Forgive me ahead of time – this is a long ramble. It is undoubtedly infuriatingly optimistic (I am pissed at myself, trust me!) but it is what it is. If you need to mourn and let go, which I totally get, it may be wise to skip this post. I can’t promise flow or cohesiveness, just thoughts.
So I finally came out of my funk yesterday and started thinking critically. And I have decided my answer is just: no. This is not right, and I don’t accept it. I mean that probably makes me crazy… but denial isn’t just a river in Egypt, right? For me – not saying for anyone else, just for me – saying, “A&E are idiots” is taking the easy way out. They… aren’t. I have spent the last three weeks watching every episode, every *moment* of this show, from the Pilot. I have watched it filtered through two lenses; the lens of the WWW storyline and the lens of SF. We know both were planned since the pilot – it is written all over that episode, the flying monkeys in the book, the 3263757 SF things. I know I keep referencing this and going back to it, but it just – no. You don’t throw that away in one episode. Network or no, fanbase or no. You don’t.
I have crack theory, except honestly, I don’t think it’s so crack. I don’t think there are any spoilers in here, it’s just speculation based on what we’ve seen on the show. Primarily the theory rests on Whale being the Wizard. I know I’m not the first with this theory but I’m pretty married to it. Why –
1) In 2×05 there are multiple references to it – Jefferson says, “…I know the man who can do what you want… bring back the dead. He’s, um, you might say…a wizard. I…I can bring him to you.” Regina then references him as a “wizard” three separate times.
2) In the MGM film, the Wizard gives the Lion/Tin Man/Scarecrow a medal, a watch, and a diploma. In 2×10, the scenes with Whale (Frankenstein) and his brother revolve around the brother’s medal of bravery, and the gifts from the father – the watch to the brother and the commission to Whale. Granted the commission is not a diploma, but the manner in which it is presented I think in context it is a reasonable substitute. At least IMO.
3) He is from the land without color. In the MGM film, again, the Kansas scenes are B&W (actually sepia, but that’s neither here nor there,) and then Oz is of course in technicolor. The Wizard is from Kansas, himself, and gets transported to Oz where he becomes the Wizard.
So, okay. If we roll with Whale = Wizard, then let’s continue looking at the film, or rather, the end of the film, and juxtipose it with what we have seen in the last ep with our beloved SF.
3×15 was… crap. It was a way to get Neal off of our screens *as quickly as possible,* and the how/why didn’t seem to matter. That… sucks. A&E were adamant it was for story reasons. We are all, WTF, no it’s not. But perhaps it IS for story reasons. When you look at the larger WoO story, it can be generalized this way. Dorothy is home, but gets knocked out in the storm, and goes off to Oz, where she has adventures. We traditionally see the story from the perspective of Dorothy. But if you look at it from the perspective of her family (ie, the oft-mentioned Aunt Em & Uncle Henry – btw did you know that Henry was played by a guy named Charley? Learned that today, convenient…) they have Dorothy, injured and her future uncertain. No, she’s not dead, but IIRC they are concerned she might die. In order to have Dorothy return home to her family, she has to leave – you can’t realize “there’s no place like home” if you’ve never left it. Yes, I am STILL stuck on the idea that Neal = Dorothy, because it’s just too… exact. (Roomie points out I should add in, as a reminder, the mention he makes of ruby slippers as a portal in 3×03 and Regina’s commentary on Emma following him down “the evil munchkin’s dirt road” in 3×06… both pretty clear Dorothy references) So in order to bring “Dorothy” home, obviously, Neal has to be resurrected. Who do we know who has an interest in resurrecting the dead? Oh, hi, FrankenWhale!
Here is where my cracktheory gets shippy (and maybe a little cracky too, roll with me here.) In the film, Dorothy & friends go to the Wizard for the things they lack. The Wizard gives them symbols of those things – because he cannot give them the things – they are things they already possess. This is true of the three, but then, he needs to transport Dorothy back home, yes? Once his balloon leaves without her, though, Dorothy learns she has what she needs all along – click heels in triplicate and “There’s no place like home.” So, to crackship it into our fanbase, if the crew approaches the Wizard for resurrection, it’s not something he can do… it’s something that is already there all along. (BTW we also have that photo of Josh Dallas in the barn with the symbol on the ground, that would lend credence to the idea of attempting a resurrection.)
