Once Upon a Fangirl...: Lacey

I thought I may as well also do an updated review of this episode since we're still waiting for season 4 to come! I see no point in recapping since this episode has been out for a while, but rewatching it, it definitely has it's good & bad points. I enjoyed the flashbacks with seeing more of Belle & Rumple playing off against each other & what lead Belle to see there's more to him than she initially thought. Even seeing Robin Hood was kinda nice, but in a way, it disappointed me after all the hype put on him in the advertising only for him to appear in a couple of scenes for at most 2 minutes. Well, at least as of season 3 he's a much stronger character & that this wouldn't be the last time we saw him (despite being played by a different actor)! The main issues I have are the scenes with Emma & her parents & Greg & Tamara. In fact, almost all the Storybrooke scenes felt flat! They really felt shoehorned in because there are way too many plots to count & it feels like the writers have no clue which one to focus on as none of them really connect together in any way. Also, the Lacey plot was all entirely pointless since 1) we knew Belle would eventually get her memories back, 2) I felt it would've been better to have memory lost Belle & Gold slowly get to know each other (obviously they couldn't put any creative thought into it thanks to the stupid Home Office plot & the Charmings/Regina conflict taking over everything) & 3) it was just there so Gold had a reason to be a jerk to everyone again! I will give Lacey credit though that she does show more acting range for Emilie & it was kinda nice to see more of Gold after him being sidelined for a couple of episodes. Although I like it as a Rumbelle shipper, I can't really say the same in general for OUAT. At most, it's just meh. The flashbacks were pretty good seeing a bit more of the development of the relationship between Belle & Rumple, but there was WAY too much going on in the Storybrooke scenes & they mostly fall flat!