User blog:Rena the Boss/Miniview - "Dreamcatcher"

"Dreamcatcher" was highly built up over the last portion of the summer and up until now as one of the key episodes of S5A, a true "heartbreaker", that would send Twitter aflutter. Whether it has accomplished just that or not I do not know, for I hardly keep up with that, but it appears to have sat well with critics and the general fandom. I think I can understand why, for the most part: its premise is a good. In theory, this is a good episode: it is riddled with character interactions of a non-romantic nature (the core Emma-Regina-Henry dynamic that should be at the center of the show more often), so-called heart-warming or heart-wrenching moments, less running around and a couple of twists. If this episode was described to me beforeheand, I would've anticipated it as a good one. So why does it ultimately not work for me? The writing, of course. A good premise can never thrive off of a bad execution, and series co-creators and showrunners Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz have spent the last two seasons proving to us, again and again, for some unknown reason, that they can't write for the characters they created anymore. The dialogue they provide them with is utterly rubbish, on so many levels: it's lazy and repetivive, it's drab and unfunny, not to mention dumb... Just extremely dumb. Take this for example: when Regina asks David and Mary Margaret whether they are sure the dagger should be given to Arthur, Snow tells her they trust him, and David adds "implicitly". ...What?... When something is implied, that means it's not boldly stated. They have explicitly expressed that they trust Arthur, more than once. Once you flat out say something, it is no longer implicit. And it all leads to a supposedly funny comeback from Regina, but rather than calling him out for saying something stupid and wrong, she sarcastically asks if he learned those big words at shepeherd school. Because, lest we forget, Regina is sassy y'all! Of course, if she ever joined the chat at this wiki, she'd run off with her head between her legs.

It was pointed out to me earlier that Emma has made all of those dreamcatchers to keep her mind off of her newly-acquired darkness, akin to how Rumple used to spin straw into gold, and I love that little touch, and feel silly that I didn't pick up on it earlier: she was whittling in 5.04, walked past a whole mobile of dreamcatchers, and we already knew from new writer Brigitte Hales that she'd get a hobby. The connection to the dreamcatcher she and Neal once had is remarkably satisfying. Do you know what isn't, though? The fact that Neal was mentioned FIVE FUCKING TIMES in this one episode!! Rumple tells Emma everytime he used magic, he told himself it was for his son. Henry confided in Violet that he lost his dad and there's so much he wishes he could tell him, but conveniently leaves out the part where he didn't even know who his father was at the time he died. Apparently Neal taught Henry that Yazoo's "Only You" is a chick magnet. Emma tells her son she loved his dad because he was always himself - apparently she forgot the big plot twist in which he actually turned out to be the son of effing Rumplestiltskin. And to cap it all off, Hook mentions him when he finds Violet's conveniently placed memories. In relation to that, once more, the little touches of continuity are somehow headscratchers - in an episode penned by the show's creators. Do try to keep that in mind. Can anyone explain to me how in the hell Merida thought to look in Regina's office for Henry's book and then found the chipped cI can't sorry. It leads us to do so much rationalizing, we have to believe that at some point Emma confided all of that crap about the office (and its whereabouts) and the book to Merida which doesn't seem to fall into place in any way.

Then there's the biggest plot twist, that of Emma ripping out Violet's heart. I don't like it... simply because, I mean, she apparently knew Regina's tear of "lost first love" wouldn't work, so why go through all of that with Regina anyway? It just seems so far-fetched and contrived no matter how you spin it. You can argue that she didn't want anyone to know she intended on breaking her own son's heart, so she put on this sort of long con, but... come on. Is it me? Am I being petty here? Is this actually an ingenious plot twist that truly goes to show how cold and calculating the new Emma can be, going so far as putting on a full show to get her way? Am I wrong for even trying to pick it apart? Also, why ask if Violet can keep a secret... Apparently, Violet did remember that, otherwise we wouldn't have seen it in the dreamcatcher, but Emma could have easily told her to just forget what happened, like when Regina took Belle's heart (haha that). Another obvious question is, why the fuck did Emma just keep that dreamcatcher in her home, separated from all others? Does she get off on rewatching one of her lowest moments? Do things like this honestly NOT cross the writers' minds when they do the scripts? Do they not realize the fans are gonna wonder about this stuff?

