Thread by @KatinOxford

Okay! Let's talk about the ABC show Once Upon A Time, how to redeem a villain, and why it went south.

OUAT was a show with a fun (and familiar) concept--original takes on fairytales, how would characters from legend react in a modern context, etc.

We've seen this with the comic series Fable and the miniseries 10th Kingdom, and OUAT follows pretty closely with their themes.

In OUAT, familiar fairytale characters have been banished to our world, to live in the cursed town of Storybrooke, under the Evil Queen's (named Regina) authoritarian rule. None of the fairytale characters remember who they are & are forced to live out unhappy, dreary existences.

Until of course, Emma Swan appears on the scene and, at least according to her son Henry, she is destined to break the curse and save them all.

Early seasons of the show had a simple setup. Flashbacks (ala Lost) to the Enchanted Forest where we would see the fairytales in action, often with a unique twist.

Then modern Storybrooke, where we would see the fairytale character's alter egos and what they were dealing w/.

1st season is tightly written, a bit campy, and overall lots of fun. There are some truly masterfully written episodes (Skin Deep) and everyone has tons of chemistry with each other.

But it's pretty clear that the writers didn't really know where they were going by the finale.

Mistake number 1--Breaking the curse too early.

Season 2 is way more meandering. There is a clear direction in season 1, and by season 2, they are floundering with what to do with these characters, since their curse is now broken and the main protagonist's motivation is gone.

Season 1: Emma wants to figure out why this town is so weird, get to know her son (who she gave up for adoption), unravel the mysteries of each of the characters. All of this is achieved by the finale.

Season 2: ???throw everything at the wall see what sticks.

But this doesn't particularly bother me. The show is mainly character-driven. I am more interested in Emma Swan's growth than plot asides, I am more interested in seeing what Regina is going to do next, I am more interested in seeing Gold and Belle's relationship struggles.

That's what this show really excels at. Characterization.

Sigh.

So...this show has a serious issue with how to redeem villains.

On the one hand, they clearly love their villains. Lana Parilla is having so much fun as the Evil Queen.

But by season 2, they want to redeem her, they don't want her set up as their main antagonist anymore.

Thing is, Regina already canonically...

--Genocide
--Raped the Huntsman (You could argue the consent in Storybrooke, but not in the Enchanted Forest where she magically enchanted him and ordered her guards to take him into her bedchamber, yeah, that happened.
--Gaslit her son.

This sets up a character that is already REALLY hard to redeem. The genocide is not really dealt with. The rape is DEFINITELY not dealt with. And the gas-lighting of her son sort of gets a passing conflict in season 2, but it's kinda handwaved onward.

Regina regresses & progresses so much throughout the seasons, goes from kidnapping her son,, trying to kill his bio mother, joining the main crew in order to rescue Henry in season 3--her characterization is a fucking mess, but at least her motivation--her son--is semi-clear.

Now let's talk about Hook. Be warned. I'm about to get super bitter and angry.

God, I hate this character.

So first off--very pointedly, Emma didn't really have a love interest in season one. She ALMOST had Graham, but unfortunately, Graham is killed off pretty early.

The romances that were focused on were mainly Snow and Charming, with a few other episodic love stories.

There is a reason for this--they very clearly wanted Emma to focus on her relationship with her son and wanted the "true love breaks the curse!" kiss to be symbolic of Emma's acceptance and love for her son.

Nevertheless--it was hinted and foreshadowed that a broader plan for Emma's romance was in the works with a character from season one who mysteriously disappeared from the Enchanted Forest due to their father's betrayal.

Baelfire was abandoned by his father due to his corruption and addiction to magic.

Emma was abandoned by her parents in order to save her from the curse.

Both deal with the residual hurt and heartbreak from these decisions.

Emma comments wryly in season one that Henry's father "was no hero". It's hinted that her relationship with Henry's father ended badly and is part of the reason she has so many walls up.

We see exactly what happened in season 2...and let's go back to Hook for a second.

