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A Neal Essay I found
I’ve never understood when people claim that Neal doesn’t have a story outside of Emma, that he’s useless, has no growth, no story of his own, no development, no relevence, isn’t important, etc When I look at this season, I don’t even see his relationship with Emma as his biggest story arc. I would give that to his relationship with his father, which is a story that started in season 1 and has been evolving and developing ever since. We saw him as a young boy who had no one but his father, we saw how much he was betrayed with his father let him go, we saw him reunite with his father, we saw how he went from being angry and unable to trust Rumple to “you came back for me, papa” and the love between them as they reconciled as they were coming home from Neverland. He then had to watch his father give up his life, and in the one episode of 3B we’ve already seen him focused on going back to his father’s castle and not being convinced of his father’s death. None of that has to do with Emma or him being a “prop” to a love triangle. Yes, his relationship and story with Emma is a big one for him and an important one. Emma is the woman he loves, Emma still loves him, and they have a child together. For their stories to not be intertwined with each other would be ridiculous. But just because Emma is a big part in his life doesn’t mean he doesn’t have other stories as well. After finding out about Henry, much of his attention has been focused on being a father to him, to doing what’s best for him, and saving him and getting back to him when they are apart. He was reunited with the Darlings this season. He has a past with Hook, with Tinkerbell, and the other Neverland characters. He’s quickly formed a bond with Belle, which is something that seems like it will continue to be explored this season. He met Robin Hood earlier this season, and that is a friendship that seems to be continuing. Neal has connections to and is important to many characters that aren’t Emma. And on top of that, Neal has been important story wise since the very beginning. He is literally the reason the first curse was even created. He has driven much of Rumple’s story throughout the entire show. He obviously played a big part in Emma’s story and the creation of Henry. He also played an important piece in Hook’s story. He was with Tamara, which was important in everything that happened at the end of season 2. He had knowledge that others didn’t in Neverland that were vital in getting Henry back, and then in getting everyone back home. Neal was the one who knew how to get them off the island, would they have made it back without him? Neal isn’t just a prop for a love interest, he’s not just a bump in the road for an opposing ship, he’s not some useless character who has done nothing. His character has been important since the first episode of the show, and he has continued to be important ever since. He has family ties, friendship ties, and romantic ties to most of the main characters and many supporting/guest characters. He has shown growth throughout the seasons, he’s made mistakes, he’s learned from his mistakes, he’s had relationships break and mend, he has jumped between worlds and time periods, and woven in and out of the other characters lives. Whether you like him or not, Neal/Bae has been an important part of the show and nothing about his story reduces him to a useless prop.
PREACH. It irks me to no end when someone tries to say that Neal/Baelfire is unimportant to the overall story. In my opinion, the only characters who are more important than him are Rumple, Emma, Regina, Snow, and Charming and probably in that order too (I might even have Neal above Snow & Charming at this point even though their Emma’s parents). He’s super important to the overall story and has been the driving force for some of the biggest stories in the last 2.5 years (Rumple’s overall journey, the entire first curse, and Henry’s parentage to name three of them). Some folks really need to get over their bias and watch the show again. I still wonder if I’m watching a different show than some of these weird non logical people who post on the internet, LOL 😉
I really love when some of the folks on Tumblr write out long essays because so many people are always so eloquent and well spoken about their subjects. I think that girl (CassidyDearie?) has written several Neal essays this season and they’re always awesome. Thanks for sharing that one today RG! 😀
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#MoreBOOMLessGloomI would actually be on board with him having to survive a nightmare. I think it’s (not exactly) odd that they’d throw the “flypaper for nightmares” line in there. I know he said it, and that was their thing.. but she could have said anything else, including “He still has this thing?” or whatever.
Agreed. An it was the part of the “dreamcatcher” moment that didn’t parallel almost directly to Manhattan.
It would make sense in a foreshadowing sense that it will play a much larger role than simply something from the past. Maybe she uses it to communicate with him while he’s in said “nightmare”? Interesting thoughts.
It might also be significant that Emma referred to her former life as “a really good dream.” and what do dreamcatchers do? Ensure that you have really good dreams. Extend the metaphor: Neal is that whom Emma will have a really good dream/happy ending/the life she’s always wanted.
I really love when some of the folks on Tumblr write out long essays because so many people are always so eloquent and well spoken about their subjects. I think that girl (CassidyDearie?) has written several Neal essays this season and they’re always awesome. Thanks for sharing that one today RG! 😀
Yeah she’s great. She also wrote a super long SF meta on why Neal can’t die[/url]. It’s probably like 100 pages back by now lol.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"I would actually be on board with him having to survive a nightmare. I think it’s (not exactly) odd that they’d throw the “flypaper for nightmares” line in there. I know he said it, and that was their thing.. but she could have said anything else, including “He still has this thing?” or whatever.
