I have been 'hooked' on this show since episode one. So, when I started back into college and the Computer Applications professor asked us to create a detailed and complex Power Point slide show on any subject of our choosing, I decided to talk about the most detailed and complex show that I know. In case you are wondering, I got an "A" on my slide show and presentation, Ah-thank you.
And here we are, Sunday 10/11, tonight is the airing of episode 3 of season 5. And it just keeps getting better and better. I thought that this Sunday I would write about the show, since I am trying to become a more dedicated blogger, and since there may be some folks out there who still haven't watched the show, or may still be a little lost about how they interconnect with each other. So,I am including a picture of one of my slides, where I put together a little family tree.
Season one opens with Henry Mills on the search for his birth mother, Emma Swan. Henry is the adopted son of Regina Mills, the mayor of Storybrooke, Maine. Henry, on a greyhound bus headed for Boston, to find Emma, holds a book of fairy tales. Henry is convinced that the people of his hometown are actually fairy tale characters, who were cursed and sent to our realm, in the small Maine town, with no memories of their former lives. He believes that Emma, his birth mother, is the key to breaking this curse. He also believes that his adoptive mother, who has raised him since birth, is the Evil Queen who enacted this curse. He is right, about all of it. In fact the only two characters who were not affected by the curse were the Evil Queen, who enacted the curse, and Mr. Gold, the pawnbroker, who created the curse back in the Enchanted Forest, where he went by his real name, Rumpelstiltskin.
Over the course of season one, and into season two, we learn more about each characters' backstory, and their inner struggles. What I love about this show/story is that the villains, are not really completely mean people, but rather, they are misunderstood or have just been overwhelmed by their pains and struggles, and they are left feeling hopeless. And that is the recurring notion of the show... HOPE. We all crave it, we all need it... Hope.
Henry's birth mother, Emma, brings him back to Storybrooke to return him to his proper home with his adoptive mother, but something piques her curiosity and she ends up staying in town. She spends the night at Granny's bed and breakfast. She eventually becomes the town's sheriff, and begins to believe that Henry is correct about the curse. She starts to believe that the town's people could actually be lost fairy tale characters. Her belief starts the ball rolling, and when she kisses Henry on the forehead and tells him that she loves him, the curse is broken (true love's kiss). P.S. I love that twist that they used for true love's kiss, instead of a man and woman as is usually shown, they chose the love of a mother to her child... that is true love!
After the curse breaks and everyone remembers who they are, there is some strife, and a bit of chaos. But in all of this, we find out that Emma's birth parents are Snow White & Prince Charming. Which means that her Step-Grandmother is the Evil Queen, who is the adoptive mother of her biological son. Can we say, crazy complicated! In later season's it is discovered that the mother of the Evil Queen is Cora, who is also Wonderland's Queen of Hearts. It is also shown that Cora's first born child, was a little girl that Cora did not want to keep because it would hinder her chances at marrying into royalty. So instead of loving her baby girl, Cora sent her off to another realm, Oz. That little girl grew up jealous of her younger sister (who was kept and raised by mom), and eventually turned green from all that envy... that little girl grew up in Oz and became The Wicked Witch of the West, also known as Zelena.
Coming back to Rumpelstiltskin, in learning his backstory, we see that at one time, he was a normal, timid guy with a wife and son. He was drafted to fight in the Ogre Wars, but believed that he would perish there and never see his son again. So he broke his ankle on purpose, in order to avoid the war. His wife, Milah, considered him a coward for this and left him, and their son. Rumpel raised his son, Baelfire, as a single dad, until it came time for Baelfire to be drafted off to fight in the Ogre Wars. Rumpel would not have it, and instead he summoned the Dark One (the one who possesses the strongest of dark magic) and killed him, thus becoming the Dark One himself. He did all of this in order to save his son from going to the Ogre Wars. Baelfire wanted his father to give up that Dark power, and escape with him into another realm. But when they stood before the open portal, Rumpel let go of Baelfire, and stayed in the Enchanted Forest, choosing power over his own son.
Baelfire ended up in London, where he met the Darlings (Wendy, Michael, and John). He was happy living there and loved that family dearly. So when the shadow of Peter Pan came to take one of the boys away to live in Neverland, Baelfire took that boys place. He knew that the shadow was not friendly, and that being taken from family was not a good thing. So the shadow carried Baelfire to Neverland, where he lived with Peter Pan, but continued to look for a way back to the Darlings. He found his way of escape by way of the Jolly Roger, where he met Captain Hook, a.k.a. Killian Jones.
As it turns out, when Milah, Baelfire's mother, left him and his father, she went to a tavern, where she met and fell in love with Killian Jones. Her love was reciprocated and her and Killian were quite happy together, until the Dark One found them. When Rumpelstiltskin found Milah, he ripped her heart from her chest and killed her. Killian drew his sword, and lost the fight to the Dark One, and his hand as well, thus creating a metaphorical "crocodile" out of Rumpelstiltskin. Losing his hand, Killian replaced it with a hook, and became the Captain Hook that we all know and love, battling Peter Pan and his lost boys in Neverland. So when Baelfire ends up on Hook's ship, he takes the boy in, knowing that he was Milah's son.
Eventually Baelfire ends up in our world again. He is now a man, using the name Neal Cassidy, he meets a young woman named Emma Swan and they fall in love. They are partners in crime, literally. They rob stores and houses together. One night, Neal is greeted by another man, on a motorcycle, who tells him that he knows his real name (Baelfire). The mystery man later turns out to be Pinocchio, but since he is not in the family tree, I am not going into detail about him. So, the mystery man tells Baelfire about the curse, and about Emma, and that as long as she is with Baelfire/Neal, she will never believe, and the curse will never be broken. So Neal leaves her behind after a heist, where she is caught and sent to jail. She gives birth to Henry while in jail, and immediately gives him up for adoption, believing that it is the best thing that she can do for him, in order for him to have his best chance.
So now we know that Henry's biological parents are Emma and Neal (Baelfire). His maternal grandparents are Snow White & Prince Charming. Henry's Paternal grandparents are Rumpelstiltskin and Milah. His maternal Great-Grandmother is also his adoptive mother, Regina Mills a.k.a. the Evil Queen. His great-great-grandmother (maternal) is Cora, the Queen of Hearts. The love of Rumpelstiltskin's life (after Milah) is Belle. Belle's father made a deal with Rumpelstiltskin (he loves making deals) and since "All magic comes with a price, dearie", he was supposed to spend the rest of his life as a servant in Rumple's castle. However, Belle chooses to go in his place... thus creating a "Beast" out of Rumpelstiltskin. This dude covers alot of villain territory! But Belle sees through his rough exterior and loves the man behind the beast. She brings the man to life under the villainous shell and softens his heart. Oh, and also, as you can see from the slide, the father of Rumpelstiltskin is Peter Pan.
My favorite season so far was season 3, in Neverland. The most evil of all the villains up to that point was Peter Pan. He was not the adorable little ever-youthful boy of the stories we grew up on. Instead he was capturing young boys and taking them from their loving homes, in order to keep himself young forever. His entire goal was to capture his great grandson, Henry, to steal his heart and keep himself alive and young. The entire season is summed up by telling you that Rumpelstiltskin's father created Neverland in his imagination, and chose youth over his child, abandoning Rumpelstiltskin forever. Do you see a pattern here from the dark evil ones, choosing power, youth, and riches instead of loving their children? Now in Rumpel's defense, he regretted his choice to let go of Baelfire (or "Bae" as he called him) from the moment the portal closed, and he had spent all of the time in between searching for him. In fact, it is because of Rumple's search for Bae that the family is reunited in season two. Rumple asks Emma to help him track down his son, Baelfire (a name she never knew) in New York City. She goes with him, and Henry tags along, and when she finds Baelfire she is blindsided by the fact that he is Neal, her lost love, and Henry's father. So, now, by the end of the season, Rumpelstiltskin makes good on his bad decision and sacrifices himself to save his son, Bae, and newly discovered grandson, Henry, from his father, Peter Pan, or so we thought. Turns out he did kill Peter Pan, but Rumple didn't actually die, he just went off into some other portal/capsule thing.
Emma revealed back in Neverland that she was still deeply in love with Neal, but she was hesitant to open her heart to him again, because of her history of being abandoned and hurt by those she loves. Nonetheless, she, Henry, and Neal are enjoying their short time together as a family before Zelena, the Wicked Witch of the West becomes the new threat to Storybrooke (Season 4's villain). Because of Zelena, it is discovered that Rumple is not actually dead, and that he has the answers to defeating her. Rumple can come back to life, if someone else is sacrificed in his place (that is a VERY simplified way of saying that part of the story). Neal is the guy for the job. He is saving his family, Emma and Henry, by dying to bring back his father, to defeat Zelena. And this is where I admit to you that I had tears streaming down my face when Neal died. .... Ugh, it's still too soon to talk about it. I miss that man, every new episode, I think "Neal should be there to see that".
Well, that is the immediate family of Henry Mills. If you have never watched any of this show, I fully recommend it. I love these writers, and their ways of twisting stories and pulling apart the knotted strings little by little until the story-line is revealed. Hats off to you Adam and Edward, its a great story. I can't wait to see where else it goes!
