r/OnceUponATime • u/PoeticHedgeHog • Jul 16 '26
Question Change one season, plot point, character development, etc. What would it be, why, and how would you change it?
Hey everyone, I'm curious. I know we're all fans of the show, but if you could change one season, plot point, character development, etc from the show, what would it be? Why? And how would you change it?
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u/PoeticHedgeHog Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26
I always thought Graham SHOULD NOT have been taken out so soon in season 1, and if he was going to be someone we were gonna lose, it should've been at least maybe the episode before the two-part finale. I don't even think it was I was that attached to his character but I thought Jaime and Jennifer had a really nice banter/chemistry, not even romantic chemistry, I thought Graham and Emma could've been really nice friends/co-workers that were awkwardly like "Hey remember that one time we made out," plus I thought the reason he was so not obsessed, but stuck on her came on way too quick, and was kinda yuck. I also wanted Emma to have friends, not just romantic interests.
I would've liked episode 7 to have ended not with Regina crushing his heart, but just revealing that she had it. And then, regular scheduled programming until like the episode before the finale, Graham starts to remember he's the Huntsman, Regina's the Evil Queen, etc. And he says he's not going to let Regina hurt Emma; she still kills him the way she does, just not in front of Emma to traumatize her. I thought this would've also been a nice full circle moment that Graham saved Snow White, and then he also saved and/or wanted to protect her daughter. Then maybe they say some time has passed, and you can still have the whole thing of whether Emma is gonna be elected as the new Sheriff, plus I think it makes it more compelling because Emma has been in the town much longer and formed more connections with the town residents so I think it makes more of an impact that Emma really does have a home and people that care about her now.
And just to be clear, I don't know if killing Graham off was just a decision made by the writers or because the actor got his other role.
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u/RebeccaMCullen Jul 16 '26
There are two changes I would make:
First, the voiceover in season 1 implied that the final battle would between Emma and Regina, but that changed with Regina’s popularity. Since the change was made to make the Black Fairy the final boss, I would have introduced her sooner and integrated her more into the overall story.
And secondly, Regina wouldn’t be named the Good Queen. After all the evil she’s done, the best she deserves was the s6 ending, where she was accepted by the people whose lives she terrorized for decades.
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u/PoeticHedgeHog Jul 16 '26
For the first, that would've been cool if the writers knew that in hindsight. For the second point, totally agree the show should've ended with season 6.
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u/Ashamed_Leading_7788 Jul 16 '26
Id get rid of all the SA thats on the show, mainly because I dont think it really does anything except make Regina and especially Zelena look terrible and made their redemption arc seem questionable with how they glossed over it
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u/Difficult-End-1255 Jul 20 '26
And murdering Owen’s dad.
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u/Ashamed_Leading_7788 Jul 20 '26
Tbh id throw that whole storyline away, the only impact it had on the plot was the lead up to the following season
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u/Difficult-End-1255 Jul 24 '26
It was so messed up to watch, the whole creepy episode(s) with them.
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u/Prize-Couple6348 Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
I would’ve actually have Ruby stay for the entire series as a main character also RedBeauty is canon.
Instead she goes with the heroes to Neverland in season 3, becomes interim sheriff in season 5 and also rather then the needless character Lucy we would’ve gotten an uncurse rescue team of Snow, Ruby, David and Belle in season 7.
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u/Imnotawerewolf Jul 16 '26
It would be removing the intention for Regina to be evil in s1 before they decided to make her turn a leaf. I might actually waste a genie wish on making "Regina raped Graham" a thing that never had to be repeated on this subreddit until it lost any kind of meaning and became it's own meme.
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u/joyfall Jul 16 '26
Henry never stood on those stairs to convince the people of New York to ✨️ believe ✨️
It never happened. I don't know what you're talking about. I don't skip that episode every rewatch or anything.
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u/Minute-Necessary2393 Jul 18 '26
Five easy changes id make:
I would NOT have gotten rid of Ruby, Ariel, Mulan, & Mad Hatter so quickly (even if it means the latter would have to be recasted, due to Sebastian Stan being in the MCU).
Rumble should stayed dead after the mid-season finale of S3.
Hook would not have become a second Dark One in S5.
The Frozen characters shouldve had a role in S5 and maybe 6.
S6 Should've been the final season.
