Sunday "Mid-Season Finales"

Err... I really think that Revenge has lost all of its mojo. The "who shot Emily" reveal was totally underwhelming.  Emily's plan was stupid (and why on earth did it take 3 years to reach i,t if this was the 'grand plan'?)

All in all, glad they cleaned up the plot a little, but honestly... eh.  Bored now.  The only thing that is interesting to me is that I cannot figure out whether Patrick is an as-yet-unrevealed loon (Is it weird that even thinking Patrick may be emotionally unstable...or a bad guy... or he's as nice and super-duper-understanding as he seems, I still rather like his being paired with Nolan?   Probably.  But what else in the plot am I going to be interested in?)

On the other hand Once Upon A Time's mid-season finale worked quite well, I thought.  Way to shake up the status quo and reboot the show.  Other than the cliffhanger, it could have played as a series finale. And...

I think they've finally sold me on Captain Hook.  Granted, the long, swishy leather coat and the guy-eyeliner has a way of hitting some well laid  pre-existing root-for-him tracks in my fannish head.  And the reveal of his having once been a stand-up good guy who fell into bad ways helped that out a little.  Then add his "the only things I'd give my life for are love and revenge" and... yeah, probably shouldn't be shocked that they've sold me on Captain Hook as someone I can enjoy watching.  So, even having been ship ambivalent, the mid-season finale worked for me.

Then there was Regina's story. I've long had a totally inexplicable soft spot for Regina, despite her being a really quite evil 'evil queen.'  She hasn't always deserved for there to be any soft spot, but somehow I've had one.  Guess I'm doomed to be a sucker for redemption plots.

So the mid-season finale:

Flashbacks for everyone!

Peter Pan was an asshole to the end (so long -- at least for now -- Peter.  You did a great job as bad guy.  I'll miss the actor)  with Rumple having to find the courage to kill his own father...

Er... yeah, patricide shouldn't be root-worthy, huh?  Still, metaphorically, for Rumple redemption, I can see where he would have to overcome the Peter Pan issues that started his family's history of paternal abandonment.  Doing so to save his son and grandson makes sense.  (And for the love of God, someone PLEASE take a moment to comfort Belle.  Can't these people see that she's sobbing on the pavement?  Her blind adoration of Rumple may annoy me, but she does genuinely adore the guy who just 'died' so give her a hug already!  Bae, come on, she's practically your step-mother {and the non-evil kind!})

Tink found her magic again, too.  (So I gather she got her wings back?)

And it fell to Regina to save everyone by reversing the curse that brought them all to Storybrooke to begin with.  Completely unmaking Storybrooke really does reboot the series. (With the cliffhanger, they can almost return to the original premise of "Hey Emma, did you KNOW that fairy tales are real and you're the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming...?" which may be a bit of a redux only with it being Captain Hook of all people coming to NYC to convince her that fairy tales are real...)

It is quite the redemptive moment for Regina.  She has to save all the people that she cursed, and she has to do so by giving up the one that she loves most... and she does so, because she wants her son to live and to be happy. I can see the retconning of Season 1 where Henry was convinced that Regina didn't love him, but they've grown the plot since then.  It is possible to see THIS Regina sacrifice for Henry, so retconning aside, I'm good with it. With Regina losing Henry and Snow losing Emma (again), I wonder whether they may begin to be some empathy between then when they're again in the Enchanged Forest.  They each had to let go.  There's a world of more unfair in Snow losing Emma a second time, but I think with Regina losing Henry, she'll have a better concept of what she did to the Charmings with the curse in the first place.  I'm interested in what happens going forward in the Enchanted Forest. (And the 1 year time jump should aid in their writing the actress who plays Snow White's pregnancy into the show.  There's plenty of chance for Prince Charming to have knocked up Snow a second time, and they can stop trying to hide the actress's pregnancy).  I also assume that means will be seeing more of Mulan, Robin Hood, and Sleeping Beauty/Aurora in the future.

And finally, of course, Captain Hook appearing on Emma's doorstep, telling her now-amnestic-pretend memory self that she's needed in the Enchanted Forest to save her family (Snow White and Prince Charming!) and kissing her (taking a shot at it breaking the curse because true love and all that.)  I find I'm heartily looking forward to the Captain Hook/Emma/Henry in NYC plot that must come in spring.

So all in all, it did what a mid-season finale should aim to do.  It wrapped up some plots, gave some very good character moments, and set up some new stories that I'm itching to see.

Mission accomplished, show.  I'll be tuning in this spring.