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"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
While I would like for Rumple come clean to Belle of his own accord, Emma blackmailed him into opening the portal to the UW by threatening to tell Belle about his being the dark one again. Rumple complied precisely because he didn’t want Belle to “know what kind of man he really is.” Just before he opened the portal, he asked Emma “are you sure?” to make sure she really knew what she was getting herself into. Rumple never wanted to return to the UW, having been there before.
"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
Last Rites usually are prayers administered by a priest to a dying person. So, that makes me wonder who, if anyone, is dying (or perhaps staying dead, as the case may 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
“He has learned something,” Kitsis said when asked whether Rumple might have learned from previous mistakes and do something as simple as tell Belle (Emilie de Ravin) the truth about being the Dark One again. (They didn’t say whether or not he will tell her, for the record.) “I think that if fans are like, ‘Oh, are they going to do the same thing again?’ — absolutely not. He’s learned a lot.”
This is the part of the article that leaves me questioning what Rumple possibly learned. He didn’t learn not to lie to Belle. He didn’t learn how to choose love over power. In other words, he hasn’t overcome his addiction to power nor has he really shown he’s no longer afraid to live without magic. So, again I ask what has he really learned? Are we really supposed to buy into the notion that because Rumple defeated a bear he’s now Brave (TM), all thanks to Emma, Merida and Belle? How is the audience supposed to believe that Rumple has learned how to wield the darkness for good, without letting it consume him and corrupt his supposedly good intentions, when not even Emma was able to do that?
"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
The name Cleo is short for Cleopatra, one of the most beautiful and powerful women of her day. The name Celo is derived from the Greek kleos (glory, fame). Also, an alternate spelling, Clio, is the name of the Greek muse of history and heroic poetry.
The surname Fox makes me think she is both cunning and sly, perhaps more than she initially appears. Apparently, there is even a constellation called Vulpecula et Ansar (i.e. The Fox and the Goose), and while a goose isn’t a swan, it does bring to mind a certain Emma Swan.
"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
Merlin’s warning didn’t make any sense. He told Emma not to pull the sword from the stone. Forget the fact that Emma didn’t even do it, the sword was pulled in present day storybrooke in 506, meaning that anything that happened before wasn’t the consequences that Merlin was talking about, so Hook turning into a dark one would have happened regardless if Emma pulled the sword. Everything that happened after she pulled the sword from the stone, didn’t happen because she did it. Nothing was a consequence of that act. Hook would have still wanted revenge, he would have still opened the gate to the Underworld, which didn’t even need the sword in order to do it, only Rumple’s blood. In addition, they needed the sword to get rid of the darkness, even if it had caused bad things, it would have still been inevitable because it was necessary.
Admittedly, the first few episodes are very disjointed from the back half of S5a, which makes it seem like the writers certainly switched gears midway through the arc. For instance, in 5×1, Emma said her entire family and friends (except Henry) had failed her, yet we never saw them fail. She said that they must be punished for what they did to her, but they never did anything to her in Camelot. If anything, it seems like Emma’s family and friends were nothing but supportive in trying to help her free Merlin to destroy the darkness. In 5×2, Emma questioned if Regina was afraid Henry would learn what happened Camelot, but Regina didn’t do anything that needed covering up; again, Emma did. Emma also said she’d engineered the curse so that there was no savior, making it seem like Emma cast it; yet we know it was Nimue acting through Hook who cast that dark curse that brought everyone back in 5×8. It also seemed like the writers were setting up Regina to be the new savior, but that went no where. Instead, the season really shifted gears around 5×6 to become all about Hook. So, I agree that Merlin’s initial warning not to remove Excalibur or else “bad things would happen” doesn’t exactly fit with what then happened in 5×6-5×11.
However, I think we can still look at the underlying meaning behind Merlin’s warning (rather than say the exact specifics as they actually played out). Merlin again warned Emma in 5×7 not to tether Hook to the sword, because that is the dark path Merlin had foreseen her taking which would result in Emma embracing the darkness. Emma the proceeded to ignore Merlin, her family, and Hook by tethering Hook to Excalibur, turning him into another dark one. Obviously, something got retconned half way through S5a, but the theme of doing something bad, even if it’s seems like it’s for a good reason resulted in Emma trying to save a life but instead turned Hook into the thing he hated most. That is what I meant by the take-away theme of S5a and it potentially carrying over to S5b.
"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
Neal’s warning at the beginning of S5b reminds me strongly of Merlin’s warning to little Emma at the start of S5a (and we know had badly it turned out). Something tells me that Emma’s headstrong insistence on journeying to the Underworld with her family to rescue Hook could backfire. Instead of ridding the world of the darkness when she had the chance, Emma’s disregard for Merlin’s, her parents’ and even Hook’s pleas to let him go rather than bind him to Excalibur resulted in unleashing yet another dark one on the world and nearly got all of Emma’s family killed. Emma’s choice to ignore Neal’s warning could potentially have a very negative consequence, too. Feel free to disagree, but if there were a thematic message that tied together all season 5, I’d say it’s how Emma’s foolhardy decision to put Hook first at all costs means bad things keep happening (to paraphrase Merlin).
"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
Hi, Twice! Now might not be the best time to resume watching though.
Henry calling the quest to get back Hook Operation Firebird is as annoying as it is nonsensical. Firebird makes way more sense as it applies SwanFire. Henry being born in Phoenix was meant as foreshadowing about his parents. It’s very clear that this arc was originally meant to be about getting back Neal before the reset button was hit. *heads desk*
"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
*eye roll*
"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
All of this is very true. But I don’t believe that Neal was ever on the same intellect level as Tyrion. Every character in that show is very strong, for the most part, because they have to be otherwise they wouldn’t survive.
I’m not saying Neal is to OUAT what Tyrion is to GoT. I simply used Tyrion as an example of what a non-stereoyptical “strong” character can be. Yet, the writers of OUAT are no where nearly as gifted as GRR Martin is (who is especially gifted at creating complex, layered characters and subverting what it means for a character to be “strong”). By contrast, the writers of OUAT ceased writing really strong characters after about season one. But that is the entire problem. Neal and the other characters (even Snow and Charming) lack real development, because the writers of OUAT don’t know what they’re doing anymore. They had season one planned out and part of season two, but when they got the rights to other things, they went a bit crazy (like kids in a candy shop). I think that is really why most of the narrative really is plot-driven versus character driven. The answer to most questions now is just “because of PLOT” rather than any well thought-out reason.
Yup, so they killed him off. And honestly I know the CS ship had something to do with it. But also, the way they were writing the character, it just felt they didn’t know what else to do with him.
And that is a prime example of writer’s block. If a writer’s solution is simply to kill off a character because she or he doesn’t know what else to do, that means the writer isn’t very creative.
"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
