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And… yeah. This from me:
But there is a part of me who wonders if they’ve sketched out a large, overarching story that they’re able to tweak and mess with and add mini-arcs and delete plot points while still staying in the general framework of the story they’d intended to tell. And it’s that pondering that I’ve been playing with in wondering if the SF story is still in the cards…
And this from them:
Do you have your series end game planned? Kitsis: Yes. We have had our series end game from when we created the series. We have a road map, and we’ve allowed ourselves a lot of freedom, but it was never our intention to say, “Here’s exactly what we’re going to do.” But we know where we’re leading to. Horowitz: And if you’re asking whether we know what we’d like the last moment of the series to be, yes, we do.
Are pretty much saying the exact same thing. IF they are really being legit in that, then I am hard-pressed to find their series endgame being anything other than SF. I think it’s safe to say that SF was the intended story from S1-S3A; we are seeing now that there’s a course change but if they’re intending to bring it back around, then that’s where things will end.
When I read that from the writers, I recalled your theory and considered it one of those odd deja vu kinda moments. I don’t want to have misplaced hope, but when I read things like that, that annoying what-if scenario won’t be quiet. In the interview above, Eddy said, “We have had our series end game from when we created the series.” We know, without a shadow of a doubt, that the writers always planned to have Henry’s dad be Baelfire, because they confided that piece of information to Jennifer Morrison and Robert Carlyle when filming the pilot. Now the question remains if that particular pre-planned scenario is what they have in mind for their series end game; and admittedly that is a big IF.
The entire series had the message that “family always finds each other.” On one level, it seemed like Emma finding her family was about her reconciling with her parents, yet because this is also Henry’s fairytale, it also seemed to be about him finding both of his biological parents. Henry even said in S2 that he wanted to get a castle with his parents (and I’m assuming he’d now firmly include Regina in that mix). I just have always wondered if that was the writers’ idea of a final scene: Emma, Henry, and Baelfire.
. IF they’re legit in that their end map is the same as it was when they created the series, it *can’t* be Hook because they didn’t have the concrete ability to have Hook in the picture at that point in time – they didn’t have the rights to that character.
Well, I agree that if the writers are going to be true the the original concept they had back when the pilot aired, then the end game just flat out cannot possibly be Hook, since the writers didn’t have the rights to Neverland. Perhaps once they acquired them, then the writers did intend for Emma to have a romantic liaison with the pirate, but I’m pretty sure the writers never intended for Hook to be Emma’s “end game” given the comments the writers made. Back in January 2013, Eddy Kitsis said Hook was “obviously eye candy”and that while Emma might look at Hook and think he’d be fun in Vegas, but that she wouldn’t look at him and think what a great father he’d make (paraphrase).
I also think Hook’s promotion also depended largely on how the audience responded to him. The writer and co-executive producer, David H. Goodman, said in the DVD commentary for 2×22 that Hook wouldn’t have been getting his own backstory had it not been for Colin O’Donoghue’s portrayal and his character’s popularity. So I think it’s safe to say that even if the writers intended from the onset of S2 to introduce Hook as a rival for Emma’s heart, it’s rather safe to say that his character’s survival depended on his popularity.
When Neal died in order that CS might happen, I lost faith of the writers’ staying true to their original vision. Now they’re saying things that though they allowed themselves a lot of freedom, they always knew to what they were leading. When Neal died, they claimed they’d known that Neal was going to die. The hows and why of it may have been done haphazardly, but then I think back to how Emma told Henry in “True North” that his dad had died a hero. I can see how that lie she told Henry about his dad may have been foreshadowing about Neal dying a hero in S3. So, maybe, just maybe, the writers were telling the truth.
However, that still leaves a really bad taste in my mouth. It was like everything the series stood for was buried along with Neal. How could Emma and Henry’s idea of a happy ending be an unreformed, unrepentant pirate–the same pirate who broke up Baelfire’s family? As 4×4 was meant to show, the writers don’t just think of Hook as some puppy dog chasing after the object of his desire, but is at heart still a cunning, ruthless pirate who’d stop at nothing to get what he wants. I just don’t see Hook as Emma’s end game.
If the writers are currently allowing themselves a lot of freedom by making CS happen as “epic wish fulfillment” (as Adam Horowtiz called the s3 finale), yet also continuing to write Hook as an unreformed rapscallion (as 4×4 revealed), then I can see them eventually concluding that arc with another big fat NOPE. The writers are saying they have always had a road map, so maybe after this detour of exploring how Hook is wrong for Emma, they’ll finally get back on course to show who is right for her.
However, I would warn people not to get their hopes up too much, since it still could get a lot worse before it gets better. The writers also said that Emma and Hook would be taking their relationship to the next level, which could include any and everything from spending the night together for the first time, to even moving in together, since they hinted that Emma would be getting her own place in S4. So for better or worse, CS still has to play out to its full extent, whether that lasts another half a season, until the end of the season, or heaven knows how long. So if you’re watching for the hope of seeing Neal resurrected, you could be waiting a long time since if it did ever happened, I don’t think it would happen until the bitter end.
And frankly, that is just disappointing. I don’t want Emma’s love story with Neal crammed into one episode. That to me would still seem like we were being cheated, like that love story wasn’t being given due attention. Also, the way Emma was the one who severed Neal’s connection to his dad in 3×15 made it feel like she was pulling the plug on his life support. And Emma begging Rumple not to even try to prevent Neal’s death in the S3 finale just made me feel like maybe Emma didn’t really want to save Neal. And honestly, that made me feel like even if Neal were to come back, I would want him to end up with someone else who actually wanted to be with him. And the way Emma has been written as making out with Hook every day since Neal’s wake just has left me thinking that Neal wouldn’t want to get back with Emma either.
As for hope, I wouldn’t mind waiting till the end for your HEA if other parts of the show weren’t unraveling and horrid. It isn’t just Neal and SF that has me turned off: Snowing, Rumple, Regina, the Frozen arc, Bo Peep (yes, DSB, it wasn’t fake). I can handle ships I don’t like if the writing and plotting is good, and it just isn’t anymore. That’s from where my disillusionment stems.
I’m also with Jo in thinking that the over all quality of the show has gone down hill so much since they killed Neal, that even bringing him back wouldn’t salvage it. The “reset button” they hit in S3b just left every character acting so ooc that I doubt the show will ever regain its former magic. The writers took a big gamble in dragging out bringing back Neal (if that even is their intention), that I don’t think the risk will pay off.
"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy