Queen of Hearts
...also consider this the place to put thoughts and spec on the other episodes between Tallahasse and Queen of Hearts: Child of the Moon, and Into the Deep. This is all stuff I wrote a few days ago; currently my brain is all about Stargate, but if I don't post it now I never will! So.
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Well, the thing about Rumple is that while he does want to repair his relationship with Bae, he has shown no signs of seeing anything wrong with the things he's doing to reach Bae, even though the flashbacks indicated that Bae would probably not approve of his methods and Rumple is aware of this. He's shown himself willing to change in the sense of not doing evil things that Belle can find out about that she will disapprove of. I will have to rewatch to figure this out more, because I don't think he's done all that much for his own purposes this season so far. But-and I kinda of hate myself for saying it, but I think it's true-Rumple's entire arc thus far is not about redemption, it's about selfishness and cowardice. He has people he loves, and he fears for them, and he's willing to do the most horrible things to keep them, whether they like it or not. He's also willing to not do horrible things, if that is what will let him keep them. He doesn't do things that are selfless and he doesn't do things that scare him or might lead to fear. That's how I see it right now, anyway, and it's definitely similar to Regina, except that she has been more willing to make life changes to hold onto the person she loves. Rumple won't.
Your analogy is faulty. It's more like there was something Rumple wanted inside a building, and he figured that burning it down was the best way to get it, but he didn't want to be connected to arson. So he found an unhappy young Regina, gave her matches, taught her the best way to burn down a building, and pushed her to burn down that building when she was considering it. And after she burned it down, he expected to just walk in and take what he wanted out of the ashes.
I do not see how Neal the grungey theif, Neal the hipster subway man, and Baelfire are mutually exclusive. I mean, obviously in the past ten years he's cleaned up, gotten a hipster apartment and an ipod, and maybe some kind of job. But ok. (Would you like to know the clue so you can play devil's advocate? I do not know what I will do if I turn out to be wrong about him being Bae, and I mean that honestly. I figure I should probably think out other ideas in order to keep my brain from breaking.)
...anyway, I should rewatch Tallahassee to be sure, but I figure Neal/Bae could have been being cagey about it because he wasn't sure where August was going with it and/or he had bad experiences with being honest with people about this sort of thing and/or he's embraced life in this world and doesn't like things that remind him of the other one.
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Hook, on the other hand, was written as a full-fledged character and is less open to interpretation. Barrie wrote a huge, distinctive paragraph about him describing his characteristics. I have read several stories that attempted to take on Neverland and overall got everything wrong. Peter is too often pushed into adventurous teenagerhood (when the center of his character is that he is childish), and Hook is too often pushed into a caricature villain. Every version I have read has at least attempted to keep his elegance and counter it when appropriate when his occasional violence. Somewhat amusingly, considering the terrible books I have read, this is the worst interpretation of Hook I’ve ever seen/read. As I said: he barely even qualifies as Hook. He is just some guy with a hook.
I think this is interesting because they have taken on at least three other relatively major characters who were invented by actual authors as opposed to derived from very old fairy tales. These characters are Pinocchio, Jiminy, and Jefferson, although several other character from their stories make appearances too. These three characters have been skewed from their original stories but they still retain characteristics from the original stories. They all do this EXCEPT FOR HOOK and I don’t understand why except for the possibility that Hook’s elegance and occasional violence do not play out well in the modern world, especially if he is meant to flirt with Emma.
So I guess I was apprehensive of their take on Hook with good reason. So, so few people have met my very high (although still fair) standards. I guess I was expecting so little that it didn’t surprise me when my expectations were met. They have done a decent take on Alice so far; I am only concerned now for when/if they take on Dorothy/Oz.
I agree that this season is much more plot-driven; however, it is overall a more plot-driven show than, say, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which I think had many more breaks for character episodes as opposed to plot episodes. All I meant was that last season was not delivering as much character as I wanted and it was frustrating. It was mostly pushing the mystery of the town and fairy tales and it was more episodic but still, not a lot of character exploration. Or possibly just not the characters I wanted; I know Snow and Charming got a lot of attention. Now I know what to expect. Though I agree-the puzzle piece flashbacks and present-day character exploration are my favorites too.
Good point about Archie/Regina. Possibly a reason why I like him is because he has almost no mental blocks against people. He is almost like a friendly (if restrained) dog-he seems to like everyone. We need more characters like that!
