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beastwhispererParticipant
1. I don’t want Neal’s journey to be protracted, but I do want it to be a little epic. He was afraid that Emma could never forgive him before, but now he knows she still loves him. He has a family to fight his way back to, and that struggle seems to be his next story arc. He’s like Odysseus in that regard, as well as being a character who relies on his wits. Since he’s coincidentally fallen into a land where the ogres are at large again, it’d be awesome for Neal to have to kill an ogre or two along the way. Maybe even devise the new Ogre War’s version of the Trojan Horse. The irony of him landing in the middle of this after everything Rumple did to keep Bae out of the previous Ogre War is irresistible. I want him back with the others in time to rescue Henry though. That payoff is something I badly want to see.
2. For the new big bad to be really awesome and menacing. Greg and Tamara had promise for me (particularly with Greg’s backstory), but they lost it at the end. Mindless zealots are boring. We need something as awesome a Cora right off the bat here.
3. Redemptions progressing rather than being filled with schizophrenic waffling. My biggest fear for the writer’s approaching magic and evil like an addiction is that it leads to the character backslides putting the character in a place where they stagnate and just become a lost cause. That pretty much happened to Mitchell in the original Being Human, imo, and I really don’t want to see that happen to anyone on Once. This is particularly meant regarding Regina.
4. For Neverland to actually be magical and not just dark and dismal. I want to see some aspect to this place that the children would love during the day, before crying for their mothers in the dark.
5. Belle taking charge in SB with Grumpy as her right hand. Love that friendship, and I hope that whatever threats SB will be facing next season are engaging and interesting. I suspect the HO isn’t going to stop looking for them.
6. Good backstory. In particular, I’m really looking forward to more Bae and Hook.
7. Interactions on the boat. This cross section of characters has the potential to be entertaining together in oh so many ways. Looking forward to that.
8. Nealfire’s reunion with his entire family. I can picture Rumple being stunned into silence, and then hugs and crying all around. Henry would be elated. Emma would be overwhelmed. I think even Hook would tear up a little, because he really did seem to care about Bae.
9. Rumple and the prophecy. Another reason I want to see Nealfire back in time to rescue Henry is so he can see Rumple actually do something selfless for Henry. That would go a long way to healing some wounds between them.
[adrotate group="5"]beastwhispererParticipant@KFChimera wrote:
I like that interpretation of his motivation better as there is less call to backslide, but it depends on the writers wanting to create conflict or not. I absolutely agree with you about the failure of Hook to honor Milah’s wishes. Especially the part I marked in Green. You put this so well –Hook acted out of hurt in a way that put Bae’s life in danger. Not just “not cool” but a pretty petty and rotten thing to do to any 14 year old let alone the one who could have been like a son to you. I would like to think he is trying to right that wrong rather than just feeling sorry for himself and lonely, but I do worry the writers might have some twists in store. It’s the kind of thing they did with Regina after all–you see that vulnerability, that search for love, then they’ll do something (as A&E put it) really stupid to try to get it. It really is parallel to Regina blaming a 12 year old Snow for not keeping a secret.
I’ll have to add that to the list of conversations I’d love for Regina and Hook to have. 😀
I’m hoping none of our villains do too much seesawing on this trip. I think they went too far with Regina last season, and it’s been rather detrimental to her development. And I certainly hope that they never give Hook the same level of flipflops that Regina’s had. That’s a parallel that I can happily live without.
I think that Hook’s storyline could lead to some much needed closure for him. He wants to give up his revenge, but before he can really move on he’s going to need closure for Milah and for his own actions. They’ve shown us his connection to Bae. If he didn’t help rescue Bae years ago, he can help Henry now. Confronting Neverland can help him confront the things that happened in his past there, and he can face any other traumas or skeletons he has.
I do expect plenty of tension and snark next season, but there should be some forward momentum too. After hearing Bae tell Hook that Hook was just like Rumple, I’d really like to see Hook and Rumple have to confront their similarities. For me that would be television gold, and it’s more interesting than if they went with more of the “who will double cross whom” at this point. Maybe it’s just that I want to see the characters progressing instead of regressing, especially if the new Big Bad is all that.
beastwhispererParticipant*happy dance* The group on the JollyRoger, Henry, Belle, and Nealfire are the core of the show to me. This is great news! Been an MRJ fan for years.
beastwhispererParticipant@KFChimera wrote:
Then again, he also has the most tenuous connection to the others as family. If everything turns on his sense of connection and attraction to Emma and longing for family, what happens if they find out Neal is alive?
Different folks will have different interpretations, but I read his motivation as being about Bae, Milah, and Hook’s own regrets. Milah and Hook wanted to form a family with Bae years ago. Hook was to be Bae’s stepfather, basically. Leaving Bae was Milah’s greatest regret, and righting that situation would have been a far greater way to honor her than Hook’s quest for vengeance. Hook started to try to do the right thing by Bae, but he gave up when it got too hard. Of course an angry teenage boy wasn’t going to just fall right into Hook’s arms. All the adults in Bae’s life played a role in events, and he was angry at them all and feeling abandoned. He was right that Hook had previously wanted to use him to get revenge on Rumple, but Hook needed to be the adult instead of acting out in return. Turning Milah’s son over to the Lost Ones was a betrayal of her memory, and she would have been outraged. On the launch Bae looked so betrayed yet again, and Hook looked quite guilty in return. He didn’t protect what was important to him, and he regretted it. Like Rumple, he’s there to honor Bae now. When they find Bae’s alive, Hook gets a chance to make things finally right with Bae. Hook has a place in the family already, and he still represents Milah’s memory and wishes for her son and grandson. Just my two cents.
beastwhispererParticipant@myril wrote:
The idea of Wendy, the Darlings starting the thing was, well, too convenient for my taste, too much still Disney, but I have sometimes a dark, wicked mind if it comes to story telling. Of course it would have been a dark twist in some way too, if the Home Office had started as something different, something to bring back Bae for good, but even that sounded too predictable to me.
Actually, this whole episode makes me more convinced that the Darlings started the Home Office. Greg and Tamara’s original mission was to destroy magic, and that could definitely be the ultimate goal of the Darlings after SSTTR. But there’s another goal that makes sense for the Darlings that I think comes into play here. In the original tale Wendy brings the Lost Boys home to our world. Remember how she was affected by her experience of hearing them crying in the dark. I think she made a treaty with Peter Pan for that very purpose, probably after SSTTR. Something like: “We give you this one boy you’re looking for, and you give us back all the children that you’ve taken and never come here again.” That’s the type of deal I think they could have made many years ago.
I think as soon as the HO found out about Henry, they discovered their chance to fulfill the treaty and this purpose. At the same time, the HO wouldn’t know what Peter Pan and the Lost Ones intend to do, and I think the entire HO is being manipulated by him as Rumple’s words suggest to me. You don’t just keep the Darlings entirely out of the story once Peter Pan gets introduced. It’d be bad form. Trying to save lots of innocent children at any cost fits amongst the moral dilemmas that this show brings to its characters, and I think that’s where H&K might be going.
beastwhispererParticipant@Schmacky wrote:
I don’t get how you can have two OTPs if it means ONE true pairing…
What people aren’t taking into account here is the rise of Multishipping. Here’s an example: If you ship Gremma, MadSwan, WoodenSwan, CaptainSwan, SwanQueen, and Swanfire, many shippers will call their main ship for Emma their OTP for her. It’s the ship that they love the most for that character and would support over their other ships for her/him. So Multishippers can easily have an OTP for each character they ship in a fandom. For example:
I ship Gremma and Swanfire, but my OTP for Emma is Swanfire.
I ship Hook x Regina, Regina x Daniel, Hook x Milah, but my OTP out of those is Hook x Regina.
I’m fine with the other canon ships from Rumple’s past, but I only ship Rumbelle. So that’s my OTP for Rumple and Belle.
I’ve got a number of multishipper friends who use the term that way, and I’ve used it that way in some other fandoms. I try to avoid doing it around folks who don’t already know that usage though, because it confuses them.
beastwhispererParticipantRumplesGirl pretty much nailed my thoughts for Best episodes.
