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Hey RG! Just wanted to say you did a phenomenal job on the podcast last week! Thanks for representing us!
Have to say that while I watched last night’s episode, my heart just wasn’t in it. Although I have to say that Robert Carlyle’s performance was amazing as usual during the funeral sequence- he made me shed a couple tears. After the funeral, I caught myself laughing at some of the ridiculousness that I don’t think I ever noticed before. I just don’t think I was able to get lost in OUAT like I use to- felt like a lot of you here. That TVLine article hit the nail on the head with its “Raymond-James’ stirring swan song reminded us of what Once had, and now has lost.”
Anyway, found this great video on youtube that demonstrates the great story that OUAT was telling from season 1-3A with Rumple and Nealfire. It is beautiful and reminds me why I did love this show.
Oh and P.S.- Heather, prayers for you and your family!
[adrotate group="5"]Don’t know if this was posted earlier, but it is beautiful, heartbreaking and captures the wonderful spirit of Baelfire. Worth the read even though your heart will be shattered again. Get your tissues out… still not ok about his death.
http://hesaiditsallinmyhead.tumblr.com/post/81376146461/somewhereDear Swanfire Family (Is it ok if I call you all a family of sorts? I know I didn’t post much, but I did love coming to this thread and seeing all the beautiful things everyone said about Emma and Neal and even just all your views on family and hope):
Thank you for being a safe little haven for someone who didn’t even realize she was a Swanfire Shipper until (apparently) it was too late (because it looks like A&E decided to kill Neal around the time I realized how emotionally invested I was in SF). I spent the better half of yesterday either crying or on the verge of tears because of Neal’s death and decided to write down all my feelings about the show once I calmed a bit down this morning. Hope you all don’t mind if I share.
Since its inception, I have watched OUAT, faithfully every Sunday. I fell in love with a show that created these unique and dimensional characters- characters that I grew up watching. I cheered when Snow and Charming were finally reunited and cried when Rumple lost his son (in season one) because he was too afraid to give up power. I bought into the idea of family and hope- that Emma could find her family, Rumple could find his son and in the end they could all have a happy ending. Sunday nights were like a little escape from reality. I never looked for spoilers and never questioned the direction of the show. As a loyal viewer, I was just happy to be a part of the ride.
Season one of the show as phenomenal and in all honesty, I really loved season 2 as well. In season two, we were not only able to meet Rumple’s son in real time, but find out that he is also Henry’s father and the love of Emma’s life. From the moment she saw him again, it was so clear she was not over him and since we knew that he was forced to leave her in Tallahassee I was so excited to see them find a way to fall back in love. The revelation of Tamara was another thing that was hard to swallow. I didn’t like Neal was engaged, but at the same time, I understood how he could be. Here was Baelfire, who had gone through a hard life and had to give up the woman he loved (Emma) and let go to help her find her destiny. Yes, Baelfire deserved to find happiness and move on, even if it wasn’t with Emma because he genuinely believed that we wasn’t going to get a second chance with Emma- he knew Emma too well. When we found out how much he regretted leaving Emma and by then we knew that Tamara was evil, I was excited to watch and see how the two of them could eventually come together. So when he gave his life as a sacrifice in season two and showed Emma how much he not only loved her and Henry my heart broke, but in a way that I could see the parallel A&E were trying to make between Neal and his father. Neal was not afraid to die if it meant that his son would not get abandoned- what a loving father. Again it tore my heart apart knowing that Rumple wasted the time in Storybrooke with his son and now his son was dead. But I never lost faith in the vision that A&E were telling us- I trusted them. And I was rewarded because the next week we found out Neal wasn’t dead, and I was so excited to go on a journey again with A&E for Emma and Regina to find their son in Neverland, for Nealfire to find his way back to the love of his life and back to his son, and for Rumple to finally show Neal that he had changed.
