I do feel the portal scene came up a bit quick in the storytelling, as Neal’s story also involves more than his sacrifice to let Emma be the savior, but also his guilt about that choice, and his relationship with Tamara.
The portal scene surprised even the most rabid SwanFire shipper; NO ONE was expecting them to declare their love for each other this earlier. That said, both Neal and Emma have shown through simple gestures that even though they’ve been apart for 10 years they’ve never truly forgotten each other, so the portal scene wasn’t that big of a leap.
Part of me was, “OMG I didn’t expect that so soon!” and part of me was, “Well it’s about freaking time!” 😆