Well I think us hardcore scifi fans need to maybe adjust our expectations a little. This show is clearly aimed at a more mainstream family audience than something like Fringe.
Why do you think the mainstream audience is more patient with this story or any story than genre fans? Shouldn't it be the reverse? Ratings have been slipping over the whole season. It doesn't look to me like anyone's got a lot of patience for slow-burning shows anymore.
They need to get the damn story moving from Square One, where it has been stuck the entire season, or else who knows what's going to happen to the ratings next year. ABC is lining up a very aggressive slate of new shows, heavy on the female-appealing complex soap approach, some of which will be sf/f.
On top of that, NBC is going to be trying to steal their audience, also no doubt with some new sf/f series, and they have the Olympics in August to give them a jump start on everyone else.
OUAT is going to have a lot of new siblings and rivals it will need to keep pace with, or S2 will be the last. And who knows, maybe two seasons is enough of a story, but I think Jefferson's hat opens up a lot of new possibilities that could be explored.
I don't think they are going to magically abandon Maine in the season ender.
I don't think the show will ever abandon Maine. At most, they'd make it easier for the characters to move back and forth. First, everyone needs to be aware this is possible. Most likely, the big season ending twist will be Emma getting a thwack to the head that makes it impossible to totally return to her old way of thinking - she ends up lying on her ass in the magical realm, fade out, see ya in Sept.