Ooh, Slurpeez, good point about the Snowflake in 3×20 promo! I am trying to think if we have seen other TL babies born to reinforce that point. Emma was born in the EF – so, no electricity to flicker – though we do have the power line spark when she arrived in SB. The only other kid who’s been born in SB is Alexandra – we didn’t see her birth, did we? I am assuming she is a TL baby although I can’t recall if Ella & Thomas have gotten an “official” TL label. Henry’s birth was actually shown to us twice – in both 301 & 311 – so they definitely reinforced that moment to the viewer.
I know I definitely am not the first to hypothesize he has magic. What’s funny to me is that I operate as if it’s a foregone conclusion, like, “Wonder when Henry’s magic is gonna show up?”
I do wonder if they’ve laid some foreshadowing seeds for this. Henry has always wanted to be a hero. We have been told, over and over again, that his Dad is a hero. Emma is a hero – she had that line on the stakeout with Regina about coming back b/c she knew Henry would tell her it’s what a hero would do. Plus all of S1.
Then we have the end of the NL arc – he wanted so badly to be a hero that it put him in peril – he was willing to give his heart away. It would be a nice turn if events, then, if he got himself OUT of peril and became a hero due to his heart… not the organ but the very essence of who he is, being a TL baby & all. Plus, I still go back to the fact that viewers are conditioned to expect Emma’s TL to be “ordained” by a TLK, and A&E are all about turning things on their ear.
Here’s something else about this, for me. They set up the very parallel scenes of Snow & Emma’s TLs dying at their hands, in their presence. Snow was able to bring hers back – how? Faith & belief. Those are things Emma does not have. She may be a TL baby of the EF, but she is a child of our world. Although she is learning to walk by faith in certain areas, she needs proof before she fully commits. For Emma, if Henry has powerful white-light anti-WW magic, which can only come from being a TL baby, it would be concrete proof that she & Neal were (are) TL. I can see it being the catalyst for her being, “Crap, he was my TL and now he’s gone,” and in turn finally hearing her parents’ motto of “there’s always a way” and believing it, perhaps trying to seek it out. When faced with irrefutable proof, she’s pretty good at buying into stuff – hard to deny the presence of dragons when they’re breathing fire at you, right?
Hypothetically, it could inspire her to fight for him – it would be a really nice turn on him promising to not stop fighting for her, if she now has to fight for him because he is unable to do the fighting. Maybe the Timey-Wimey stuff turns into a “How do we get Bae back?” mission? Is that the plot of S4? (I know, I know. Too optimistic even for me.)
Another assorted thought – like objects (ring/teacup/necklace,) are foods something they like to give to their core TL couples? Do Snowing have one? I know there is cocoa w/cinnamon, but I always took that as a family trait thing (Snow & her descendants) rather than a Snowing thing. Rumbelle has hamburgers & apparently the SF fam has NYC pizza. LMAO, pizza.
Last bit, the photo Onyx posted of Hook in the trunk – yeah, that coffin imagery is really striking (and not accidental.) I also had the thought – someone (maybe Phee?) mused about the placement of Hook in front of that “Game of Thorns” sign. It dawned on me yesterday, what is Game of Thrones known for? Deaths, lots of deaths. Plus, it’s roses – Zelena had the one at the trunk (which made NO sense in the context of the scene, IMO) and the one at Neal’s grave. I had kind of sidelined my thinking that perhaps Hook would be the permanent death, but now I am riding that train – hard.
Watched Queen Is Dead & Millers Daughter last night, and remembered that this life-for-a-life business started with the candle, and then continued with the vault. The writers seem fond of it. Perhaps a literal Hook-for-Neal exchange is not so far fetched… though I haven’t any idea what would possess Hook to do such a thing, even as redemptive sacrifice. Perhaps it’s not voluntary.
I can honestly say those items have put me MORE on MO322. Savvy viewers will not be expecting Hook’s death – the spoiler of doom has already happened, yo – but I can’t see any reason to include that imagery otherwise. Maybe, if we were waiting for “a” death, as a tease to the audience – but since the death has “already happened?” Nah. And if Hook dies, Neal is coming back. I firmly believe that.
(Wrote this in notepad on my phone – please forgive crossposting, typos & formatting issues!)
Cause this story needs some mending & a better happy ending...