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Cause this story needs some mending & a better happy ending...
Yes, I am serial posting here. This story they told, of Ariel – Charming is still preaching the same as always. Hook is trying to convince him that looking for Eric is fruitless, as the most likely story regaring Eric is that he is dead, and finishes the statement by saying, “There’s no reason to ply her with false hope.” Charming’s reply is that, “In my experience, there’s no such thing. You just have to believe.”
Later, they have Hook concede, “It was Ariel. She never stopped believing.”
I responded, of course, with “Streetlights, people, whoa?” but in a more serious sense those lines were pretty important. Despite the “real” death, this show is still preaching hope and believing, which I think is interesting. It’s MORE telling that they didn’t even attempt to trot any of this out with Neal. The 1432 things this show is about – hope, faith, belief, true love, TLK – all of them were ignored with regards to Neal. It’s so OOC I really think it will all come back to visit us later.
I remembered, too, why I wanted to come post this morning. I woke up with A&E’s quote about the death stuck in my craw. With regards to the upcoming death, they stated, “We felt it was the end of his/her arc.” Neal’s arc… is not done. We haven’t seen half of the backstory, and we sure haven’t seen the resolution of his life’s journey (to find FAMILY.) No, dying in the woods with his TL & Dad there doesn’t count! I could argue a few characters have lived out their whole arc – Rumple, in 311 (though I think there is more story to tell there, not only as part of his ship but ultimately ridding the curse of the DO,) Regina in 311, and Hook. I still am on the kick that it is Hook we will see permanently gone by season’s end – not for hatred or shipping reasons, but for story reasons. We have seen his backstory – Liam, etc – we have seen his lost year and we have seen him resolve his life’s work of killing the crocodile. All that’s left is final redemption, because the remaining pieces of his arc are making up for the ills he caused to that tiny boy all those years ago. It just makes sense to me – it just makes sense. His arc is so much more complete than Nealfire’s, I really think we are going to see an exchange of some sort in 321/322. Maybe not a literal exchange, but Hook opting to sacrifice himself for the family – out of “love” for Emma, redemptive with regards to his actions towards Bae, and because he is “fond of” Henry and owes it to that kid not to screw up his life. Whether that directly brings Neal back or whether they are independent actions, I still think Hook is a goner by the end of 322.
Am I the ONLY one on that bandwagon? It just makes sense to me, but I begin to question myself as I feel like I am floating out here all alone, lol.
Cause this story needs some mending & a better happy ending...
Oh, and plenty of room, Phee! I think the rent is kind of like the Tardis… bigger on the inside!
Cause this story needs some mending & a better happy ending...
You know how 3A had the tagline “Pan never fails?” Yeah, I’m pretty sure 3B’s tagline could be, “DSB never sleeps.” This thread would be a great case study in insomnia 😉
Anyways, OUAT, it’s funny that you bring up “Shake It Out.” I heard it in the car yesterday – and the day before – and in many ways, find myself clinging to it as a ray of hope in this story. “It’s always darkest before the dawn…” It’s such a Fairytale thing, such a tv thing in general, to have things look the worst and the bleakest – like all hope is lost – before victory is actually achieved. As a teen – as a baby shipper, though I didn’t know that was a thing – I recall learning quickly to dread episodes where it appeared my favorites would be getting together – it always happened in reverse. (Ross & Rachel, I’m looking at you!) The goal of TV is to keep the audience on their toes. Phee referenced Henry’s S1 quote, about the low moment for the hero, before they come through… totally applicable.
Do I feel like Once has lost it’s way? Yeah, I do. Do I feel like it’s thrown it all away? No, I think they are still trying to tell these stories of hope. There are quotes from 317 – one from Charming, one from Hook – that IMO illustrate this. I’ll need to move down to the computer to post them, we’ll see if I can get them up before work.
