I Am, I Am, I Am

“Your job — as students who are receiving an education — is to be aware of your privilege. And use this particular privilege called “education” to do your best to achieve great things, all the while advocating for those in the rows behind you.”

I’ve been seeing various posts, Nonnie responses, and idiotic tweets for the past two weeks about “dead is dead” and that the integrity of the story and mythos of the show is being compromised by this Underworld storyline and subsequent rescue, that they are in some way doing something special for Hook that they didn’t do for other characters, concerns that Emma is once again again disrespecting Hook’s wishes and selfishly pursuing saving his life, and that there will be “world breaking” mechanics put into play after all this is over that allow anyone to go get any dead loved one.

None of this is true and none of these arguments actually make any sense?

First let’s address “dead is dead”. This isn’t something that I can’t even say with a straight face and I’m not sure how anyone else can either.

People die and are brought back with alarming regularity on this show:

-The Blue Fairy had an open casket viewing and was just all of a sudden okay with very little logical explanation at the end of 3B.

-August was supposedly “dead” after his run in with Tamara for a few seconds but instead was turned into a little boy again by the aforementioned Blue Fairy.

-Rumplestiltskin was literally resurrected in a life for a life trade.

-Charming was dead for at least two minutes while Snow convinced Regina to split her heart and shove it in his chest.

-Hook, himself, has been “dead” several times, he was technically clinically dead, without respiration and presumably no heartbeat, after drowning in the pool on the farm, he also died in the Author’s alternate universe and came back when that universe ceased to exist, and he was at least mostly dead in the meadow if not fully dead.

Resurrecting dead characters using various mechanics is something that has a precedence already well set on this show.

That is actually one of the big reasons I, and many others, enjoy watching it, because unlike other TV dramas, there is a huge chance characters that have died CAN come back.

It’s a staple of fantasy and science fiction, that creative interpretations of life, death, and resurrection are possible. That’s why these shows are a form of escapism from actual reality, where these options do not exist.

And this is only covering those characters that were physically dead, I’m not even touching on those that were apparently dead and brought back with shaky nonsensical storylines/retcons/ or in the case of Lancelot, no explanation whatsoever.

As far as them “doing something special for Hook that they didn’t do for other characters” this cry of foul seems to be specifically about Neal/Baelfire, but could be about anyone who has been permanently lost over the years I suppose.

There are a few considerations people are either forgetting or willfully ignoring when they bring up Neal and the fact that no one was willing to go to these lengths for him.

The first is that this option wasn’t even available before Neal brought Rumple back.

The portal in the lake opens using the blood of a man who has been to hell and back, so anyone who died prior to the Neal/Rumple switcheroo didn’t have this opportunity.

This portal’s existence and how to open it was also not known prior to the exchange between Dark!Hook and Clippy!Rumple/Nimue by the lake.

We can’t just assume Rumple knew about it, he never makes any indication that he does.

I mean, it’s possible the former Dark!Ones clued Rumple in, but if they did either he had a reason for not wanting to go back that superseded his desire to get his son, or he didn’t think it was something worth pursuing.

So this portal, and the ability to enter the Underworld, has been an option to our heroes for approximately 24 hours.

If it’s something that WAS known, the only character who knew about it was the father of the character most people are up in arms about them not getting.

From a storytelling perspective Adam and Eddy have been very clear in interviews that Neal’s death was planned well in advance, and was intended to be permanent, hence the large amount of closure prior to it.

I realize this doesn’t fit in with people’s perceptions or their personal anti-ship related narratives, but like Graham in season 1 this is the direction the character was supposed to go from the beginning.

There is lots of meta already on this and some good post 3.17 interviews people can seek out, so I won’t rehash it here but whether you like it or not they didn’t use this Underworld mechanic on previous characters because it simply wasn’t the story they were telling or the direction they wanted to take them.

We don’t yet know exactly HOW the Underworld works, there are lots of possible interpretations, but it’s been mentioned several times in interviews that those who are trapped there have “unfinished business” and that is why they still exist.

Unfortunately this condition doesn’t apply to Neal, his death had probably the MOST closure of any death we’ve ever seen on this show. He reconciled and forgave his father, he had a heartfelt moment of forgiveness with Hook, he asked that his son remember him as hero and Emma immediately went to Henry to tell him his father died as one, he died knowing his actions would give them the name they needed, and he implored Emma to pursue her happy ending, which she then did.

Some have tried to say that “Being with his son is unfinished business” but if being with loved ones and family members is considered “unfinished business” than NO ONE would pass on, there has to be a line drawn somewhere.

Not only that but, like it or not, a big reason as to why they are going on this trip is they believe half of Emma’s heart is a way to get him back, because she loves Killian to the same extreme her parents love each other.

