I wouldn’t have had a problem with Neal’s death if it had been done right and if it had had an emotional impact on the characters, especialy on Emma, but they basically forgot about about him two episodes later when Emma spend an entire episode with Regina (SQ fanservice) and the lips curse started (CS fanservice)
Ok so this is honestly the brunt of the disagreement here. Just because they write two characters interacting with each other, does not mean they are doing a service to SQ fans. They have to write a friking story. Regina is a big part of the story with Emma since the start of the show. Just because they have time together on screen does not mean they are trying to appease shippers. You could say they are trying to appease all ships if you go down that road.