I need to rewatch those August/Neal scenes. I thought that August sold the decision to send her to jail as some kind of “tough love” to put her on the right path. There are some incarceration facilities that make rehabilitation as much a focus as restriction of freedoms. Still I agree, it is hard to imagine how someone in love could so easily (as it appeared) be convinced jail was the best solution to turn someone’s life around.
Of course, back then we had no idea what was in August’s box. I assumed it was something that made his decision make more sense even for a man in love, a kind of noble sacrifice like what Snow & Charming did when sending Emma in the wardrobe. Now that I know what it was, I have to wonder, how much of Neal’s acquiescence to the idea was driven by his fear of his father and how much by some kind of belief in the inevitability of fate, and how much by love. The romantic part of me wants to believe he was honest about trying to help her because he truly wanted what was best for her even if it was not best for him, but I don’t think that was his only reason.
“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?” -- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass