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[adrotate group="5"]"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"
And Ana came back! She was restored!!
*goes to corner*
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"How could it possibly be Neal’s time! HOW? His son is only 12!!!
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"I need to contribute to the dance party. But I’m totally ’80s girl when it comes to music.
So: “Time After Time” (Cyndi Lauper), “I’m No Angel” (Greg Allman Band), “Alone” (Heart), “Faithfully” (Journey), “Midnight Blue” (Lou Gramm), “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” (The Police) and “Something Happened On the Way to Heaven” (Phil Collins)
And “I Will Not Go Quietly” by Don Henley (which must be one of our anthems!)
“I’m brave enough to be crazy
I’m strong enough to be weak
I see all these heroes with feet of clay
Whose mighty ships (HA!) have sprung a leak
And I want you to tell me darlin’
Just what do you believe in now?”---
“Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.”
-- Dylan ThomasAnd non-1980s: The Calling “Wherever You Will Go” (which was associated with “Star Trek: Enterprise” and may or may not have been played at my wedding for reasons 😉 )
“And maybe, I’ll find out, a way to make it back some day,
To watch you, to guide you, through the darkest of your days,
If a great wave shall fall, yeah, fall upon us all,
Well, I hope there’s someone out there who can bring me back to you!”…
“I know now, just quite how, my life and love might still go on,
In your heart, in your mind, I’ll stay with you for all of time”---
“Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.”
-- Dylan ThomasThe writers are so obsessed with getting Emma together with Hook, they are willing to kill off Neal just to make it even more sure it happens even though it is totally wrong for Hook to win Neal’s mother and Neal’s love alongside the fact that killing off someone to solve the love triangle is totally wrong. They also never gave Neal the development and story that he deserved and I feel like they are trying make him be mentioned as little as possible after his death. Either the writers hate Neal/Baelfire, they disliked MJR, trying to underdeveloped him so people would go more with Hook (Hook has a lot of episodes dedicated to him alone, while Neal usually shares the spotlight with someone else a lot) or they simply bad writers. Also what is with all these references/tributes to Neal/Baelfire after his death? Are they doing it unintentionally, are they just references/tributes, are they implying that he would back in some form or they are doing it to torture us or they rubbing in our faces that Neal/Baelfire’s dead?
We will meet again, in another life...
Did my 3×20 rewatch today. I didn’t think there was much, mostly continued analysis of why CS is not and won’t be, but then I found some other stuff and… yeah. I hope I can organize this coherently; I wrote it chronologically and I don’t think it makes much sense. I want to get the random out of the way and will have more connected stuff towards the end… and the SF-y stuff towards the end, because, save the best for last, hey?
RANDOM THOUGHTS
To start at the beginning of the episode, and to back Slurpeez up on what she says – the wheel imagery. Between the cuts back and forth between Rumple and Snow’s chair, and the frentic music, it definitely creates a heightened sense of urgency. “Round and round the circle of time, racing towards the finish line.” Yes, yes we are. I also think it’s interesting that both of those wheels were fine, but back in Dorothy’s crashed house scene, the wheel (prominently focused on at the beginning of the shot) is broken. It makes me think of the broken dreamcatcher; both the wheel and the dreamcatcher symbolize time in WoT and having both broken indicates something is off and not right with this timeline. Perhaps it’s that OUATiW concept of “not her time” but this time with Bae and not Ana?
A random, but as Regina conjures fire in the flashback, Zelena says it’s not that hard. Might there be something with the fireballs and our fire-namesake character? Not sure but usually is A Thing.
Roomies pointed out, why on EARTH did no one call Mary Margaret once they had that babe in arms after Zelena was taken down?? Even a text. “Got d bby on d weigh bck 2 hosp” would have done wonders for her poor broken heart.
I am not a Rumbelle shipper – no ill will, they just haven’t captured my heart like SF has – and this is not a Rumbelle thread, but the ending was LOW. So much sympathy for that ship 🙁 I have adored Belle this half (her whole three scenes, I know, but each and every one has been awesome,) and I just wanted to spit nails and throw things at the TV for all of the shippers. Man, A&E are just trying to hack off all of the fan groups, aren’t they?
As aside, but I have loved, LOVED having realHenry back the last couple of episodes. I know he’s my ship’s kid, so I’m kinda biased – but I adore him, so much… have since before I shipped his parents. The grin and bounding into the room to meet his uncle was freaking adorable.
