Reply To: Parallels

[Slurpeez]

timespacer wrote:

It seemed to me that storyteller was was pointing out a dramatic parallel in which Neal’s actions make us recall Rumple’s actions, not necessarily a moral parallel which says Neal’s actions are morally equivalent to his father’s actions (correct me if I’m wrong, storyteller). 

You hit the nail on the head. Symbolically he is his father’s son and I believe the realization of that will be his release from the samsara he finds himself in.

I think Neal already realizes he is his father’s son, at least partially. Going back to “Manhattan,” Neal and Emma had a little conversation regarding Henry and cycles of abandonment. Emma confronted him about abandoing her the way he was abandoned, and Neal acknowledged they’re all messed up and said he wanted to avoid the same mistake with Henry.

Emma: He wants to meet you.
Neal: You weren’t going to tell me about him.
Emma: No, I wasn’t.
Neal: Yeah, well, he’s my kid, too, so you don’t get to make that decision by yourself anymore.
Emma: Great. Go talk to him, then. But… Don’t break his heart.
Neal: Trust me – I’m not going do to him what he did to me.
Emma: Or what you did to me.
Neal: Okay. I get it. We’re all messed up. What do you say we try to avoid that with him? Alright?
Emma: Alright.

That is why he’s trying so hard now to reunite with Henry and Emma. Ironically, by choosing to put Henry first before his father, Neal is making a thematically similar choice to one his dad once made. Rumple chose to sacrifice an entire world for another to find his son while Neal chose to sever his relationship with his dad to protect his son. In “Desperate Souls” Rumple said, “All I’ve got is my boy, and they’re going to take him away from me.” In “Quite a Common Fairy,” Neal said, “All I’ve got is my boy and Emma.” So, I fully acknowledge that Neal is making some tough decisions in a way to reunite with his family in a way that thematically parallels the though decision that Rumple made to try and reunite with Neal. If anything, being a father himself may help Neal eventually realize why his father created the dark curse. Yet, I don’t see Neal becoming the next Dark One just because he potentially could understand his father more. He’s not just like his father, in the sense that we’ve seen Neal be brave and sacrifice himself for others before (e.g. the Darlings and then when he let go of Emma so as not to leave Henry parentless). Now, it’s time for Rumple to step up and prove Neal wrong.