I’ve also been thinking about the double entendre of “the smallest things” and the implications of multiple meanings in SB. While “smallest things” refers to the objects linked to memories (like the items in Mr. Gold’s pawn shop), it may also refer to the idea that even the “smallest things” make a difference when it comes to changing your destiny and breaking the curse. For instance, in episode 14, Nova said, “Dreamy, you control what changes in your life.” Then, in SB, we saw Leroy take it upon himself to sell candles, at first by futilely going door to door and to Mr. Gold, until he brilliantly decided to blow a fuse so that there was a power outage. He sold out of candles and saved the nuns from eviction, which is a kind of “happily ever after” (HEA) story on a small scale. Like Mr. Gold/Rumple likes to remind us, “every one has a choice” and people can take matters into their own hands. This seems to be an undercurrent, which gives reason to hope that the citizens of SB will discover their HEA. In episode 4, we heard Emma tells Ashley, “You want to change things? You’re going to have to go out there and change them yourself, because there are no fairy godmothers in this world.” In this way, Emma is helping SB citizens to change things.
"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