Meliana

That's fascinating.

I think it is better as two episodes.

Make Them Laugh

I haven't watched replays of this in a long long time...but did watch all the seasons... including the subpar ones

Meliana

Well I guess you enjoyed it then. I just loved this show. I was obsessed!

Make Them Laugh

I did for the most part enjoy the show as a whole
did the evil Henry join Regina in her kingdon in the final epp of the series as well

DigificWriter

I've admitted that my feelings about Hook and his relationship with Emma have changed from when I originally watched the series for the first time, but what I hadn't realized is that holding a grudge against the character of Hook didn't just affect my opinion of the conclusion of Season 5, but my ability to fully appreciate and recognize the full brilliance of the show's writing when the writers started redeeming Hook in earnest and making him as integral to the show as Emma, Snow, David, Henry, Regina, and Rumple in Season 3 and without that baggage weighing me down, the second half of Season 4 and the build towards the finding of Isaac and Emma temporarily becoming the Dark One is landing so much better because I'm able to just roll with the story and Hook's role in it as it's unfolding.

Meliana

That's fantastic that you have appreciated the show in a different way.

Emma's journey in season 4 was about learning to fight for love, and for someone who had always felt unloved that was super important.

I have to say the idea of making them both Dark Ones was masterful imo, because if only one of them had been a DO they wouldn't have understood each other's weaknesses so well. As a storytelling device it worked really well.

DigificWriter

I don't remember if I actually watched the episodes Lily and Mother back when they originally aired, although I was aware of some of the big events that happened in them.

I also didn't entirely remember the exact chain of events that led to Emma becoming the new Dark One, which made rewatching the finale fun because it was kind of like watching things unfold for the first time, albeit with the knowledge that I don't have to wait more than a week to continue the story and without the weight of disliking the character of Hook dampening my ability to fully engage with the entirety of Emma's storyline in the finale.

Meliana

It sounds like it feels very fresh for you. Season four was not my favourite, I wonder if I would feel the same if I watched it again. I tend to dip in and out, rather than watch all episodes in order.

DigificWriter

When I started my OUaT rewatch, I knew that sticking with Season 5 was going to be somewhat of a personal milestone for me because I had originally let my disappointment with the conclusion of the season - fueled by my intense dislike/hatred of the Captain Swan 'ship - stop me from watching all but three episodes (20-22) of Season 6, and have to say that, despite feeling like doing a six-week time jump at the very end of Episode 5x01 is not a decision that I would personally have made, I'm once again madly in love with Emma's turn to the Dark Side and am even appreciating the parallel between Hook's love for her and Belle's love for Rumple.

It's too early to say for sure whether for not my assessment of the resolution of the Dark Swan arc is going to change once I get there in 9 episodes' time, but I'm looking forward to the journey of getting to that point and reassessing the back half of the season.

Meliana

Emma's dark side was very interesting to see. That freedom from having to do the morally right thing, and be selfish. But it was unique to her. As much as she was willing to sacrifice Zelena's life she was minded to save the baby. That shows me she was wasn't wholly consumed by it.

DigificWriter

So apparently Episode 5x09, The Bear King, wasn't very well-received back when it premiered as part of a 2-hour block alongside Episode 5x08, Birth, but I don't really understand why.

Setting up the end of the season by showing what was happening while Emma was turning Hook into a Dark One is rooted in the same narrative trope upon which the second act of the Sondheim musical Into the Woods is predicated, and afforded Adam and Eddy the opportunity to further sow the seeds for the 'back half' of Season 5 in a way that wouldn't have been possible to do without using the DunBroch characters.

The Bear King also paid off lingering story threads for Merida's character specifically while also seeding future conflict for the Camelot Flashbacks storyline.

Meliana

I didn't really enjoy that episode. But I think the reason for me was the Birth episode was a huge cliff hanger, and then we had to wait two weeks I think to see the conclusion, so I was more impatient with a story which didn't seem relevant to me. As a stand alone episode I'm sure it's fine.

DigificWriter

The appeal of The Bear King, at least for me, is that it doesn't resolve the cliffhanger from Birth because it didn't need to.

Meliana

It would have been nice to see more of the resolution of Merida's story after that.

DigificWriter

In doing this rewatch, I realized something that I hadn't before:
Despite being advertised and promoted as being a brand-new story, the events of the second half of Season 5 are in reality a direct continuation, extension, and consequence of the events of the first half, which makes it much more like Seasons 2 and 7 instead of being like Seasons 3 and 4 where there are two distinct storylines for the first and second halves.

Making this realization actually helped me appreciate the episodes Broken Heart, Swan Song, and Souls of the Departed more than I had before because they're effectively a three-parter.

Souls of the Departed also works a lot better as the midway point of an ongoing season-long arc - and milestone episode for the series as a whole - than it does as the beginning of a half-season arc.