More on the tears: as I was watching the teaser for the very first time, when the Dark One from the cold opening took Merlin's tear, I was so excited!! Seriously! It immediately reminded me of Anna in 4.04, how Rumple needed the tear of someone who was tempted by darkness but resisted it in order to access Merlin's hat and cleave himself from the dagger, something that apparently all Dark Ones have tried. I thought they were going back to that! I mean, Merlin almost killed the Dark One, but then chose not to! He resisted that darkness! And the motherfucking Dark One collected his tear! I thought it was going back to that whole plot, making it seem less yolo than it was in S4A already, but then Emma told Regina and the audience that the tear was needed to turn Merlin into a tree aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand I should kill myself for watching this show. In the split second it took that Dark One to collect a single tear I envisioned a much better, logical and coherent story for the episode than it wound up delivering us. I also liked the theorized twist that the entity inside the tree was actually the first Dark One, not Merlin, and that he was the one speaking to Arthur. That would have been a nice twist. But nope, what we saw was what we got. And the five-episode mini-mystery of how Merlin wound up in a tree and how he would get out was resolved in this episode. Guys, look back on it. Look back on how all of that was resolved. How Merlin was transformed, and how he was set free. Are you perchance satisfied? Also, that cold opening... Look, yes, we were introduced to Merlin and knew all too well who he was in the opening of 5.01, a last-minute addition to the episode, but I wonder, hadn't that scene made the cut, how would we have reacted to the beginning of 5.05? I mean, we never got any confirmation that Merlin was that usher story-wise. We know he was cos of the actor, of course, so it's kinda dumb to even make this point, but seriously, Emma didn't seem to recognize him even and the creators have hinted that she wouldn't because he didn't leave a lasting impression on young Emma back then, and then why doesn't he just tell her not to take out the sword now? We better find out how he was in that movie theater... Can we just agree that Merlin has been handled rather poorly so far? I mean, the guy is young and black, for Christ's sake. I was thinking today that Elliot Knight and Timothy Webber (the Apprentice) should have had their roles reversed, but if there was a black apprentice to an old white man, the fans would scream bloody racism off the top of their lungs. The other way around sure don't seem to bother no one though, and is being cited as refreshing and inclusive and audacious. Yay. Yay for black people then. Am I in the wrong for thinking that that unto itself is racist?

Merida's inclusion in the series, so far, is dumb at best. Amy Manson is fantastic and we have to sing her praise. When you dissect Merida's lines and interactions so far, they're dumb as all-get-out, which isn't surprising considering that 2 of her 3 appearances were written by Adam and Eddy and her third one was rather minimal. But Manson is doing a wonderful job with her bad dialogue. Which is more than I can say for Lana Parrilla: as outstanding as she usually is, I hated the way she uttered ALL of her lines when she spoke with David and Mary Margaret in the beginning. It was like Parrilla actually realized how stupid the things she was saying were. She sounded bored somehow. Oh, but I have to commend Jared S. Gilmore's performance. He's not quite there yet, but given his young age and improvement, we have to applaud him. He was pretty good in this episode, and was able to emote much more than usual. Henry's role in the season has been pretty great so far and I'm enjoying his progress, I hope to see more of this character. Jennifer Morrison's acting is still shaky, she has now taken to walking like she either swallowed a broomstick or shoved it up her clam. And what was that thing she did with her shoulders as she walked away from the Mills home at the end? What... is she doing?

I can understand this episode being popular. A lot of it does feel reminiscent of season 1, but even the tie-ins and callbacks were cheap and bordered on the overkill. Cora and Daniel too were overused and overmentioned. Again, it was a good one in theory, a sucky one execution-wise. I wonder how next week's episode turns out, because the premise sounds crappy to me: Rumple has to step up and be "brave" because Merida wants to kill his one true love. Sure. Whatever. Here's hoping the flashbacks are better than what the present-day action promises to be. Also, how is Gold taking one swing at a woman with a sword over a chipped cup count as "brave" in any way, shape or form? Is that honestly what passes for bravery on this show? Ha, OUaT and its mixed messages...

I also have a problem with Snow and Charming being saved from the Avalon sands spell so soon, and with having done nothing under the influence of said spell in the meantime. I'm sure that was all meant to be a red herring now: we were led to believe the Charmings would hurt and betray Emma under the influence of the spell, which would be an easy way out when everything was revealed. And I definitely WANTED that! I wanted their betrayal, or whatever got Emma so miffed in the present, to not be brought on by themselves, but this leaves the door open for them to get fucked over as characters, as the good guys, AGAIN. Cos making them steal a baby just wasn't enough. We have no idea how this pans out and it might not be that bad for the Charmings, but I'm worried for their sake again.

Rating the Episode:
 * Flashback story - 3 out of 5 stars. Seeing all the interactions between Emma, Regina and Henry was somewhat satisfactory, but the resolution to Merlin's predicament fell flat on both ends of the spectrum, how it began and how it concluded.
 * Present-day action - 3 out of 5 stars. Bit meh on all counts.
 * Writing - 2 out of 5 stars. It was bad, but we've had worse written episodes, like 4.13.
 * Usage of cast - 3 out of 5 stars. Only Zelena was absent, but a lot of the regulars didn't do much, and it's also annoying how Granny and Leroy don't seem to be appearing anymore either. Olivia Steele Falconer was a guest star though, so yay!

Overall rating: 11/20. Still a positive rating, and more than fair, since this episode left me with a very mixed impression. Still a lull in the season so far, however.