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Good morning all! I’ve been absent for a long time with grad school but I’ve been lurking on the boards for a couple of weeks again. I’m glad I’m not the only one torn up over Neal — a character death hasn’t had me this upset in years. Anyway… like a few of you, I’m hoping for loopholes or something because this doesn’t make sense. I didn’t think his “send off” was very great, if it’s meant to be permanent. They bring him back in Storybrooke for ONE episode and then kill him in the same? It was like they tried to wrap up too many loose ends too fast and none were satisfying.
Anyway… Most of what I have seems more like evidence to support theories already circulating, but here goes.
1. The WW was eyeing Neal’s body after she made Rumple disappear. The whole thing with the Dark One’s Tomb was a set up she orchestrated — what if she fixed it so that Neal only appears dead or something. Keep in mind that…
2. His hand was marked by the key just like Philip’s hand was marked by the Wraith’s talisman, and as EvilKing922 pointed out, they haven’t explained how Philip was revived yet. I think the mark could definitely suggest a parallel between them.
3. Back to the WW, she was alone with Neal after sending Rumple away, so she easily could have done something with him and no one would be the wiser.
4. Unless it has something to do with MRJ’s commitments, (and if he was marked as a regular cast member could he have MADE other commitments?), I don’t see how killing him adds anything to the plot. He and Emma were revealed as true love, and there’s the whole potential story arc of how Henry either re-adjusts his knowledge of his father or remembers Neal — and if he remembers Neal and the year they had, and then remembers him dead, that seems like a cruel plot on a younger character.
And I really don’t fully understand this thing about Neal/Rumple being merged — are we supposed to believe they just shifted outwardly and consciously from one person to another without realizing it since we never see them on screen together until Emma separates them? I thought they showed Neal in the hospital while Rumple was running in the woods, but I may have to re-watch that.
OK, I’m ranting at this point. It was a rough night…
[adrotate group="5"]@Keb wrote:
Emma of course had no say at all in the matter, but that means she also doesn’t have any real point to go back to–if you go back to infancy then you lose EVERYTHING that makes you yourself, so of course she wouldn’t want that. She’s got things to be a grownup for, like Henry. So, incidentally, does Neal–who had just found out he was a father when his dad pulled that on him. SRSLY Gold?
August didn’t have anything real to show for those 29 years, apparently. Just a lot of mistakes.
I can see why this would be the big solution for August. Putting all “Sneaky fairy is sneaky” theories aside for the moment, August, unlike Neal or Emma, has no reason to stay an adult — from the looks of things he has no children or stable adult relationships to hold on to. He’s not satisfied with the way his life turned out and definitely not happy with the man he became, whereas Marco is essentially the same age as when August went through the wardrobe, so they CAN recover the lost time and get one big huge Do-Over.
Even though Neal and Emma have Henry, I still don’t see them being unhappy enough with their lives to go back to that point. With Emma, it would be 100% erasure, but with Neal, going back to 14 still isn’t going to fix the root problem that made him run in the first place since his father will still be the Dark One. I can totally see a re-teenager-ed Neal pulling something like Henry’s stunt with the dynamite, and then we’d be going down this same path again.
The scarf he gave Tamara was green and gold — the one he wears all the time now looks like the blue one Bae had in the EF. Seems a bit odd to me that they would randomly change that detail. I know Tamara said she CALLED after he gave her the scarf, but did she actually say she returned it?
@BeastWhisperer wrote:
Also with all the discussion about Tamara using the Empty Heart Spell, I’ve been wondering if she’s replicated the effect with science instead. Could use pheromones or harmonics as a base since olfactory and auditory cues play huge roles in attraction. Easier than tracking down a chimera if she’s a super scientist type.
We’ve kinda been batting this idea around in the “Is Nealfire bewitched?” thread.
https://oncepodcast.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=74&t=3491
It definitely seems to fit considering her association with Greg and his name’s reference to science.
Ok, here’s something that confuses me. To cast a curse, do they actually need the document it’s written on as part of the curse itself? Regina destroyed the parchment for the Curse of the Empty Hearted, and I doubt burning it symbolically would have had the same effect — if the parchment itself wasn’t needed, then she could just whip up another batch of potion (if she could remember it) and cast it anyway. Rumple remembered the ingredients, after all, so technically he could cast it at any time if he didn’t need the parchment. In the past, when Rumple wrote the curse, he applied “True Love” to the paper so that it could be broken, and when he was bound in Snow’s cell, they used the squid ink to do it, so it seems like the written instructions are part of the curse as well.