Best Episode
Manhattan
This is the payoff to everything that Rumple’s been doing for hundreds of years. This is the entire point of the curse. As RG said this is the point of the whole show. MRJ is a fantastic addition to the cast, and the way he and RC and JMo played off one another was heartwrenchingly fantastic. The conversation between Rumple and Bae was raw and painful and done with beautiful detail, right down to Bae copying his father’s flourish-y movements. The conversations between Neal and Emma were equally amazing, and you could feel the history between all these characters. Nealfire finally getting to meet his son, and seeing how affected he is by finally having that connection of family he’s longed for for hundreds of years is another fantastic payoff. Then you get the prophecy from the seer, and that sets this ominous dilemma into motion for Rumple, and you can see that fate isn’t done with any of these characters just yet. This one was just perfect.Runner Up for Best Episode
And Straight on Til Morning
This was a tough call, because really you could just pick anything from ASoTM, SSttR, or Tallahassee for me. Those three were all great, imo. ASoTM gets the nod, because there are so few series that give me season finales that actually live up to what a season finale should be. The cliffhanger didn’t feel forced or soapy to me, and all the characters are getting the development they need. Bae and Hook’s backstory was the highlight of the episode for me, and I love how that experience and the regrets he carries from it informed Hook’s change of heart. Even with Rumbelle and Swanfire separated for the time being, I feel it’s set the show into a good place for many promising developments.Worst Episode
Child of the Moon
I hate setup plots. I hate mobs of lobotomized characters lining up to lynch some poor innocent character while an annoying villain twirls his Snidely Whiplash moustache from the sidelines. I hate that they killed off Gus/Billy for a completely pointless filler plot. I couldn’t even tell myself that any of this annoying stuff served a greater purpose for an ongoing story arc. It just took time away from anything I might actually want to see happen in the series. I love Ruby. I loved Red Handed. I love her interactions with Dr. Whale in In The Name of the Brother. I want better a better episode than this if she’s going to be featured. I like the B plot about Regina, Henry, Gold, and the dream… but this is my most hated A plot from either season. Really, hated that plot.Runner Up for Worst Episode
Tiny
Anton’s a sweetie, and I bear him no ill will. This was just a really bad time for his plot to be explored. It’s a struggle to sit through an A plot that I’m not particularly invested in, when the B plot and the entire next episode are probably the most anticipated events of the season for me. I spent most of Tiny wishing it were next week already instead of being able to enjoy it for what it was. The beans are an important concept for this season, but I wish they’d been introduced at a different time or something. The plot just wasn’t strong enough to be interesting when much more interesting plots are right there on the horizon.beastwhispererParticipant@RumplesGirl wrote:
In this pic, I think the skull necklace has fallen behind the dagger necklace and is more or less out of shot.
Though I can’t be sure because I can’t really see anything over Colin’s hair and eyes and red vest.
Hehe. They are distracting. He always seems to have the dagger on top of the skull. I’m betting the skull fell inside his shirt in that shot. Happens all the time to pendants that fall around the same length as a shirt neckline.
beastwhispererParticipantThat looks like Hook’s usual pendants to me. It’s just a side angle. The one on top (left) is the dagger. The other is the skull. I can see the eye socket and the teeth.
beastwhispererParticipantI love Hook/Regina! They have great interactions and parallels. It was very interesting that Hook admits that he felt they’d had a moment when they connected. For me, his musing while under the library has been his most meaningful dialogue, and it’s lovely that he shared that realization with Regina, as she needs it. I also loved how she called him on the fact that he didn't really know the people he was working for with GOAT and that it wasn't worth the price. Hook's expression said he knew she was right.
They do have the potential to connect and bring out their better selves together. It depends on the writers. I find it noteworthy that when Hook first asked Regina about why she wanted Cora’s heart ripped out, Regina got so defensive. According to the same scene, Regina knows the details of Hook’s loss of Milah. Whatever Hook might suspect, that scene suggests that his discovering Regina’s full past could be significant between them.
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