Once upon a Time: Continued Season One Nostalgia, Pinocchio

[bimo]

Cavendish and I now have progressed up to episode 1.20 “The Stranger”, which shines a light on Pinocchio/August’s backstory, all the dark, winding path, right to the point when adult August is leading an increasingly distressed Emma to the very tree portal through which both of them had originally arrived in the Land without Magic.  

What sprang to my mind while rewatching,  well, apart from “Wow, this really features Shady Blue at her shadiest! Attempting to change the deal she has made with Geppetto, and when that fails, outright lying to pregnant Snow and Charming… Boo!”:

The portrayals of the child Pinocchio and the man he has turned into seem far more ambivalent in “The Stranger” than in some of the later episodes, where the character is more often than not pushed into the role of a pathetic coward. Of course, adult August’s method of trying to force Emma into believing is questionable. Of course his motivation appears selfish in nature, at least to a certain degree.Thanks to nuanced writing and acting it is impossible to tell how much August’s actions are based on heartfelt guilt and remorse, and how much on hoping to escape his impending fate of turning back into wood.

However it is easy to sympathise with him and to understand how little chance he actually had to turn out any different. After all, he’s a frightened to death kid, who was pushed into a guardian role for which he was far too young, and thus, could not possibly fulfil. Geppetto, what on Earth were you thinking, placing the incredible responsibility of watching out for the newly born Emma on your seven-year-old’s shoulders? No wonder your son ends up running away and staying continuously on the run for the next twenty-eight years.

In addition to liking these nuances of not black and white but shady-bluey grey, I’m also impressed by how effortlessly the writers (in this case Ian Goldberg and Andrew Chambliss) touch upon both the original Collodi novel as well as the Disney version in the most ironical yet also most sense-making way possible:

August: I am not screwing around here. Whatever you believe, or don’t, this is real, Emma. I am sick.

Emma: That’s an understatement.

August: You ever been to Phuket? It’s beautiful. Amazing island, full of pleasures. The perfect place to lose oneself. That’s where I was when you decided to stay in Storybrooke.

Emma: How do you know when I decided to stay in Storybrooke?

August: Because at eight fifteen in the morning, I woke up with a shooting pain in my leg. That’s eight fifteen at night in Storybrooke. Sound familiar? That’s when time there started to move forward again. I was supposed to be there for you. And I wasn’t. Because I was halfway around the world, I got a painful reminder of just how far I’d strayed. If that tree won’t make you believe, maybe this will.

So it’s Pleasure Island all over again.

Comments

[selenak]

Re: August, I remember having issues with him not for his actions as a child - as you say, not his fault, and all too understandable given the horrible situation he was in - but as an adult, and but that I don't just mean the Emma manipulation in s1. I mean the stunt he pulls with Baelfire/Neal in the Tallahasse flashbacks in s2. During the three and a half seasons I watched, the show never really provided an explanation as to why August thought going to prison and getting dumped by her boyfriend was such an important experience for Emma to make, and why he (August) felt entitled to make that decision for her. (Not that I absolve Neal from his own responsibility in this regard.) "She is the destined savior" certainly is not an explanation.

I also wonder just why August thought the "I'm Baelfire" masquarade with Gold/Rumple was a good idea. Don't get me wrong: rendering Rumplestilskin unable to harm you is definitely a sense making strategy in most circumstances, and presumably Neal unloaded on August more than once, but otoh: pushing the Baelfire button with the Dark One is also a guaranteed suicide technique, which August at that point should have known or guessed, so I really wonder.

[bimo]

Most reasons for the "I'm Baelfire" masquerade that I can think of are of a predominatly Doylist nature, since August's actions create a few nice moment of suspense for the audience. Furthermore pretending to be Bae struck me as very much in tune with the general concept of Pinocchio as liar. But otherwise? The only explanation that comes to my mind is that August was trying to use this as a short cut in oder to find out how much Rumple actually remembers.

As for Neal/August/Emma in "Talahasse": I don't quite understand or sympathise with August's motives here, either. He displays a complete disregard to Emma's situation, her feelings and her right to make her own choices. However, I usually tend to blame Neal more than August. When Neal met and later abandoned Emma, he already had several centuries of (Neverland-prolonged) life experience under his belt, while August was just an aimlessly drifting young man his mid early twenties. Telling August to leave him and Emma alone would have been easy for Neal.