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I think if I were watching this, without fan reactions, I’m not sure how I would feel.  There were lots of subtle moments that I didn’t think about so sure those things flew over the general audience more.    It goes back to–they’re keeping the triangle of doom alive, not that they wrapped it up.

What they have done really is establish for the casual viewer that Hook thinks he’s in love with Emma, and that whatever drove him to hit on Tink last episode, he’s still very much set on her.  They didn’t really go into Neal’s mindset as much but it was clear Neal had hope they would see each other again, and that Emma has love for him as she felt compassion at his father’s…whatever…and hugged him as people pointed out.

About the  notion that the song playing when Neal decided to stay away versus Hook coming to find Emma, I saw it as in both cases the song shuts off before the messenger about the status of the curse arrives.  Emma chooses to turn it off, but for Neal it is an accident as his Ipod falls away.  We don’t really know WHEN Neal decided to stay away, because it could have been the moment he met Tamara or sometimes after when their relationship turned romantic versus Neal just being a good guy making up for ruining someone’s day (he thought).     So  the more symbolically important thing to me is that Neal and Emma both like that song. This is not background music that the characters don’t hear–it is something they are playing themselves indicating something about their taste in music.

Also factoring in the setting, that she chose to go to NY rather than to Boston, seems to me a tie to current Neal, not the Neal she knew in Portland or waited to see in Tallahassee.  This fogged memory version of Emma should have no idea about any of that, yet it would have made sense for Regina to implant Boston.  So the writers suggest some kind of connection that led Emma from Boston to NY.

Bailsbonds people are not nationally licensed.  So NY and Boston are different states, so why move herself? Magic maybe could create the false paper trail needed to show that Emma had always had Henry, but to avoid seeing people she knew to avoid the contradiction it had to be a new place.  So who knows, within the logic of the show why NYC, but it was a choice of the writers.  They could have put her down in Pittsburgh–baseball fans like Adam know they’re the Pittsburg Pirates right? New Haven, Connecticut –just like the safe Haven was the curse survivor bubble.  They picked something that ties to Neal.

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I felt frustrated with the episode and it was further fueled by my internet dying out.  Even getting a $14 discount is not cheering me up over it, because the feeling are now somewhat solidified in my mind, both for the show and the quality of my internet company.  Since we cancelled cable our service has been consistently intermittent.  I cynically feel they are doing this to keep making us call them so they can try to upsell us (as they do EVERY time).

Ahem, rant aside, I am getting the same taste I had with Heroes Season 3.  It felt like a cheap device to hit a reset button on all the development, combined with a giant sidestep for a lot of mythology questions in the show.

What happened to the Darlings?  They are hundreds of years out of time but were not (Adam said) from a fictional land.  They met Emma.  Would they not during an entire year call or write or try to find out a thing about how Neal was doing?  Wendy spent hundreds of years in a cage for Bae.  They suffered enough, I know but it bothers me as a loophole.   Not even a postcard (even August “selfish puppet” Booth did that much)?

I also disliked the flashbacks as unnecessary rather than present day development of those same points, which would have been more meaningful.  Why did we need to see Smee, only to make it seem confusing as if Hook and Smee just got off the boat, even though we know Tink arrived hundreds of years later timeline wise?

Then we already knew Hook’s driving motives about his love or revenge–we saw him almost die for Milah, and we saw him willing to die for his revenge.  So all we learned there was that Tink knew that about him, and that could have come up in a present day scene, with Neal overhearing it.  Then Neal could have pulled Hook aside, and it would have been a bonding moment between them.  That Neal, even though he loves Emma and always will, wants her to be happy and if Hook loves her that deeply, he just wants Hook to know that either way, Henry is going to have Neal in his life.

That “the sake of the boy” doesn’t mean anything far as who Emma’s romances will be, because in the 21st century, we’ve worked out things like visitation–I don’t know, they could write better dialog on the point.  I just feel it could have reinforced the idea that if CS is what is to happen, that on some level, Neal and Hook actually respect and care about each other, as well as Emma enough that all three can manage to see past the awkward twists of relationships in the past.  So if they don’t mind then I don’t mind, because it is no longer this character “winning” by making the others unhappy–it is that on some level, they all want each other to be happy –just as with Regina loving Henry, despite all the messed up things that happened, she is sort of at peace and giving Emma this gift of forgetting all the pain, rather than wanting her to be miserable or even in the least happy about Snow being separated from her daughter again.  That was character growth for Regina, and wonderful to see, if painful, but the ONLY character who I felt really had that.