Also, A&E have been all about the “Regina and Emma are the same” idea lately. It’s… odd… and seems to come out of nowhere. But then it dawned on me – Regina went to Whale/Frankenstein to resurrect Daniel. Yeah, that didn’t go well, and is sure not what I’d want for NealFire!! But it’s still interesting to note, just a random, passing thought…
My roommate is particularly hung up on the lack of TLK. It’s so glaring to her, she says, because it’s not something you would think to do – it would just be automatic. I agree with her, I mean, it was with Henry and the sleeping curse. That scene is so preposterous because a) it should have been instinctual, and even if it wasn’t, b) Emma should have thought to try TLK, because, hello, she’s used it before and it’s worked! But even if it didn’t cross her mind, why on earth would Rumple not say, “There’s no magic that can save him. The only possible thing I could even think to try would be TLK.” We know Rumple believes they have it; he’s said as much to each of them over the past year. And even if he thought they just “carried a torch,” not had TL, wouldn’t it be worth a TRY to save his beloved Bae?! But, no.
It can’t be that it’s because this is the price of the dark curse, because see here, Regina said to Belle, ABOUT THE DARK ONE CURSE, “sounds like a curse to me, and all curses can be broken. A kiss born of true love would do it.” Belle verifies, “And a kiss — a kiss is enough? He’d be a man again?” to which Regina replies, “An ordinary man. True love’s kiss will break any curse.”
It is SUCH a glaring omission. I mean, the logical explanation is, well, they couldn’t have TLK because if they did he would survive, and they wanted him dead. Except, like with everything else, there are a million and ten loopholes around that. Why not have her kiss him and nothing happen? They could write it as they weren’t TL (convenient if they are killing him off to go CS,) they could easily write it as ambiguous about whether it was TLK or not, but TLK breaks curses and this wasn’t the curse but rather the price of magic. But no. No TLK when it was exactly what the scene was begging for. It’s a huge, glaring omission, not in a shippy way, but in a “plot of the show since the Pilot” way. S1 begins with Snow & Charming’s TLK and ends with Emma & Henry’s. WHY WOULD YOU NOT TRY A TLK. I hypothesize that it was left out intentionally, because they needed to save it for a later date.
So, to go back to Oz – what would it be that is there all along? A TLK of course.
The theory isn’t entirely refined, but I think there’s enough there that it is reasonably viable. In fact, I think I’d like to hypothesize, Whale as the Wizard and Neal as Dorothy is almost certainly the original A&E plan. Has that been changed? Perhaps. But maybe not, and maybe all of this sucktitude is actually integral to the story. I think, for the moment, that I’m going to hang onto this theory… and if it doesn’t play out by the end of the season, then okay. (It’s crack theory version two – I like it better than crack theory version 1, which I called FlyingMonkeyGate, ha ha.)
There is also a portion of Oz folklore whereby Glinda kisses Dorothy as a form of protection – I was thinking it was part of her going back to Kansas but I can’t find evidence of it anywhere. The only thing I can find is from the books, that Glinda kisses Dorothy as a form of protection, but I swear this was in the film. Anyways, it may or may not be relevant and play into this theory.
Also, crack theory part B… those photos. Way back when Emma kissed Henry, it was TLK and broke the curse. Except, despite that the curse was broken, Storybrooke remained. What if it was some sort of layered curse, and for Storybrooke & EF to meld or… whatever… it required a *different* TLK? Could not Emma’s romantic TLK potentially cause some sort of molecular SB meltdown? (Please don’t read this as me calling a romantic TLK more valuable than a parental one, there’s no value judgement here – just musing and speculation!)
So… yeah. Maybe some of this will be erased with 3×16, maybe she’ll try a TLK with him in the coffin (hey, it worked for her parents) and that piece of the theory won’t be relevant. But it’s where my thoughts are right now, and honestly, it accounts for the awfulness of 3×15, IMO, much better than “A&E have lost their marbles.” These guys have laid out 2.5 seasons of layered, excellent story, and it seems more likely to me
Why troll the fanbase? Honestly, ANY admission that Neal is alive would raise questions. No one ever said MRJ left the show; on the contrary, lots has been implied but little has been said. The only absolute statement that has been said is, “Neal is dead,” which may be true, if they plan to bring him back. I mean, Henry flatlined, but that was “technically” just a sleeping curse – so what is “dead” in the fairytale world? It seems quite different than dead in our world. The last word given on the situation in the TVLine article is as follows – TV Line asks if this is the last we’ve seen of MRJ this season and Eddy replies, “Oh, you never know…!” That’s a far, far cry from “dead is dead and he’s gone forever,” and in A&E speak, it reads to me like, “Uh no. He’ll be back.” Yes, that COULD be flashbacks or whatever, but also, it could be to complete the story that has been laid out since the very beginning.
My name is dontstopbelievin, that’s my crack theory, and I’m stickin’ to it. The screenname is not for nothing, these rose-colored shipping goggles have been welded on, so I might as well take advantage!
Cause this story needs some mending & a better happy ending...