Reply To: Emma + Baelfire = Swanfire

As for the promo, yay for the dreamcatcher. Love the idea that it could act as a type of tailsman/emotional touchstone for Emma. And going on that last scene and the swift kick to Hook’s special area, I’m probably not the only one who get’s a perverse sense of joy and entertainment of the idea of Hook running around New York harassing Emma and her knocking him back at every opportunity

It’s actually quite funny to think that the circumstances in which Hook shows up are so awkward. He has to become a stalker to Emma, who is now cursed to forget everything she learned about Neal in “Manhattan” and to forget all of the scummy things Hook ever did to her. As unintuitive as it may sound, the writers have given SF fans a gift by not only making CS come first, but also by making it happen when Emma is not in her right mind. She can’t remember anything about the fact that Hook left for her dead in the Enchanted Forest and while believing Neal had no good reason to let Emma go to jail. In other words, the only way Hook even has a shot with Emma is by wiping her new memories of Neal which showed why he left her. In my estimation, CS would never get off the ground as long as Neal were in the picture. Emma and Hook have shared a kiss, but only when Emma thought Neal was dead. By making Emma think of Neal as the loser who left her for selfish reasons, the writers are effectively taking away Emma’s newfound understanding and empathy with Neal. They are also taking away Henry’s special relationship with his father. It’s painful, but also shows that Hook is Emma second choice, not her first.

Also, I laughed out loud when Emma kneed Hook in the gonads! It was seriously a funny way to end the winter finale. And while CS fans are quick to draw parallels to Snow and Belle not remembering their respective men, I have to wonder if the writers just threw in the forced CS kiss to pacify the loud fan base. Also, I still think Emma, who embodies true love, should have had her memories jolted when Hook kissed her, not because they’re true love, but because Emma embodies true love. Yes, she doesn’t remember him or believe she’s the savior, but that shouldn’t matter to someone as inherently powerful as Emma. She didn’t even have to try to awaken Graham; she just did it even before she accepted her true identity or believed in magic in S1 . The CS kiss not working at the end of 3×11 doesn’t necessarily mean Hook’s kiss would’ve worked under different circumstances (like he gets Emma to fall in love with him). It could just mean that Hook and Emma are in fact not true love.

I now am fixated on the idea that it’s Emma’s talisman which will awaken her. It would be a direct parallel to 2×22 when Belle’s talisman, her chipped cup, awakened her. The writers are being oh so clever by allowing CS to think the parallel is Snow and Charming in 1×16 when Charming had to try and get Snow to remember him. Yet perhaps the real parallel isn’t the CS kiss not working, but rather, the fact that it’s Emma’s talisman, her SF dreamcatcher, which connects her to her real identity, just as it was Belle’s chipped cup, representative of Rumbelle, which stirred her real memories. There were so many other Rumbelle parallels like Belle saying to Rumple she would see him again being compared to Neal saying he would see Emma and Henry again that I wouldn’t be surprised if this is how the writers have crafted it to be.