#heart possession

[batsinmypants]

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[scripted-downfall]

Heart Shining Through

I know it has probably been analyzed to death, but the scene in s4e11 (Heroes and Villains) between Emma and Hook in the diner — the one where Rumple is controlling Killian’s heart to tell Emma about the portal to Arandelle — is a bloody master course in acting, and every little detail is just brilliant.

The way he enters, which is just so very not him.  It looks like Rumple tried to capture everything that is Captain Hook without processing the undercurrent of Killian Jones that tempers his usual pirate persona, resulting in, basically, arrogance, rather than mostly harmless albeit cocky swagger.  I can’t recall a single instance of him saying something like “I may not be the Savior, but I just saved the day.”  Add to that the fact that his words have none of his usual energy, none of his usual flirtation/innuendo, nor of his more intimate romance, and it’s subtly apparent that something is wrong from the second he walks in.

Also, the hand gestures throughout the scene.  The way his hand hovers out to the side like it’s just waiting to be used as she inquires, You… found a portal?  The wide, swinging gestures of, Well, I found Gold, and he told me how to locate one and the sentence right after.  The gesture when he’s discussing the Snow Queen entering the Land Without Magic, which mirrors Gold’s as he gesticulates, heart in hand.  Perhaps most notably, the face and hand gesture he makes during the I, alas, tsk, bruised myself during the curse; really need to get it seen to is classic Gold, and I can’t really describe it beyond that.

The idea that Killian Jones, pirate captain who lost a hand and got right up to kill the man who did it, would be waylaid by a bruise is, frankly, laughable.

Then there’s the fact that Rumple tried to have Killian leave with his final sentence being something about said injury.  There’s no real goodbye, no message to Emma, nothing along those lines; it’s merely a discussion of the bruise and that’s it (which ties in well with Rumple’s character and how guided by selfishness he is, and not so much with Killian’s, since he’s basically an honor-bound romantic at heart).  

His facial expressions, too, are just different, alien to how he usually handles himself, or suspicious given the context.  Rolling his eyes at Yes… it appears our Rumplestiltsken truly has… turned over a new leaf.  The deadness in his expression as Emma stops him and asks if he’s okay, and the fakeness to the subsequent reassurance that he is.  The way he keeps his eyes open when they kiss, despite closing them in most circumstances.  The equally dead intonation behind See you around… love that feels so very fake.

And then there’s how Rumple plays Killian, so heavily based on his own perceptions without deference to reality.  He claims that He gave me a long-winded explanation about a portal.  About how it brought the Snow Queen to this land… which I don’t recall, and that is massively out of character.  It isn’t in Killian’s nature to not process at least the gist of something, much less to have no memory of it; after all, he was a ship’s captain, so processing a large volume of information quickly was kind of a necessity.  Add that to the aforementioned over-arrogance and it’s abundantly clear that it’s not Killian with whom Emma is dealing.

Especially with the earlier moment where he pours his rum into a teacup, which is such a very subtle detail, to the point that I didn’t notice it the first time I watched the scene, and yet it’s so very meaningful.  After all, I can’t remember a single instance of him pouring rum.  Even in Neverland, he simply passed the entire flask to Emma for her to take a sip; hell, he even shared with Snow and Charming directly from the flask, too.  And then, as if the dishing-out-the-rum weren’t enough, his receptacle of choice was a teacup.  The very artifact already irrevocably associated with Rumple, and something we’ve almost never seen Hook handle.

And finally, most noticeable of all, is the hand-grab at the end.  The way he actually manages to fight possession-by-enchanted-heart long enough to reach out to her, to hold her arm like it’s a bloody lifeline and do his very best not to let go.  He does, eventually — has to, given the fact that his heart is still being controlled — but it’s enough to let her know that something is amiss, enough to let him have at least a second of genuine contact before marching off to what he believes will be his death.

At any rate, the sheer brilliance of the acting in every ounce of this exchange has possessed me for ages… I hope this made sense and wasn’t just boring ranting, but Colin O'Donoghue was genius in this scene and I wanted to rant about it :)

[scripted-downfall]

Y’all ever think about how Hook’s had his heart almost pulled out a number of times — specifically, when Rumple tried to kill him in “The Crocodile” until Milah stopped him, and when Cora almost ripped his heart out in Wonderland in “Queen of Hearts” — and it just… you know… never worked?

Y’all ever think about how the only time in seasons 1-6 (I haven’t seen 7) that Killian had his heart successfully extricated from his chest was after he’d fallen in love with Emma and Rumplestiltskin was using that to manipulate him?

Y’all ever think of the symbolism there?

Because I do.  A lot.