Tell-Tale TV Panel: Once Upon a Time Season 5

This season on Once Upon a Time, we traveled to Camelot and the Underworld. We met the Dark Swan and Dark Killian. It was an intense season, that’s for sure.

But, how did the season work overall? Was it a success? Below, our writers discuss the highs and lows of Season 5. Join the discussion by leaving your thoughts in a comment below.

Our panelists are:

• Christine Laskodi, associate editor for Tell-Tale TV
• Lissete (Lizzie) Lanuza Saenz, associate editor for Tell-Tale TV
• Caralynn Lippo, staff writer for Tell-Tale TV
• Allison Nichols, staff writer for Tell-Tale TV

On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rank the season overall?

Christine: I’d give it a 7. It started strong with Dark Swan, but petered out with the Underworld.

Lizzie: I like that number. 7 is good. I think the Dark Swan arc was stronger than the Underworld one as well.

Allison: I’m going with a 5. While I loved the idea of the Dark Swan arc, it never really went the direction I had hoped. We spent more time on another memory wipe and Camelot than we did focusing on Dark Swan. I do agree that the Underworld was weak.

Caralynn: I’d give it a 6. It was a stronger season than season 4, that’s for sure, but still not quite as good as the first two or three seasons of the show (which, in my opinion, were the show’s peak years). I didn’t love either of the two arcs, but each had strong moments.

What was the season’s biggest mistake?

Christine: The entire Underworld half of the season. I think the whole idea of it was good, but the execution just lacked the same amount of creativity that the Camelot half of the season had (and I say that mostly because I loved Dark Swan, not Camelot itself.)

I really wanted to like Hades, but he ended up being a dud, at least for me. I think the biggest mistake though was the time changes in the first half of the season. It was SO hard to keep the timeframes straight. And the very idea that they’d lose their memories AGAIN was one big giant eye-roll.

Lizzie: I’m going to go with something more general, which is the fact that the show has too many characters, and they bring in a lot of guest-stars, and they just don’t have time to give everyone their due.

It happened to Will last season, to Robin this one, and to Belle for the past …well, forever. They need to trim the cast to a manageable number and then just give these people a chance to shine.

Allison: Geez, there were a couple. I really hated the memory wipe. It has worn out its entertainment value, and like Christine mentioned, it was hard to keep all the timelines straight.

The Underworld and Camelot didn’t work. Lizzie brings up a good point. We have so many “main” characters that we don’t need to bring in guest stars and devote entire episodes to them. Let’s focus on our core characters and really give them all a chance to shine.

Caralynn: The memory wipe was pretty bad, but I actually did like the Dark One Hook reveal, and it made Emma’s actions make a lot more sense in context.

I had a couple of major issues with the season: Hades was a dud of a villain, the time between Hook dying and Emma deciding to rescue him was off, and Robin dying.

I think Hook’s death and eventual resurrection would have been more powerful had they given Emma some actual time to grieve. The timing was just weird. Robin dying the way he did was just so, so lame.

What worked really well this season?

Christine: The transformation of Zelena. I couldn’t stand her. But the saving grace of the Underworld story was watching her slowly become a real player on the show, becoming someone with a good heart who finally accepted that she had it in her to be a hero.

Dark Swan was also a highlight. Jennifer Morrison was incredible as she switched between Emma and the Dark One. It genuinely felt like she was playing two completely different characters.

Lizzie: The Captain Swan. Hook and Emma were the saving grace of the season for me. You can tell that the writers put more care into writing this romance that they put into any other romance and most other story-lines because they always make sense.

Their progression has felt real, and most importantly, they’re going at a snail’s pace. That just means their big moments are important to the writers/viewers.

Allison: I sort of fell in love with Zelena? I don’t really know how it happened, but it did. I agree with Christine that her transformation was amazing. Zelena became someone I looked forward to seeing on screen, and I absolutely loved her scenes with Regina.

Caralynn: I agree with Christine and Allison! Zelena’s redemption arc was surprisingly wonderful.

I absolutely adored the Cora/Regina/Zelena episode of the Underworld arc (easily my favorite of the latter half of the season). Fantastic performances from all three. I also loved that Zelena chose Regina over Hades in the end, killing him with little-to-no hesitation to save her sister.

What was the biggest surprise of the season?

Christine: I mean, Hook’s “death” was pretty shocking. I definitely didn’t see that coming. And Robin’s ultimate death was also a surprise, actually.

Lizzie: I’m going to agree with Christine, but of those two I gotta say Robin was much more baffling to me. Maybe because a part of me knew they weren’t going to get rid of Hook for good, and I sort of thought the same applied for Robin, but nope, gone …and in such a silly way, too.

He was an afterthought at the end, both in life and in death.  

Allison: I definitely agree that Robin’s death was a shock. Another surprise for me was the Hades and Zelena romance. I was looking forward to a badass villain, and then this romance came out of nowhere and muddled everything. 

Caralynn: Robin’s death. Like Lizzie, I knew there was no way they’d get rid of Hook for good, despite his two “fake-out” deaths (at the end of season 5A and then again when Emma had to leave him in the Underworld).

With Robin, it was just so completely out of left field. And they essentially ignored him for the entirety of the Underworld arc, so for him to be killed off so unceremoniously after they underutilized him all season was really weird and shocking.

What did you think of this season’s big bad?

Christine: Well Arthur sucked. I didn’t like the choice to take such a well-known, noble character and make him so darn evil. It just never quite landed, for me.

And Hades started out well, but he never really made his intentions clear, so he ended up falling flat, though I did like his side love-story with Zelena.

Lizzie: Agreed, Arthur sucked, but Hades sucked even worse? I mean, I liked the Camelot arc much better than the Underworld arc, and Arthur did kind of redeem himself in the end. Hades started out with great promise, but in the end, he wasn’t the villain we deserved.

Allison: Neither one worked all that well. Arthur and Hades were annoying. I never really feared either one, but at least Arthur had a game plan. Hades sort of had a time travel plan he wanted to do, but then he maybe gave that up for Zelena? I don’t know, honestly.

Caralynn: I’m with Allison. Arthur at least had a goal and a game plan in mind. Hades was just weird and menacing and his plans were murky. I didn’t like either of them, though.

I’m glad that Season 6 is set to have a full 22 episode story as opposed to splitting into two arcs, because I feel like trying to condense a story into a half season and develop a worthwhile villain within only 10-11 episodes is just not working out for them. I’m looking forward to Evil Regina and Mr. Hyde! They already seem really promising, just from what we saw in the finale.

Once Upon a Time returns Sundays this fall at 8/7c on ABC.

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