Reply To: Emma + Baelfire = Swanfire

[Slurpeez]

Last night was a lot of salt in the wound because it doesn’t seem FAIR.

I don’t want to take away from anyone else’s emotions (positive or negative) about seeing Neal on the screen last night. I had mixed emotions myself. On the one hand, it was really great to see MRJ’s face on my screen. I loved how selfless and heroic he was to muster enough strength to get that message out to Hook to ensure Emma would in fact come to the aid of everyone else to defeat Zelena. Otherwise, Snow, Charming and Regina would’ve been stuck in SB without any memory of how they got there or even that they needed to get to Emma. Without Neal sending the message, Snow, Charming and Regina casting the curse really would’ve been in vain. It did add an extra dimension to Neal’s “sacrifice” if I may use that word (though I do so with extreme reservation since Neal died as a price of choosing dark magic in an ooc way).

On the other hand, I was really sad that the writers decided to show us this after we already knew Neal had died. Why couldn’t they fit this into 3×15 again? It would’ve made the medicine go down a little bit easier that episode, and may have you know, actually made his death more bearable at the time. Why bother to show us how great Neal was, how sacrificial, and how selfless unless they wanted to make it absolutely clear than Neal was passing on the baton to Hook to get to Emma and Henry? It was like highlighting the point that Neal had to die to give Hook the glory. It made me think that Neal loved Emma so much that he just wants her to be happy and be reunited with her family, even if it’s without him. Made me sad for poor old Neal who continually sacrificed himself to get Emma home. The mark of true love is sacrifice, but poor Neal never got to have his second chance. 🙁