When Once Upon a Time [1] came back after a long midseason break this week, I watched the episode with a sinking feeling. This show is done. As a huge fan, I still love these characters and still nurse an intense crush on Captain Hook [2], but with this week's overstuffed-yet-empty episode, it became clear that after four seasons, Once Upon a Time has run its course. Here's why.

The Villains Have No More Bite

For the first half of this season, we were told to fear the Snow Queen (Elizabeth Mitchell), whose intentions were never quite clear and not that evil, and now we are told that the big villains of the second half — Maleficent, Cruella de Vil, and Ursula — pose some danger to our heroes. In both cases, the characters are not that threatening, and worse, not interesting. Let's face it: this show has faced down all the villains. Even the original Big Bad, Regina, is now kind of a sweet mom looking for her happy ending, and the other original, Rumplestiltskin, is trying to convince us he's evil again after a few seasons of being a semiharmless grandpa. All the latest villain turns have been uninspired, so it's time to at least let go of the idea that we need someone to shake things up.

We've Run Out of Fairy Tales to Reinvent

Once Upon a Time's first season was so fun, as it revealed its twists on classic fairy-tale characters. Rumple was also the Beast! Little Red Riding Hood was also the wolf! But not only do the writers seem to have run out of new spins for these old characters, we're even running out of characters. Case in point: the introduction of the Frozen storyline, which was a cool live-action rendering of a current hit but nonessential to the actual Once storyline.

Everyone Has Gotten Their Happy Ending

This is the biggest reason this show can and should end: everyone has gotten their happily ever after. Emma and Hook have fallen in love, Emma's relationship with her parents have been restored, and Snow and Charming have had the second baby they wanted. Once Regina finds some peace, it's time to close the book on this series.