Reply To: Emma + Baelfire = Swanfire

[textbookone]

As I wrote in a different thread, I’m not so sure about how I feel about history being reversed. Would Neal even exist in such an alternate universe? Again, I’m not so sure. If the writers do go down this road, then I think Baelfire would exist, but not Neal, his created persona. The question then, for me, would be if Baelfire remained a kid in Neverland. Maybe Dylan Schmid would join the cast then or at least be a recurring guest star. Maybe “Neal” would exist as Baelfire still, but separately in A Land Without Magic, except he wouldn’ve have ever met Emma and Henry wouldn’t exist. That would be so sad. I’m not so sure how I’d feel about such a turn of events. As much as I enjoyed the character of Neal, that would feel quite contrived to me.

Are there any recent pictures of Dylan? Something makes me think that he’s growing up way too fast to convincingly portray a 14-ish year old anymore, and you’re not supposed to age in Neverland, right? I still think Neal had it right in Manhattan that going back in time, becoming younger again and loosing all your memories isn’t right. Who we are is a combination of the experiences we have had and the things we have learned from them. By taking that away we stop being ourselves, and while I originally fell in love with Neal because in his past he was Bae, I came to love his character so much more for who Neal himself was, for the things he had done and the life he had lived.

I don’t want to see him rebooted, to become someone else, to stop being the Neal I came to love. But this is OUAT, so Neal’s death is probably the end of the character as we know it. Any other iteration will be different, and I don’t know how I would feel about it. Neal’s face with a different personality? Neal’s personality on a different face? I just don’t know.

The way all of this went down still feels like they were in a rush to get MRJ off the show. He wanted out and this was the easiest place to shoehorn that in, even if it was done horribly. If they really do turn back time it will just feel like a total sham to not have either Bae or Neal back, and it will confirm it in my mind that there was more to this than just “bold story telling”.