It’s interesting, lecygne, that you feel Neal is irrelevant. I disagree, and I think we’ll see him crop back up. In 3A, didn’t we go several episodes between the portal “death” and Emma really saying anything about it? It’s Emma’s MO to react for the briefest of moments, then take those emotions and SMASH them down to get back to the task at hand. Right now, she is throwing herself into other things to not think about it. Only with her boys do those emotions come seeping back up – only with these two guys do we see her truly have emotions come bubbling over her walls. I think we have yet to see her really react to this death, though I guess we are supposed to “assume” the subtext of her learning magic etc as a way to seek revenge or whatever. Who knows.
Right now, we are getting a few stories from Emma that we could not get with Neal on the canvas. One of them, obviously, is this Hook drama. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: our ship was so much stronger it literally had to be dead for CS to even be explored. It goes back to Neal’s, “She’s got me now” in Neverland. He had to be dead for the NL kiss. He needs to be dead for this reliance on Hook we are seeing at the moment. We also would not be getting this “learn magic” story if Neal were around – and I am guessing it will be important to the plot down the road.
But as Neal was removed from the scene, and Emma stuffed her emotions, so too were the other two keys in Neal’s story – his father and son. Rumple is, er, incapacitated, and Henry has no recollection of his father. And still, the reason H wants to hang out with Hook is not because he’s “fun,” but because he’s the only person who will talk about his Dad. Whenever Henry gets his memories back, you think the FIRST thing he’ll say isn’t, “My Dad’s dead?!” and have a genuine reaction? Likewise, Rumple spent 300 years looking for his kid, cast a curse, and ultimately sacrificed for him. Yet all we get is literally one SHOT of grieving, “Bae…” Uh, no. Removing these characters – delaying their reactions, as it were – is a way to advance plot now and re-introduce the character as relevant down the line. Because once Rumple has control of himself again, and Henry gets his memories back, we are going to have these guys 1) exacting revenge in the name of Baelfire and 2) wanting to know the REAL story of how Dad died, respectively. And #2 will come from Emma, effectively uncorking her emotions.
Now I’ve gone on a tangent and forgotten what I even came to post. *sigh* See if I can recall it while I get ready for work. Lol
Cause this story needs some mending & a better happy ending...
No. I am quite certain I could depart easily… I am not in deep at all. I definitely did not spend my evening rewatching 317 so that I could write a post, which I never did watch because I spent 3 hours chatting with y’all, then leave to “go to bed” only to spend an hour reading bad fanfic on my phone before coming back to post on the board again.
Not in deep, not in deep at ALL!
Anyways, I came to rant a rant, of a most unexpected and anti-Neal kind. Actually, it’s anti-OOC Neal, which is kinda the point.
But, I was reading some fanfic where Neal was being awesomeDad (because duh, he WAS awesomeDad,) and contemplating the crap that was 315 and how he did it all for Henry & Emma, and he was a hero. And then I got really hacked off because you know what? Despite the hogwash the show shoved down our throats – no. He wasn’t a hero. If anything, he made things WORSE. If he had left well enough alone, he would have been cursed back to Storybrooke with the crew, had his happy (or semi-happy, whatevs,) little reunion with Emma, and been around to be awesomeDad to Henry… even if he did need to meet him all over again. Yes, Rumple would still be dead, but since the return to SB, Rumple has been a liability, not an asset. Without Neal’s idiotic DO key revival, Z would not have the threat of the DO to hold over the town, plus the town would have one more person on the side of the good guys.
Not heroic. Idiotic. Neal was NOT dumb as a box of hair, but they sure made him that way in 315! Hacked off. Hacked off all over again.
And I really… absorption. Really?!
*crawling back into sleeping bag and going to sleep for real this time*
Cause this story needs some mending & a better happy ending...
Enchantedfan, the tent is in the corner to your right, under that heavy oak table there. It contains the few remaining shards of hope in the SF fanbase. Feel free to grab some cocoa and come on in.
