Reply To: Emma + Baelfire = Swanfire

[kfchimera]

Hello…it’s been forever.  I was going to make an Adele joke there, but I have limited time to type!  So hope everyone is well.  I’m doing fine.

I’ll start with the reason I wanted to log in rather than just lurk and surf, and that’s the Neal and Emma scene from the 100th episode.  Someone linked the clip so I watched it.  It was touchingly acted, but at the same time, it really doesn’t make sense for Neal to be aware of what’s happening after his death far as Emma’s quest to save Jones, but then utterly chill and unconcerned about Rumple doubling-down on darkness, and Emma dragging Henry along, plus also not a word about Henry and Regina’s reconciliation?  If  apparition version of “Neal” can somehow intuit that things will not go the way Emma thinks, enough to care to warn her, then well, he shouldn’t need to have her tell him about Henry.  Logic was never this show’s strong suit though I guess.  Then there was the odd overlap in the way Emma says she would have tried to save him, if she had known she could do that sort of thing, but before she asks he’s telling her it won’t work because he moved on.  The whole thing made more sense to me if that was meant to be Emma’s subconscious working through the cognitive dissonance she’s feeling about her commitment to be with Jones no matter the risk to the other people she loves or what she has to forgive him for doing, versus her “let it go” attitude when it came to Neal.  With Jones, she may have some heroic complex to save him (she can talk to Belle about that) but also guilt over her choices as Dark Swan and turning him into a Dark One, but the way the story plays out the main focus is on how “true” her love for him must be.    So I’ll actually be shocked if they don’t have the magic moment soon that gives the Jones/Swan relationship special magical true love status….its what this sort of narrative normally would head towards…but these writers love shocking twists and writing snark more than anything, so who can guess?The only thing I could be sure of though, is they are done with Neal. .

That whole Neal/Emma scene seemed nothing more than a nod to the past for episode 100 rather than character development or signs of things to come.  MRJ in one interview someone posted definitely seemed to be saying it was a kind of bookend, a bit of closure, and I completely understand and respect his point of view there. He’s done with this show, as I think he should be because what he wants from his acting career is not going to be found in a show that’s written and produced the way this one is.

That leads me to the next big thing, the Dorothy/Ruby love connection.  On the whole, I’m going to praise the show for that one, though yes, I’m still not watching and just reading recaps and seeing a few clips.  With that limited information, it sounds to me like Wolf/Kansas or whatever it is anointed by shippers, got about the same sort of story as Ariel and Eric, or Aurora and Phillip.  I get why some fans are upset though, because they could have done so much more with it with a slower build like what everyone anticipated with Mulan of the pro-noun game.

Speaking of Mulan…what’s next for that character?    I see the rumors about Robin’s funeral, and I haven’t seen anyone speculate that the funeral is Mulan’s.  If the Network killed the planned romance arc for Mulan, might the writing team (or the actress request) the character be killed too?  She was supposed to be part of Robin’s “Merry Men” at least off-screen, so it could work for the same  people like Little John plus Ruby to be at a funeral for her, and set up high stakes for some new threat.    Not trying to create hope, and I feel for those who like, Wicked Regal are Outlaw Queen fan.   Still not a huge OQ fan, but somehow that relationship has grown on me, actually, to the point that I kind of am hoping Robin isn’t being unceremoniously tossed aside.  If he is, well he’s just a victim of the pattern these writers have of not being able to write for a basically good at heart, reformed male thief.  He can join Hopper, August, Neal and Will at  abandoned character island.  So for now, much as I always loved Mulan, I’m going to sort of hope its her funeral and not Robin’s, and I’m kind of shocked I feel that way, but there it is.  Maybe its because I have only read recaps that I’m even having a thought like that, or the motivation to log in and comment on it!

I started watching The 100, and I have to say, even with rumors of some friction between the writing team and actors, most storylines seem to still have a sense of purpose to them that I never really felt with OUAT.  Again, that could be because I’m not actively seeing what other fans think of anything–I still have to wonder how I might have reacted to OUAT if I had never gotten into the forum habit.     It’s never going to cease to annoy me that some fans are so adamant about painting Neal as the Worst of the Worst, despite later developments in terms of his remorse and all the context  given for why he made his original decisions, not to mention Emma’s perspective about it, nor her developing a more forgiving attitude to others who have straight up tried to kill her or leave her for dead.  The constant, continuing complaining and campaigning from certain segment, especially when targeted at the ACTOR on his new show is beyond ridiculous.  MRJ seems like a stand-up guy, especially with his Bullies Keep Out campaign–and something I read about the 100 really made me wonder as there was an actor who felt bullied by the main producer on that show.  How much weird behind-the-scenes things go on in television?  So many things never get revealed, until years after–and there’s a reason the term “casting couch” exists.  Decisions in Hollywood are not made solely on the basis of what makes a good story, who’s good at conveying emotions as an actor or even eye-balls for advertising.    So at least whatever did go down on OUAT or is going on right now, MRJ left on decent enough terms that they went out of their way to write one more scene for the character, even if it didn’t quite make sense.  I’m glad to see his new project is getting some critical acclaim, though I still haven’t had a chance to watch it.  Part of that is that I saw Sleepers,  and it feels a bit derivative of that story, which was kind of not escapist, light  and relaxing enough for me.  I’d have to be in the right mood I think.

 

Anyway, all I have time to say, so take care!