Go!
Milah has every right to leave Rumple. Every couple who is in an unhappy relationship should split. However, she doesn't have the right to emotionally abuse Rumple, she doesn't have the right to abandon her son. The point was that people (and the writers) try to vilify Rumple by manipulating his actions or label him as a coward when most of the time it wasn't true, especially pre-dark one Rumple.
I don't blame Milah for leaving Rumple. If anything, I judged her for marrying him to begin with when she admitted she never loved him. And yes, Rumple's decision to never have another kid did kind of push her away. But only in the way that anyone would leave a partner who didn't want any kids (or in this case, any more).
What made Milah a bad person was abandoning Rumple and Baelfire for a life with Hook. Not wanting to be with Rumple is fine, but it wasn't just about her anymore and she had a son to care for. Even she admits in Underbrooke that that was a crappy move on her part. Running out on her responsibilities because she found someone else was selfish.
What made Milah a bad person was abandoning Rumple and Baelfire for a life with Hook. Not wanting to be with Rumple is fine, but it wasn't just about her anymore and she had a son to care for. Even she admits in Underbrooke that that was a crappy move on her part. Running out on her responsibilities because she found someone else was selfish.
Milah had already started to loathe Rumple before he made this deal, that started as soon as he injured himself to avoid the Ogre Wars. She would have left him regardless. She should have been happy her son was healthy again and going to live but instead she abandons him for no good reason. Just seems like Rumple can't win, he makes the right choice and his son gets abandoned by his mother, he makes a series of bad choices and he gets to repair his relationship with his son. No wonder Rumple is usuay making the bad choice, it is usually more rewarding for him and thoe he cares about than when he makes the right one.
The thing I think people are glossing over is Milah's ability to leave and willingness. Milah shows that she didn't really want to get up and leave or try to get out of her marriage right away. Milah and Rumple were likely at least friends in some way and had some level of decency around each other. Milah only left at the pit of despair and some coaxing by a handsome, young pirate and also a ton of drinking.
I think everyone's also putting a modern view on it. People today can get in relationships willynilly and marry and divorce ten times over, but that's not necessarily the case in the Enchanted Forest. So, there was likely no good way out of their bad situation (plus, I'm sure there are countless peasants offscreen living horribly).
Rumple did the right thing and it took some bravery, but it was not without its disgust. All choices were morally grey, so you can't fault him for that. Plus, Rumple seems like a traditional, patriarchal kind of guy. Ya know, the whole "little wifey in the kitchen raising the children" kind of thing. That's the secret problem of any happy Rumbelle thing, but I digress.
Just to put my 2 cents on the subject.
First, Rumple made the cowardly choice, but it wasn't in sparing Fendrake. It was Not standing up to Milah. Once he acquieced to her demand that he go and kill Fendrake, there was no way that any choice was going to be good. Sure, he made what I would consider the morally correct decision to spare Fendrake, but followed it up with the morally grey decision to sell his unborn (and unconceived) child to save Bae.
Here's the problem at it's root. The brave option is not in taking the black and white, either/or choices laid in front of you (kill or not kill Fendrake, Let Bae Die or Trade unborn child, etc). Those are Devil's choices (and they are called that for good reason). The Brave option is to seek the 3rd alternative, and that is something that Rumple just doesn't seem to grasp. He always looks for the easy way out. The closest that Rumple ever got to taking the brave option was when he stole the DO Dagger. The action was motivated by his desire to save Bae, so in that sense was selfish. But the action did require putting his life on the line (he could have died in the burning castle, the owner could have returned, there were any number of things that could have gone wrong). Where the action ultimately failed is what he did with the Dagger once he had it. The Devil's choice given Rumple was to either Control the DO himself, or Kill the DO. There was a third option that was available, which would be to give the DO back the dagger. who knows what might have happened in that situation. and I think THAT would have been the brave option.
Point being that being brave and courageous means eschewing the Devil's choices and finding the alternative path.
I couldn't agree more :) it's like Snow said after killing Cora, about how there was another way, a harder way but a better way. She chose between letting Cora kill Rumple or trading her life for his, but later regretted that choice as she would have regretted the other.
I know that Rumple crippled himself and Milah knew that, but wasn't it a little unreasonable to expect a man with a bad leg to walk around picking up and carrying piles of wood? He was looking after Baefire, after all. And as we saw, childcare is an especially important and fulltime job in the enchanted forest. You can't just leave a child to wander around the woods unattended. Who knows what could be out there, things like hungry witches, deep pits, wolves, bandits, evil queens, ogres, well- meaning fairies, ect.
Also, I'd say that something is only brave if it's not an act taking advantage of someone in a weaker position than yourself. Such a thing carries no risk which would make the act brave, and is actually cowardly. The witch doctor was sleeping, and Rumple was able to get the jump on him. Although the witch doctor might have been very dangerous when fully awake, in this case Rumple had all the power in the situation. So killing him wouldn't have been brave. Aggressive, yes, but not exactly staring danger in the face.
Merida got an unarmed Belle alone and knocked her out as soon as she turned her back.... Probably knowing that nobody who would notice if she went missing. Not brave, aggressive.
If Milah wanted someone who would be ruthless and aggressive, she should have married Gustan.
There are societal roles that men and women play, especially in a medieval culture. The man was the one that was suppose to work and do the manual labor while the woman did housework and cared for the kid. Because Rumple cared for the kid she was "forced" to do the typical male role, but without any of the societal credit as they looked down on her and her family.
Being valiant and courageous is different from moral correctness. One thing that has happened with the romanticizing of novels, movies, and etc, is that "Brave means making the tough choices and doing the right thing." I like that, many people like that, but that's still not the definition no matter how much you like that. A brave man can go kill a dragon terrorizing a village, but that man can still be a big jerk, basically be Disney's Gaston.
Merida was being courageous and taking risks, so she was being brave, but it borders more on aggressive selfishness, but bravery excludes morality. In brevity, you can be brave and still a big jerk. Bravery is void of morality, no matter how romanticized it is today, no matter how much we love this new persepctive.
It wasn't clear from the episode, but I'll go with you on that as the most likely explanation.
My second point was that there's no danger in taking advantage of someone in a weaker position who can't fight back.Your definition of bravery requires there to be a chance for danger or pain.
My second point was that there's no danger in taking advantage of someone in a weaker position who can't fight back.Your definition of bravery requires there to be a chance for danger or pain.
Well, as we saw, Rumple went to steal the potion before trying to kill him. I'm thinking that their plan was "Steal the potion, kill him if necessary". Danger is also a matter of perspective. For Rumple, he felt it was a dangerous journey as he was facing a magic man and he knew not what Fendrake could do to him. As you saw the magic man did not cower in fear from the danger but came back with threats to cast a spell to destroy him.