So that episode was a rough watch. I am kind of in the middle about everything that happened. I am disappointed that pretty much all of our theories crashed and burned but there was definitely some good progress for CS despite the bad things that happened. This episode gave me wayyyyy too many questions though and answered very little.
I really liked Emma embracing her magic. Loved the scene at the diner with Regina eating with the Charmings like a big happy family. I thought that was overdue and illustrated how far the characters have come. Regina’s reaction (and bad coverup) to Henry driving was funny as well. I also loved that Hook did not do anything with the prostitute. Despite some of his poor pirate-y decisions this episode he was at least faithful to Emma in that respect.
I did not like that Knight Killian was a meaningless promo tease. I thought Blackbeard was just a plot device and was wasted overall. I did NOT like that Hook lied to Emma even if it was a half-lie.
Despite obviously disagreeing with his choices and hoping he would choose a different path it wasn’t really OOC for Hook to do what he did. Hook has suffered a lot of losses in his life and he is not hopeful like the Charmings. I think this was further illustrated by the little CaptainCharming scene at the diner. Frankly, even the Charmings had apparently zero hope of seeing Emma again so I don’t think it is shocking that Hook wouldn’t have hope either. I think it would be pretty natural for Hook to seek solace in the one constant in his life (the ship) if he felt he would never see Emma again. I liked the double meaning of his words regarding the ship. I am not surprised that he was unwilling to give up the one thing he had left in order to help a relative stranger. I said it earlier that I don’t really consider Hook to be a hero (yet) and this was very clearly demonstrated. I think this was a good episode for anybody that thought Hooks redemption was going too fast.
I also think it is telling that this is the first time you really see Hook have regret/guilt over something he has done. The apology he made to fake Ariel was heartbreaking. The self-loathing now that it has snowballed into the curse is very apparent. I think him feeling worthy of Emma’s love is definitely going to be an issue at some point.
So timeline wise:
1 month – Hook tells the Charmings he was always a pirate and takes off presumably to rebuild a crew and find the Jolly Roger
3 months – Hook has a skeleton crew doing “Land Pirating”. Meets up with Ariel and chooses his ship over heroism
4-12 months – ?????
1 year later – Hook believes that Emma is his TL enough to immediately try TLK. Hook has somehow separated from his crew, which resulted in them getting cursed but not him. Jolly Roger is MIA again. Still no info regarding the message or the memory potion. Hook confesses to fake Ariel that Emma broke his heart but that he still loves her.
So now my questions are:
1. Emma let down one of her walls towards the conclusion of the episode telling Hook she didn’t care what happened and she is tired of living in the past. This was AFTER she is impressed that he helped Ariel and Eric reunite (which clearly wasn’t the case). Do you think that was at least a factor in what she told Hook at the door? Do you think she will regress in her feelings for him when she finds out the truth of what happened?
2. What the heck happened to the JR and how soon do you think he realized the mistake he made? We still have 9 long months of his missing year. Another Hook quasi-centric this season? What episode could it possibly be?
3. I have to re-watch but if I recall correctly he tells Ariel that he did it because he had a hole in his heart and that his heart was broken. Ariel tells him to swear on the woman’s name that broke his heart. So did Emma actually break his heart or did circumstances? Or did I misunderstand that.
4. What does Hook do now? He clearly wanted to at least talk to David, which didn’t happen. We also see him pull away at the end of the episode. With all of that self-loathing should we be concerned that he might attempt to remove himself from the equation since its lose-lose? Personally I think he needs to tell somebody.
Despite this being angst^2 this does setup TLK pretty nicely, which balms my hurt shipper heart. I think ultimately Zelena is underestimating Emma’s feelings for Killian and her little curse is going to get smacked down by TLK.
With regard to the promo: Clearly Hook is still involved to a degree since he is at the seance. What triggers the need for it? Does Hook tell them about the curse or does something else happen? It just seems kind of random. This is the episode with what looked like a Zelena/Rumple kiss right? (ew). Zelena is definitely becoming the destroyer of ships. She has pissed off SF, CS and now it looks like OQ is going to have a big problem this episode as well as Rumbelle fans if that kiss happens.