Luffy Reacts - Once Upon a Time S2E14 - Manhattan

First and foremost... I wish you a very Merry Christmas, and I wish to thank you for this extra reaction for Once Upon a Time on this wonderful Christmas Eve. I truly love watching your reactions for Once Upon a Time, and I deeply appreciate your own passion and love for this beautiful show that I too love so much. So, thank you so very much, dear friend!! :) Manhattan- If I've told you once, I've told you twice... Once Upon a Time's twists are phenomenal and there are so many you just don't see coming. I really love this episode a lot, because there were so many big reveals and it leaves you sitting there staring at the screen with your mouth wide open, wondering... what on earth just happened? Now... I believe I've mentioned this before, but I'm not a really a fan of Neal's character since his introduction in the sixth episode... Tallahassee, for a few reasons. Some being more biased than others. I didn't like him at all in Tallahassee, because I just didn't like his character, especially for how he hurt Emma. I can't say too much more because doing so would be spoilery. However, with that being said... I really do love how Neal turns out to be not only Henry's father like we knew about from Tallahassee, but also Gold's son as well. And I really do like him in this episode a lot. I should have realized he would be right away upon seeing that Mr. Gold brought Emma and Henry to New York City to find his son, as we knew from this season's premiere episode... Broken, that Neal also lived there, and is the only character we somewhat knew about outside of Storybrooke in which the big shock factor would make sense. Another heck of a coincidence... or not. :) I still just didn't see this reveal coming, which is really smart. I love the flashback to Tallahassee, when it's finally revealed what August shows Neal inside his box tied to the back of his bike. It's clear Neal knew about magic when August reveals what's inside the box, but that still could have meant Neal could have been anyone from the Enchanted Forest. So this reveal that August knew that Neal is Gold's son, Baelfire, for me wasn't so obvious, and I really love it. And I really love the simplicity of the way August proves to Neal that he needed to hear him out... with merely a single line typed from his typewriter on a single piece of paper... "I know you're Baelfire." It's really brilliant. Because who in the real world could have possibly known who Neal really was given his age since he and Rumple are now over two hundred years old, other than someone from the Enchanted Forest. :) However, speaking of coincidences... I really like Neal's explanation to Emma about them, and fate, and how they both wonder if Emma meeting and falling in love with Neal those twelve years ago is somehow fate that wanted to see them together, in order to set in motion Emma becoming the Savior and her and Henry becoming the tools Gold would use to help him find his son after so many years. I really love their talk. I also completely understand Emma's anger towards Neal, as well as her fear for wanting Henry to know the truth about Neal too. It's wrong for sure that she would lie to Henry about his father, but it's understandable because of what Neal had done to her when he let her take the fall for the theft of the watches, putting her in prison, and forcing her to give birth to Henry while in prison. It's so sad. And I certainly do not blame her in the slightest, especially upon learning more about her own past and why she is so guarded and distrusting. Next... Rumple and Baelfire are finally reunited, which means there are more big revelations to come. And what a reunion! I can also understand Neal's anger towards his father too. Rumple promised his son he would never abandon him, and yet when his own fear of becoming powerless once again overpowered him, he abandoned him after all. And then... one of the first things Gold tells to Neal after being reunited with him again, is that together they can have power and that he can erase Neal's bad memories by turning Neal back into the same fourteen boy he was before he abandoned his son. Once again, Gold shows that he still doesn't understand why his son wanted to get away from magic and his lust for power that Neal knows his father loves more than even him. I can't blame Neal for refusing to want to be a part of his life. Gold has not learned his lesson, and therefore he hasn't changed. Not in the ways Neal needs him to change. Magic is still just a crutch for him. Also... I really, really love the backstory with Rumple before he was the Dark One, and the Seer. And this is actually my favorite storyline throughout this episode. I think the Seer is a brilliant character and very eerie, especially with her eerie voice and her eyes being within the palms of her hands. I love her character very much. And I love how her first big prophecy, that Rumple's actions on the battlefield would leave his son fatherless, comes to pass because he attempted to save himself from being killed in battle when he cowardly injures himself to the point of becoming the cripple we see him as without his magic, then becomes branded as a coward, causing Milah to leave him and him to abandon his son once she comes to meet Killian Jones (Hook), upon Rumple's fear of becoming powerless once again after he had become the Dark One. Wonderful! And then, years later after Rumple becomes the Dark One, he finds the Seer again and as Rumple kills her in order to steal her power to see into the future, the path of Rumple finding Regina to cast his curse that would eventually lead him to finding Henry, therefore Emma, and finally Neal too... is set in motion, and the final revelation being that Henry would one day be Rumplestiltskin's undoing. After which Rumple proclaims that he will kill this boy to save himself. Will Rumple really go so far as to kill his own grandson? Oh... and I also really love the brief scenes between Emma and Mary Margaret, then Mary Margaret with David too. Yes... what a complicated family tree they have, but really cool nonetheless. What a Thanksgiving dinner they would have. :) And lastly... Hook is betrayed by Cora once again, after he deciphers the map that will lead to his dagger for them. Cora's a real witch who deserves to die. She makes me so mad. I don't like her as this half of the season's major villainess. And foolishly, Regina is still caught up in her mother's web, which I also really don't like either. Don't get me wrong... I agree with you that Lana Parrilla's (Regina) acting is absolutely phenomenal, even now that she is reverting back into the Evil Queen... a character I absolutely love. And while I dislike Cora's character overall... Barbara Hershey plays Cora brilliantly too. I really enjoy these scenes between Hook, Regina, and Cora too. Of course Hook isn't finished yet. And is he ever that much more angry and determined to get his revenge. Overall... this episode isn't one of my favorites from this season, but it is really, really good, and it certainly does have some great twists. I am so happy to have gotten another great reaction for Once Upon a Time from you. I can't wait for your reaction for the next episodes to come!! So, until next time, my friend... Sincerely, Heidi

Heidi Elizabeth Marcum