Emma did love Neal, no one is refuting that, he was her first love, but the show as been very clear it’s a completely separate thing from her love for Hook, but the place she was at in her relationship with Neal when he died is world’s apart from the place she was at in her relationship with Hook when he died.

If people aren’t attacking it from a storyline or continuity standpoint than next up has to be character concerns.

I’ve seen more than one person question Emma’s motives, saying that her going after Hook indicates she learned nothing from 5A and that her desire to rescue him is both selfish and dangerous to her family.

Emma was fully prepared to let Hook go, she didn’t turn around at the lake and immediately demand Rumple’s blood to go get her dead lover before his body was even cold.

She was grieving and accepting of his death, up until she heard the dagger and realized the implication of that.

Hook didn’t WANT to die, I think people forget that. He was WILLING to die to destroy the darkness and save everyone but it wasn’t what he wanted on his own, he wasn’t suicidal. He agreed to die to fulfill a specific purpose, fix his mistakes, and save everyone from the darkness.

Emma accepted this death and the reasons it was necessary, up until the moment she found out that his entire reason for dying was invalid. The darkness still exists, her family is still in danger from it, and him actually dying might have cured the immediate threat but didn’t take care of the problem permanently, which is what he wanted and what he expected his death to accomplish.

His death was rendered pointless, and meaningless, and THAT is why Emma is going after him.

Is there a small element of selfishness in her decision?

Yes, but no more so than Snow splitting her heart for Charming, or Regina forcing Emma to use dark magic to save Robin. These are the lengths these women are willing to go for the people they love. Saving a loved one is ALWAYS a bit selfish and that’s what this show is about: going to whatever lengths you can to save your family.

Killian’s wish, even in 5A, was to destroy the darkness and save their family from it, if anything, her getting him back from the Underworld gives him the opportunity to fulfill this wish, it doesn’t take it away.

Is it dangerous? Yes, but it’s also all volunteer, she didn’t FORCE anyone to go except Rumple, and even then she just needed his blood to open the portal, he didn’t have to tag along.

Her family stepped up to help her. Even Henry basically said if she didn’t let him come along he’d find a way anyway and he would be safer in his mothers’ company.

It’s also a television show and the characters have to go into dangerous situations otherwise there is no show. As much as we might want to watch the family hanging out at Granny’s all the time the General Audience does not.

And finally let’s address the “fears” that this rescue will somehow lead to world breaking consequences, where no death is permanent because we can just take a weekend trip over to the Underworld to fetch them back.

I’m not sure why anyone thinks they would just leave this mechanic open ended and unresolved at the end of the arc?

Once may have continuity problems at times, but creating complications for their characters to overcome is not one of them. They wouldn’t leave an easy solution just lying on the table forever, they want to make everything as difficult as possible.

Not only would that take away the emotional resonance of any future death, since we as the audience just assume they can take a weekend trip to the Underworld to get them back, the characters as well would be more willing to make these “sacrifices” because they didn’t think their death would be permanent. However this arc concludes, I can say with COMPLETE confidence that the option to rescue a character in this manner will no longer be available, and the actual method of rescue will more than likely be a unique circumstance and not something just anyone can do on a whim.

Anyone taking this readily available portal and convenient heart share ability at face value hasn’t been watching the show. This portal will no longer be an option eventually, and it’s highly doubtful the sharing the heart is the actual solution to their problem.

The heart share is simply to offer a convincing reason for why Emma believes this will work and is willing to do it, not that it’s what will actually happen.

Having her offer up half of her heart and be willing to go to these lengths to get the man she loves is to emphasize how far she’s come on her journey. She started his show with a lot of evidence and no belief, and she’s going to save the man she loves with no actual evidence but a ton of belief.

Even if it turns out that Captain Swan is not True Love, and that they don’t meet the mystical requirements for a heart share for whatever reason, it’s enough for us to know that Emma Swan BELIEVES they are, that she believes he is her True Love so strongly there is no question in her mind that this will be successful and she’s willing to go to these lengths to prove it and get him back.

Emma Swan’s belief is the important part of offering the heart share as a solution, not the actual heart sharing.

I know it’s par for the course for this fandom to get up in arms about events that haven’t actually happened yet, based on little to no information, but before we condemn a storyline as “world breaking” let’s see how it actually plays out before we jump to any conclusions?

The ability to travel to the Underworld is a new condition, one that will be changing, and the show isn’t going to lay out their proposed solution in the mid season finale before the story even happens.

What kind of television would it be if they all just hopped in a boat to the Underworld, reached into Emma’s chest, snapped her heart in half and shoved it into Hook’s body, and then just took him home?

Obviously it will be much more complicated and not something that just anyone can do and I don’t see how anyone can logically simplify the storyline or its conclusion with the information we have (which is basically nothing) and claim he storyline is problematic before it even happens?