When the writers of OUAT got Peter Pan rights, they were PSYCHED. They wanted to use Hook REAL BAD. So Hook was initially set up as a villain who flirts w/ anti-hero status, much like Gold.

He definitely has a lot of UST w/ Emma cuz, well, look at Colin O'Donoghue.

And while I think the writers definitely wanted to play up a bad boy/good girl sexy dynamic ala Buffy and Spike, I don't they ever intended on having Hook be a long-term romantic interest.

Yeah, I said it.

I don't think this, cuz on the other hand, we have scenes of Hook...

Making rape jokes.

Hitting a woman who's chained to a wall.

Terrorizing that same woman in the library.

Shooting her in the back and subsequently forcing her to lose her memory, shit this guy had it out for Belle.

Remember how I said OUAT had problems with having their villains do heinous things and then not know how to redeem them?

Hook suffers from this the worst mainly because his about-face into a hero is so incredibly abrupt and stupid.

The core set of characters--Emma, Snow, Charming, Regina, and Gold each set out to redeem themselves from their pasts and be better for their children.

Neal fits into this setup as well, after he learns about Henry.

What is Hook's motivation to be a hero?

Spoiler! He doesn't have one!

Or, if you prefer, his entire motivation hinges on his eventual romantic relationship with Emma, and wow, what a super great message--a strong, independent single mom can CHANGE a man with a history of violence towards women.

Woo!

So why did this change?

In season 3, the writers realized a few things. Namely, that Colin O'Donoghue is VERY pretty, drew in a bigger audience, and looks good on a poster.

They decided to scrap Neal. And that was a very bad idea.

The writing of this was really bad.

At the start of season 3, everyone thinks Neal is dead. So we go through each characters' reactions and grief until we reunite with Neal again.

It deadens the impact of Neal's actual death and takes away his importance to the narrative.

Because he IS important to the narrative. Neal was Gold's entire motivation for creating the curse, orchestrating Emma breaking the curse, and most of his actions in seasons 1 and 2. He wants to reconcile with his son and he will do anything to get it done.

If we kill Neal off, Gold's only remaining motivation to be a hero is Belle and WHAT DID I JUST SAY ABOUT HOW THAT AUTOMATICALLY CREATES A TOXIC ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP, WOMEN DO NOT CHANGE SHITTY MEN.

Killing Neal off also left his relationship with Emma unresolved. However you feel about the ship, the two did not get closure and it forces Emma to repeat the same plotpoint she did with Graham in season one.

Again, it deadens the impact.

Even more infuriatingly, the writers decided to try and replace Neal's relationship with Henry in favor of Hook and Henry, to the point OF USING THE SAME DAMN SHOTS.

Here we see Neal clearly teaching Henry how to sail a ship.

*internal screaming*

And then they named Snow and Charming's new baby "Neal" so all future references to Neal would be in reference to Emma's BROTHER.

Yeah.

The main point I'd like to make is, they did nothing to earn Hook's redemption as a hero. They just decided because Colin was pretty, that would cover it.

Even worse, the narrative reframed from Emma...to Hook.

The literal LAST SEASON WAS CENTERED ON HOOK.

And that's probably the BIGGEST mistake the writers made, because this reframing caused Emma's characterization to badly suffer.

The seasons became less about trying to figure out what works and more trying to cash in on what was popular.

Like...FROZEN.

The ONLY reason they had a Frozen arc was to cash in on the Frozen madness that was going on at the time. It was such a cheap writing move and it only got cheaper and worse as time went on.

Now I stopped watching after Neal's death, mainly because Neal was my favorite character and I was SUPER pissed. But I had friends that continued to watch, so I had to suffer by proxy watching more storylines go to Hook than to Emma.

OUAT was lauded for having such a tough, interesting, vulnerable, and dynamic female protagonist.

By the last season, she was damn near erased from the narrative.

The reframing of Hook was the downfall of OUAT.

In conclusion—you should watch up to season 3 midpoint and no further.

Read my fanfics instead. 😘