Intellectually I knew the guy at the bottom of the ocean had to be Nate, with Amanda as the "Sacrifice," but damned if they didn't have me going with the misdirection at the beginning of the episode. Her exit was perfect, though — that last line not only helping to console Emily but also explaining how she went from a…

I find Gilmore's acting as much of a boat anchor as the next guy, but the writers aren't doing him any favors with lines like "You're supposed to be different, but you're just like her. Regina. She lied to me all the time too." I'm not sure even Carlyle could make that fly, but if he could, he'd have the great…

Presumably. But my impression as the scene played out was that it was only after Snow Charming "revealed" that Cora was about that "Regina" said "Oh, then I must see Henry!" Either the writing or performance was off by a tick there. Excusing the awkwardness by saying it's Cora in disguise is giving them too much…

Sense this made very little. In addition to the stuff that's already been pointed out, what about Regina's first appearance:

The Internet knows, man. The Internet knows.

I liked the future tech in the present day, but if it continued it'd be too easy for it to become an indistinguishable-from-magic get-out-of-jail-free card. Her losing (at least some of) it makes things more interesting to me. Also, a better role for Alec than exposition machine is a definite plus.

They did handle the two main plot issues pretty well, but there are still a couple things that don't quite land. She can't drive a car but she can spot a cell phone and knows how to call/text Carlos and/or let him track its location? I don't think she's getting the walkthrough there. (Also, when Alec mentioned to her…

"You are my favorite thing" — that scene was totally the writers/cast/crew saying good-bye to the fans. And I didn't mind because it worked both ways, in context and meta-context. I wish every show could have a modest number of fans that love the hell out of it on a network that lets them do crazy shit and go out on…

On the "Love Like Mine" soliloquy, in addition to it being "their song" it's also a kind of role reversal. The opening lines are "So you think that you're the one who's up in score / Just cause you're the first one walkin' out the door" which describes Juliette perfectly, making FTT the narrator of the song (just like…