I’m happy to hear your opinion oncemusicfan, I’m happy to hear everyone’s opinion on this little debate. For me this episode actually put me off CaptainSwan whereas before I was indecisive between CS and SF. I liked Hook’s character in episodes 1-4, 5 I didn’t really care for his backstory- that whole episode felt flat for me, episode 6 was better with Hook immediately revealing the information about Neal on the island. Season 2 I was generally anti-Hook because of the way he treated Belle and Rumple (My two favourite characters) but season 3 I was open to the possibility of CaptainSwan because Hook had almost kind of proven himself as a plausible love interest for Emma. However, this episode, it felt like he kind of went back to season 2 Hook and it wasn’t nice. Of course my opinion of Hook could change again next week but I didn’t like what I saw of him in 307. Thoughts?
I…really miss the preview button. :S
I think Hook was really kicking himself because Emma hadn’t shut him down earlier in the talk that I just discussed, but she was so disgusted (and rightly so) with their petty fight that almost got them all killed just now, that she lashed out (yay Emma!). Hook typically lets her cool off and then talks to her alone later on so I’m interested in seeing how things go with both guys in the aftermath of that moment. Henry is the priority and as Hook said, nothing can move forward with the triangle really until Henry is home safe and sound (and that was even before Emma chose Henry!)
I totally get the RumBelle stuff – I love them too and was devastated in the Crocodile when I realized Hook and Rumple would be at odds because I love them both. Also looking forward to seeing the changed Hook talk to Belle and apologize. He and Rumple were able to let it go, but we haven’t had a chance yet for him and Belle to chat. I was mad at him in that episode too for sure. I don’t excuse any of them for behavior like that. (I get frustrated when people act like Rumple is a saint,even toward Belle, but then can’t stand Hook, but I DO love both of them and want redemption and love for both men). So I don’t excuse the bad behavior at all and I look forward to everyone letting the past go with a lot of this stuff. It was encouraging to see Hook let Rumple on his ship and it was the first step in him letting go of the past which was nice to see.
Personally I feel like in this episode BOTH Hook and Neal backtracked a bit. As soon as they started acting like children it fell apart but I think they’ll snap out of it now. Neal was understandably hurt by what he learned, and Hook thought he had heard the secret so was trying to thank him for being so great about it and not holding it against him only for it to backfire. This caused the passive aggressiveness that Emma thought she handled when she found out what was going on. In fact in the lighter scene, Neal said that Hook was trying to impress Emma and that’s what Emma heard which is what led to the “You’re doing this now? Really?” when that scene played out more to me like, Emma’s chomping at the bit, you’re not making it work, can I try? He gets accused of being selfish (when he really hasn’t been this season), gets a 2 second chance to try followed by it being thrown in his face that it’s not as easy as it looks and then NEAL dives in to make a fight out of it which causes Hook to stoop to his level officially, putting them all in danger.
BOTH guys were disappointing to us and to Emma in that moment which is why she reacted the way she did so that they would knock it off and focus on Henry. I *hope* that’s the end of them being anything but wonderful and themselves from now on.
I really enjoyed Killian’s episode because we understood that there’s a lot more to his hatred of NL and that he’s lost so much too. It was a nice way to show why it’s so important that Emma doesn’t lose Charming. Originally we thought his comments were about Milah with the losing someone suddenly without having a chance to say goodbye, but it was Milah and Liam. It also showed that he was a good man who stuck to a code and that all these other things affected him (like Rumple being the Dark One or Regina losing Daniel) so I thought it was great we were finally seeing a good side of him that wasn’t the Captain Hook facade. It shows that that man is still in him and is starting to shine through but that it takes time. Also really helped cement the fact that Hook is the mask he hides behind but that Emma brings out the Killian side (looking forward to him calling him Killian and saying pirate as a term of endearment rather than one that hurts him!)
No redemption path is perfect – remember Regina was all over the place in S2 – but for the most part, while Hook has done some awful things he’s also tried to correct them as much as possible or do something to a lesser extent than was done to him. I’m very happy with the character growth from S2 though because he spent so much time on his revenge only to feel empty when he thought he got it and it made him realize that’s not who he wants to be anymore. Couple that with Emma getting to him, he started to become the man he used to be, the better version of himself again.