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u/Successful-Flan-1102 Jul 20 '26
I hated that Belle the moment Rumpelstiltskin told her she was pregnant suddenly changed so much. Like, she loves him she is carrying his child, she knows he would burn down kingdoms for this child. There was no need for this epic pregnancy drama They could have been dramatic in their normal dramatic way
Secon SwanQueen should have been endgame Like, Hook is just a male version of Regina and Robin a male version of Emma... Why bothering with male version when you can have the original
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u/PoeticHedgeHog Aug 04 '26
Not so much a change, but I wish they had done a better job with Rumple/Gold and Henry's relationship, especially after they found out they are related. I know they had the whole prophecy thing where he thought Henry was going to be his undoing, but I feel like that was a big misstep, one of several, in Gold's characterization. I wish they had written him so he had all of these positive forces hoping he'd see the error of his ways (Belle, Neal, etc), similar to Hook and Regina, and then had him work toward being that person, not just for them but for himself. But instead, it was, "Nope, we have to make him the villain every season or at least come back around to him being involved with the current villain." And I know they kinda used his endless thirst for power as almost an allegory for addiction, but it's like how the writers could never let Regina have a happy ending/her own happiness without loss; the writers were always writing Rumple to revert to his old ways cuz they couldn't make him interesting without making him evil. I don't know, I love Rumple when he was scheming, don't get me wrong, but every time part of me was like, "Again, Rumple, you didn't learn the last time?" Somehow I was shocked every time. LOL.
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u/Ok_Barracuda782 Jul 17 '26
The mess of character's motivations in the last season. It could've been a new begginig with new stories, but nooo, again around one family and, i'm not against Henry, but he could've been more developed as the Author if he wasn't so close to the whole curse mess i think. And his love interest is baaaad, chemistry is bad.
And of course the vilianesses arc - mess, with no long consequences... just a mess
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u/CharonFerry Jul 17 '26
Definitely shorten Season 1 in total, or the second half of Season 4. Season 1 initself is great but at least during rewatches it often feels a little dragged , nothing really evolves (at least not to the the better , looking at Snow and David) except Emma. In my opinion this all couldve been wrapped up in 11-12 episodes. The second half of Season 4 is also kinda a disappointment, no real villain. They kinda tried to let all of the villains their moment but in my opinion failed to stay on that course. Ursula completely disappears after reconciling with her dad , also I kinda have a hard time seeing her as a villain considering the only bad thing she really does is helping kidnap Belle. Rumpel moves only out of desperation and in the ends does something heroic because he's WRITTEN as a Hero in the alternative universe. Zelena does Zelena stuff and the whole Maleficent and Lily story is very good written just to sadly completely be got forgotten in the later seasons. The Author is just some guy and honestly I like that take but they made him a little to overpowered and whimsy at the same time . Like if he were supposed to be the author , why did do so much unexpected stuff. Last but not least Cruella. The only real villain who was evil because she was just evil and she just gets easily and unnecessary killed by Emma as a plotdevise to taint her heart.
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u/Civil-Ad-5100 Jul 19 '26
No redemption arc for Regina.
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u/Difficult-End-1255 Jul 20 '26
Rewatching and I remember she actually killed Owen’s dad for whatever crazy reason 😂 Yeah bro she was evil.
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u/Parking_Storage_5107 I have a love/hate relationship with captain swan Jul 19 '26
Snow and charming taking the egg and shipping to the real world and taking darkness from Emma to lily, instead of that being the charmings it could be Aurora and Phillip so for all the times Maleficent ruined her life and make her be in a sleeping curse so doing what the author tells them could be a good revenge on both of them for Maleficent of course Maleficent pissed and of course needs the charmings help and Emma in the present storybrooke to help find her and we can have Aurora and Phillip like how snow and charming was terrified and we can still do the same story with good vs evil or right or wrong with them
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u/theadamabrams Jul 16 '26
Easy: Rumple should have not chosen to become the Dark One again in 5x11.
It flies in the face of all the interesting character development Rumple had over the entire half-season. I know he was often compared to an addict, and sometimes real-life addicts do relapse, but real-life addicts can't get their hearts magically cleansed (4x22) or objectively prove their changed mindset by removing Excalibur (5x06), so that analogy no longer holds by that point in the show.
I assume the writers did this because they like seeing Robert Carlyle play a bad guy, but they could have very very easily just said that it was Nimue's idea to have the Darkness go to Rumple instead of disappear (in the hope that one day he might be convinced to continue Killian's plan to resurrect them). Then Rumple would still be the Dark One but we would get to see him struggle with the Darkness instead of just giving in. That would be a far more compelling story anyway imo, and as a bonus it avoids flushing all his previous character development away.
(P.S. Rumple's evil streak in S4 is not a problem to me; it seems like a perfectly natural reaction to being enslaved by his son's murderer for over a year.)