I still think it’s possible (though not probable) that Hook will make a comeback of awesomeness sin the second half of the season.
The girl in Dealing with Dragons: Oh, right! Alianora! I just like it when women are allowed to be pretty and tough. It occurred to me this morning when trying to think about how to answer these comments that even Snow, who is arguably pretty and tough, doesn’t really let those two lines cross in her life-you never see her shooting arrows while wearing a ball gown. Just one of my little pet peeves, as Tamora Pierce said in Lioness Rampant: “I don’t see why you feel you have to be all woman or all warrior. Can’t you be both?” Also, frankly, I get tired of people magically being awesome at sword-fighting. I like that Aurora is crafty instead.
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Okay, yes, you are right about Rumple. He is definitely reparation-driven but not necessarily redemption-driven. I have been operating under the assumption that given the way things went down with Bae, once he found Bae again, he would be willing to give up anything/everything in order to be reunited. However, that is an assumption on my part and, I’m pretty sure, not something he has ever stated or even implied. It’s true what you say-he does work very selfishly and there are no limits to what he will or won’t do to accomplish his goals. I hate to use the word “cowardice” even though that is obviously a word that Rumple is very sensitive to. (I think I have a severe dislike of the word, derived from the Harry Potter series and its obsession with bravery and loyalty-there are different levels of bravery! Cowardice is one of those words that I feel is in the eye of the beholder and nowhere else. Just because you are not doing something that someone construes as brave does not mean you’re a coward. It just means you’re not doing that thing.)
Rumple often confuses me because sometimes he’s all over the place with what he’s doing, but you’re right. Although he tries to behave more appropriately in front of Belle, that has not stopped him from less admirable acts when she’s not watching. Again, I guess I’ve based my theories off of how things with Bae went down, but maybe even once he finds Bae it’ll be like Arrested Development with Michael and Heather Graham, quoted from memory:
Michael: You were right, I’ve decided to do the right thing.
Heather Graham: You’re going to tell George Michael about us?
Michael: Oh. That’s what you think is right. I thought it was just to burst in here and tell you I’m sorry. Okay, I’ll get on that.
Re: my analogy: okay, that’s fair too. I guess I’m saying that I place the blame more in Regina’s hands than in Rumple’s. Although he set up the plots and curse and all, she was the one who executed it. Whatever.
Re: Neal: First of all, NO I DO NOT WANT A CLUE. I don’t even know what you’re talking about but I don’t want any clues!
Secondly, yeah, I mean a lot can happen in ten years and it isn’t unreasonable to assume that Neal cleaned up a little and maybe even kept in contact with August (assuming that he isn’t Bae). All I meant was that from the ten-second introduction we had to Neal in the season opener, I made up a character that was appealing to me, and he ended up not being that character, which was disappointing to me. That’s all!
It’s true that they are not mutually exclusive, and out of all the existing characters on the show, he is obviously most likely to be Bae. I’m just saying I was tentatively assuming that until his first talk with August and now I am much less sure. That doesn’t mean he isn’t (again, I was positive that August was not Pinocchio), but it seems unlikely to me. Also, it could be interesting if Bae was just a completely new guy we’ve never met before-he’s so mysterious! As we’ve seen, there is a good chance even Rumple won’t recognize him on sight! I almost feel like it is a waste of an existing character for one of them to be Bae. But we also already have a lot of characters, so I don’t know.
I suppose a lot of who Neal is hinges on whatever was in that box.
Also we have not talked about Red at all, but she is pretty much all awesome all the time, so.
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In retrospect, cowardice was not quite the right word to use for Rumple, although it was thematically correct. It's more about fear, which is not as mutually exclusive with bravery as cowardice is. Pre-Dark One Rumple had a lot of fear, especially when pushed out of his comfort zone, but he still managed to do things like confront a pirate about stealing his wife and burn down the duke's castle. I think what I was getting at is that Rumple still has all the fear, he just believes he can get rid of it with power.
Sorry I brought up the clue again! It probably wasn't even a deliberate clue, I don't know. It's just a stupid little detail in a s2 promo picture that makes sense to me and got me back on the Neal-is-Bae train, that's all.
Yes, there is nothing to discuss about Red. She is awesome, end of story. It does make me sad that her love interests keep dying--not that she needs one, but she does seem to want one. The woman has had a rough life and came out ridiculously strong; I want some good things for her. More good things, I guess--friendship with Belle is very much a good thing!
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