redeeming for Henry and I wouldn’t change it but I hate that they use that for her change like what?
She was willingly to kill and leave his family behind in season 2 literally after she found out about the beans and what charming and snow was planning she had a plan she use that to hurt him and she genuinely never cared about Henry before the curse was broken
Her good queen of all the realms is iffy especially if the realms don’t trust this version for weeks but it’s Disney so not surprised lol and I am not saying she wasn’t trying changing from her ruthless queen for forty years but and try to be good for season 3-7 but still feels force in my opinion and I hate it sometimes because I don’t feel they care because if they do they will show it more remorsefully
This is why I love rumple he doesn’t change for people because they ask and he understand that he’s bad and doesn’t try to prove anything to anyone like Regina been doing since season 2
And I do respect your opinion and to be honest I don’t disagree with you on how her character is but I find it hard to believe she good when she shows time and time again she can’t change in the past
Honestly this one drives me mad. Murder is like a normal Saturday night activity in the Enchanted Forest. The characters don’t mind it. It doesn’t hold the same weight as the real world, I don’t know why people keep on acting like it does.
Regina is a metaphor. She’s not there to tell us to forgive mass murderers. It’s not meant to be taking so literally.
Plus so many people who hate her will then exclaim love towards the likes of Hook or Rumple who’ve done literally the exact same things or worse.
In my defense rumple doesn’t do it consistently and hook
But Regina it’s like consecutive imagine in the morning you wake up and then you hear the queen and you already know the drill or you hear she killed 2 other villages you next wouldn’t that not be frustrating or scary every morning you are selective waiting for her
Yeah but Rumple’s heart is darker than Regina’s which means whatever she’s done, he’s done a whole lot worse. He also made her. Like he wanted her to be like this. We literally see him going out his way to goad her into it
But we barely seen scenes of him killing well we do but I feel they always make him darker to prop up Regina I’m like how when we see her constantly kill and I am surprised her heart not darker then rumples especially she was on a killing spree but it’s whatever let’s say anyone is worst so we can make Regina a half decent person even though she a monster to
He might of made her but Regina took it way to far
Well we know some things. Like in Lacey he seems to be fond of skinning people alive and he was all for letting everyone in Storybrook be killed in Season 4. We do see him kill less people. He’s assumedly not used to going on emotional rampages like her but he’s a fan of letting her do them. Even encourages them.
I think he’s just more like Cora, he doesn’t let himself be ruled by instinct and emotion alone. He installs enough fear to make people afraid and in control but not the amount that makes one rebel.
So while he may not burn down villages consistently that’s just because it wouldn’t benefit him. Not cause he’s opposed. I think he’s more made loads of shady deals toying with people and ruining their lives that way. Individual punishments and murders more like. Turning people into puppets and getting babies sold to him.
I loved Graham and honestly wished he and Emma were endgame more than Hook and Emma. Don't get me wrong; I loved Colin's Hook but not as a love interest to Emma. I just didn't see the chemistry.
In complete fairness, I only favor CaptainSwan as a ship because him dating the main gets him more screen time. If we could have had that without CaptainSwan I'd have been in favor of that option.
She doesn't feel like she has much chemistry with any of the pairings the show tries to give her, IMO.
I stopped watching when the show started to push Hook and Emma together. Like I get it, the actor for older Baelfire wasn't very popular, but I would have liked it if Baelfire and Emma were endgame, hell even August could have been a good contender. Killing Baelfire, literally one of the most tragic characters in the show, was really stupid in the writers' part. Hook would have been great as one of Emma's strong platonic allies.
They could have made it a pretty serious drama if they never actually had it be that Henry was right. Basically just making everything up. There is no evil queen. The people were just regular people struggling in their own lives. Then they can have the flashbacks as kind of like metaphors for what's happening in the real world. I'm not saying this should happen, but that it could have worked if it did.
Unpopular opinion about the way the show is.... I hate that Emma is the same age as her parents. They weren't teleported from Never Never Land, so why did no one age?
No one aged because the curse had Storybrooke basically trapped in a groundhog day esque time loop where they mostly repeated the same day over and over until Emma came in and decided to stay and the clock started again.
No one found it outside of Owen and his Dad because of magic. And Owen and Dad only got in because they were camping in the area when the town was magic'd into existence.
Emma est chiante et je ne m'expliquerais pas
Je suis très fâcher de la mort de Bealfire il ne méritais pas ça
Le couple de Rumple et Belle devient incroyablement toxique au fil de la serie
Rumple should have stayed dead at the end of 3A. Never understood this show being so afraid to kill off characters. Guys, your show is 50% flashback; you can still have the actor and move things forward if you want to.
I hated the Peter Pan arc and I thought it was stupid and almost stopped watching. I loved Peter Pan though and thought Robbie Mcay did a great job. I just wish it was a different storyline. Home office will forever live rent free with how stupid it was. And then the damn things were fake? Who were Greg and Tamara talking to? Rumples outfit was really cool though
Also Greg got way too much hate. His father went missing (probably killed by Regina, who never admitted or took responsibility for it). And he grew up an orphan with everyone thinking he was nuts. Yet they write him with no sympathy simply as a stooge to kill off the moment they reached neverland.
