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So… they just set a precedent for body switching
I’ve never put stock in that speculation for the triangle situation, but I had to laugh when there was actually a body switch in the show. 😆
Did you not see the look on Emma’s face when Neal reunited with Rumple? Neal has forgiven his father for abandoning him and said he came back for him. Emma will learn to forgive Neal for leaving her (if she hasn’t already done so) and we’ve seen Neal come back for her a few times now (e.g. in 2×14 when Neal returned to his apartment to protect Emma from his dad and in 3×3 he returned to NL for Emma and Henry because they’re his second chance). Neal getting a second chance with his dad and hugging him brought a huge smile to Emma’s face, (a smile that has been missing for all of S3). Also, Emma witnessing Neal hugging Rumple made her in turn hug her own parents. Both Emma and Neal, who were both de facto orphans who felt abandoned, both of them found their parents again! Emma and Neal are finally reunited with their families. If that isn’t hope for the Swanfire family, I don’t know what else is!
ALL OF THIS! Each of their stories with their parents took a big step forward in this ep. Parallels between different couples are mentioned so often, but these two have stories that parallel each other. They’re each on this journey of reconciliation with their parents, and as they each learn and grow in that way, I believe it’s another step in the progression of the story that will eventually see their parallel paths actually cross at some point.
But with Emma and Neal I felt that there’s some trust that is still there between them. Emma trusts Neal to bring Henry to the Jolly Roger and keep him safe and Neal trusts Emma to bring back Henry’s heart.
Perfectly said! And trusting isn’t an easy thing for Emma to do, especially with Neal, because for the last 11 years she’s believed that he wasn’t trustworthy at all, so the fact that she does trust him now with something as precious as Henry’s safety, speaks volumes about what she truly feels for him.
[adrotate group="5"]Agreed, RG and kpercyman.
I’d love there to be more to the story, but I fear there won’t be, and as Henry’s adoption is such a MAJOR event in the whole mythos of this show, I’m sorta disappointed that this is the story we got to explain it. Even if that adoption agency is ethically suspect in that they’ll take a payoff to change where a baby goes, are they seriously not gonna check out the location that a baby is going to? And when the mother comes back to return the kid, are they seriously not gonna consider the child’s welfare and just let the erratic woman who wants the baby, then doesn’t want the baby, then does want the baby again, just take off with the baby? To a town they can’t find on a map? Seriously? That’s not just ethically suspect, that’s negligent of child welfare, so I’m finding it hard to buy into.
I did like the emotional side of this story, but the lack of logic just leaves me perplexed and dissatisfied about this plot point as a whole.
Tumblr post that I just fell in love with…
Uniquely Suited – Like a Swan to a Fire
Neal Darling Cassidy and Emma Swan. The most unique and realistic pairing on Once Upon a Time.
Don’t be stupid, some say. Swanfire? Doused. Over, boring. Statutory, a coward’s choice. A threat to our heroine and her own awesomeness.
No. Because more than any other two people on the series, Emma and Neal are ideally suited to one another.
Neal and Emma are the only love relationship (that we’ve been shown) that has happened since the Curse was cast. Everyone else’s relationship statuses have remained the same for the last 28 years (that we’ve been shown: Granny is still widowed, Snowing going strong, Jefferson unattached (at least in this Realm). It doesn’t seem that the Curse allowed new relationships to happen. (Though I would totally be open to a storyline in which two people got thrown together as married by the Curse and when it was broken maybe decided they’d actually like to have it that way.)
But Neal and Emma happened, making them the only romance among displaced Enchanted Foresters in 28 years. I don’t say ‘hook-up’, because clearly what they had and have is more than that. Unique.
Other than a Tumblr gif set showing the similarities between their story and that of Tangled (which I have not heard the show creators confirm), they have no fairytale counterparts. The only two main characters on the show who can say that. They are each purely the creators’ invention.
And the obstacles in their relationship, the things keeping them apart, are very much of this world. Without regard to the inciting factor, Neal abandoned Emma. And Emma can’t forgive him.
No magical potions are at work, no evil queens scheming to subvert their being together. No one turns into a werewolf once a month and eats the other. The problems they face in their relationship are our world problems (all due respect to any Enchanted Foresters reading this, it’s just faster to say ‘our’ world rather than ‘the world without Magic’.) Their core challenge doesn’t arise from Magic, nor can it be fixed by Magic.
The repair to their relationship will take the same work and risk that viewers’ relationships require. Just as the character of Emma began the show as an avatar for an uninitiated audience, so Neal and Emma have to confront and work-through the same shortcomings and evils that the audience must in their romantic lives with partners. Their life is messy, they have a complicated and hurtful past (individually and jointly). They have a child without any longer having a romantic or sexual component to their relationship, and they will have to work at figuring that out. (How very many of us can relate to that? Either as such parents or as such children?)
And yet they are ideally suited to one-another. Emma was raised in our world, and Neal (we presume) spent the better part of a lifetime here—or at least long enough to go well-beyond merely understanding the culture and language—he’s fully assimilated. He knows how to operate a dishwasher. He can pump (or better yet, siphon) his own gas. He knows the systems in this world well enough to swindle and outwit them. He and Emma can share conversations about music, technology, even history.
