>>101423080
That's really the main issue, the characters are dreadful and Regina being this naive at 16 is already testing your suspension of disbelief already, so making her older wouldn't fix any of the important issues and might even make them worse.
granted the whole marriage sub plot didn't need to exist and could've just been reduced to "best friends" and have the same effect on the case of "see how many people like regina, except the evil cripple!"
the concept of the case is great but actually playing it is one of the top 5 worst experiences the average fan will have with the series.