Phee wrote: So let’s say that by the latter half of S2, they’d decided that that was gonna be the new triangle, which is why they wrote August being turned into a kid again, (I’ll be forever annoyed by that nonsense), but they still kept writing Hook as doing crappy stuff, even right up to the recent eps, like the thing with hitting on Tink. Meanwhile, they’ve still been writing Neal as being in love with Emma, and vice versa, but it being hard for them to get it together. So while they might have re-imagined the specifics of the triangle, and as a result have been throwing in some CS moments here and there, it seems to me that their original endgame vision is still intact. Quote
101 % agree with this notion! I was re-reading a post I wrote over a year ago at the debut of “Tallahassee” concerning August, Neal and Emma. Even I’m amazed that I recognized SF as being True Love straight off the the bat. I’d actually started out wishing Captain Swan to happen! It’s been over a year, and I’m amazed that even then, I recognized the writers as wanting to denigrate August’s character in order to preserve the integrity of Neal as Emma’s true love! Looking back, I think that I only wanted Hook with Emma in the short-term, because of the “challenge” that they represent to one another, but even then, I realized how truly Emma loved Neal. What solidified it for me was seeing “Manhattan” and then “Second Star to the Right.” To me, it just seems obvious that while Emma and Hook may have a fling, Emma and Neal are each others’ true loves! They’re two lost children who found each other in an otherwise cruel world, dreamed of a home together but were torn asunder by outside forces. Neverthless, their love remains. The rest of their story is about how two people who love each other, but were separated, can nevertheless learn to work that out. Emma and Neal’s reconciliation is a story of hope, because it flies in the face of today’s western world in which a lot of couples never learn to work out their issues, forgive, or reconcile. Emma and Neal giving up because of the curse or Emma’s destiny as the savior would seem empty, unhappy, and desolate in my opinion. The point of their story is that real-life couples can overcome adversity to learn to forgive and reunite, that love does overcome hurt, and that second chances are possible in an age when people are in desperate need of another go at life. That is why Emma and Neal’s story represents hope, because Emma and Neal are most like us; they’ve both grown up in our world where most people don’t get another chance, don’t get to reunite with their first loves, and don’t get to atone for their mistakes. Yet, if Emma and Neal can make it work, then it gives everyday normal people hope that they can make their relationships work, even when there is a history of pain, misunderstanding and disappointment. Real life isn’t always a fairytale like Snow and Charming, who never seem to lose faith in one another except when they’re cursed. So often, real-life couples mess up, make mistakes, say things they don’t mean, and hurt each other when they don’t want to. Emma and Neal’s relationship, though influenced by supernatural events, is still seemingly normal compared to heroic tales, and so I can’t help but root for their everyday fairytale to come true!
Perfect post is perfect!!!! <3 😀
Someone asked up thread about how much the casual viewer remembers about previous things on the show and I have a few friends who I can ask so I think I'm going to do that this week. I have two friends who watch the show and while they're big social media fans, they don't participate in any of the fandoms and for the most part, don't really ship anyone per se and a couple of friends who prefer SwanFire but don't participate in the OUAT media stuff either. They're just watching and enjoying the show for the most part. Here's a few tweets from them during the last few episodes.
"I like Hook so the end didn't bother me. *runs and hides* Actually I like Emma on her own and Hook just seemed in character." (I had mentioned that I thought Hook was annoying when he found Emma in NYC, just to put her tweet in context)
"It's never good when the people who write/create the show take sides :-\ "
"I'm totally traumatized too. I need to go finish getting ready for leaving but I'm still sitting here in shock" (Friend who doesn't follow OUAT fandom online but does use social media)
"I don't think these writers are like that... =P #SwanFire " (Written to me b-c I was worried the PSA results would influence how A&E write OUAT...this is a friend who prefers SwanFire but doesn't follow any OUAT boards at all and is mainly a JMo fan)
It does make you wonder what the 'regular' fans think about things because from just my other friends, they're all over the place with the show, LOL 😆 (BTW-I've posted a lot of SwanFire Tumblr stuff on Twitter lately and none of the non shippers have blocked me yet so I guess they don't mind a ton of SwanFire posts!)
#MoreBOOMLessGloom