Reply To: Emma + Baelfire = Swanfire

Basically, it’s pretty good odds that Neal wouldn’t be able to get through to her. I’m sure he’d have loved to be the one who went, because he’d be desperate to see her and Henry again, (those spoiler pics showed him seeming upset over something, and this may well be it) but if the aim is to get her to listen, he’s not the best bet.

And if she doesn’t listen to whoever gets sent, then Emma never believes again, and she’ll never make it back to her family. It’s history repeating, Neal doing something that hurt him personally, (in the first instance leaving her, and in the second instance not going to her and sending someone else, Hook no less, in his place), to ensure that the end result will be that she can get back to her family.

Once again, Neal makes the selfless decision with regards to Emma, putting her happiness in the hands of another, a rival no less, for the sake of her family no less!

I’m really not convinced that that’s their plan. Since the NL kiss we’ve seen her play it down as “just a kiss” to both Snow and Hook himself, we’ve seen her not show any interest in kissing him again, meanwhile she’s repeatedly talked about still being in love with Neal, we didn’t get any indication that she sought Hook out right after they got baack to SB, but she did eventually decide to go meet Neal for lunch, we saw her make a conscious effort to say goodbye to Neal, but didn’t approach Hook at all, she responded with the bland reaction of “good” when Hook said he’d think about her every day, and when he attempted to kiss her again, there was no TL magic, and she kneed him in the nuts, and he actually admitted defeat.

All great points! I love how CS is already declaring victory, despite the fact that Neal said, “This isn’t over. I’ll see you both again.” I must be watching a completely different show than CS fans, because it seems like we read things so differently. I realize it’s a matter of subjectivity to a certain point, but the fact still remains that Neal and Emma are going to see each other again. It’s not over! It’s pretty evident from where I sit that Emma is still unclear on Hook but that Emma and Neal have unfinished business!

To me, it seems like they’ve been consistently writing CS as being very one sided, while exploring the fact that Emma does have deep (if conflicted) emotions (including love) for Neal. That means that it would be a complete and random 180 if Emma now decided to be in a relationship with Hook, and I like to think that they wouldn’t write something so unbelievable and out of character for their heroine, considering the opposite storyline they have actually put effort into constructing.

While I think CS will still be explore more, I think that if anything, Emma spending time with Hook will show her just how unsuited he is for her. He’s still in love with the idea of Emma, the image of the woman he’s built up in his mind. Every time Emma and Hook have spent any significant amount of time together, it’s always been under distress in a far off land where adventure and danger lurk behind every corner. And guess what? Danger can be exciting and cause the adrenaline to rush, which many people confuse with feelings of “being in love.” Hook’s experience tells him that love means sailing off together on a ship without any cares or responsibilities. Yet, Emma and Hook have never really even really spent a “normal” day together on dry land. In fact, I think if Hook actually were to spend a good portion of time in SB or NYC without any pressing danger to face he’d eventually grow bored out of his mind! By contrast, Emma’s idea of a happy ending clearly is just having a normal life with her son doing normal thing like making him breakfast. Those little family things are the kind of thing Emma and Neal both want and partially why I think they’ll get their everyday “happily ever after” real-life fairytale together.