Agreed. An it was the part of the “dreamcatcher” moment that didn’t parallel almost directly to Manhattan.
It would make sense in a foreshadowing sense that it will play a much larger role than simply something from the past. Maybe she uses it to communicate with him while he’s in said “nightmare”? Interesting thoughts.
It might also be significant that Emma referred to her former life as “a really good dream.” and what do dreamcatchers do? Ensure that you have really good dreams. Extend the metaphor: Neal is that whom Emma will have a really good dream/happy ending/the life she’s always wanted.
I really love when some of the folks on Tumblr write out long essays because so many people are always so eloquent and well spoken about their subjects. I think that girl (CassidyDearie?) has written several Neal essays this season and they’re always awesome. Thanks for sharing that one today RG!
Yeah she’s great. She also wrote a super long SF meta on why Neal can’t die[/url]. It’s probably like 100 pages back by now lol.
Oh that meta is probably 200+ pages back by now, LOL 😉
Love the metaphors about dreams and foreshadowing to future episodes or events. I can see something like that happening too. Could Neal be under some sort of sleeping curse where he’s stuck in that red room like Henry, Snow, Aurora, and Charming were last year? Hmmmm. I think there are lots of things to think and speculate about regarding that dreamcatcher and how nice is it to actually have SHOW stuff to think and speculate about now???! WEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! 😀 😀 😀 😀
#HopeforSwanFire 🙂
#MoreBOOMLessGloomI also love it when people on tumblr write Neal essays that make me wanna scream PREACH!!!
I have NO clue what it all means but I do feel like it means something and maybe it is because her relationship with Neal is still broken
I think it makes sense that it broke when she lost her new memories of him. Their relationship had begun to heal when she learned the truth of why he’d left and that it wasn’t doing maliciously, then all that progress went *POOF* and the strings snapped because SF suddenly got broken all over again.
You can see what looks to be the string from which the dreamcatcher was hung in Emma’s bag.
I think she’s got it under her arm in that shot. It’s either a couple of frames before or after that screencap, when she’s bent over a bit more, and you can see the curve of the hoop part sticking up when she’s more bent over. We don’t see her put it down anywhere before she walks over to the camera, but she’s holding her arms out more when she picks the camera up, so I dunno that it would have stayed stuck under her armpit. That’s probably two different shots cut together though. From what little we can see of the coffee table in the shot where she walks over to the camera, it doesn’t look like she put the dreamcatcher down. It could just be a case of them slipping up when they were shooting the second part of the shot, and not having her still holding it, or maybe she slipped it into her bag at some point. Unless and until we’re shown otherwise, I’ll believe the latter.
It could just be a case of them slipping up when they were shooting the second part of the shot, and not having her still holding it, or maybe she slipped it into her bag at some point. Unless and until we’re shown otherwise, I’ll believe the latter.
Headcanon: accepted. She walked out of the apartment with that thing. 🙂
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"just watched the sneak peek of 313. Neal is missing from the scene of the whole town. I think we’re slowly being proven right that he was captured by the WW
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"So now he has her necklace and she has their dreamcatcher. They will have to reveal that to each other eventually. Waahh.. my tears.
Yeah, it’s kind of poetic how they always seems to have something tangible from the other person….it’s like they’re telling a much bigger story here or something. 😉 *cue my tears and feels*
#MoreBOOMLessGloomAlso, the Wizard of Oz WAS a dream, right? So the dreamcatcher absolutely has a bigger role coming up, I’m convinced.
YES! Good point!
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"I think in the movie version of The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy was only dreaming about Oz, but if they go by the book, then I think it wasn’t just a dream. So, it depends how the writers decide to do it, but I think Oz is a real realm (or else where did the Wicked Witch and her monkey minions come from and where did Jefferson travel to in 2×5 to try and retrieve the silver slippers from for Rumple).
"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
I think in the movie version Dorothy was only dreaming about Oz, but if they go by the book, then I think it wasn’t just a dream. So, it depends how the writers decide to do it, but I think Oz is a real realm (or else where did the Wicked Witch and her monkey minions come from and where did Jefferson travel to in 2×5 to try and retrieve the silver slippers from for Rumple).
Oh Oz is a real land, for sure. But I think there is a giant metaphor being played out with the idea of dreams and nightmares that might tie into SwanFire. Emma looking for her dream life again after being woken up, Neal trapped in a nightmare (either realm or a metaphorical nightmare of being enslaved)
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"
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