I don’t think your naive but I also don’t know you outside of the past 2ish years on an internet forum so what I say next is not against you but a personal truth that help you understand where I’m coming from. As someone who was mentally and emotionally abused by an ex (who screwed me up pretty bad) and abandoned by my dad, I will tell you: I don’t owe either of them crap and any treatment of them by me does not need to be “fair.”
Ok, point- I don’t have any personal experience to relate to on that front.
Abuse is not just fists and punches. Emotional and mental abuse is a thing. Prior to becoming the Dark One, Rumple was a fantastic father. And then he changed. He was keeping Bae locked up (episode 304), being overly protective to the point of possessiveness, murdering people to Bae’s horror. Had social services been a thing, Bealfire would have been whisked away in a heartbeat. And I say this as someone who has been defending Rumple for years and still considers him to be my favorite character.
I’m aware abuse can be emotional too, but as I’ve said, I have never experienced anything along those lines. I guess I’m a bit like Belle- maybe way more forgiving than I ought to be. I’m grateful I haven’t been in such a situation as I probably wouldn’t have come out of it very well. To be honest, I actually fear I’ll get myself in trouble one day from ignoring signs of danger and not seeking help because I want to give people the benefit of the doubt.
This comes across as victim blaming, IMO. It’s Rumple’s fault that Bae didn’t know the whole story. Also, abandonment is abandonment is abandonment. I don’t care if Pan shows up in S5 with a sob story of how he was also abandoned, it doesn’t change the fact that Malcolm let go of Rumple, and it doesn’t change the fact that Rumple let go of Bae. It is abandonment in the victims eyes, and that’s what matters.
Not so much victim blaming as trying to see things from everyone’s perspective. It’s something I tend to do for better or for worse.
By big reconcillation do you mean a 30 second hug on a dock and the little to no conversation afterwards? That was a nice moment but that does not in any way shape or form make up for years (200+ years) of feeling abandoned and unloved. Not even remotely.
I still think it should be worth *something*- and Emma too felt abandoned and unloved for most of her life.
But it doesn’t make you sad that Rumple backtraced and killed a woman and then lied to his fiancee/wife/ TL about it?
I didn’t mean I thought he should have done what he did- I don’t. I wasn’t at all happy with what he did towards Belle. But again, it’s a story I’d like to see the rest of.
I don’t consider it moot. A and E told us that Neal was killed for story reasons and that his death will play a part in the emotional development of characters and the story line. Now whether or not I believe anything they say is a different subject altogether. But Neal being gone does not render these conversations moot just like Bae being missing from the action in S1 rendered speculation about Rumple as a character or the mythology of the show moot.
Ok, maybe moot wasn’t quite the right word. I just meant in regards to how he would have reacted to what Rumple did. I don’t mean Neal should never be mentioned again or have an impact on the rest of the story. We shall see where they go from here.
Ah, moral relativism. so then who is more guilty: the snowman who may or may not have higher brain function? Regina who wanted to walk away? Or Elsa who created the thing in the first place?
I think it was all circumstantial. No one is completely at fault here. Elsa created the snow monster out of fear to protect herself. Regina just happened to poof in while it was there. The snow monster was only following it’s programming, so to speak.
That’s fine. It’s not that I’m not curious, though my curiosity is more of a morbid “lord, where will this go now,” variety. But, IMO, character on a show like this is always cause for concern. We’re not just invested in the storyline, we’re invested in the characters themselves and that includes any and all progress or regress, hence why we’ve been debating for 6 pages now.
People fascinate me- both in real life and in fiction. I don’t have a problem with how Regina is depicted. It doesn’t feel unrealistic to me which is why I’m not that concerned. Others disagree.
Is there anything on the show recently that you still really like? I’d love to see you write a passage about something you’re still happy with. Is morbid curiosity the only reason you watch the show now or is there enough good for you to balance the bad?
And hey- I know we’ve been going on and on about this…no hard feelings, right? Just a friendly debate between Oncers?