S3 he’s definitely stepped it up, albeit subtly for Emma since she hasn’t always noticed but she’s starting to. He definitely took a tiny step back last episode because of stooping to that level (boys will be boys *sigh*) but I think now more than ever he’s going to be back on track. They’ve shown us this season him starting to win over Charming (like Charming had to with the dwarves) and that Emma is starting to see him for who he really is and how much that means to him. So I have faith that once they stop with the petty 5 year old routine (which I genuinely hope is gone now and that they’re focused on Henry), that he will be impressive again.
No redemption is perfect or easy and it would be too easy if he just completed shed his Hook persona over night. He’s already toned down the things he says and the way he says them, and his voice changes when you know he’s emotional and serious. More and more of Killian is shining through but that doesn’t mean he just forgets all the bad stuff. Emma said his being a pirate was his strength to helping them and she’s learning that he’s so much more than that but it takes time. He HAS been truly helpful to her the entire time they’ve been out there though with literally the exception of the lighter incident which he can only take 1/2 the blame for, so as far as I’m concerned that’s a mark against both men (and both should have known better – especially Hook since he sorta knows where Emma’s head is right now moreso than Neal just because Neal didn’t know about some of the other things on Emma’s mind).
Hook is always mindful of Emma having feelings for Neal. He understands it. It why he gave her his sword. He knows what it feels like to lose your first love and how painful that is. It doesn’t change that he has feelings for her too, but he gets that there’s a connection there so she won’t be leaping into his arms anytime soon and he can’t expect another kiss. But it is telling that she was “feeling good” and able to take a little break (multiple times actually) when she was around Hook and let him comfort her in one way or another and relax a bit, and now that the triangle is in full swing she’s in a constant state of panic. She’s ALWAYS been worried about Henry and is absolutely the priority, but before this Hook was able to read exactly what she needed. He stood up for her when others accused her to screwing up or wanted to take the easy way out, and he has praised her every step of the way. He didn’t even mind her using magic to save them. He accepts her for who she is and makes sure that she knows that at all times.
The mission to save Henry isn’t exactly an ideal time for romance, especially for someone like Emma with trust issues. But love comes at the most inopportune times and in the most surprising ways. She was actually smiling and celebrating the little victories, and feeling comfortable and “good” when she kissed Hook. She had been smiling and flirty and that was definitely not a thank you kiss. But now that so much more information has been revealed to her and Neal’s back, she’s on emotion overload and she can only focus on Henry. She hasn’t been smiling. She’s been annoyed with this fiasco.
Neal being back she was glad he was alive but she was upset and sad and every time they’ve talked she hasn’t been happy about stuff. But in that conversation with Hook before everything fell apart with the lighter, she was SMILING again which makes Hook smile because he wants her to be happy (he put her happiness ahead of his when he told her about Neal – thinking that she’d get him back and they’d go off happy together and he’d lose her but at least she’d be happy). The only person I’ve seen make Neal smile was Tink.
So I definitely think that Hook took it hard that she lashed out at them. He realized they had been in danger because of their petty squabbling and while he made sure she knew they weren’t fighting over the stupid object that she was so offended they were fighting over (even though she must have known it was actually her), she put an end to it right there. Putting out notice that Henry is the most important thing and that nobody has a chance until Henry’s safe. End of story.
Neal took that well and I actually really appreciated that and then his comment later on. It was like a reverse of last week when he didn’t seem to be hearing what she said so it was nice, especially the one later on where it was a callback to everything she said to him before that he ignored at first.
Hook…was hurt because she was hurt. No longer was she smiling and appreciating his company, she was MAD at him (and Neal but he doesn’t like her being mad at him). On top of that he screwed up and it jeopardized his chances which he is very very invested in. Hook tends to let her cool off for a bit and then talk. He knew she wasn’t having any of it right then and even when Neal caught up to her later she was just like “ugh what now” and not wanting to have any one-on-ones to deal with their feelings any more.
This episode reminded me a lot of how Hook lets Emma cool off and then goes to be whatever she needs. He witnessed the issues on the ship and let her have a bit of time before going downstairs to check on her. It was very similar with Snowing in this episode. Charming let her have a day of not talking to him and then was finally like “we have to talk. say SOMETHING” – Snow and Emma are very similar at times as well as Charming and Hook. They recognize that the girls need a little space to cool off a bit but then they also have to convince them to actually talk about their feelings too or they shut down completely.