Cue season 3. Again, I followed along as I had previously but found myself much more invested. I had come to love these characters that were created by A&E and so I wanted them to find Henry, find each other and go home together. From the end of season 2, it was so clear to me that Emma and Neal loved each other and deserved a second chance. I was confused by the CS kiss, and I actually remember watching it before the episode aired because it played on many media sites. I genuinely believed that Emma was on some weird Neverland drug to make her have such crazy eyes before the kiss. So around the time of Ariel I started looking for videos about Emma and Neal’s relationship to see what beautiful moments OUAT fans made about them. So that of course was around the time I started lurking here in the SF thread. Here were people who saw the show the way I did AND they post pretty pictures and videos too!
I never crossed into other threads because I still wanted to be surprised when I watched the show so I had no idea that Pan was Rumple’s father and that in “Going Home” Rumple sacrifices his life for his son and his true love. It was poetic and beautiful. I still believed in A&E vision even in “Going Home” but something just wasn’t right. Here was a show about family and we the viewers could not even see a real goodbye seen between Neal and Henry- just the two of them? For the first time, I questioned A&E- why was Neal and Emma/Henry’s goodbye scene so short? But then I reasoned that he was the only one giving them hope. OK I’ll buy it, I’ll wait and see what happens. The hiatus came and was way too long so I started reading spoilers on the forums. As I read I became confused: “What? Someone is going to die and people think it’s Neal? Michael Raymond-James hasn’t been shooting in a while… what does that mean?” I started to become worried that Neal would die, but then when I looked back at the story that I thought A&E were telling, I reasoned that could not be possible, that it was a fake-out. I believed in hope and that happy endings were possible. This was a show about fairytales. Good always wins in fairytales and surely our sweet Baelfire who grew into a brave and selfless man would be able to find his happy ending.
So I guess that leads me to what happened on Sunday. Neal/Baelfire actually dies… in the worst way possible. And he never got to say goodbye to his son. A son, which by the way still thinks he is the jerk that abandoned his mom and sent her to jail. And A&E have confirmed this death is real. What?!! I have spent last night and this morning reading your posts here and posts from other places trying to decide if I can buy into A&E’s vision. I have seen by some in other sites that maybe the reason Neal died was to show the point that you cannot escape your fate because he should have died in the ogre’s war when he was 14. I have seen some say how poetic it was that Neal was not afraid of paying the price for magic (which it is), a lesson his father learned centuries after he let his son go the first time. I genuinely loved the moment in “Quiet Minds” where Rumple gives up his dagger for his son. It does parallel his change to put his son before power. I loved all the Swanfire moments: from the look Emma gets in her eye when she tells Neal how good it is to see him again (that is the look of love) to the laughter and ease the two of them share when talking about their crazy exes. Emma has seriously not laughed like that since she was 17 and stealing food from a convenience store. The fact that Emma can always be open with Neal about everything and how much the two of them just love Henry. How excited Neal was to know that Henry and Emma loved living in New York, a place that he lived in for quite a while (oh no, now the tears are starting again). Those were beautiful moments, but even today I cannot understand why Neal’s death is the permanent one.
Why do the villains get happy endings, but someone who has ALWAYS strived to do the right thing, who has made sacrifices for others and who has owned up to his mistakes, why is his reward death? Yes, in real life this happens, but I don’t watch a show about fairytales to tell me how real life sucks sometimes. I know that life isn’t fair and no matter how hard you try as a person to be a good person, sometimes bad things happen to you. I don’t need to be reminded of that sad truth in a show that promotes hope for a better life, for love, for family and for happiness.
In conclusion, I feel as all of you do in this thread that there was nothing good that came out from Neal’s death. How can Rumple get his happy ending? The death of child never goes away from a person and how he does not even have the hope to see his son again like he did the first time he lost Baelfire. For the first time, I don’t trust this show. For the first time, I question its premise. This permanent death was planned by A&E? Then what in the world did I spend 2.5 years watching and hoping for?