But always with the added bonus that Neal occupies the rarefied position of being a sort of third (or fourth) – culture kid. He bridges several worlds and cultures (ours, Enchanted Forest of long ago, NeverLand). All these places he can understand and operate in. All these places that Emma is presently having to deal with in her life. Neal can move in and out and through them, and assist her in doing the same.
But can Neal help her navigate the chasm that has opened up in their relationship between the ‘I love you’s and the ‘I want to be with you’s?
I don’t know, that’s why I tune in each Sunday night.
Neal and Emma are unique, and realistic. They’re the pairing to watch, the actual story being written on Once Upon a Time. The only non-mash up/re-interpretation. The sole spot of entirely new content.
In this world, this ‘real life’ we live, in our romantic relationships we cannot truly promise with any certainty that we can ‘always find [our love]’, but we can promise to ‘always fight for [our love]’.
Really, that’s as good as any ‘for better or for worse’ vow I’ve yet to hear. It’s hard work, to be sure, but a person actually can do it.
And that’s a happy ending.
I suspect the main cast has been working pretty hard in that leadup to their Thanksgiving break. Seems there were quite a few days with very early starts, and it felt like they were shooting 312 for ages. So they probably just haven’t had the time to take time out and focus on an Ask session. I’m sure they’ll be tweeting during the next ep though.
We know that Mr. Hood has become the third musketeer for Hook & Neal. Yes!!!!
I feel like the three of them hanging out together would be fun times with lots of laughs! An Englishman, and Irishman and an American walk into a bar…
Most of us are fans of the show FIRST and a ship SECOND. Rumbelle may be my OTP and I could gush for hours about why I love them but at the end of the day, I’m more concerned with myth building and storytelling.
Yep.
I may ship SF like WHOA, but it’s not just a superficial thing. I ship it because I love each of those characters individually, I find their emotional journeys compelling, and those emotional journeys are intertwined, so I think how they relate to each other is a fascinating part of the story that I’d love to see explored further, so I’m all about the ship as it pertains to the development and progression of each of those characters as individuals.
When I started to crackship Hookriel, it was because I got to thinking about the possibilities for storylines for each character as an individual, and decided those stories could potentially end up being complimentary and it’d be interesting to watch them paired up in a relationship.
I think it’s unfortunate when someone makes a show all about one ship (or even one character) to the point where their continued enjoyment of the show hinges on that one thing, because that means that they’re missing out on so much more wonderful story that’s going on as well. But we do all have our fave characters, and part of appreciating those characters is wanting to see them get their happy ending, and who they’re in relationships (romantic and non-romantic) with is an integral part of that.
If I ever get fired up over the great triangle ship debate, it’s just because I feel an emotional connection to the characters, which translates into me having a passionate view on what would make each of them (including Hook) ultimately happy. It’s not just simply that I wanna see X make out with Y instead of with Z, it’s that I’m invested in how each character’s own story plays out, and that inevitably leads to me shipping a particular pairing.
Sneaky Fairy = Truthful Fairy (Full Name: The Truthful Non-Suspicious Fairy)
😆 But to her friends, she’d just be Orange (opposite to blue on the colour wheel).
I just can’t shake the feeling that this has something to do with Gold wanting to make amends for the hurt he caused as the DO. We know he wants to make a fresh start – and he’s always felt enormous regret and remorse for his actions.Perhaps he’s purposely bringing everyone together in some way and we’ll see him join them soon; perhaps he’s in his lab (which would mean Bobby filming indoors, which explains why we don’t have a photo of him) conjuring all this up.
This would explain why Belle doesn’t look miserable (perhaps she knows what he’s doing) and why she’s talking to the EQ, as if nothing has ever happened between them……It explains why Hook is here (probably NOT the real Hook, but for Gold that doesn’t matter; perhaps he’s just a part of Hook – the real man being in NY)
I could see it being a Rumple vision of some kind, but dunno about it being something he’s actually orchestrating, because I just can’t imagine any universe in which Rumple would arrange for any version of Hook to be hanging out with Nealfire. The man who took Milah away (yes I know technically she left, she wasn’t taken, I’m just talking about from Rumple’s perspective), the man who taunted him that Milah was gonna be gang raped, the man who caused him to have to go home and tell his son that his mother was dead, the man who in present day is a rival for the woman that his son loves. There is no way that Rumple would set up a future where Hook gets to be buddies with his son.
And I also would expect Emma and Henry to both be included with the group if it’s something that Rumple’s orchestrating as a means to make up for having messed with people’s lives. He always been fond of them both, even if he’s had a hand in their lives being screwed with, so they wouldn’t be excluded if this was some future plan of his. It was his Curse that tore that family apart, so if he could manipulate the future and wanted to make amends, he’d make sure they were all together.