Agreed that those tweets sounded final, particularly the RC one. But still, the same set of other facts stands, so they have until 322 before the fat lady sings (for me.) Interestingly, roomie read those tweets and shrugged, she said it’s nothing different than the rest of it and does not change her opinion.
I am increasingly feeling like the closer we are to the subject here, the harder it is to have the simple hope that would be so easy if we were more detached. Maybe I should have kept resisting the fanning…
Cause this story needs some mending & a better happy ending...
Text – here is one from S1 – http://www.hypable.com/2012/05/12/once-upon-a-time-creators-on-making-emma-believe-the-return-of-belle-in-the-season-finale/ – I’ll agree that they earned that moment. It’s not the same interview I read last night, which would have been from late 3A, hiatus or early 3B. I should be able to find it once I’m home & on my laptop. The gist of it is A&E were saying that they often ask themselves, “Have we earned this?” and it’s important that the answer to that question is yes.
Incidentally I agree with all of the earned moments above; I would add Regina’s sacrifice in 311 to Rumple’s. Incidentally, I would add Neal’s 221 “death” to the earned title – ironic since his 315 death was not earned. But from the young Bae episodes, 2×06 & 2×14-21, they were able to sell the ILYs, sense of sacrifice & sense of loss. Yet add another half-season and NOT earn the second death – clearly there is an issue there. Once, like Lost, has the ability to take a single episode and sell a character to you in a whole new way. (I cannot count how many times my feelings on Lost’s Benjamin Linus seesawed from hated villain to sympathy… or back the other direction.) And yet, despite that ability, they failed to do it in 3×15. The Neal-Emma connection in that episode was earned, but the rest of it – no. (Not just the OOC Neal/Belle, but even/especially Rumple’s quiet acceptance. WTF, no?)
Cause this story needs some mending & a better happy ending...
On the plus side, spoiler of doom specifically excluded Rumple, so I think we are at least safe on that front.
I woke up today firmly back in the 322 Hook-for-Neal trade camp. No explanation why, just woke up with it firmly in my gut. Maybe I had a dream, lol.
I haven’t talked yet about 317 on here, but it wasn’t good for Hook, guys, not from a GA perspective. The result was for a general viewer to *dread* CS scenes, for them to be underscored with fear and suspense and “Oh no! Don’t go near her, Hook! Don’t kiss her, Hook!” Remember, the GA is designed to be on team Emma, and Hook is now a threat to Emma.
I have more thoughts on the episode, but that’s really the key one. It’s easy to get caught up in the fine points, and miss how a casual viewer will take it. CSers might count this ep as a win for themselves… but it wasn’t.
Cause this story needs some mending & a better happy ending...
Text – I read an interview last night where A&E discuss them discussing “Have we earned this?” If you are interested, I can try to dig it up later this evening – it might make an interesting jumping-off point for your criticism.
Cause this story needs some mending & a better happy ending...
I was just saying that in chat. Roomies and I watched Pilot with commentary tonight (we finally got other roomie caught up, now need to watch the extras,) and there is a line A&E say – they are talking about how they initially were going to kill Charming in the Pilot, but eventually they realized, “How can Snow White have a happy ending if he’s been ripped from her?” I yelled at the TV then, lol, because HI the same applies to Emma… In watching Pilot, I am reminded – again – at how intricate the plan is. And the irony that it’s the awfulness of the show at the moment that gives me hope that they will right the ship, because I just can’t see them trashing all of it, I just can’t, I am just incredulous at what we are seeing right now.
Incidentally, as the curse rolls in, it blows out the top/centralmost stained glass window, implodes it in. Broken dreamcatcher, then. I might have made a snarky comment about it in our living room.
Anyways, tent is open, for those needing shelter under the table from the falling sky outside. We got space, if you don’t already have a room in Castle Tallahassee 🙂
Cause this story needs some mending & a better happy ending...