It was reminiscent too of Heart of Darkness where Snow didn’t care about Charming’s words and he tried to break it with TLK and she shoved him away and it wasn’t until he took an arrow for her that she realized that maybe his words actually meant something and then she kissed him which brought all her memories back. They know when to push and when to take a step back and Hook wisely took a step back this time.
I’m really really interested in the aftermath of all this. I expect them to talk about everything at some point but there may not be a good time to do that anytime soon. Right now, Hook is focused on getting Henry because that means they can get out of NL (he has major reasons to hate it to begin with) and Emma will be happy because she’ll have Henry back and THEN he won’t have a chance until they’ve done that. He had to interrupt the Tink/Neal reunion because it wasn’t being focused on the mission and he was still upset that he was in the doghouse with Emma and the fact that Neal was too but was smiling and practically flirting with Tink instead of continuing on with the mission. (He could have easily let that continue and just watch Emma’s face and see what she thought of everything, but he put the mission above a chance for Emma and Neal to connect on something by interrupting the interesting exchange for TinkerFire – Neal was completely smiling and I was waiting for Tink to go hug him and then have a moment where we see Emma’s reaction to everything and there was none of it).
So I totally get not loving what he’s done this week. The path to redemption is definitely not smooth sailing (and neither is any path to love), and both men regressed this week a bit. I’m encouraged by the fact that Hook’s made great strides in S3 though and that ultimately, he’s shown that Emma’s happiness is important to him so that he’ll put her first and focus on the mission. I don’t expect him to stop feeling anything or stop letting her know that be it by his actions or words, but I fully expect it to be more actions for the time being. He’s put himself out there and now he’s got to follow through and prove it to her. I think she’ll be more likely to pay attention to it now though since it was made a big deal out of. She’ll be curious and paying attention to it. This is a woman who isn’t used to being put first, but Hook keeps surprising her by saving her dad, or telling them Neal was alive when he didn’t have to (and in fact, his path to Emma might have been shorter and she’d have never had reason to suspect anything was wrong but he’s making a point of doing all of this for her).
So hopefully next week will be much better for people who are on the fence. It’s a long bumpy ride and as someone who has been part of CaptainSwan from the beginning, it certainly hasn’t been easy and I imagine the case is the same for anyone who likes ANY couple on this show because they’ve all made mistakes – not one character is perfect. I can’t wait til I can watch the whole season together and see how far some of them have come. It would be unrealistic for Hook to suddenly become a saint so it doesn’t surprise me he slipped up in this episode a little bit with the petty fighting but I hope he improves for those who aren’t sure about him!
I’ve found with a lot of episodes, especially this season, the first time through I think on the surface it seemed like ___ came out looking better and almost starting to panic about whether they’ll go this way or that way, and I’ve learned the longer the season goes on that even a lot of the stuff that seems good for SF at first can also be seen as very good for CS when I go back and analyze so I’ve stopped panicking and am just enjoying the ride now. There are many many layers at play and the characters sometimes surprise us even when we think we know them.(It’s one of the reasons I react so badly to all the assumptions about Hook because he was a pirate even though we’ve NEVER seen him going around and raping women even though that gets thrown out ALL THE TIME as an argument against him. He’s a pirate with a code and he’s quite charming when he wants to be. If they haven’t shown us something that, I don’t believe it for a second. He may have been a bit of a womanizer BEFORE MILAH, we just don’t know, but he’s been loyal to her memory for centuries and I expect the same kind of loyalty for Emma as well (though with an improved sense of self, becoming the GOOD Killian again and not the pirate or Hook.) Killian isn’t perfect but we love him and I have faith he will continue to improve and be more than a viable option for Emma’s heart but the right one for her.
(That said I do genuinely want Neal to find someone he is meant to be with and better suited for. I found out a long time ago that my issues with him are just with regards to Emma but I love Bae and want him to be happy too!) The show has made a point that families are sometimes not the typical family, and that first love isn’t always true love so Emma is open either way. Personally I feel like they’re setting it up to be with Killian but he hasn’t won her over…YET. I hope that by the time Emma makes a choice, whoever it is that it 1) sticks – no flip-flopping, and 2) is made obvious that it’s right for her and explains why so that this stupid triangle (which I’m not convinced is really a triangle except for the media hype and the shipper wars) is over once and for all, and then we see them working as a team and fighting against all odds like all the other core couples on this show.
Keeper of Hook's Trenchcoat.