Hook/Emma
Walking through this episode and watching the Hook/Emma intereactions continues to be telling. When Hook arrives at the hospital Emma literally backs away. Literally. backs. away.
“At the very least, he can draw fire.” “What, now I’m cannon fodder?” I’m gonna go ahead and call that foreshadowing for BO322 on finale. Perhaps no, but, I like it so we’re gonna roll with it. And yes, as others have mentioned, can(n)on fodder, it’s likely a double entendre – much like, “You killed a man for your ship,” now he becomes fodder as he’s sacrificed for the SF canon. Yep, I do have rose-colored glasses on, what of it? 😉
After Emma hugs Henry, and Hook announces, “You ready, Swan?” the look of annoyance was enough to make roommates and I laugh. Emma is. not. a. fan!! and then continues stalking past him in annoyance. Her annoyance towards Hook is at an all-time high in this episode.
The Hook-Emma conversation in the woods is actually a really interesting reversal of viewpoints. Emma is arguing that despite the fact that it was based on a lie, the events in NYC were real “for me, for him. Everything that happened, happened.” Hook, for his part, argues that it was based on falsehoods – “It wasn’t real.” It’s funny to hear Hook pointing this out. If he has such a problem with Emma building her future on anything apart from the absolute honest truth, real, true memories – perhaps he should start by telling her everything about who he REALLY is. The only reason he even has a ghost of a shot (which is really no shot at all) is because she doesn’t know about Ariel, Blackbeard, Milah, etc, etc. Anyways, it’s interesting that she views her return to SB as a manipulation by Hook. Wish she’d grab ahold of the rest of his manipulations, too. But it’s a start.
“We were happy in New York. I’d like us to be happy again.” Interesting choice of phrasiology. It reminds me of another walk in the woods that included the phrase, “we were happy, once.” Is that the last time we heard her reference having been happy? So… once, with Neal, in their tiny home-on-wheels, and once, in his city, with his child. Right. They totally shouldn’t be endgame, it’s just Neal who benefits from them being together. *rolling eyes to ends of earth*
Back to the conversation at hand, the disdain in her voice when she says, “Let me guess, with you?” is epic. Seriously, whomever suggested giving Hook (the book version of) “(S)he’s just not that into you” is brilliant. See paragraph above. A happy ending with Hook is not what the girl is looking for. There is (apparently somewhere in time, still is, lol,) a guy out there who aligns perfectly with what STILL CURRENTLY IS her idea of a happy ending. It was her idea of a happy ending a dozen years ago, still is now. Hint: it doesn’t involve swashbuckling on adventures. Hey Hook? Emma is not Milah 2.0. Get it through your thick thick head!
And still we continue smacking down the concept of a relationship. “Next time you try to take my power away, why don’t you try enchanting the lips that someone I’ll actually kiss.” OUCH! Most of me says, “Go Emma!” but there is a tiny part that – no. Actually, there’s not. Hook has turned into a pathetic puppy dog who can’t take a hint, can’t take a blantant hint, and can’t even take clear statements. So perhaps some cruelty will get it through his head. Emma. does. not. want. you!! I am less than ten minutes into this episode and she has turned him down or expressed annoyance at least a half-dozen times. She is CLEARLY not interested. There is NO reciprocity in this relationship, and he’s pushed it to the point where he’s no longer friend-zoned (as he was in, say, 3×18 where they hung out in the diner) but rather an annoyance to have around. Annoyance seeps out of every pore and she hasn’t had a kind word to say to him. If the writers seriously plan on turning this around in 3×21/22 it will be pure and simple idiocy.
Yep, Emma panicked when Hook almost died. As Slurpeez says – she is a decent human being! She is also someone who in the last week to ten days had someone die in her lap. Even if we remove any romantic or triangle connotations, just make both guys acquantainces, mild friends – you better bet you’re going to react when someone *else* tries to die right in front of you. Incidentally, with Neal she dissolved into immediate tears (which is kind of what she does around him… her walls may as well be made of styrofoam,) with Hook she gets pissed. There is such a difference in reaction here, with her in complete savior mode – as opposed to complete emotional wreck mode – part of me is tempted to watch the scenes side-by-side and diagram them.