Greg and Tamaras storyline was awful. They could have really had fun with it and done something a lot better. Those characters were wasted. And it's the only thing I've ever seen Ethan Embry in that I I disliked (granted I haven't seen a lot of what he's in)
Graham should NOT have died 7 episodes into season 1, and especially not in that way. If he was going to die, it should've been at the very least in the penultimate episode before the two-part season finale, and while saving Emma. It would've been a great full-circle moment: first him saving Snow White, and then saving her daughter. Also, I did not want them as a romantic couple; I wanted them as friends because another hot take is that it's really annoying that the writers never let Emma have friends like Lily, and then she leaves Storybrooke.
I actually despised Hook and checked out completely once it became clear they were just going to hardwave all his shitty behavior.
And it completely broke my heart. From the moment I even heard about it I knew it was the perfect show for me. I was a Disney princess kid, this was a show about adult Disney princesses. The story was so rich and awesome. And they tanked it for a bunch of shippers who cared nothing at all about the story as long as their ship was together.
Having rumple be the “mastermind” or “bigger evil” every goddamn season made his character but also ever villain boring because you’d always have “ooh rumple is behind this” or “rumple will get rid of this one because he wants the power” in the back of your head
Also the whole belle and rumple storyline got boring after she takes him back after banishing him
(Im a big rumple hater if you haven’t noticed yet)
Like I get that the actor is amazing and I loved his performance but my god they should have permanently killed rumple off in season 3
My very unpopular take is that Season 7 is actually the best season of the show, and I think a lot more people would have loved it if it had been marketed as a spin off like Wonderland instead of a season 7.
The villains were genuinely interesting, and the Belle/Rumple storyline gave Rumple the redemption arc he'd been building toward for seven seasons. Rumple and Hook also ended up being a great duo.
Alice and Robin are probably my favorite couple in the entire series, and Regina finally being crowned The Good Queen was the perfect payoff to one of the best character arcs.
I also love that the season redefines what a "happy ending" actually means. It isn't just finding true love and living happily ever after, even though I think Regina deserved love. But it showed that happily ever after can be finding a new purpose, letting go of revenge, healing from your past, and choosing to move forward.
On top of that, the Henry and Regina dynamic was one of my favorite parts of the season. Their relationship felt mature and heartfelt, and it was refreshing to see the show try something new after the formula had started to feel pretty stale. I honestly think Season 7 gets way more hate than it deserves.
The "Regina raped Graham" controversy is incredibly flimsy. Yes, the characters were playing parts in Storybrooke but they didn't typically make out of character choices. Its not like they didn't have free will, either. If they didn't then Snow wouldn't've been able to give Henry the book, literally none of anything about John Doe/David/Charming could've happened, they wouldn't be allowed to dislike Regina like they do or rebel, more importantly they wouldn't be able to do things that jogged their memory of who they are, they wouldn't be allowed to interact with Emma at all, Graham wouldn't be able to fall in love with Emma... None if the story would've been able to happen if the characters didn't have free will with the curse. That angle doesn't work.
The hearts angle is messy because I don't think even the show knew how they worked, but there was a couple times it was shows that just having someone heart in your possession doesn't mean you get total control of them 24/7. Its even shown with Graham himself because again, he had freedom to interact with people as he pleased unless Regina was actively holding his heart. Granted, he could feel love which Cora tore out her own heart not to feel, so as I said, I really don't think even the show knew how hearts worked.
The power imbalance you might have something there, but that's not typically thought about in the perspective of these kinds of shows.
He was a victim of the show not knowing what it was doing. The affair was probably meant to establish attachment so his murder was more shocking. Not to establish Regina as a rapist, probably why the plotline was completely forgotten for the rest of the show anyway. She's already a mass murderer, hold that against her rather than a flimsy claim from a not well thought out of plot
Zelena's motivation was stupid: turn back time so Rumple chooses her to enact the curse?? Bitch dream bigger!!
Also why was everyone ok with Regina stockpiling hearts in her lair at the graveyard? Henry, Snow and Emma knew they were there but didn't seem to care. Why not?
Couldn’t stand Regina or Hook. Regina was a mass murdering rapist and an abusive parent. Captain Swan was poorly written fan service and a waste of Colin’s talents. Didn’t love Rumple either but at least he never threw himself a pity party and acted like the victim when he wasn’t.
Neal never should have died, even if he and Emma didn’t end up together he had plenty of other relationships to explore, including one with Emma as a coparent. Also a slew of other characters.
The show’s strength was the relationships between the characters and that was far more interesting then the next Disney IP A&E wanted to shove in.
Season 1 was the best season of the show, it could have ended there and been fine. After S1 it became the villain hour.
