All of this is very true. But I don’t believe that Neal was ever on the same intellect level as Tyrion. Every character in that show is very strong, for the most part, because they have to be otherwise they wouldn’t survive.
I’m not saying Neal is to OUAT what Tyrion is to GoT. I simply used Tyrion as an example of what a non-stereoyptical “strong” character can be. Yet, the writers of OUAT are no where nearly as gifted as GRR Martin is (who is especially gifted at creating complex, layered characters and subverting what it means for a character to be “strong”). By contrast, the writers of OUAT ceased writing really strong characters after about season one. But that is the entire problem. Neal and the other characters (even Snow and Charming) lack real development, because the writers of OUAT don’t know what they’re doing anymore. They had season one planned out and part of season two, but when they got the rights to other things, they went a bit crazy (like kids in a candy shop). I think that is really why most of the narrative really is plot-driven versus character driven. The answer to most questions now is just “because of PLOT” rather than any well thought-out reason.
Yup, so they killed him off. And honestly I know the CS ship had something to do with it. But also, the way they were writing the character, it just felt they didn’t know what else to do with him.
And that is a prime example of writer’s block. If a writer’s solution is simply to kill off a character because she or he doesn’t know what else to do, that means the writer isn’t very creative.
"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