Any episode centring around Drizella is more than welcome. As far as Season 7 of 'Once Upon a Time' goes, she is the character with the most depth to her and is one of the show's best and most rootable characters at this point. Especially when it gives her further development and advances her character and what is already known about her, which cannot be said for too much of the season's character and story writing.
Personally do not agree that Season 7 of 'Once Upon a Time' got worse with "Sisterhood" and not for the reasons given. Actually thought that with "Sisterhood" the season and show got better. It is not close to being my definition of a great episode and has a good deal of problems, but after such a quality dip with the previous four episodes ("A Taste of the Heights" especially) it was the best episode since "The Eighth Witch" in my view and in the high middle of the season's ranking quality-wise. Enough of the season's general flaws are evident but there are signs too of prime-'Once Upon a Time', more so than the previous four episodes.
There is still the feeling of being rather over-stuffed in "Sisterhood", from having too much going on in the story and having too many characters. Meaning that the pace felt rushed, not everything felt followed through enough and some of the content was more interesting than others. Samdi's motivations still don't come over very clearly, being not sure whether he's good or bad, although there is less of the "belonged in another episode" quality that there was in "The Girl in the Tower" his role just muddles what's already going on and he is a bit annoying too.
Henry and Jacinda's subplot, unsurprisingly and as always, is a complete waste of time and serves no purpose. It is pure cliched soap opera, it is as dull as the most lukewarm of dishwater, there is no chemistry between them and the show clearly didn't know what to do with Henry at this point and merely used him as an accessory. The less said about Dania Ramirez the better, Jacinda always will hold the dubious distinction of "worst 'Once Upon a Time' character ever." The big revelation on the identity of the Candy Killer doesn't make an awful lot of impact, as it involved a character that doesn't, and didn't up to this point, have much personality or development. Was mixed on everything with the coven, it was intriguing but somewhat convoluted too.
"Sisterhood" however does start off on a truly heartfelt note and anybody who has a close bond with their sister will relate to it and the subplot. Everything involving Drizella and Anastasia has tension and emotional impact, likewise with their chemistry. Ivy's character arc is one of the few of Season 7 to have a significant amount of depth. Ivy and Gothel together is very tense and intriguing, and the emotional impact carries over with Ivy and Regina. A lot of depth to Ivy here and Regina's feelings are understandable. It was great to see Weaver play a big role, and a fun one at that, and there is a little progression with the mystery, not much which the story itself acknowledges deliberately with the investigation being slow.
Gothel is suitably sinister, a formidable threat in the flashback story. A vast majority of the character relationships are handled extremely well, especially in the flashbacks and namely Drizella/Ivy-Anastasia and Gothel's conflicts with both sisters. Anastasia is a very interesting and relatable character. Much of the storytelling in involving, less disjointed and the tension and emotion is more than most of the episodes forming the season's second half. Excepting Dania Ramirez, the performances are strong with Adelaide Kane getting top honours. As ever, the episode is well made and scored appropriately, while the writing is very uneven it is improved upon the previous five episodes and what came afterwards.
Overall, decent. 6/10
Personally do not agree that Season 7 of 'Once Upon a Time' got worse with "Sisterhood" and not for the reasons given. Actually thought that with "Sisterhood" the season and show got better. It is not close to being my definition of a great episode and has a good deal of problems, but after such a quality dip with the previous four episodes ("A Taste of the Heights" especially) it was the best episode since "The Eighth Witch" in my view and in the high middle of the season's ranking quality-wise. Enough of the season's general flaws are evident but there are signs too of prime-'Once Upon a Time', more so than the previous four episodes.
There is still the feeling of being rather over-stuffed in "Sisterhood", from having too much going on in the story and having too many characters. Meaning that the pace felt rushed, not everything felt followed through enough and some of the content was more interesting than others. Samdi's motivations still don't come over very clearly, being not sure whether he's good or bad, although there is less of the "belonged in another episode" quality that there was in "The Girl in the Tower" his role just muddles what's already going on and he is a bit annoying too.
Henry and Jacinda's subplot, unsurprisingly and as always, is a complete waste of time and serves no purpose. It is pure cliched soap opera, it is as dull as the most lukewarm of dishwater, there is no chemistry between them and the show clearly didn't know what to do with Henry at this point and merely used him as an accessory. The less said about Dania Ramirez the better, Jacinda always will hold the dubious distinction of "worst 'Once Upon a Time' character ever." The big revelation on the identity of the Candy Killer doesn't make an awful lot of impact, as it involved a character that doesn't, and didn't up to this point, have much personality or development. Was mixed on everything with the coven, it was intriguing but somewhat convoluted too.
"Sisterhood" however does start off on a truly heartfelt note and anybody who has a close bond with their sister will relate to it and the subplot. Everything involving Drizella and Anastasia has tension and emotional impact, likewise with their chemistry. Ivy's character arc is one of the few of Season 7 to have a significant amount of depth. Ivy and Gothel together is very tense and intriguing, and the emotional impact carries over with Ivy and Regina. A lot of depth to Ivy here and Regina's feelings are understandable. It was great to see Weaver play a big role, and a fun one at that, and there is a little progression with the mystery, not much which the story itself acknowledges deliberately with the investigation being slow.
Gothel is suitably sinister, a formidable threat in the flashback story. A vast majority of the character relationships are handled extremely well, especially in the flashbacks and namely Drizella/Ivy-Anastasia and Gothel's conflicts with both sisters. Anastasia is a very interesting and relatable character. Much of the storytelling in involving, less disjointed and the tension and emotion is more than most of the episodes forming the season's second half. Excepting Dania Ramirez, the performances are strong with Adelaide Kane getting top honours. As ever, the episode is well made and scored appropriately, while the writing is very uneven it is improved upon the previous five episodes and what came afterwards.
Overall, decent. 6/10
