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TVLINE | On a lighter note, did your “surprise” Once Upon a Time encore come about?
[The idea of returning] had been broached before, but with everyone’s schedules it’s hard to find windows. I’ve been working pretty consistently the last couple of years, so I didn’t have a lot of time. But when their 100th episode came up, I was finishing up Game of Silence and I did have a window that they were able to work around. I missed the shooting of the actual episode, but they made accommodations to have me shoot the scene with Jen [Morrison] after they had moved on to a few episodes beyond that at that point. It worked out, and I’m glad it did. It was fun to do and it felt like a nice little bookend to the character.
TVLINE | They ultimately let the cat out of the bag, but did you find some fun in the top-secrecy of it all?
[Laughs] Yeah, I liked pretending to be a “secret agent.” And I took pride in the fact that we were able to keep a lid on it until almost the very end. I know you were worried about the Vancouver paps [spoiling my return], but I was happy we were able to elude them entirely.
TVLINE | What was your read on the conversation Neal and Emma had there in the Bug? Do you feel he was endorsing her new romance and her pursuit of Hook in the Underworld, or not quite?
I think Neal has unconditional love and affection for Emma. She’s the mother of his child and his true love, regardless of whether he was for her or not. I feel it’s a completely unconditional love, and he just wants to be supportive of her. He genuinely wants her to be happy. And if that means being with someone else, then that’s what he wants.
TVLINE | After all, having moved on to a “happy” place and all, it’s not like he himself is an option.
Exactly. He’s not running for that particular office anymore. [Laughs] So yeah, I think he genuinely wants her to be happy. She’s the mother of his child, and a happy, content, fulfilled mother makes for a better childhood.
TVLINE | I said in my column that I was surprised that back in Season 3 they didn’t play that triangle harder — have Emma torn between a storybook character and this “regular Joe” that she’d only known as a mortal. Is that something you would have been interested to explore?
To an extent. But generally speaking, love triangles aren’t necessarily what I get excited about. It can be a revelatory device to tell other stories, to see the way people respond in situations like that, how they deal with rejection or whatever….
TVLINE | For example, if scorned, Neal could be tempted to turn to his dad for an assist. He’s got the Dark One in his corner, so does he go down that route to “get the girl”?
The reality is we will never know. I have my thoughts on it — and I don’t think that that is Neal’s style. Neal devoted his life and his being to turning away from that. He’s somebody who could have lived with the pain of that rejection, if it were to come to that, without having to turn to the dark side. Instead he’d use it as a stepping-stone to grow. That’s my take on Neal.
http://tvline.com/2016/04/08/michael-raymond-james-game-of-silence-preview-once-upon-a-time-return/
[adrotate group="5"]"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"This show is 100% poorer without MRJ. Ship what you want; MRJ is a class act who really delves into the psyche of his character and brought a real pathos to Neal.
I miss him.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"I knew that when he was in NY this week he probably would talk to Matt, just didnt expect so much about OUAT.
So i guess we can say that after 2 years later we have our Goodbye interview and in a nice way he said that he would not return to the show.And im very surprised about his next project, so in this year he will be on Movies, tv and theatre, this is a full actor.
"I offended you with my opinion? Ha, you should hear the ones I keep to myself".
Interesting that, when asked whether Neal is endorsing Emma and Hook, that MRJ doesn’t give a straight answer. He kind of tries to avoid the question instead of giving a yes or no answer.
All magic comes with a price!
Keeper of FelixWell I think he nailed his answer. Neal never liked Hook very much. But he loved Emma unconditionally. And now that he has moved on, I think MRJ is right that Neal just wants Emma to be happy, whoever that may be with.
Well I think he nailed his answer. Neal never liked Hook very much. But he loved Emma unconditionally. And now that he has moved on, I think MRJ is right that Neal just wants Emma to be happy, whoever that may be with.
That’s the point though. He’s not saying “yeah, Hook’s a great guy” or praising Hook in anyway. In fact, he actively avoids mentioning Hook personally.
“And if that means being with someone else, then that’s what he wants.”
“Someone else” means someone who isn’t Neal, rather than Hook specifically. He didn’t say “And if that means being with Hook, then that’s what he wants.”
I think MRJ chose his words very carefully when answering that particular question.
Emma is “apparently” happy with Hook. Neal wants Emma to be happy. There is a distinction between the two. Neal is not endorsing Hook, he’s endorsing Emma’s happiness. He’s not saying CS should be together forever, he’s saying so long as Emma is happy with the relationship then Neal wouldn’t stand in the way of it.
All magic comes with a price!
Keeper of FelixGreat interview! I also miss MRJ and the wonderful character he portrayed, so it’s nice to get his take on things. While I miss the character, I’m also glad that MRJ has gone onto bigger and better things. While I agree the show is poorer without him, at least the show doesn’t get to mess up his character. I can live with that. Also, I agree, he was cleverly evasive about Hook-Emma thing….I cannot help but wonder if he thinks Neal would have been potentially more overtly supportive of Emma ending up with someone good, descent, and kind like Graham. Probably.
"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 actually think is also funny his opinion about love triangles, how he is not excited about them, which is hilarious since in GoS there is a Love Square, but if is done like the turkish version, then i guess is like he says, serves a purpose on the story, bc i have to say that the Love square/triangle/pentagon that happened on the Turkish verson of GoS, was without a doubt the best writing ever for these types of relationships i ever saw, was so well done that in the end u didnt even kwew who to ship, you just wanted all the characters to be happy.
But either way, i also somehow sense that his words about the love triangle was the same as saying that triangles are good when they serve a end and are well done, aka, ouat one didnt served a purporse and was really bad written."I offended you with my opinion? Ha, you should hear the ones I keep to myself".
I actually think is also funny his opinion about love triangles, how he is not excited about them, which is hilarious since in GoS there is a Love Square, but if is done like the turkish version, then i guess is like he says, serves a purpose on the story, bc i have to say that the Love square/triangle/pentagon that happened on the Turkish verson of GoS, was without a doubt the best writing ever for these types of relationships i ever saw, was so well done that in the end u didnt even kwew who to ship, you just wanted all the characters to be happy.
But either way, i also somehow sense that his words about the love triangle was the same as saying that triangles are good when they serve a end and are well done, aka, ouat one didnt served a purporse and was really bad written.The triangle never had a purpose other than to have a triangle and fanservice. I could never understand why would Emma be invested in Hook or even why would Hook be invested in Emma, and if you have to kill one guy so the girl would end up with the other guy, then something is wrong.
OUAT’s overuse of triangles is tiring and unrealistic and that trope really needs to fade. With that being said, I don’t think that love triangles are necessarily bad, there were some that I liked such as Peeta-Katnis-Gale, but in order for a triangle to be executed properly, the writer needs to put a lot of effort into developing each character on their own, developing each connection with each of the couples and letting the reader/viewer understand why there is a dilema. In the case of CSF, we had a really well developed character – Emma, we had a really good set up with SF, and then they suddenly inset Hook into the mix and we’re supposed to pretend as if He and Emma have this huge deep connection and that she would actually choose him over Neal, who had a really good set up. In addition, if you take out Emma, Neal still has a lot of other aspects to his character, while Hook has none."All your questions are pointless"
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