would sell one-third of my soul for season 1 of tts but for 14+.
-diving into rapunzel’s guilt over touching the rocks as she tries to do that typical “filler” stuff, so the audience isn’t wondering why the problem isn’t being addressed, but rather, wondering how much longer until she breaks and addresses it.
-more character focus (honestly, i want this for the whole show). cassandra had some good development in season 1, but i’d love it if it delved into eugene struggling to reconcile his past with the fact that he lives in a castle now. with. you know. the guy that almost had him hanged.
-more eugene and lance flashbacks, particularly lance-focused stuff.
-more time with varian (particularly the varian-rapunzel and varian-eugene dynamics). really integrating him into the faces we think of when we think of the main cast, even if he isn’t necessarily their friend. or, heck, actually making him their friend.
-the destruction of old corona in real time. maybe making it the image shown during the credits! like, we see the normal village, and then, with each passing episode, the rocks overtake it further, pushing themselves into the picture as the sky gradually darkens.
-a varian pov episode with the masked men outside his house as he battles lingering sickness from the storm. we can even combine this with “the quest for varian” as rapunzel investigates his abandoned, cobweb-covered lab.
-would. would it be too ridiculously angsty of me to ask for varian to inject ruddiger with the growth serum onscreen. because i kind of want that.
-blood during the finale. be it cass’, the rocks causing eugene an injury, or a spike plunging through the automaton and across the side of varian’s face, leaving a scar that lasts forever and the very obvious symbolism going hand-in-hand with it.
HONESTLY THIS GOES FOR S2 AS WELL.
-cass actually struggling with her rotted hand.
-rapunzel making excuses to herself that no, she’s not just ignoring her problems all over again, because she’s traveling! she’s figuring out how to stop the black rocks! it’s fine!
-treating lance being poisoned with way more depth, because. like. that shouldn’t be made into a funny scene. we can let lance not be the comedic black best friend once. i’m begging you.
-flashbacks to corona and varian’s prison breakout, along with his internal redemption and andrew manipulating him.
-cass’ transformation into moon cass visibly making her look more gaunt, like how the flower healed gothel but in reverse. also having her be possessed by zhan tiri, at least for part of her arc.
okay fine we’re going into season three because this post is spiraling out of control
-letting varian sacrifice himself for corona, except there’s obviously some magic thing that still saves him. but that really should have been his redemption moment. the climax. *”there was room for two on that door, rose” voice* there was room for two inside that hair shield, rapunzel!
-either making quirin actually dead or at least doing some kind of fakeout.
-king edmund showing more signs of mental illness.
-multiple episodes where lance is at least featured with angry & cat. slowly but surely maturing enough to adopt them.
-varian’s voice getting more strained in “nothing left to lose” after being hit with the rocks. (jeremy jordan is an insane-level performer— i know he could’ve sold that so well and i’m baffled why they didn’t tell him to.)
-zhan tiri being much, much creepier.
-cass deteriorating more physically than just being pale, causing people to naturally show sympathy for her instead of. you know. a sadistic grin as she wields a sword effortlessly.
-the moonstone not healing cass’ disability.
-varian either getting to freak out inside that rock cage, or us seeing him consciously force his panic down. he’s still human even though he’s a genius, and he was confined hundreds of feet above the ground for about a day.
-not recreating the new dream moments in the finale, but giving us some original cass stuff that means just as much. this also comes with seeing what killed cass.
-making it clear that varian chose the role of royal engineer. also that he got to bring hot running water to his village first, the way he wanted to.
-depending on how cass’ arc is handled, either letting her be captain of the guard or exiling her with a hint that she’ll return to rapunzel in secret.