Rumple’s flashback was pointless too–just a fan service Skin Deep call-back–I would (as not a very intense Rumbeller at all, just someone who roots for them) have preferred a present day scene of Belle telling Rumple she’s worried about leaving him alone with Pan–not because he might do something evil but because he might not be able to do it.  It just would have been interesting to think she’s worried about him loving someone who doesn’t deserve it because they don’t love him in return  (as he has a history of doing, with Milah and Cora).

Then Rumple saying to her, even if something happens, he’s already had his happy ending because he has the love of people and he knows he is deserving of it.  Then Belle saying something about wanting a happy  ever after–and he could say even if he dies, he knows she will be there for his son.  I don’t know, just something connecting the dots between the fact Rumple wanted to be a good father, but even more, than having the experience of it for himself, that it was about making sure his child would have someone to love HIM–the same thing Neal did for Henry when letting go of Emma I suppose.    It would mean so much for Belle to know Rumple’s thinking of her as family to his son, and counting on her to “look after” Neal (even though yes, he’s older than her tehcnicallly and its funny).  So to look after each other and be family–it just would have been more romantic to me than the Skin Deep call-back of Belle seeing through Rumple’s brusque manner. Then Belle could have said to Rumple he’s being pessimistic, the prophecy is past.

Instead, I just felt annoyed with the scene where she falls down and no one pays attention to her in her grief, not even Neal.  He’s in shock, a mix of pride that his father conquered the selfish-self-preservation, and disbelief that he’s losing him so fast.   I understand that, but it was the writers once again not connecting dots.

Now reading through all the observations I realize there were more SF things than I thought the first time round, but it still read very much ‘CS is on deck” to me, which I knew they wouldn’t tilt the score all the way to one ship or the other.   They want to have people return in the spring, but I almost felt they’d gone so far CS that it was whiplash from the episode before.

I agree that it means a lot that Emma went to NY, that the song Charley’s Girl is playing as that is the song Neal played on his ipod in his first scene.  I also think it is true that Neal might think the reason Emma did not show at lunch was Hook, and therefore agree to let Hook wake Emma.  Yet it still strikes me as potentially letting these writers end-run around the messy history of Hook without the same for Neal.  Now Emma will get to know Hook as “an old love fighting to free her memories”, but she will have lost all the positive things she learned about Neal who is reset to “that jerk who left me holding stolen property”.

Now we know that the writers intended to revisit the reasons Neal left and how Emma ended up in jail.  I thought it would involve Pan being part of the reason he had to steer clear, blood-magic and all, plus the potential that Emma’s death could break the curse–seems anti-climactic to get into now, so doubt they will, so if it comes up, I think it will because of Emma’s memory reset.  So maybe Neal will get a second chance to explain why he left, how he never stopped loving her, but was afraid of being rejected, but how he almost died and knew they still loved each other, that they would be together–and meanwhile, far as Hook, since Happy endings aren’t what we think, his isn’t either as he thought, happiness with Emma, but something else yet to be revealed. .

 

 

 

“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?” -- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass

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my crack theory–she is the wicked witch but in the cursed identity she thought she was Miss Deville fashion designer and she wants revenge on Regina.  So  she has her memories in this next curse in the same way rumple built in a fail safe for his.

“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?” -- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass

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Maybe Liam had an affair with a mermaid and got his heart broken, and that’s why Hook hates them 😛

Who knows, because I don’t think we’ll see Liam again even though he was apparently the reason Hook turned pirate.   I would LIKE to see the story of the King who sought poison–was he misled, because how in the name of the slaughtered, wingless Pegasus did they find out about Neverland?

Did Pan set that up? Send a dream it was a healing plant? Or maybe it was –but the adult fears polluting the dream land turned it into poison.

They could have done so much more with Nl.

 

“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?” -- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass

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Happy Once Day for MidSeason Finale!  It is also my birthday, and I am hoping for an exciting and emotional episode, plus some teases to fuel speculation until the spring.

Part of that is hoping for a second chance for Neal and Emma both, but it is to soon to find their Tallahassee and home together.  I really just hope they have the moment to realize that they both still do want to try despite all the hardships they have faced, and are able to express that to the other.

Most of these obstacles were not of their own making, but the result of dealing with fairytale magic-driven, desperate people trying to lead them astray one way or the other.  If Neal and Emma were just two people who met, then fell in love –they would have struggled as anyone else but they would have found strength in each other because that is the type of relationship they had.   For the first time, they found someone with whom they could take down the walls and be honest.

That honesty is brutal at times with them but it tells me they trust each other on a deeper level than just  omitting the details to tell someone what they want to hear, in the way they want to hear it.  They can yell at each other, stumble over words, and be sarcastic, and still make the other smile.  They can be sad, or happy and the other understands it, even if at that moment they don’t feel the same.    They can tell each other anything and they will never have to fear the other will stop loving the other, only whether they will choose to be together or not.

