30 Days of OUAT - Day 9: Best Dressed

Day 9 - Best Dressed

That honor goes to Neal Cassidy - though it was a hard decision. Most everyone dresses well in this show. Which I don't know how the curse knew to give them all designer duds, or how a drifter turned whatever he is now who has a trashy apartment can own the clothes Neal does... but still. There's not much this guy can't wear that doesn't look good. Even as the thief in Tallahassee, Neal's outfits never miss (his hair on the other hand definitely needed work... thankfully the Neal we all come to know and most love has a better look in that regard lol).

I love how Neal's style is comfort. Other than when he's just the "mystery man" in a suit and tie, he's normally running around in a sweater or hoodie. And his coat/sweater combos are always great. Ha ha. This prompt makes me feel silly. I feel like I should be talking about the character or the actor, not his clothes. But really the clothes do say a lot about his character. His appearance isn't the important thing about what he wears, it's about comfort. That they're stylish on him is just an added bonus.

When Neal is cursed back to his homeland at the end of Season 3a/beginning of 3b, we get to see what adult Baelfire's wardrobe looks like. And again it's pretty practical/comfortable. It took me a while to get into the whole Enchanted Forest costume, it seemed rather bulky, but once it was actually in a scene and not just stills it worked. Neal is back to the earth-tones that we saw on young Baelfire when he was living there.

I guess I should learn how to do what they do on tumblr and do those nifty little gif sets because obviously Neal's had more than two outfits (unlike his main rival for Emma's heart, Captain Hook ha ha). The blue/grey shirt he wore for most of Season 3a is probably my favorite look on him, even if it was soiled and bloody from being shot and worn for days on end all the while fighting off lost boys and traipsing through the Enchanted Forest, grabbing onto Pan's shadow, oh and hiking through Neverland. Just another day's work for Nealfire I suppose.

And, because I can, one of my favorite scenes in that shirt - where Neal confronts his father about the prophecy and Rumple's plans for Henry... best part is when Rumple calls him Baelfire and Neal balks shouting "It's Neal!" It's why I hope that this supposed reboot of the past that Zelena (though we're thinking Rumple is really going to pull it off) wants to cast is unsuccessful. Neal does not want to go back to the boy he once was - he even says as much to Rumple in Season 2: "14? I don't want to be 14 again are you insane?!... forget who I am? no thank you." While it would be great to see father and son reunited for good, I don't want it to be another reboot like what happened with August/Pinocchio. Anyway, I leave you with the scene from "Nasty Habits". Rest in Peace, Neal Cassidy... and thank you, Michael Raymond-James for being such an amazing actor. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE find a happy go lucky role, I just need to see you happy and alive in one show/movie... just once. It's all I ask!




Oh, and honorable mentions go to Prince Charming and Jefferson. Charming'd have gotten it if they weren't so obsessed with the fur capes and stuff. They are getting ridiculous! And Jefferson would've probably won out had it not been for my Neal obsession. Not going to lie. That and his Wonderland outfit is a little whackadoodle.

30 Days of OUAT - Day 7: Favorite Action/Intense Moment

Day 7 - Favorite Action/Intense Moment

So I've had a heck of a time deciding how to answer this one. There are so many intense moments, and the action moments I'm either saving or have already used (ones that I enjoyed anyway). I tried finding an action scene of Charming's that would work... but nada.

One of the ones that kept coming to mind, though, was the scene where Baelfire confronts Captain Hook on the Jolly Roger about his mother. Bae is rescued by Hook when he reaches Neverland (having given his life so that the Darling children would not be taken). Hook grows attached to the boy after finding out the boy's name - he's the son of his lost love... and his most hated enemy. Originally he planned to use the boy to find the Dark One's weakness, but soon realized revenge was not so important.

Problems arose when Bae finds a drawing of his mother on the Captain's Desk. He takes after Hook with his cutlass and Hook confesses that he is the man who stole Bae's mother. Bae has been told and believes that a pirate killed his mother, and Hook tells him the truth, that it was Bae's father Rumpelstiltskin who did the deed. Baelfire tells Hook he wants to go back to the Darlings, when Hook says that isn't possible, Bae demands to be let off the ship and that he'd fend for himself as he always has.

This sets up the explanation as to how Neal knows Hook and all about the ship sailing which we learn earlier in season 2. It also sets up perfectly how their relationship will work in Season 3... first with Neal holding on to grudges of the past... and then letting go and trusting the man in what would turn out to be his final moments. Yup, I'm still on that Neal kick. Probably always will be. Thank you, Michael Raymond-James... you've officially turned me into one of THOSE types of fans.

For most "Nealfire" fans, it seems these days they're out to hate on Hook. That's mainly due to the fact that the man is quickly winning Emma and Henry's heart and most Nealfire fans are very anti that relationship. While I don't really enjoy the idea of Bae's "stepfather" getting involved with Bae's "true love" I absolutely love the complicated relationship of "Nealfire" and Captain Hook. It's more than just rivals, it's more than just family. These two have a history that gives them a bond that is not only believable but advances the emotions of the story. Sure, when Hook goes off with the rest to save Henry he's doing it for Emma - but he's also doing it for the memory of Baelfire. When Emma reveals that Henry's father has died, Hook asks who his father is, and is shocked to learn it's "Baelfire". The revelation brings him back to the moment when he let Bae go, and gives him over to the Lost Boys. An utter betrayal that apparently haunts the man. He sets to make things right in memory of the boy he once looked after.

Fast forward to Neal making his way back to Neverland after being saved from death by a few characters in the Enchanted Forest and suddenly Hook's less sentimental. Now Neal is just Neal in the eyes of the pirate, and they spend most of their time fighting over who should get Emma. Things don't really get better when they get back to Storybrooke - though Hook does offer to step aside and "let" Neal have Emma for the "sake of the boy". Neal never truly gets a chance to take him up on that offer. Emma's too preoccupied with the fact that something feels "off" about Henry (she's right, he's really Pan trapped in Henry's body) and she's confused about her feelings on the two men. Then Regina has to save everyone from a reboot of the curse (thanks to Pan) and so began the long hiatus of the show while they filmed the second half of the season...

... and we all know where I'm going with this. Neal doesn't make it back (or does he?) to Storybrooke when yet another dark curse is cast. Emma, getting her memories back thanks to Hook, asks for several episodes where Neal is and worries he's been turned into a Flying Monkey (if he's alive at all). When Neal is found they rush him to the hospital where Hook and Neal have one final - and extremely touching - scene in which Hook finally acknowledges that Neal and Bae are the same person and that they spent far too long fighting over stupid things in the last year. Hook supposedly has no clue that Neal is a walking dead man at this point, but either he's not telling the whole story, or the writers just wanted to really make sure we knew Neal was toast. It was closure, and it was sweet... and it makes the flashbacks of Hook and Bae all that more tragic.

30 Days of OUAT - Day 1: Favorite Episode

Day One - Favorite Episode

After Season 3's "Quiet Minds" episode I've gone back and watched Season 2. It was a much "happier" time in Storybrooke where Henry meets his father and begins a seemingly good relationship. Much better than Henry having lost his memory and his dad (ala Quiet Minds). I'm still not over it. It was probably one of the best acted and written episodes of the series, but I'm still not happy about it from a character standpoint (and while I say it was the best, that really doesn't mean it was "perfect" in how it was done... it should've arced into a second episode. It was a tad rushed).

One of the things I love about Once is how they manage to tell very real stories about fathers. So often in fairytales the parents are used as very little backstory and it's the teens or children that are the heroes who are all alone (due to death or abandoment). Once dives into that in many of the stories, be it David (Prince Charming) and Emma, Rumpelstiltskin and Baelfire (Neal), Regina (Evil Queen) and Henry (her father not her adopted son), or Neal (Baelfire) and Henry.

One of my favorite "tragic" father child stories is that of Jefferson (Mad Hatter) and his daughter Grace (Paige). We find out about their story in season 1, but their "happy ending" happens in Season 2 Episode 3's "Lady of the Lake". It's been my favorite episode since my first viewing (until recently, it's now tied with another which I will list a little later). Jefferson is such an underrated character, and while I'm happy for the actor to have found "bigger and better" things in his career I wish they'd pop him into a flashback or *something*. The Mad Hatter is such an interesting character!





Since my rewatching of Season 2, I recently rediscovered the gem of Episode 14 of Season 2 titled "Manhatten". It's where Mr. Gold and Emma realize that Henry's father is also the long lost Baelfire. The reason for the curse. Before season 3 I was like many who just didn't care much for Neal. He was a great dad, but he left Emma to take his punishment for being a thief and yadda yadda yadda. Hindsight being what it is - and knowing more now than what we did then - the rewatching made Neal's character far more likeable. Also - as time has gone on, I've come to really appreciate what the actor (Michael Raymond-James) brings to the character. I will miss this storyline and hope that there's some way to bring the character back for a final round of closure (Henry needs this) or even to just complete the storyline. The fangirl inside me wants them to use one of their loopholes (there are several that I can find) to bring him back next season or even the season after, but I doubt that will actually happen. Which makes me even sadder.

Anyway in "Manhatten" we get a lot of what Oncers call "feels" between the reuniting of Baelfire with Rumple to Henry walking in and revealing he's Neal's son... especially now that we know the full story of "Baelfire/Neal" it's such an important and sad part of the story. But it was well laid out and well acted. It truly showcases that natural acting style of MRJ, and all of the actors have a good chemistry between them. Makes me wish they'd waited another season before they killed him off (I mean if they *had* to kill him off).



I honestly was not a Neal Fan until Season 3, now I'm totally smitten. Darn you Adam and Eddie! Bring him back! (I know, I know... it's "too late"...)

There are a lot of honorable mentions. For me what makes me love an episode in this show is when an actor (or more than one) really shows what they're made of. Colin O'Donohue (Capt. Hook) did that this week in "Jolly Roger" (though most of the episode was hokey).