I don’t know if this show ever had a single direction. Knowing the past works of these writers, even if it did, we won’t know it until the series finale. They are blending several disparate fairy tales together, crossing character lines and blending characters together. The unfortunate nature of what they have created is the constant need to introduce new characters to keep the story fresh. Unlike Lost, UOAT is composed of characters that are familiar to most, all but eliminating serious character development for the bulk of the cast. It makes for some dysfunctional story telling, but I have faith that it will all blend together in the end.

In regards to Red/Wolf, I understood, when I wrote my comment, that there was some question as to the nature of the character as villain or innocent. The interesting thing that the writers did here is to blend historic and modern variations of the tale as well as blending the two characters. This allowed them to tell a tale of dichotomy in a single character, which has been a constant undercurrent with Regina from the beginning as well. There are versions of the Little Red Riding Hood tale that do involve a blending of the protagonist and antagonist and this is what the writers have used. It should also be mentioned that Ruby still has an edge to her character, and while not a “villain”, she is anything but innocent.

I do have a guess at the Henry issue. Henry is the only character (that we know of), born of two imaginary/magical world beings in the “real” world. We have seen that Emma has magic in her and possibly so does Henry. He is the only character truly part of both worlds. All other explanations that I can come up with fall apart under scrutiny.

Another interesting twist that we hopefully will get answered is how Tamara and Greg come to know about the magical worlds and how they are being instructed. They are getting their commands from somewhere, as are the lost boys (although so far the time frames are decades, if not longer, apart).

Wow what you said makes complete sense and it is too simplistic to think that they would go against fairy tale tradition and make Peter Pan a Villian considering he is a lost boy himself although technically Ruby a.k.a Red/wolf ended up being both the innocent victim and villain all in one lol (as far as her original story goes). Either way, I can’t wait to see who is REALLY behind everything and why Henry plays such a central role in it all. (:

You aren’t. Rewatch the episode and pay attention. Peter Pan is NOT the villain that is behind all of this. Peter Pan is the tall blond, leader of the lost boys. Watch the last scene. They refer to him/he and who he is looking for. Peter states that it could take a long time but that Peter Pan never fails (he is speaking of himself in the second person). Peter as an uber-villain wouldn’t make sense anyway. Peter Pan is a lost boy himself, not a villain. All the villains, to date, have been villains in the originals.
In addition, you must remember that the same writers that brought us Lost are now bringing us UOAT. Major story lines are not going to be spoon fed to the audience. For those that think Peter Pan is somehow the major villain are being misdirected and falling prey to simplistic interpretations.

So the real cliffhangers for this season are

– How does Bae escape Neverland? This explains how Bae ends up in Emma’s timeline which is decades or longer after his own (from the fairytale timescale).

– How will Bae and the Charmings (et al) reunite?

– and most importantly, Who is this villain behind the proverbial curtain and why is Henry so important to him?