Who is Michael Raymond-James going to be?

[Slurpeez]

Lil’Red wrote:Still undecided about the whole MRJ thing, though. I really didn’t think Henry’s dad would appear 3 episodes in. But, this might actually be the perfect timing! When Emma sees Henry’s dad (be him an average joe, Baelfire, or other) the audience is going to know based on her reaction/treatment of the new stranger. With Emma and Snow having some…quality time in another realm, this might be the perfect chance for the audience and Henry to interact with the guy – setting up for all hell to break loose whenever Snow and Emma get back.

More than ever, I think MRJ really could be Henry’s father. I still have doubts about him being Baelfire though, mostly because we know Mr. Gold is in town. One would expect Mr. Gold to have suspicions if a new guy suddenly showed up in town. We just saw Mr. Gold think that August was his long-lost son. It just seems like too much too fast at the early stage of the season. I think Mr. Gold is going to have to work for it before his finds his son (which probalby happens towards the end of season 2). I have a feeling we’ll get to meet Henry’s dad (whoever he is) well before we find out what happened to Baelfire. The idea that MRJ is Henry’s biological dad really does make the most sense to me, given the fact that Emma is absent and unable to identify him. Then, upon her return, we’ll get confirmation.

I have a feeling Emma and Snow may be gone for awhile (because, in this family, someone seems to be always needing to find the others…). Could be interesting if the pair does several realm jumps through to mid-season. Or would that start getting old? Probably would. And they have to keep us guessing about some of those doors for a few seasons: space them out and such.

I have that same feeling, too. There was an interview back in July in which Ginnifer Goodwin said there would be new obstacles that could keep SW and PC apart for a while in S2. I just hope it doesn’t drag out too long (say more than 7 episodes). While I would love to see Emma Swan in FTL for the first time and see her reaction to it all, I want her to be there for Henry.

[Phee]

@Lil’Red wrote:

I don’t think it would get like August if he was presented as a fairytale counterpart, and/or Baelfire after that – and just when the audience thinks the mystery of his identity is solved: Emma returns and demands to know why he’s in town – end of an episode/ cliff hanger.

Am loving this idea of a double reveal for MRJ’s character & that cliffhanger idea would be a perfect way to do it!

@Lil’Red wrote:

I have a feeling Emma and Snow may be gone for awhile (because, in this family, someone seems to be always needing to find the others…). Could be interesting if the pair does several realm jumps through to mid-season. Or would that start getting old? Probably would. And they have to keep us guessing about some of those doors for a few seasons: space them out and such.

This got me wondering about where they’ll disappear to, because that new spoiler seems to reinforce the idea that they do get vortexed somewhere, and I’ve come up with an idea…

I’m gonna guess that they go to FTL past, to a time we haven’t seen covered yet…to the time of the Sleeping Beauty story. From The Thing You Love Most:
Maleficent: Weren’t you about the same age when you were to be married? Before she ruined it all. Yes, you were.

Evil Queen: Yes, it was about the same age you were when that Sleeping Beauty got the best of you, my dear Maleficent.

Maleficent is clearly older than Regina, so it was years before the events of that ep that the Sleeping Beauty story happened. Unless they can tie Aurora and Phillip into the current storyline somehow, there’s not much point in going back to tell their story at all. Both of them are played by young actors, but if Sleeping Beauty happened years before Regina’s curse, if they got transported with the curse, they should be older at that time in FTL, and in SB. Adam and Eddy have hinted that they have an interesting way to introduce these new characters.

So I’m gonna guess that Emma and Snow will go back to the time of Sleeping Beauty, and while they’re there, will get involved in that story somehow, and in doing so, will befriend Aurora and Phillip. Then when Emma and Snow figure out a way to escape, they’ll bring the other two back with them.

Perhaps BF will be one of the good fairies in Sleeping Beauty, (one of them does wear blue in the Disney film), and after Emma and Snow meet her and explain what happens in the future, she’ll give them a bean to help them get back to where they need to go.

OMG, imagine if they ran into other characters when they were younger, like Red when she was just a child? We could see what happened to her parents.

Eeeek, another idea…what if they go back to the time when Snow was a child, and met Regina, and adultSnow tries to change history so Daniel doesn’t die, in an attempt to prevent all of Regina’s future evil deeds. That may not sit well with Emma, because if Snow succeeded in changing the future, that would mean she’d never have Henry, but Snow could argue that it would mean that she and Charming would get to see their baby girl grow up. That storyline would be prime for tension. The spoiler says they’ll have a lot of time together “whether they like it or not,” which sounds like it won’t be smooth sailing between them. Ginny was around when Barbara and Bailee were shooting. I’d just figured she was hanging out to watch from the sidelines as opposed to being in scenes with them…but maybe not?