I made the mistake last night to re-watch “The Return” from season 1 to see the parallel with Rumple in “Quiet Minds” vs. the old Rumple. It made me cry even more now that I know this terrible ending. When blue fairy told sweet Baelfire that he was the little light inside Rumple that still glows, my heart broke in a completely different way than it did years ago when I first watched Rumple let his son fall through the portal. I fear that even when I want to re-watch my favorite episodes I will not be able to watch them with the same eyes of hope.
Today, I find myself uninterested in where to story goes from here. Am I curious about the wicked witch? Maybe. Do I care about her backstory? not really. Will I be happy at her eventual defeat? Why should I? Most of the characters will still be broken. Does it really matter in the end? That is how I am viewing the show. How sad is it that a show I was so excited about turned into this. Will I still watch? Yes, but mostly because I purchased the full season on I-tunes in my excitement for season 3 so it would be a waste not to finish the season.
But on Sunday, when Neal/Baelfire died, a part of my love for Once Upon a Time died as well. I can no longer get lost in this show the way I used to so thank A&E for creating a show and characters that I fell in love with then subsequently breaking my heart.
A huge, genuine thank you to all of you here, for just being so lovely. I’ve never been one to join forums, but you all made me feel comfortable to share my thoughts on a show that I used to love and a couple (Swanfire) and family (Rumple, Baelfire & Henry) that I will never stop fighting for, never.
I can honestly see, Emma, Neal, and Henry doing just that. Going out playing lazer tag together, Emma cooking eggs while Neal fries the bacon and Henry makes the toast, them ordering pizza or Chinese while playing video games together, listening to old records and dancing to Henry’s embarrassment, making and losing bets on who has to wash the dishes for the week, helping Henry with school projects, watching Disney movies and pointing out their relatives. Just living life and loving each other. I can see that being their happy ending.
Oh, so many feels!!! Agree! This is the picture of the perfect Swanfire happy ending!
Loved, loved, loved this episode and then to see all the beautiful Swanfire moments everyone noticed just made the re-watch even better!!!
Thank you for all pretties, you guys are all so incredibly talented…. So many Swanfire Feels!!!! I completely agree with all the points and moments that have been mentioned!
One of my favorite moments, even though it shattered my heart was hearing Henry’s conversation with Emma about his birthfather. When he said talking about Walsh “He wants to be with you, us. He wants you to be his home“- Oh it just tore my heart open and I’m pretty sure I may have yelled at the screen “You’re Wrong! Neal is fighting to be with you both to get back home to you!!!”
Also, loved Neal, Robin and Belle. What a wonderful connection between the three. Did anyone else notice that Robin called him Baelfire? Do you think Neal will officially be going by Baelfire now that he is back in the EF?
Oh and something else I noticed at the beginning of the Wicked is Coming Special, when the narrator says “Heroes” it cuts to MRJ talking (representing Neal/Baelfire) and “Villians” it cuts to Colin (representing Hook). Even though the rest of the special didn’t focus much on SF and that relationship, I just loved how the beginning subtly pointed out that Nealfire is a hero! And I truly believe he is going to fight to get back to his family without having to resort to casting another curse.
guyz. he’s totally wearing new clothing. like…new clothing. like clothing we’ve never seen nealfire in before. As in new shot. as in 100% legit on set. as in #BOOM
It looks the rest of cast is sick of the hate too so they are standing up and sending love to Neal fans. 🙂
Oh my goodness! Can’t believe how many pages this thread grew in the last few days! Gotta catch up!
But first- EEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!
That’s me squealing with excitement over:
1) MRJ’s picture he tweeted giving hope to his fans
2) How he totally BOOMED! the haters
3) AND today- Ginny’s New Pic!!!!! (That smile plus the leather outfit…. wow, just wow)@Slurpeez
That is one of my favorite Swanfire family moments! That and this:
