[Slurpeez]

I’d be a little disappointed in the show if the it ended and Storybrooke didn’t have any interactions with the rest of the world. It really seemed like in season 2, with greg and tamara working to destroy magic, that that’s where the show was going. Outsiders coming to storybrooke and possibly declaring war on magic.

While I think the idea of intruders coming to SB and wanting to destroy magic was an interesting one, I have a feeling that notion was totally abandoned when Tamara and Greg were so quickly done away in Neverland. Plus, the magic taser idea was a total fail. I think that idea wasn’t just put on the back burner; it got totally scrapped.

[Slurpeez]

So back to the question I posed. What do you think the new condition will be? S1 was “magic is coming” so could S2 be “magic is dying”?

We’ve already had several conditions:
S1) First dark curse is broken and magic is coming.
S2) Regina plans to kill everyone in SB by triggering a fail-safe, causing the town of SB nearly to disappear.
S3a) Magic, and by extension Peter Pan, are dying in NL, meaning PP needs the heart of the truest believer. Later, Peter Pan’s curse is cast in Sb. Regina reverses the first dark curse, erasing SB and sending nearly everyone (except Emma and Henry) back to EF.
S3b) Snow and Charming recast the dark curse, bringing everyone back from EF and recreating SB. Then Zelena’s time-travel spell.
S4a) Ingrid’s Spell of Shatter Sight.
S4b) Rumple’s quest to get Isaac to rewrite the story is fulfilled.

So the question becomes, what sort of new condition could there be? We’ve had magical conditions coming out of the wazoo. What else is there since we’ve already had realm-jumping, time-travel and are about to have an AU? We already have seen the dark curse being cast three times! Is there anything else left that is new under the sun?

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

[Slurpeez]

As for how Emma becomes the new Dark One, weren’t there flashing lights and stuff on set? I’ve just been assuming that there’s a big storm cloud of dark magic stuff and Emma holds up the Dagger and it acts like a lightening rod and she gets zapped and that’s what transfers the power into her.

That’s interesting. I had thought maybe the lightning was caused by Emma’s emotions going all hay-wire, as happened in S4a, when Ingrid aggravated her. Emma’s magic being out of control made her accidentally boil her brother’s bottle of milk and then she accidentally hurt Henry. It was almost like Emma was actually conducting electricity, which would fit with your theory about Emma using the dagger as a lightning rod.

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

[Slurpeez]

Then they are probably looking at the Apprentice since we know he gets released.

Yeah, I think that is what’s happening. They are either freeing the apprentice or possibly even meeting the sorcerer for the first time. A&E revealed we would discover who the sorcerer is in the finale.

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

[Slurpeez]

From TVLine:

SEASON FINALE (MAY 10): Among Season 4B’s ongoing agendas, “We make good on what Regina was after, in the sense that she wanted to find the Author and have him rewrite endings,” Kitsis shares. But compared to recent finales, “Nobody is coming out of an urn and freezing people,” quips Horowitz. Says Kitsis: “Usually we’re like, ‘Hey, we’re going to a new land,’ but this is much more in the vein of when Gold looked up [at the end of Season 1] and said, ‘Magic is coming,’ where a condition on the show changed as opposed to the characters changing.”

The writers said they weren’t introducing realm-traveling or new characters, as happened at the end of S2. Instead, A&E said the finale would end in a fashion similar to how S1 ended –“magic is coming” was the new condition, along with the first curse having been lifted. So what could this new condition be? A new curse? The disappearance of SB? More amnesia? Or is it a totally new condition that is changing?

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

[Slurpeez]

My stance remains the same: for Adam and Eddy love is meant as a catch all, cure all that conqueres everything from darkness to morality to common sense to decency to justice. They like the idea of love but refuse to play by any sort of realistic rules or morals.

Before S4, I would’ve agreed without question, but yeah, what about Rumbelle? It looks liked their relationship is well and truly over, like they’re never getting back together. We’ve yet to see the final outcome, but there was that little speech in “Unforgiven” made by Snow White to Regina, interlaid with scenes of Belle seemingly having moved on romantically with Will from Rumple. But has she really?

Snow White: Because when you betray the people you love, when you make them see the worst parts of you, what you’ve done changes everything. There’s no going back. You’ve shattered the bonds you’ve worked so hard to forge. The stronger those bonds once were, the more difficult they are to put back together, if they can be repaired at all.

I don’t necessarily agree with the above quotation, since I do think there is such a thing as forgiveness, but I do see how forgiveness might be taken the wrong way as condoning bad behavior. In the case of Snow, she was talking about her own fear of her relationship with Emma being shattered once Emma learned the truth of what Snow and Charming had done to Lily. While Emma did hold a big grudge for a few episodes, she did forgive her parents in the past episode. So if relationships between parents and their (adult) children can be reforged after a betrayal, the next question then becomes whether a marriage can be salvaged after a betrayal on the scale of what Rumple did to Belle. If a parent-child relationship can be reforged, can a marriage, and should it?

They are more concerned with shiny and not heart.

I agree with this statement.

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

[Slurpeez]

Interesting post. I thought the comment on the nature of the fandom was really revealing, too. She’s actually arguing that the awful writing for Rumple is half the problem, and the other half is the hostility from other fans of the show. I usually consciously stay the heck away from tumblr, but is the sort of vitriol the author is writing about a thing? Thoughts?

The Once fandom is notoriously bad on Tumblr. There are a few awesome blogs, but there is a lot of anonymous hate going on. I deleted my account over a year ago. Twitter is even worse. And even Facebook. Basically, I don’t use social media other than this forum to talk about the show.

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

[Slurpeez]

And this!

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

[Slurpeez]

This!

You know it’s bad when hardcore Rumple fans are leaving the fandom…

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

[Slurpeez]

But Rumple knew this at one point. S2 phone to Belle when Cora was coming to kill him. It perfectly exemplifies that he knew that she was the real hero.

I think Rumple still knows that Belle is a hero and he deeply admires her bravery. But Rumple having Isaac write Belle as stroking his ego seems to be the fulfillment of some deep-seated desire Rumple has to be the hero, to feel like a brave man who can protect his loved ones. Remember how Milha scoffed at him for not fighting in the ogres’ war. Now in the AU, Rumple is a knight who slays ogres and whose wife, Belle, calls him the true hero. He is hearing the words from Belle he always wanted to hear from a woman, whether that was Milha or Belle. And yes, I’m aware they are two very different women, but the point is that Rumple wants to be strong and brave so that he feels deserving of a woman’s admiration. It’s a deeply psychological aspect of Rumple that he’s never felt deserving of a woman’s love, which is why he has always had a hard time understanding why Belle ever fell in love with him. Milha spurned him for not fighting and dying honorably in battle “the way a man should.” While I don’t think Belle would ever chide Rumple for not fighting and dying in a bloody war the way Milha did, the point is that this AU is Rumple’s wish fulfillment of actually getting to be like Prince Charming, whom Rumple deems as being truly worthy of Snow White’s love and admiration.

In Rumple’s mind, being a man who is worthy of a woman’s love is synonymous with being strong and being able to protect a woman, if need be. But Belle doesn’t desire Rumple’s “protection” in the form of magic; in fact, she rejected him for continuing to insist on keeping the power. So, now Rumple is replacing magical power with physical strength (though I think he may still have magic) in the AU.  In Rumple’s mind, not feeling weak, is paramount to feeling happy and secure, because for so long, he was unable to defend his wife and son. Remember how poor lame spinner Rumple, maimed and weak, had to beg at Hook’s feet to spare Milha’s life when he thought Hook had kidnapped her. So I think the AU is Rumple’s wish fulfillment of being the conquering hero and having the adoring wife who praises his victory.

So part of me is still wondering if this might be the Author’s insertion. He is from the 1960s after all. Regina’s, Snow’s and Emma’s stories are better if they are reserve of who they are in the Real! SB! world…but Rumple’s story is better if Belle is super supportive and Rumple’s loving wife

That could be, but I think Isaac is writing Belle the way Rumple originally wanted, but that Rumple will have a change of heart. I think Rumple is going to quickly realize how hollow it feels is to have empty flattery if Belle isn’t saying these things of her own accord. If Isaac is literally putting words in Belle’s mouth, Rumple isn’t going to want that and may even come to see the errors of his way, much the same way that Regina in Welcome to Storybrooke quickly realized having everyone be cursed in SB wasn’t all she thought it’d be.

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

[Author]

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