Emma took pride in the things Neal taught her, and she remembered him from so many years back, when she had every reason to forget him.  She said she lost him years ago, and she did, but she never really lost his love for her or her love for him.  Both just came  to feel it was too late for various reasons and both tried to move on.  We don’t know how closed and walled off Emma became immediately after Neal left.  Giving up Henry hurt, but who were the people who came and went in her life for years after?  The same with Neal.  However damaged they were their loss of hope was not complete, until Emma saw him die (she thought).   She felt that so strongly that she spent most of her time in NL without Henry and Neal feeling raw and empty.   Until Neal returned.  She did not jump to happiness, but she was scared of losing him again, scared of him not being who she had started to realize he truly is. Yet she began to be more hopeful.

She has not left that fear behind yet and it is holding her back, but I do not think she fears him leaving her by choice anymore.  She is scared for all the reasons she fears for Henry.  She grew up in the real world but deals in fairytale situations and can she really ever relax?  What I hope she realizes in this episode is she is making the same mistake that Neal did when he stayed away even after the broken curse.  Even with all the added complications of being to together, they are happier that way, and that happiness, that magic will fuel the solution to the mystical problems that will continue to come their way.

Far from obvious and cliche, the twist and turns in this story continue to surprise me, and I say bring on the next obstacle.   Each one just makes the bond between them grow stronger.

“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?” -- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass

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It is my birthday today, o I hope we get an exciting episode, but o course for some good shippy feels too.

“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?” -- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass

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There’s so much we do not know about why he thought he had to leave, but we know he thought that.   He’s said so and the writers have said so.

What we do know is terrible things would have happened if he stayed, and that the curse could also be broken on Emma’s death.  So the simplest thing for me to think there is that Pan would have killed Emma.  Why not? Pan needed Henry’s heart and apparently could use it from birth (or planned to have the Darling Bros raise him).  Now if Emma were not with Neal, then perhaps Pan could not track her to kill her.  He might have been able to track Neal due to Blood Magic.  So Neal had to stay away until after the curse.

Now I don’t KNOW for sure, but it would be a possible story that the writers have yet to reveal, but as I said, people come up with all kinds of things they don’t know either about how Neal could have stayed and that’s again, speculation.

“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?” -- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass

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I think Jafar is less sympathetic in some ways because we’ve seen how cruel and cold he is, and how utterly lacking of sympathy for others, while Ana seems to have sympathy but covers it up at times under a stern exterior, so as not to appear weaker than she is.  Jafar wants to force the Sultan to submit.  I”m not sure it is about love at all really, but in some ways, pride and revenge, but underneath that, perhaps he is desperate to feel loved but I do not think so. Why not change the past and save his mother instead if he wants love?    If he’s going to all the trouble to change the laws of magic, it feels to me there is this element to consider.  He wants all the power and his father’s love,  I think, so he can then reject his father to make him feel the hurt he felt.  It is not good enough to just kill the Sultan when the Sultan expects that.  He has to break his heart and shatter him with unexpected betrayal first–the pain he felt.  He did that to Amara so he is capable of it.

I do agree though that Ana seeking to wish away her choices is not growth or truly redemption for her character.  She is looking for magic to solve her problems and the trouble is, she wouldn’t change anything about herself so she would just make the same choices more or less as before.

“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?” -- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass

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That Adam replies to those people, trying to pacify them is what I do not get.  I don’t think it helps but some of these people are actually, mentally unstable and it is a real worry that they might try to harm the actors beyond just words.
Apparently there’s been some crazy fans of the BBC series Sherlock upset about a female character being cast because they were picturing the two main characters together and someone said this thing that fits here (it may have been one of the actors ..can’t remember) “These people are not fan of the show, they are fans of a show going on in their heads.”

I’m a fan of the show, and all the characters and much as I love this tiny aspect of the show and am rooting for SF–it isn’t the only path I can see for the writers to give Neal and Emma a happy ending.   So far though, I feel they’ve been writing the story that these are two people who had fairy-tale problems and self-doubts come between them, but the love is still there waiting for them to overcome all of these things that keep them apart.

“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?” -- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass

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Phee–I think that is spot on that Charming did not really need to balance out a friendship versus jut being Daddy.  I also agree RumpleGoldFan that Charming just treats Emma in term of advice the way he would handle Snow as they are equally stubborn and need to come to things in their own way sometimes. (Snow shooting targets, Emma destroying toasters….)

“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?” -- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass

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