I will consent, with RG, that after she gives mouth-to-mouth there is “a look” and I did not like it. What’s interesting is that the first time, I took it quite the same way RG did. But upon rewatch, after considering the fact that she was sitting there watching ANOTHER person in her life die in front of her, I think that’s all there was to the look. “Oh, no, it’s happening again.” And after she’d just been so mean to him! But then he coughed up the water and can you blame her for being relieved? Dang, I would not have wanted to attend another WWW-induced funeral, either.
“It’s okay, I won’t need it in NY.” Yes, Hook – despite winning against the WWW, and despite your appreciation, and your near-death, girl STILL does not want to get with you. You know what else Emma didn’t ask for, as a thank you for saving someone’s life? A kiss. She did it because it was the RIGHT thing, not to gain favor.
Oh, the contrast…
Random SF stuff
“But Emma – she can’t sleep in her car.” “Well, not comfortably.” “Maybe a place by the water, with a view…” “What’s to talk about? We’re home?” So… essentially Henry is trying to put them in “Tallahassee,” with an apartment, not sleeping out of the car, near a “beach?” Because they’re home. Okay kid. 🙂
Seriously, this one is not as blatant as last week’s car thieving but – yeah. Mentioned it to roomie, and she said she can only think of two possibilities, 1) he is on his way back, or 2) they are trying to show that Neal lives on through Henry. These references are so obscure and buried that they’re not GA things, and honestly those of us who are aware that they are SF shout-outs are already plenty aware that he lives on through Henry. Of all three parents, it’s his Dad he’s the most like – IMO, that’s why he and Emma are so close. So, unless they are “secret SF shout-outs to keep the SFers pacified,” which I don’t buy for a minute, then yet again they are continuing to stoke the flames on the SF story.
The really interesting thing to me is this. Last week, when Henry wanted to steal the car, it turned into Hook taking him to the docks, being attacked by monkeys, and Emma telling Hook off. The scenes were an important shout-out, but they also served a greater purpose in the episode. This week? No such thing. At most, they told us Henry wanted to stay in SB. That fact could have been established in a million ways, without devoting an entire scene to it. The *only* purpose of this scene being included was the dialogue, the parental-history shout-outs. Although it was less iconic (and I hold it less dear, personally,) than the car-thieving scene, it in a way almost holds more weight, because it was only there as its own thing… if that makes any sense.
Additionally, the flashing lights upon the Snowflake’s arrival. I think we’ve sufficiently dissected that, but yeah. The Snowflake – confirmed TL baby – flashing lights. Henry – non-canon but implied TL baby – flashing lights. Coincidence? No.
Glinda said to Zelena, about the pendant, “Guard it with your life, because in many ways, it now is your life.” Got it. Pendants are important. Ok. Well this is definitely the first important pendant necklace we’ve ever seen. Wait, it’s not? Oh there is ANOTHER important necklace in this show? Well, it’s a good thing they never draw parallel lines, because that would imply the thing contained in THAT necklace is, in many ways, the wearer’s life…
It’s interesting that Rumple gives Emma the instruction to get the dagger. He knows she is magic-less, but she’s the one he chooses to entrust with that instruction. Guess she is family, after all.
Compasses
Zelena has a compass to use the portal? Isn’t that interesting. Previous compass episodes = Tallahassee, True North – both SF episodes.
Going to the round table bit with the witches, there is so much imagery in the scene. The circles on the back of the chairs are also compasses, as is the table itself. Makes sense – N, S, E, W – but hm. There we are back at the compasses again. It’s quieter in this episode, but still. We’ve only seen it the two other times… Add it to the fire-symbol imagery (it looks like Oz uses the same symbol for Zelena’s “innocence” as the vault used for “fire?”) and it sure is interesting.
The time portal, also, is not a clock as we had thought pre-episode – but a compass. The courage, hearts, brain and innocence (baby) mirror the table in the flashbacks; and again it is a compass.