If that’s the case, then Tamara couldn’t have Neal under the Curse of the Empty Hearted, but I wonder if the writers would go in that direction and give her access to something else — maybe something she stole a potion that does the same thing from another magic man or something? A little Love Potion #9, so to speak…
Revision: I was sort of thinking of this a minute ago, but remembered some other stuff. “Love Potion #9” was an early 90s movie with Sandra Bullock where these two scientists experiment on a love potion the guy gets from a gypsy.
The first thing Tamara wanted to do was experiment and test the potion she got from the Dragon, and Greg Mendel is the name of a scientist. I can’t recall what thread it was in, but someone mentioned something about GOAT (yes, I love that!) combining magic and science, which is what Dr Frankenstein/Whale did. His reanimation scheme wouldn’t work until he had the enchanted heart, so maybe that’s what Tamara did to bewitch Neal — used some scientific “attraction perfume” or whatever and then supercharged it with the magic potion.
@Jbwood5 wrote:
What’s going to happen to her when rumple finds out she screwed his an over? He is going to lose it and want to make her suffer…. Almost feel sorry for her since she doesn’t know who she is messing with but then I remember that she is evil and Emma’s biggest obstical to true love. So I hope Rumple goes old school dark one on her.
If I were a betting woman, I’d take bets on who gets to her first — Emma or Rumple… It’s a long shot and not coming any time soon, but I’d put Neal in the mix too when he finds out she’s been playing him.
Wow… Such a good summary, EQ! I’m still in processing mode! Everything moved so fast up until the last few minutes when they wrapped up. I thought Emma’s lines when August died were flat — that thing about “I’ll make sure his sacrifice wasn’t in vain” (rough paraphrase) just sounded so cliche it seemed like the worst moment of the whole thing.
Tamara played the new Big Bad rather well — so deceptive! When she ran into Neal I expected her to slip some of that magic potion The Dragon gave her into the cup since we’ve debated whether or not she’s bewitched him, but it doesn’t really seem like she knows how magic works enough to pull something like that. Bigger question — Does she know who Neal is, or did she just target him because he has some connection to August?
The Blue Fairy’s timing was too coincidental. That “I know when I’m needed” type of appearance she made with Snow back in The Queen is Dead, even though we know that was Cora and not the real BF. A bit too convenient that August’s memories were also reset, although that was expected.
Good morning! (afternoon almost)
What bothers me about Snow’s reaction is that the “This isn’t me!” that follows the slap seems too fast — at least with the version we’re given… I’ve noticed some of the sneak peeks are edited for time before so that could be an editing issue. Basically the “smack!” hasn’t even faded before she’s changed her tone, which just doesn’t sit right with me. There’s no righteous anger behind it, no expression of anger at all. It just seems random. If she’s angry enough to slap him, I would at least expect some yelling.
As for Hook, I’m still betting he hitches a ride back with Tamara somehow. But if not that, I don’t think it’s farfetched for him to just steal another boat in the harbor and sail his way back rather than bullying a cab driver or something. He’s a pirate, so commandeering boats is probably all in a day’s work and sailing back in a small yacht or something would probably only delay him a couple of days.
@tiara_rose wrote:
really good point HappyEndings.
I agree — It suggests an imbalance in the relationship. She seems more “present” in his life and personal space than he is in hers…
@craxyfox wrote:
I’m actually starting to like Neal a lot more now, he looks like he really is trying with Henry and he really does care for Tamara 🙂
Whether she’s evil or not, he is actually stepping up and puts importance on her because she IS his fiancee
That’s my 2 cents anyway@tiara_rose wrote:
I have idea: Maybe when Neal got the postcard he wanted to go to Storybrook and was there, one step over the line. Then Tamara came and put him under the empted hearted course and this the reason why he get back to New York and have now a fiance, altough he looked so alone and lost in Broken
Granted, we’re getting these clips out of context, but I’m beginning to side with a lot of others in wondering whether Tamara has him bewitched somehow. This “I need her!” seems a little too sudden considering he tried to head off to Storybrooke without filling her in on the whole story, and how he kept telling Emma “It’s complicated” and referring to Tamara as “a friend” until Tamara showing up at the car forced his hand.
Speaking of Neal’s “suddenness” — has anyone else noticed that he seems prone to outbursts? He was the one yelling at Henry to get out of the way in the last ep while Emma just held out her hand. I definitely see where Henry gets his impulsiveness… I love seeing the two of them together!