This is something that has bugged me for awhile, so I’ll ask my shipmates first: did Hook lie to Bae in 222? About PapaHook? Because Killian Jones grew up well adjusted and hopeful and I was a big advocate of “oh I’m sure he’s not lying about PapaHook…” but after 305, I’m not sure anymore.
I’ve never been convinced that he was telling the truth to Bae about his own father. Having seen part of his backstory now, I do lean more heavily on the side that he was lying, though we can’t really say 100% for sure. Maybe all 3 of them, Killian, Liam, and their father, went off to sail the seas, and their father abandoned them both, it’s just that Hook didn’t mention the bit about his brother. So even if it wasn’t a complete lie, it was still at best a half truth, because he was playing up the, “My dad left and I was all alone in the world, just like you,” but we now know that he always had Liam.
But with Hook, nothing happened directly TO him. His brothers death wasn’t powerful enough, to me, to have a man suddenly give up his entire way of life. How was it the loss of hope? It meant his king had lied, but was it enough to make him jump from point A to point X? It is just something that bothers me, I guess. Hook could have sailed for a different king, or left the navy and gone and done something else. But he chose to become pirate.
I can buy the sudden change because Liam was the only family he had and he suddenly lost him. He was angry at the King for having sent them to NL based on a lie, angry at Liam for having been stubborn and stupid enough to cut himself with the dreamshade, and thanks to Pan’s, “Well, you totes goaded him into doing that,” he was also angry at himself, and also angry at Pan for not having divulged all the necessary information about the cure. So that’s a fair amount of anger to boil over and make him snap like he did.
I also got the impression that Regina is actually traveling with them. There was that one pic of her holding what looked to be one of the blankets that would have been packed on a horse. It wasn’t necessarily a shot taken during actual filming, but why would Lana be holding it at all unless it was a prop for her in a scene, and why would she be holding it in a scene if she’s not part of their group? And she seems to have been there the whole time they were filming this stuff, which you wouldn’t think she would have been if she’d just briefly poofed in and out to drop a few threats on them. So I think that whatever’s going on, she’s cooperating with the rest of them, so maybe she’s not completely EQ.
Of course, she does seem to be dressed all EQ…but maybe she’s not? In my AU ponderings where I figured that she and Snow may not actually be enemies, I figured that perhaps she wasn’t the one who killed Leopold in this version. Perhaps she actually came to love him, and he her, and then he died, and having lost both him and Daniel, Regina took to just wearing black 24/7, like Queen Victoria did for the rest of her life after her husband died.
AH: Well, I think as we said on this show that evil is not born, it is made. I think that the trouble is that Henry’s belief is fueling someone’s selfishness and so Peter Pan’s corrupting something that is beautiful. If Henry’s heart were in someone else, it might be able to lighten it, but when someone is as corrupt and aggressive as Peter Pan, I think, unfortunately, Henry’s heart is at risk of being darkened and let’s just help to get it back.
I hadn’t thought about it that way, but it makes total sense. Is Henry gonna have a dark heart spot after this?
TVF: Could we get a webisode where we see Neal and Hook actually make a mix tape for Emma and what they’d put on it?
AH: I would love that and the two actors keep threatening to do play list mix tapes and release them on Twitter to win her affection. If fact there is a running debate on set as to whose play list is better. So, I think that Michael Raymond-James and Colin should start sharing that with the world.
How is it that the juvenile-ness of the triangle really annoys me, but I NEED these mix tape play lists from the guys in my life?! I can just see that every now and then, each of the guys would randomly tweet JMo a youtube link out of the blue, and it would be adorable.
AH: We’d love to bring her back. Whatever plans we have for her in the future are not plans we are ready to reveal right now. All we can say is that JoAnna was fantastic. We loved working with her. She was always our dream casting for the part and she exceeded our expectations and we’d be honored to have her back.
EK: As far as we’re concerned she’s a part of the Once family now and as we expand our world she’d be a welcome addition to it. So, we would love to have her come back. We will be seeing her again in episode 10.
Hope this means they do have a potential storyline in mind for her beyond the first half of the season. She’s such a unique addition, being in our world now and being legit clueless about it and fascinated by it. And when everything else is total angst, she’s like a little bit of sunshine to lighten the mood. The fact that they’re still using MAP here and there, more than a season after they were introduced, gives me hope that they might do something similar with Ariel and have her pop up now and then in the future. *fingers crossed*
AH: You will get a great hint at it in episode 11 which is the winter finale. I would watch the last scene and that should set up exactly what to expect the next half.
I hope that final scene isn’t just the NewCurse coming and the purple smoke sweeping over the screen and that’s the end. Because that would NOT help us to understand the stuff in 312. At least one scene of NewCurse aftermath at the end of 311, pretty please.
AH: This year we were going to complete the story of Alice and the people there. As far as will we see any of them in future, I would say, perhaps. I think, there’s a few of them, we know the Knave of Hearts was once a Merry Men. So, who knows maybe he can hook back up with Robin Hood in the future.
Even though WL has tanked in the ratings, Will seems to be pretty popular, so I really do hope they can get him back on the parent show in the future.