I guess the compass is this week’s pizza; it took until the third watch to catch it. Nice job, DSB :/
Looking forward to 3×21 & 22
“A sorceress from another land will make Oz her home until she fulfills her destiny, and unseats the greatest evil the realm has ever seen.” Prophecy is a funny thing, and I think those who have speculated Emma will be Dorothy 2.0 is correct. So Oz will be home for a while? Until Zelena is defeated again. And then back home to our world? That introduces questions of world-hopping; I am guessing that we are going to get the trip to the EF, fixing Snow Falls, then hopping to Oz and defeating Zelena before finding “there’s no place like home.” Toto will tag along on all of these, and just like in the original Oz story, I suspect Toto will be a liability that causes Dorothy to miss her original trip home. Because Hook, I mean Toto, is a liability. Just a thought…
Plus, too, there is the well featured prominently – with the book of records, and then the melting. After Emma’s last trip to the EF, where she used the compass to point her way home, she came up through the well. That seems important, given all of the compasses again. And in the last scene, Glinda makes a vow, “Then I will find someone else to fulfil the prophecy. As long as I am in Oz, I will not stop searching, until I find someone to stop you.” Yes, I know she was banished to the EF – but she was still searching. And man, Emma needs a win this season!
Cracktheory: What if she returns this time like she did last time, through the water/well, but this time instead of having the compass to guide her she uses the necklace? That would be a really nice full-circle from the Tallhassee episode, where both halves of the triangle were introduced.
Glinda says about Zelena, “Now gone, her magic will be undone.” This is a CLEAR reference to the concept of balefire, where once you burn someone back, things that they’ve done (in particular people they’ve killed) are back – those things never happened. We saw it exhibited with the shadow and the Blue Fairy in S1; we saw it with the monkey and Little John later this episode. Once Glinda is “undone,” that which she had wrought SHOULD be fixed.
We follow this up with Zelena’s comment, “Once I change the past, you and I shall meet under different circumstances.” Rumple’s promise, then, is, “No matter where you go in time, I will find a way to kill you.” This is a promise, a vow, and we know how Rumple takes those. It is also significant foreshadowing. Once past-Rumple finds out that future-Zelena caused Bae’s death, she’s toast. In the past, balefire-style… thereby undoing the death of Baelfire.
Interesting note: Dorothy’s slippers were gold. Implication: silver slippers are still with Glinda. Available for future use?
Regina’s commentary is of course important – “Had I killed Snow White, I wouldn’t be in this world. I wouldn’t be with these people, and I wouldn’t have my son, Henry.” That is, of course, foreshadowing to finale, and it’s that last part that’s important. ALL things are crucial to ensure the existance of Henry. It might be our SF saving grace – can’t erase Baelfire, need him for Henry. Have to cast the dark curse – need it for Henry. Emma must grow up in our world – necessary for Henry. Rumple can’t go pluck Bae out of Neverland at the time of Snow Falls – he needs to hang there for a while longer to lead to Henry.
A last thought – I think I talked about this last night but I wanted to articulate it again. The end of the episode, when Rumple did whatever he did to Zelena – I guess (I am not sure) the implication was that he killed Zelena, but once she was gone, she reinvgorated her magic and used it to open the portal. Not sure?? But I am wondering if the “how” of what Rumple did to her was not so much kill her, but to spell her somehow, causing the portal to open. There are only two people who had the motivation to open the portal – Zelena herself, and Rumple, who could well have been putting a fake front in the farmhouse kitchen after she introduced the idea he could go back and retrieve Bae. It would be totally IN character for Rumple to make that happen. Also interesting is that she didn’t so much “die” as she was derezzed – disintegrated in pixelated form – which was foreshadowed when Henry was in the diner with Mary Margaret playing his gameboy (cradle cap scene.) So he derezzed her, and caused her pendant to go all smokey green and re-open the portal? Perhaps. I guess if the portal was programmed to go back to just before the traveler’s birth, it would explain why it went back to SF and not the time of Cora and Leo – who knows.
If I wasn’t so emotionally attached to this story, I would be very calm, and very confident, because based on all of the clues that have been laid out, the events seem obvious. Neal Cassidy may be dead, but he will be back, at least in his Baelfire persona. Because Zelena did not interact with him until the events of 3×12, his life up through that portion should stay the same. The only effect she’s had on our characters are Rumple’s tutillege of her – so her death should not alter anything before 3B. Much like Slurpeez has talked about with Ana/Red Queen, I’ve long felt we would be shedding Neal Cassidy and going with Baelfire. It makes perfect sense – he became Neal to run from his identity of Bae, son-of-Rumplestiltskin. He has reconciled that relationship, so “Neal Cassidy” no longer needs to remain. Ironically, the hardest person I think to reconcile that is Emma, to whom he has ever only been Neal. I had a passing thought a long time ago that her using Bae as his name would be important at some point. It seems likely that next week will be that point. Perhaps the events of 321/2 will make it easier for her to think of him merely as Bae, and not as Neal. Unfortunately, though, I am emotionally attached… so I am nervous. It “seems” like it all fits perfectly, but then, when do things go as they “seem” with A&E? I don’t know. I am not as far into the tent of doom as I would like to be at the moment, but I think I am okay. I am emotionally checked out – I see the logic of it but I cannot allow myself to believe it, not for more than a moment here or there anyways. So we will see. Five more days, right? We have made it this far, it’s just five more days.
