It’s all about the second chances, of course.
Second Chance to reuse that poster, this time without being forced to include Neal!
Second Chance to have him DIEEEEEE!
Second Chance to have him be separated from his family.
Second Chance to forget all about the Darlings.
Second Chance to forget all about how brave Neal was, all along, and pretend the “circle of cowardice” was unbroken until that moment despite: Neal leaping a shadow to head back to NL, to face “hands down” the nastiest person, Pan, after getting shot by his ex-fiance for standing up to her over her crazed mission to eliminate magic. He had reason to hate magic, but he tried to do the right thing. Lets not forget his bravery in facing his father, a man who hurt him deeply when he broke his trust years before. Or the time he stood up against Cora and Regina, or even just Regina, rather than running away and hiding (like someone else we could mention who apparently, couldn’t turn on Cora or challenge her, something even Aurora did). Oh, let’s not forget emotional bravery, the ability to take responsibility for your actions, apologize, and accept it might take time for someone to trust you again rather than demanding instant closeness. Long before all that though, we had Bae’s risking a new world if it meant saving his father, willingness to go to war, and going with the shadow to save the Darlings. So yes, Second Chance to forget all of that happened.
Second Chance to have Neal silently accept Hook’s categorization of things, in a way that makes both he and Hook appear slightly misogynistic. I’d buy Neal was grateful for Hook’s help in NL, even if he said “I knew I could trust you, after you helped my son. I was wrong, you could change.” Why not give Neal that line, instead of the ridiculous how does it feel to be a hero/villain stuff, and clap-trap about “a woman”.
Second Chance to invent some horrible plot device magic that involves bad CGI (guess that’s not a second chance, as they keep doing that).
