Gosh, I'm probably in the minority. This is a third tier show for me. To start, I'm not a fan of high concept arcs that drive a series (and thankfully, the original story did kinda, sorta wrap up in the finale). Last year I vowed to stop watching, and could swear I knocked the season pass off my DVR, but in the fall when I checked my second DVR they were accummulating as if by magic.

What I didn't care for, and it's a quirk of mine, were how characters acted independently of each other. Few buddied up for any length of time. The reason I continued watching were for the pretty costumes and Mr. Gold (Son of a bum! When you mentioned Carlyle was in The Full Monty, I could place his erm, face immediately). Toward the end of S1, I was skipping over episodes where Mr. Gold wasn't featured.

So, this fall when there was a quiet week with nothing new on tv, I caught up on season 2. To my surprise I liked it better than the first, but still have reservations. Along with the old recurring characters there is a plethora of new: Regina's mother, Captain Hook (yummy), the Giant from Jack and Beanstalk, Dr. Frankenstein, Sleeping Beauty, her Prince, and Mulan. And that wouldn't be so bad, except they're juggling at least 3 stories (maybe 4) in each episode.