I can see him coming back in the finale for an actual goodbye with Henry and Emma that isn’t so *stupid* as the first one (BITTER). But I’m still hesitant to hope for anything beyond that. I think Adam and Eddy are saving the real goodbye/closure for 322.
I’m now more convinced that Neal could be appearing in the finale. A few weeks ago someone tweeted Adam saying, “So I guess this means Neal won’t be in the finale.” To which Adam replied, “Who said that?” Now I think this was before 3×15 aired, so Adam may have been avoiding giving away Neal died, but then again, it might’ve been hinting we’d see Neal again in the final episode.
The question then is in what form? Here are some possibilities: a flashback, a ghost, or an AU. “Dead is dead,” but if time were to be reversed, as Phee suggested, that would mean Neal’s death would be undone. This would allow for sufficient closure. Neal would get to see his son. Rumple would be free to see Neal. Emma and Neal could even kiss and maybe TLK would do something magical. Why else have Belle confirm Emma and Neal had true love and yet they didn’t even kiss goodbye? Because that would be too “easy” to undoing Zelena’s curse and the season would’ve ended prematurley. Yet, like RG, I have a hunch if Neal were to return, it would be just for the finale. The way Neal’s death was so quickly executed seemed like MRJ did in fact want off the show, so MRJ returning for 3×22 might just be for a single episode.
"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy