Over at the CS ship we have mentioned the lack of backstory for Neal. I mean we keep learning about Bae but we really haven’t learned about the point that he became Neal yet so that is kind of a giant blank aside from Tallahassee so we don’t know why he seems so different. I think a lot of us wonder, are we going to get that information or not? Because the long I go without it the harder time I have bonding with Neal.
But this was in large part to Neal being the mystery man of S2. They couldn’t give the backstory of Neal because they were building the mystery of just “who the heck is this guy?” and then when it was revealed that he was Baelfire it became all about Tamara working against our guys.
Maybe it is that they are purposely trying to make him very different from all the other characters (as you pointed out with his dress, accent, etc) to make the point that he has spent so much time in the real world?? Maybe that’s why I feel like he doesn’t fit in with the rest of the characters?? Because he DOESN’T fit in with them and isn’t really supposed to fit in with them??
He is very tied to our world. Thus his constant use of “It’s NEAL!” and not Bae. His old life was way to painful. He is a creature of this world but (sorry, but you ARE in the SF thread) just like Emma he can never sever his ties to the other life fully. The exist in both realms. They alone are the original stories being told.