*shakes head* Of Compasses and Pizza, of Compasses and Pizza.
Cause this story needs some mending & a better happy ending...
It makes me think of the broken dreamcatcher; both the wheel and the dreamcatcher symbolize time in WoT and having both broken indicates something is off and not right with this timeline. Perhaps it’s that OUATiW concept of “not her time” but this time with Bae and not Ana?
I have been thinking about the broken dreamcatcher a lot. I think–now having seen most of the season–it broke when Neal “died” in EF. I would really like to see that thing again.
As aside, but I have loved, LOVED having realHenry back the last couple of episodes. I know he’s my ship’s kid, so I’m kinda biased – but I adore him, so much… have since before I shipped his parents. The grin and bounding into the room to meet his uncle was freaking adorable.
His speech to Regina made me more okay with the whole “white light” thing. He is the combo of all three of his parents. He has Emma’s strength, Regina’s spitfire, and Neal’s spirit.
I will consent, with RG, that after she gives mouth-to-mouth there is “a look” and I did not like it. What’s interesting is that the first time, I took it quite the same way RG did. But upon rewatch, after considering the fact that she was sitting there watching ANOTHER person in her life die in front of her, I think that’s all there was to the look. “Oh, no, it’s happening again.” And after she’d just been so mean to him! But then he coughed up the water and can you blame her for being relieved? Dang, I would not have wanted to attend another WWW-induced funeral, either.
Interesting. It’s like when Hook lays there she sees Neal and thinks “no. This one I have to save somehow. Someone else can’t die because I fail at being the Savior! Oh well. I never liked magic anyway” I mean, she doesn’t even care that she looses what makes Emma Swan EMMA SWAN. I do agree with Slurpeez…Hook took away the thing that made Emma who she is. He robs her of her identity. Now, granted, it wasn’t his fault that Zelena cursed him but he still hid it and lied.
Additionally, the flashing lights upon the Snowflake’s arrival. I think we’ve sufficiently dissected that, but yeah. The Snowflake – confirmed TL baby – flashing lights. Henry – non-canon but implied TL baby – flashing lights. Coincidence? No
AGREED. And I had the same thought. Flickering lights = TL baby
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"RumplesGirl wrote: I have been thinking about the broken dreamcatcher a lot. I think–now having seen most of the season–it broke when Neal “died” in EF. I would really like to see that thing again.
That is actually pure genius, RG. When someone first brought it to my attention that the dreamcatcher was broken in 3×12, I acknowledged it but chalked it up to a mishandling of the prop by the prop master.
Yet, with hindsight bias, I agree that the thread of the dreamcatcher was broken chronologically after Neal had brought back his father during the missing year. This idea of broken threads really reminds me of the power of balefire in WoT being able to cause someone’s life pattern to unravel.
Balefire is a weapon of the One Power usable by both male and female channelers. Its widespread use during the War of Power began to cause the Pattern to unravel, and it was subsequently banned from use by all wielders of the One Power.
When a target is struck with balefire, its thread in the pattern is destroyed, in an amount proportional to the power of the balefire strike. This translates to the target’s existence being completely erased, chronologically in reverse.
The dreamcatcher is symbolic of the pattern of Baelfire’s very life unraveling. The only way to fix this unraveling is to unravel Zelena’s life in the past to make sure she never harmed Baelfire in the future (how very BTTF of them)!
Now, as DSB pointed out, we have the broken wheel amongst the rubble of Dorothy’s farmhouse in 3×20. We have the broken dreamcatcher. We have Emma’s broken heart. The only way to correct all of these things is to turn back the wheel of time, to balefire the past, to fix the future. Then Baelfire’s pattern will be restored and he’ll get his second chance, Henry’s very existence will be guaranteed, and Emma’s hope for a happy ending will be recognized.
"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy
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