How can I function?

fructoselollipop:

myeyesburn4tv:

This is just my ramblings over the lack of really “good” things in the show “Once Upon A Time”. This debate seems to have been going on since the first 2 or 3 episodes and I don’t see any signs of it stopping. Let me just preface my upcoming statement with this: I enjoy the art of story telling. I…

What I’m about to talk about might not answer everything the OP discussed, but I am in need of something to do, and I always get OMEGA FRUSTRATED when people imply that the writers don’t know what they’re doing with their own damn show. I think if you pay attention, its pretty obvious that they know what they are doing and where they are going in this season. A few examples:

1) Regina sacrificing her prized steed’s heart to the curse in episode 2. Episode 18 is about her true love, a stable boy. That cannot be a coincidence. 

2) Abigail acting totally bitchy in episode 3. We find out in episode 6 that she was basically given away into marriage against her will, and in episode 13 we find out she was in love with someone else. Her actions in Snow Falls suddenly make ALL THE SENSE.

3) The repeated hints that Mr. Gold remembers (to be fair, this one was a little on the painfully obvious side, but some people were surprised I guess). 

As for the assertion that not enough good things happen in Storybrooke, well, that’s sort of the whole point. And that’s also not really entirely true. David waking up is pretty happy (despite the world of hurt he’s in for with the love triangle, you have to admit it’s better than a life long coma). Ashley getting to keep her baby and reuniting with Shawn (Sean?). Archie breaking out from Regina’s iron grip. The twins finding their dad. Kathryn finally admitting that David and Mary Margaret belong together. Astrid and Leroy’s friendship (when in the fairy tale land they are estranged). 

There is a great deal of good going on in Storybrooke, but Regina is actively working against it, which makes the victories seem small.  But they are not small at all, they are signs of the curse struggling to contain the mighty force that is Emma.  We are at the very beginning of Storybrooke’s story (if we’re lucky we have several seasons to go), and rushing everyone’s ‘happy endings’ would just mean the closer the inevitable end is, and would also be poorly managed story telling. 

TL;DR if you’re not happy with the progress good is making as it is, you may want to bail now cause I’m counting on a shit storm raging for a long time yet to come. And the writers DO know what they are doing. For the most part (god, I hope episode 18 changes my mind about Regina). 

I get what you are saying but still, I think what people have failed to see is that I feel that this show is going in a bit of a circle. I understand the concept of small victories and I know the town is cursed but I feel some things don’t make sense. I see the connections and parallels the writers are making between fairytale land and storybrooke but still, some things are out of place. For one (as I stated before) emma’s ability to spot lies. Also some back stories don’t appear to fit with the overall narrative of present day and just seemed crammed in to somewhat make it make sense with the current storyline and give us more info about a character. I personally don’t feel that the writers have methodically planned out everything. Perhaps I’ll be proven wrong and I look forward to it happening, but for me the story is not up to par for me. An example of an awesome drama with careful writing and thought is Breaking Bad, that isn’t happy whatsoever but the storytelling is amazing. That’s all I want, a great story.