The theme of fathers in general being historically painted in a negative light on this show for one.
That’s about the ONLY thing this death did for Bae – it officially broke the cycle of horrible father/son relationships on the show. Malcolm was a crappy father, Rumple was a crappy father… Neal, well, we’ll never know… he didn’t get much chance to be one, but from the moment he found out he had a kid, he sure tried to be a good father.
Malcolm let go. Rumple let go. TWICE, Neal made Emma let go. He didn’t have it in him to let go. Emma had to be the one to do it – the first time into the portal, the second time into death.