Excellent post, RGF! I totally agree – haha, maybe it is age, experience, whatever, that makes people look at that scene differently.
It’s funny, at some point in my late teens or early 20s, I made a conscious decision to allow myself to live, love, get hurt…experience life to it’s fullest so I didn’t wake up at some point, married with kids and regret anything. And I lived and loved HARD…and it resulted in a lot of pain…and eventual forgiveness for that pain. And I will encourage my son to do the same thing. Because it makes you a better person. It makes you stronger and realize you can’t be broken unless you allow someone to break you.
Emma literally fell apart the last time she was in a romantic relationship and it didn’t work out (Neal). The fact of the matter is, whatever the reason it didn’t work out with Walsh (you know, not being of the same species can be a real relationship killer), the important thing is that Emma does feel something. She’s moving forward. She isn’t being drawn so deep within herself the she is surviving, but not living. And I think it’s incredibly important that someone pointed that out to her. More importantly, who pointed it out to her. Had Snow or even Charming said that, she would likely have brushed it off. That it was Hook, one of the people she knows cares deeply for her, understands her, gets her, who said it, makes those words resonate even deeper with her.