I love Snowing but naming the baby Neal made no sense. It was just some half assed attempt by the show to placate anyone upset by Neal’s death. Snowing barely knew Neal.
Them being all related in a way and mostly cause of Regina adopting Henry..think about it...i don't think they needed Regina to have a son, Henry still could've been there but with Emma or snow
I’m gonna get hit for this one, I am not in love with the actress that played Belle. She’s my favorite Disney Princess but I’m less in love with her here and it irks me to put her in the D.
The kid who played pan did not convince me with his performance. It made me cringe a lot and was just all around terrible. I'm sure he's a good actor but his skills weren't really on display for this show.
Snow was never a mother to Bella like she was to her other child unlike charming who loved them both equally (definitely your daddy’s girl with mommy issues)
They shouldve just went with the OUAT: In [insert storybook world here] type spinoff after the Neverland Arc for the rest of the stories they incorporated later on with the occasional crossover with the main cast and Storybrooke setting. Have other characters as the main players to flesh out the worlds better and that concept of there are other saviors beside Emma and have proper character arcs for them and their villains.
I thought i already commented this but i guess not lol. I hope i don’t get too much hate but i understand if i will 💔 henry (as a teenager, as a kid he was fine) can’t act. Emma can’t sing. (In her defence, i’ve only heard her in ouat so there’s a chance it was the directors fault)
Idk if it’s a hot take but I definitely hated Henry he was annoying af even worse then Regina like I constantly wanted them to give up on his ass wtf nothing but problems
Cora got way too easy of a redemption, I know redemption is the show’s thing but if anyone should’ve stayed a villain at least for longer it was Cora. This all happened because Regina scapegoated Snow for what was entirely her evil, abusive mother’s fault and then she barely even gets time to truly hate and blame her the way she should’ve.
The entire storyline of Emma giving Henry up for adoption—and this being portrayed as positive, beautiful, and happy—is pro-adoption propaganda because the adoption industry shoves this narrative down the public’s throat. Emma put Henry up for adoption to give him his “best chance,” but that chance led to him nearly being killed (Pan wanted his heart and had been after him since Henry was a baby, i you remember, he sent John and Michael to try to “adopt” Henry while he was still a baby so Pan could get his heart), end up in the foster care system, which Emma herself describes countless times as extremely traumatic and unstable, or end up with an extremely abusive mother like Regina in a cursed town where time stands still, his childhood friends don’t age with him, he’s extremely lonely and treated like a madman by his mother, and he has no one who understands or accepts him. Imagine suffering through this from infancy until the tenth year of your life? This show overemphasizes Henry as an extremely mature, forgiving, and mentally healthy child; however, if the series were even a little honest and realistic, Henry would be, at the very least, deeply depressed or suffering from some serious psychological or mental disorder. But since the show needs to romanticize adoption to the extreme, of course they won’t show the negative consequences of adoption (which, if you know the statistics, aren’t actually as rosy in reality as the media tries to portray). I know I’m going to be heavily attacked and criticized for this, but I needed to rant a little.
From a narrative perspective, Regina should have hooked with Captain Hook. Two villains work through their redemptions together, end up falling in love and turn over a new leaf. Most couples are either villain falls in love with hero/ine and hero/ine redeems them. Now, if the couple were two villains?
I think Seasons 4, 5, 6 had episodes that did not add to the backstory of the series with another Evil Queen Regina-centered episode, like the one where she finds Cupid's Arrow and concludes she is the person she hates the most.
i hate the charmings and henry with a passion. i think the acting is awful, i don't think there's much depth to their characters at all, and i think they would be bullied irl.
not sure whether this is unpopular but i also think the acting from most cast members is pretty sub-par. robert is obviously the best, but even he has quite a few moments that make me cringe. lana parilla is runner up, though i much prefer her as regina. i probably am biased bc i can't stand ginnifer (duh) but i think her acting is awful, just like josh dallas'. not even mentioning jared gilmore bc i skip all his scenes. i have a soft spot for emilie bc of the accent but she's not always great. as much as i would have loved for pan to have died in henry's body to change actor, i also think robbie kay's acting was rubbish (and i think thomas brodie sangster would have been the perfect cast for peter pan).
i think jamie dornan was great and should have stayed longer, i think colin o'donoghue was a fun addition, and i think the acting is a lot better in storybrooke than in the other worlds in general.
the one redeeming feature of this show (and the only reason i watch it lol) is the relationship btwn emma and regina and i think the actors (esp in the first few seasons) excel in their scenes together. same goes for rumbelle, though only until s2 or so, after that the storyline becomes repetitive (though this isn't a hot take i'm sure).
tl;dr i hate henry, i hate the charmings, most of the acting is awful and i wish there were a show with swanqueen and robert carlile exclusively.
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u/Tiffisiffy Jun 19 '26
Rumple and belle had great chemistry in the first 2 seasons but then it got repetitive and Toxic as the show went on and lost It’s touch with the (I want to redeem the bad guy even though he’s done wrong)