[hjbau]

I think it has already gotten old if they are still away four episodes in. That needs to stop. I like the idea though that Emma could come back and Henry’s father would just be there and she would be like what are you doing here.

[antbee]

@hjbau wrote:

I think it has already gotten old if they are still away four episodes in. That needs to stop. I like the idea though that Emma could come back and Henry’s father would just be there and she would be like what are you doing here.

I totally agree. I wouldn’t mind it being one or two episodes at most, but it seems like they’re going to drag out longer than that. I was really not looking forward to Snow and Charming being separated already, and to have to hear the inevitable, “you found me line” again.

If they do it in season 2, I would then just assume that Snowing being separated and Snow saying that line is going to be something that happens in every season now, and it’s just going to get even more tiresome than it became in season 1. Also, I fear the writers are either going to be recycling or using ideas that don’t make sense just to come up with a way for Snow and Charming to be separated every season. Ugh, I’m already hating the idea especially if “OUaT” lasts for several seasons.

Plus, there just seemed to be so much more dramatic and rich material from having the Charmings reuniting and trying to adjust to their living situation. Yes, it can still happen when Emma and Snow both return, but it’ll be a lot different since Emma and Snow will already have had spent so much time together knowing they’re mother and daughter, which means poor Charming gets the shaft again in a way, and Emma is missing even more time with Henry by separating the Charming family, which I just hate.

Finally, if they are time traveling, I hope it’s used well, but I fear with some of the other plot holes that they’ve made when creating their magical world that the use of time travel will create even more plot holes. So I’d rather they not use time travel at all since it seems something that could potentially lead to the show “jumping the shark”, imo, and it seems way too early for that to happen.

[Slurpeez]

I keep coming back to the idea that MRJ will be Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk. It’s very odd that the casting call for Jack has gone out, but we’ve yet to hear mention of an actor being cast for his role. It was just shortly after the casting call for Jack went out that we heard mention of MRJ joining OUaT, but the only description given to him was a “mysterious new character.” It seems like MRJ and Jack could easily be one-in-the-same.

I saw this theory on tumblr that makes a further compelling point. Remember that giant hole in the ground on the SB film set? It could be where a magic beanstalk sprouted up when magic came to town. The fairy tale has been confirmed to appear in Season 2 so it would make sense for the beanstalk to feature, especially with magic having returned to Storybrooke. The stalk itself would be CGI, but they physically made this hole.

The ground has been pushed UP not DOWN, so that means something has come out of the ground, therefore it could be the beanstalk growing.

"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

[Josephine]

Ohh, good catch about the beanstalk. I never thought about it really. When they filmed the new Batman movie “The Dark Knight” here in town, they had fake pavement broken up like that on the news often, so I didn’t really think about when I saw it in the OUaT pics.

The only thing I know about MR-Js is that he’s going to be on the show. I’m starting to doubt he’s Henry’s father because they said Emma was going to get a love interest and unless it’s Hook, this might be our guy. And he’s on most of the season so it could fit and then make room for Bae coming later on and messing everything up. So in that scenario he really could be Jack.

Keeper of Rumplestiltskin's and Neal's spears and war paint and crystal ball.

[hjbau]

I agree Antbee. I was looking forward to seeing Emma trying to deal with being Henry’s mom full on and then trying to deal with Snow and Charming as well. And if they are separated and we only get like one episode with like a scene about that before they are separated that is too much. And for them to still be apart 4 episodes in. Maybe we just haven’t heard about the Emma scenes though really what we have heard suggests a separation. I don’t even know what to think.

And i absolutely do not want them to use time travel, even realm jumping time travel, but they have opened that can of worms already with the apple. I can’t tell if they are too stupid to realize the issue they created or if they meant to.

[hjbau]

Yeah, my initial impression of the hole was also that something had been pushed up and it reminded me of the beanstalk from the title card, but then i notice that it was painted green inside which made me think it might be some sort of vortex. I really have no idea.

[Josephine]

The green is probably so they can cgi the beanstalk into it. Actually that green center is making me think the beanstalk is dead on. That’s brilliant. I haven’t heard of it anywhere else and makes a lot of sense.

On the other hand, it coud be the after-effects of a vortex. In “The Return”, the ground in the forrest was a big hole after the vortex closed up. So this could be the end result of another vortex.

Keeper of Rumplestiltskin's and Neal's spears and war paint and crystal ball.

[hjbau]

Everyone at first said it was a beanstalk. That is not a new theory. I think i just thought that the camera might get up in the hole and that was why it was green. Also since the hole is fake. Like they made a fake looking hole that is set on top of the real street that is not broken that might explain why it is raised. For practicality sake. Though either way. And Emma and Snow could have vanished some other way. It doesn’t have to have been this hole.

[Author]

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