405: Critical Analysis

Cinders wrote:

She’s acting out the lyrics..let it go. The past is in the past. Let it go.

I am going to say something shocking: I hate the message of this song. The past cannot be “let go.” It follows you wherever you go. And saying that you can somehow distance yourself from your past is a very romantic notion that we all like to think is possible, but it’s not. You’re past is a part of you. Always. You’re never ever free from it. Like my current siggy say: there are ghosts everywhere. We carry them with us wherever we go.

I must agree with you, RG!  It actually kind of bothers me that the song is so huge, because it’s kind of not a great message to send to it’s young audience, in my opinion.  However that’s the movie and this is discussion on the show.  S0 —

NOT ‘letting go’ was the point of the entire episode, to me, and a huge part of Emma’s story as a whole.  The entire scene with Emma and Hook going through the box – Emma wasn’t letting the past go, she was making peace with it.  Up to this point, the things she keeps are chosen because they remind her of how hurt you can get – the glasses, the pic of Neal, the shoelace, the camera – INITIALLY she held onto them to remind her of the pain she’s experienced.  However, the Emma that kept these objects is not the Emma we see today.  She’s learning to overcome her past.  To me, the scene with the box was incredibly important to her story because we see these objects take on entirely new meaning.  Instead of reminding Emma of the pain she associated with those experiences, she’s realizing there was GOOD in each one of these experiences as well.  Graham was her first friend in SB, the first person to start putting cracks in Emma’s walls.  Emma and Neal truly loved each other, and Emma finally knows and can accept that what happened was not done because Neal didn’t love her, as she believed for over a decade, but because he was trying to give her her best chance.  So there HAD to be a picture of Neal there….for her to not have one in a box of the most important things she held onto would, for me, be completely OOC an not organic (granted the pic was terrible because that moment never would have been captured on film – didn’t they have ANYTHING better?  Even a BTS shot of Jen & MRJ?)  And they had to make it obvious that, with all of the changes and attempts at new beginnings in the previous episode, Emma is still going to hold these items and keep them dear to her – but now she’s beginning to see the good, not the bad.  This is HUGE for the character.

In regard to her mourning Neal…ok, I’m going to be blunt.  I don’t think we’re going to see a lot of it.  And if not seeing Emma and Henry mourn Neal is a deal breaker for some fans, I think they’re going to be greatly disappointed in the show.  That’s not to say they shouldn’t mourn him, and that’s not to say it’s the correct choice on the part of the writers, but I think Neal’s death is just going to have more to do with Rumple than it will with Emma and Henry.  Although Emma realizes the reasons behind Neal’s actions, and can forgive and start to see the good they shared, you’re still asking someone to forget a decade of pain she DID feel.  That’s asking a lot.  And if you’re of the opinion that Emma did not intend to reenter a romantic relationship with him, then they’re even more disconnected.  It’s hard to swallow, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt, but asking this character at this point to openly mourn is asking for something I just don’t think the character can give.

As for Henry, agreed, his memories of Neal, when you consider both the real and the fake, are so all over the place, that’s going to screw up a 12/13 year old pretty good.  I think if you’re asking Henry to mourn Neal the way an adult would mourn, you’re asking a lot of a screwed up 12/13 year old.  At that age, do you even really know how to mourn?  Considering you have two mothers who aren’t exactly great with emotions and coping themselves, are you going to know how to appropriately act, or are you going to push the way you feel aside and let yourself get caught up in the present?  I think Henry’s not mourning is actually more in character than if he was showing genuine sadness over Neal’s death – not because he doesn’t feel it, but because this kid’s not going to know how to process it.  Again, does it suck?  Yeah.  But I don’t think they way they’re going with Henry is necessarily inappropriate or OOC at this point.  Actually, I think Henry’s decision to ask to shadow Rumple, with somewhat self-serving and hidden reasons is far more in character, considering the role models he’s had up to now.  And if, when he finds out that Rumple killed Zelena ‘for Neal,’ Henry’s going to understand better than anyone, that is NOT what Neal would’ve wanted.  I think at that point, it would be more understandable for Henry to be forced to admit the reality of losing his father, and see him genuinely allow himself to mourn at that point.

Oh, I beg to differ, but you can. And, speaking for myself, I have. You certainly can be free from it and let it go.

*poofs in* Me agree *poofs away*

You can believe your emotional truth. I can continue for my emotional truth to be that the writers are piling on the emotional drama and never letting anyone deal and it’s making their story look inhuman and too concerned with Shiny Toys (copywrite RG).

This has been a valid criticism since the beginning of Season two. We’ve yet to see real heart-to-heart with Snow/Emma like in Season One. They talk to each other, they’re friendly, but they never discuss feelings, issues, etc. EVER. Nobody ever talks about feelings. I don’t care who you ship, if you don’t ship, or what. We need less action and more talking. I go back to Grimm because one reason I love that show is that they talk. They sit and actually discuss problems and emotions. They have action, but they talk. Heck, even Sleepy Hollow they have discussions. And it’s getting frustrating to watch all the action and nothing else.