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Chinatown? Do you think they’re going to bring back the Dragon that August met in Selfless, Brave, and True?
*Eagerly waits for the show to resurrect the Dragon with some handwaving mumbo jumbo about how all dead characters are dead, except that some are deader than others.*
I actually don’t think they would bring back the Dragon — but perhaps a distant relative? A nephew? I bet you’re right, though, that there will be a tie-in.
To paraphrase Hook: “Never mind that we are all stuck in the underworld at the mercy of a tyrannical god. Lets get on to important things: am I still good looking?”
lulz
Even “rekilling” Milha (as terrible as it was) is down to Hades threatening his unborn child. Rumple already showed he’s willing to kill to protect his kids. It doesn’t excuse Rumple at all, but I guess it frames it in a way that is understandable. Even Emma killed Cruella to protect Henry.
Oh, absolutely — and I know you’re not a “Rumple apologist” (lulz) — I think I probably fit that bill more than you, though even I have increasing trouble seeing Rumple as compelling, even as a foil 🙂 And don’t get me started on the replacement baby thing — what is it with this show and the “salvation by replacement baby” theme? Seriously? Snow, Zelena and now Rumple. I just don’t understand how writers who have the actual real life experience of being parents can come up with such nonsense.
I suppose what I was getting at is that in the last 2 seasons, but especially s5, Rumple seems to have ceased experiencing “independent” character growth, as so much of his character’s past and present milestones seem to be used or retconned to further Hook’s trajectory. It’s like his character has become a function of Hook’s. Hence my pessimistic prediction that the revenge plot will be another way to ultimately whitewash Hookio while using Rumple to create an artificial sense of Hook’s character progress. I hope I’m totally wrong.
More generally, in Lily Sparks’ words, OUAT has essentially become about manpain. Even Regina’s been sidelined in favor of the collective manpain. It was fine in balanced doses in the early seasons, when all the other characters were given equal attention, but it’s disproportionally overtaken the show. I suppose I am admittedly biased: while I’m willing to sit through Rumple’s manpain because Bobby makes the character interesting despite the often reprehensible writing decisions, I just can’t bring myself to extend the same courtesy to Hook, or to CS.
I thought of another possible scenario in which Rumple eventually uses his father’s pipes to lure the lost souls out of the River Lethe, much the way Peter Pan lured the Lost Boys in Nasty Habits. Why else bother to show the pipes if not for them to be used in the plot this season?
The pipes are definitely being a big fat Chekhov’s gun at the moment. I’m not convinced that the writers are going to let Rumple actually use these for a non-nefarious reason since it seems to me that they’re pretty hell-bent on keeping him in the villain category, no matter what. But if not, then I think your theory makes a lot of sense. I suppose that what makes the Lethe valuable (from Hades’s perspective) is that these souls aren’t going anywhere — they can’t transcend, and they certainly don’t have any hope. So I think you’re right, they are going to be at the crux of overcoming Hades, one way or another.
If (a) happens, the writers will never live it down
This is true. But these writers aren’t good at dealing with situations where they paint themselves into a corner. They either go the mad retcon route (likely with Rumple since he’s now a “new man” according to A&E’s interview, for whatever that’s worth), or they kill the character.
Also, this whole Underworld story would have made so much more sense had Neal been around.
Anyway, one more thought on the redemption theme: I’m not even convinced that redemption is a feasible optic to apply to this show anymore. They have too many villains, and they’ve really gone overboard with how villainous those villains are. Not to mention that I’m not convinced that the balancing bank account view of morality (person does bad, then person does good => bad cancels out good) is in any way convincing. Hook’s the best example of how they’re trying to make that work, and it’s just deeply unsatisfying. Tries to kill Emma’s family => changes his mind => is hero. Wut? Anyway, I’m noticing that the only way I can watch this show nowadays is if I approach it the same way as GoT or House of Cards — with the assumption of a morally gray universe.
So I have a question (admittedly pointless). Did anyone else think that revenge speech Hook gave to (at) Rumple and co about “forestalling the execution” (or something like that, I don’t remember the exact wording) was some heavy-handed foreshadowing?
First, the bizarreness of that speech — and the fact that no one even blinked an eye, like “Yeah, Hook obviously should have a go at Rumple” — was a little off putting. You’d think Emma would pipe up with something like “It’s time to let go of revenge, lets think of our future/how to get out of here” blah blah. But nope. But then it occurred to me that they had Rumple re-kill Milah (admittedly his hand was forced by Hades, but still), so it seems to me that we’re headed straight to Hook renewing his revenge vows. He’ll likely find out what really happened and either (a) finally kill Rumple in some weird version of justice or (b) — and more likely — we’ll have another Rumple groveling in front of Hook scene where he asks him to spare him for the sake of his child.
Otherwise, I really don’t see the point of killing off Milah, plot wise, rather than, say, allowing her to move on. (I mean, yes, obviously we wouldn’t want a Milah-Hook reunion because that’d be awkward for Killie Pooh.) Lord, but this show is tedious.
All of these clever literary allusions. Too bad the show’s own plot isn’t nearly so clever anymore.
Yup. Not to mention that they’re careening into Hades=Mephistopheles territory, which is a little facile in my opinion. I suppose it allows them to have their cake and eat it too: draw on the European Christian tradition, while cherry-picking their Ancient Greek myths. I would’ve preferred if they did their own interpretation of Hades as Hades, not doing this pot pourri of 19th-20ty century Devil meets the Romantic tradition without calling a spade a spade.
It would be just like Adam and Eddy to find a way to make Hades a part of this already twisted family tree….all of a sudden, this seems like a strong possibility!
Oy. And while we’re at it, let’s not stop there and follow what @Gautheria suggested, which is to say, an excursion into Park Chan-wook territory. Then this show will be truly complete.
*sigh* Whichever way it goes, I predict more crazy coming our way before too long.
