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I think part of what this show great is the care the actors themselves show for their fans & each other- another exhibit of how awesome JMo is:
I repeat, no one should say a bad word against Jennifer Morrison!
Yet again she has just stopped for every single person waiting for her!!!! Her publicist was trying to pull her away but Jen just turned to her and said “I’m not being rude but can you hold my purse?” And then waded through the crowds of people, signing things and taking pictures with people. I spoke to her for a couple of seconds and she is so amazing and cute!She is just pure sweetness and cares that people have spent hours waiting just to get a glimpse! She is a beautiful human being!
Ps I was shaking sooooo bad so that picture I took with her is terrible haha but she is fab!
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So I just wanted to talk about these scenes for a bit since their similarities (and disparities) have been bugging me since the finale. Serious rambling ahead.
So, as you can see from these two scenes, the way Emma and Killian are positioned is just way too similar to be a coincidence to me. And in both scenes, Killian is sitting outside at a table.
And let’s be real, Emma’s jacket was chosen to deliberately parallel 3×22 and 2×05. She’s wearing this jacket on both of her trips to the Enchanted Forest, and both times she spent a lot of time with Killian. It’s not a coincidence.
Emma is herself in both scenes, and her goal is the same; she’s trying to get back to her family. (Even the way she gets home is paralleled in that both times she has realisations – that love is strength, that Storybrooke is her home.)
Killian is the most interesting for me – obviously his peasant clothing is covering up his pirate clothes, and he’s adopting a different persona than his usual (because Captain Hook is a persona) in order to get close to Emma & Co. You can see when he takes off the peasant clothes and puts his hook back on in 2×06 that he’s happy to be back in a persona he knows and is comfortable with, even if it’s not a persona he particularly likes.
“You should be used to people not trusting you.”
“Ah, the pirate thing.”
His self-loathing is pretty evident in that statement alone, and the way he doesn’t even object to Emma’s accusation. Anyway, my point is, Killian isn’t himself in 2×05 when he’s dealing with Emma for the first time. Killian ‘Hook’ Jones is hiding, buried beneath the years of revenge fuelled hatred of his Captain Hook persona.
In 3×22, that has completely changed. His attitude towards himself has changed. He doesn’t associate being a pirate with being a bad person anymore, because being a pirate is what brought him back to Emma. So Killian ‘Hook’ Jones is on display now, no hiding. He is completely himself, and proud of it. And he’s showing that to Emma, and Emma likes it.
“I’m a hell of a Captain.”
In the scene in 3×05 where they are speaking for the first time on our screens; the staging of it also speaks volumes to me. Emma is standing above Killian; he has to look up at her, and she’s looking down on him. She’s in the position of power, and she’s making it very clear with her body language that she doesn’t trust him. Both of their faces are closed off, and both are wary of the other.
The way he has to look up at her is a visual representation for us that (and also from Killian’s perspective) Killian is not Emma’s equal right now in terms of his behaviour and the way he feels about it. This perspective is only enhanced by the way Emma’s lit up IMO – he’s in the more shadowy, dark part of the scene, and she’s illuminated by the sun in her half of the scene.
As Killian comes to realise how much he cares for Emma, the perspective that Killian has of himself in relation to Emma is only solidified by his own sense of self-worth. He doesn’t think he’s good enough for her – “a one-handed pirate with a drinking problem”. Meaning that in his view, he will have to strive to get her “level” – to be good enough, in his view, for her. Which is what he does, from 2×22 onward, when Emma offers him the chance to do so.
You can see in the second scene that he has achieved Emma’s “level” in his own mind. He has been changed irrevocably by his love for her, so he now feels like maybe he DOES deserve her. He’s no longer looking up at her. They’re looking directly into each other’s eyes – and the body language couldn’t be any more different. Visually, both of them are equally illuminated – neither one of them outshines the other. Their genuine smiles are indicating that now they’re completely open with each other. They’re equals.
I just think it’s incredible how similar and yet dissimilar the introductory scene of their romantically charged dynamic is to the introductory scene of their romantic relationship.
I just love them ok.
http://i-love-you-swan.tumblr.com/post/88310254884/so-i-just-wanted-to-talk-about-these-scenes-for-aAKA Captain Eala – how I miss her gifsets and freakouts and dyings! It’s not the same on tumblr. No one else is allowed to defect the forums. GOT IT?!
Just look at how far CS has come!!! It’s so gratifying to see both Emma and Killian truly happy. Thanks for posting that @Jenna_B
BOOM!
Newest JMo interview, she talks about what maybe in store for CS (nothing we havent already talked about, but she confirms where Emma stands & how she feels about him).
Why Neal died (he needed to redeem himself for the mistakes he made). Also she confirms that as “Neal betrayed Emma enough times that it would be very hard for that to be her happy ending, even though he was Henry’s father”.
Also found this little snip it
– She would love to direct an episode of OUAT but she thinks she won’t be allowed to do it.
– She loved the last 2 episodes of season 3.
– “The conflict between Regina and Emma is necessary for the show”.
– She can act on some details but not the whole story of Emma.
– She recieves the script of an episode just a few days before going to the set.
– “Adam and Eddy are passionated by the show and it’s great to hear them talking about their ideas”.
– She regrets the time where social networks didn’t exist because social networks reveal all the mysteries of a show.
– She doesn’t look at spoilers.
– She doesn’t know what will happen in season 4.
– She thinks Emma is the best character for her.
http://everythingouas.tumblr.com/post/88273258614/jmos-press-conference-monte-carlo-tv-festival-june
CS/Stardust parallels 🙂
http://myprincejones.tumblr.com/post/88359488657/killian-emma-and-tristan-yvaine-parallels-youve
Thanks for the links to Jennifer’s comments 🙂
She is absolutely right about “conflict” in drama shows, something we all expect and steel ourselves for no matter how good things look!
I really wouldn’t want complacency with Hook and Swan. Too much adventure to explore with their vibrant and lively personalities . Love is a struggle as well as a joy, but there is the potential there to also have great wit, snark and sassy repartee as well as steamy romance! Looking forward to some great clashes of will and purpose.
The Regina drama pits magic against magic ~and we know Emma has a temper as well. Depending on how tall Henry sprouts over the hiatus, he could start to get better story lines as well, and while his 2 moms will do anything for him, that triangle could be most interesting.
I imagine Hook might have a bit of a target on his back as well with Regina out to spoil Emma’s newfound soul mate relationship.
I agree with Jennifer’s summation about Neal, mostly. I’m trying to keep the very unappealing nature of his more vocal fans separate from my feelings for him as a character, but even so, I don’t think he was dynamic enough, as written, to be a major player.
With Rumbelle lies, Marian, retaking The Jolly Rodger (hope springs eternal!) and the Ice Queen saga, they really have given us tons of potential for chaos in the coming season! They have set a complicated goal for themselves.
For escapism entertainment, there still isn’t anything I would rather follow 🙂
***Always in search of a good flock***
I wrote a reaction post:
“Neal had betrayed her (Emma) enough times that it would be very hard for that to be her happy ending, even though he was Henry’s father.” – Jennifer Morrison.
So, the thing about what Jennifer Morrison says and how a lot of Captain Swan fans are interpreting this morning is that Neal needed to die because Emma would not or could not move on unless he was out of the picture. In the past, I would say there’s probably some truth to that but after reading this quote, it is probably most likely the case.
The thing most Oncers forget most of the time is that the story of Once Upon a Time isn’t about Neal; it’s about Emma’s journey towards finding her own happy ending. And what Emma used to do, is live in the past. She had walls to protect herself from being hurt and since Tallahassee, we know why those walls existed (because Neal left her) and it solidified her view of the universe that she was unlovable, unworthy of love and therefore, the best way to protect herself was to keep love out of her life.
And then last night, before I found out about this wonderful interview this morning with JMo from Monte Carlo, I looked up the below quote:
“…so as long as you live the past, you’ll never find your future.” – Rumple (The Doctor, 2×05).
Rumple is not talking to Emma; he is talking to young Regina but he could have been speaking to Emma as well since Regina and Emma are indeed character foils. They’re similar and yet different at the same time. Both of their prisons has been living in the past; Regina refused to move from losing Daniel and Emma, in a sense, has done the same with Neal by not letting love back into her life until Graham.
And then I remember Emma’s dark secret from the Echo Caves.
“But my secret…Is that I was hoping that this was a trick. I was hoping you were dead…Because it would be easier for me to put you behind me than to face all the pain that we went through all over again.” – Emma Swan (Ariel, 3×06).
The entire sequence in the Echo Caves has been analyzed from different perspectives, both ‘ships (Captain Swan and Swan Fire), but the key thing Captain Swan fans take away from Emma’s confession is that Emma wished that Neal being alive was a trick, because she wanted to move on and let go of the pain that had been holding her back from finding her romantic happy ending.
And in a way, that has been proven to be true. Emma needed to have closure with Neal in Quiet Minds (3×15), so she could move on and find her own happy ending. And Neal, bless his soul, understood that Emma wasn’t his happy ending and allowed her to find hers.
But again, Neal wasn’t the true obstacle of Emma finding her own happy ending. The real obstacle has always been Emma herself.
That’s why Emma’s line to Hook after she rescued herself and Marian was so important:
“The only one who saves me is me.”
Because Emma finally realized the only obstacle towards finding her own happy ending, was not Neal standing in her way (he’s not even there), it was Emma’s own insecurities, her buried pain. Emma was also her own obstacle when it came to Swan Fire and Jennifer Morrison (who knows Emma very well, often times, more so than Adam and Eddie) understand this about her.
And that is what this quote demonstrates:
“Neal had betrayed her (Emma) enough times that it would be very hard for that to be her happy ending, even though he was Henry’s father.” – Jennifer Morrison.
In the end, whether Neal lived or died, Swan Fire could never develop beyond being friends because Neal had hurt Emma too many times that even the idea of a romantic relationship is too painful for her, but she and Neal could be friends and parents to Henry.
I’d also like to note, as much as I love Captain Swan and Killian Jones, Emma’s happy ending could have been with anyone else and she would still face the same internal issues. It doesn’t really matter.
I am nodding my head, obisgirl 🙂
This IS Emma’s story primarily. As much as we adore the other main players, she it the top catalyst for our adventures with all of them.
No matter who her heart connected with ( and there are no assurances that there won’t be some really rocky obstacles for her and Hook), Neal would always be toxic to her. That kind of pain and betrayal doesn’t lead to happy anything for the one suffering. And Neal caused some serious suffering. For Emma, after the wonderlust of first infatuation, it seems that was ALL he did. Even during the fiasco with Tamara, he gave her grief. Just too riddled with pain to work out. And they weren’t together very long at all. Weeks at most? First love is pretty impossible to forget, and the damage of a poisonous first love never really goes away.
When you look at it, no main character in this series has spent a lot of physical time together, in actuality… Henry/Emma; Rumple/Belle; Emma/Snow/Charming; Emma/Neal; Emma/Hook. The longest face to face relationships for those still living characters have been Snow and Regina, Rumple and Regina, Charming and Snow…even Henry with Regina. With the wacked timeline it is hard to pinpoint exact years, but the passage of time has prevented a lot of constant physical attachment. …the story relies on the depth of the *heart* connections more than the physical.
Emma’s relationship with Neal was only physical for a very short time, and her heart connection with him was wracked with pain. *Giving his blessing*to Emma for her to move on to personal happiness (though the concept that he had any right to do that or that Emma felt she needed that in any way makes me grimace), was the best and only thing he that could ever do for her.
There is a ton of growth in Hook’s and Emma’s relationship to address but no matter how long the series lasts, no matter the chaos that could happen before the finale, I still think that with the building and solidifying of Hook and Emma heart wise AND physically from day one that they will be each other’s happy ending.
***Always in search of a good flock***
The thing most Oncers forget most of the time is that the story of Once Upon a Time isn’t about Neal; it’s about Emma’s journey towards finding her own happy ending. And what Emma used to do, is live in the past. She had walls to protect herself from being hurt and since Tallahassee, we know why those walls existed (because Neal left her) and it solidified her view of the universe that she was unlovable, unworthy of love and therefore, the best way to protect herself was to keep love out of her life.
@obisgirl and @Bo_Peeps I’m in total agreement with both of your posts. I was great to have JMo finally clarify the reasoning behind Neal’s death. Many “fans” have forgotten that this journey IS ultimately about Emma. Never mind that Baelfire was the reason behind the curse’s existence, the story was never completely about him. You could almost (but not quite) refer to Neal as a plot device. Need a reason for a curse? Rumple searching for Baelfire! Need a reason for Emma’s walls being up due to betrayal? Ex-boyfiend Neal!! Need a biological father for Henry? Again Neal! Let’s face it, this ex and baby-daddy could have been any random person but having Bae/Neal be the one makes for a good story. The curse and betrayal issues having been dealt with, Neal making amends to Emma and forgiving Rumple were all we needed for that story line to conclude. And yet, Emma’s journey is still not complete. The expectation is that her road to true love will be rocky; I just don’t see her and Killian settling into domestic bliss right away since they both have their respective issues to overcome. But again, its all about the journey and I wholeheartedly expect a happy ending for both parties in the end.
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