Theory on why Graham died, Catherine disappeared

I have been thinking how the curse might be broken and some things that were said at Paley Fest and thoughts about the kissing theory. I think the audience was played into thinking that Graham remembering FTL was because he kissed Emma. Here’s what I think happened:

Right around the time Emma showed up was when Graham started to realize that even though he was screwing around with Regina he wasn’t “feeling anything.” When he kissed Emma the audience is shown that he has quick flashbacks of FTL and he tells Emma that he doesn’t feel anything. He sees the wolf and he starts to have dreams about FTL. I don’t think it was the kiss that made Graham have flashbacks of FTL, I think it was his realization that he wasn’t feeling anything that made him start to have his flashbacks as that realization was a symbolic understanding that he was missing his heart (a symbolic understanding of his FTL situation). I think the kiss was put in there to send the audience down the wrong path.

Graham starts to realize that something is not right with his life and everyone’s life in Storybrooke (no one can remember when they met, etc.) and he goes to see Henry who tells him who is really is and that his heart was cut out. Graham believes Henry and TELLS Emma that he doesn’t have a heart. When Graham verbally acknowledges that he doesn’t have a heart (his real FTL situation) his wolf shows up and can be seem by Emma as well and guides him to where he needs to go to find his heart. Getting his heart back would not only give him a symbolic happy ending in Storybrooke but it would also give him a literal happy ending in FTL (freeing him from both Regina and the EQ). He is exactly where he needs to be to find his heart until Regina comes in and screws it all up. Graham tells Regina that he realizes that he isn’t happy with her so he isn’t going to be with her anymore – he is changing his course in Storybrooke.

At the Sheriff’s Station – Graham is cleaning up Emma’s eye and Regina goes to her vault. At the same time Regina pulls Graham’s heart out of the box he and Emma kiss and he suddenly remembers everything about his life in FTL. I don’t think it was the kiss that made him remember. I think it was the fact that his heart was freed from the box – the thing he needed to accomplish in FTL to get his happy ending happened, so he was able to remember. I think they threw the kiss in to make us THINK the kiss was what made him remember. Then when Regina crushed his heart, he died. He needed his heart to get his happy ending – when his heart no longer existed, neither could he.

I think something similar happened with Catherine. She figured out that she and David never really loved each other and she wrote letters to David and MM giving them permission to be with each other. Just like Abigail helped James escape to marry Snow because she didn’t want to marry him because she loved Frederick. Abigail decides to change her course in Storybrooke and move to Boston to go to law school and find someone to love the way David loves MM. When he tells Regina suddenly she disappears. It’s interesting to me that Frederick was the one would have found Catherine. When Catherine figured out that she didn’t want to be married to David (just like Abigail in FTL) she would have ended up with Frederick gym teacher just like she ended up with Frederick in FTL and gotten her happy ending until Regina got in the way.