406: Critical Analysis

@slurpeez, that was a good essay.

I think, though, that the message of the show is definitely not saying “Belle’s a horrible person and should apologize and Rumple’s not a horrible person and doesn’t have to.” That’s what BELLE thinks but it’s definitely not the experience of the audience, or Rumple. We’re still in the midst of that story, but if there’s any takeaway from last night, it’s that Rumple’s a -more- horrible person than Belle because he’s still keeping horrible secrets from her AND manipulating her.

And it’s not all right just because he loves her.

That’s the message I’m getting. And I can still enjoy just how sweetly he expresses his love for her even in the midst of being a jerk who is getting more and more trapped by his web of lies.

I kind of disagree. I don’t think the show is trying to say any of the regular characters are horrible people otherwise RumBelle, CaptainSwan and OutlawQueen would be sunk faster than a stone hitting water (unless you can skip stones but I digress).

I think the message is more along the lines of redemption isn’t easy. Rome wasn’t built in a day and redemption doesn’t happen overnight. It has to be earned honestly, there is no quick fix, it requires perseverance and will power.

At the moment, Rumple has lost his motivation to actually redeem himself since Bae’s death and I think this current arc could actually be him working through his grief. What did Rumple do last time he lost Bae? He collected power. What is he doing now? He’s collecting power. It’s his coping mechanism.

Belle kept the secret from Rumple because she thought he wouldn’t understand, what if the reason Rumple’s been keeping secrets from Belle is because he doesn’t think Belle would understand, now it’s reached the point where he feels he can’t tell her because too much has happened since.

What if, along with the Neal references, we are actually seeing the characters cope with their grief over Neal’s death but in different ways. The characters might not be talking about Neal because it is too painful to talk about, considering that it’s not been long since his death. Maybe a week or two? Grief doesn’t mean the characters have to sit around crying every episode, they’re all dealing with grief in their own way. Rumple is collecting power like the last time he lost Bae, Emma is moving on with a new relationship like the last time she lost Neal to “death”, Henry’s not been seen a lot other than playing the dead dad card (boo Henry) but throwing himself into Operation Mongoose could be him trying to take his mind off of it.

I doubt the writers are trying to say “look what a horrible person Rumple is!” and more likely “lying is not good. It only leads to more lies and could end up causing you to lose everything”.