Reply To: Emma + Baelfire = Swanfire

[Slurpeez]

So this interview came out and A&E’s reply about Hook was….interesting. (Sorry in advance to any CS fans, but fair warning).

We’ve found out a little bit about what happened to Hook over the past year. Are we going to get more memories back before the finale?
Adam Horowitz: “I think that the mystery of that missing year will be definitely resolved before the end of this year.”
Edward Kitsis: “We will see a big chunk of that next week in episode 19 called ‘A Curious Thing.’”

Maybe that “big chunk” of the missing year included Hook sacrificing his ship to enact Zelena’s curse, as someone wrote several pages back.

Can you talk about the decision to kill Bae?

Adam Horowitz: “Look, it’s not something we take lightly. We love the character, we love Michael Raymond-James. When you’re telling a large serialized story like we’re endeavoring to do, there are ups and downs in that story for those characters. This was one of the most difficult things we’ve had to do on this show the entire run.”

Edward Kitsis: “Yes. For us, we loved the idea of him when he lost Emma and Henry at the end of the first 11 and they went to New York, we loved the idea of him starting to go down the same path his father did which was, ‘I will do anything to get with my son, no matter the cost.’ And then realizing that his father sacrificed himself for him, so the person that he always thought was a coward finally redeemed himself, and so Neal had to honor that. We liked that kind of history repeating itself and then not. Unfortunately that meant he had to die.”

Don’t they mean Neal “had to die” to make room for Hook to swoop in on Emma? I still don’t buy that Neal “had” to die for story-driven reasons. If Neal really wanted to honor his father’s sacrifice, he should’ve left well enough alone.  It was only because the writers decided to ‘reset’ everything, even though it was working fine. Don’t try and fix something if it isn’t broken. Now I fear, it may be too late.

Adam Horowitz: “And I would also say this about his death which is that the ripples of the death have not stopped being felt. As you continue to watch this season you’ll see that play out.”

Why would Neal’s death have ripple effects? Because Neal played right into Zelena’s hands in a totally uncharacteristic moment of pure insanity. Because thanks to Neal, Zelena got exactly what she wanted (i.e. Rumple) and now she can tamper with the laws of magic to change the entire course of history, potentially preventing Emma and Henry ever from even existing.

Any chance August Booth will be back anytime soon?
Edward Kitsis: “Not this year but definitely. We love Eion Bailey and we love that character. He’s always on our mind.”
Adam Horowitz: “August is in our mind and how to incorporate him in the show.”

Well, there goes that theory about August being in “Kansas” and there goes the MRJ flashback to “Tallahassee.” Yet, I remember A&E said in the Lightning Round 9 or 10 that we might be seeing him again. Something must’ve happened such that MRJ or Eion were unavailable, or the writers just decided to give Hook yet another character-centric episode in 3×17 (which failed to draw in high ratings). *sigh*

What does the future hold for Hook and Emma?

Adam Horowitz: “As far as Hook and Emma…”
Edward Kitsis: “…there’s more to be told.”
Adam Horowitz: “There’s more to be told and there’s a lot of craziness going on in Storybrooke right now that they’ve both got to deal with.”
Edward Kitsis: “Unfortunately, Emma wants to go back to New York and Hook wants her to stay, so we’ll see what happens.”

And that is the real reason why Neal had to die. Emma wanted for herself what Neal had: a normal life, away from all that crap of magic, living in the city. Emma chose for herself exactly as Neal did. As long as Neal was alive, he and Emma had a perfectly compatible dream. They were looking in the same direction. Neal’s death was done in the way it was and when it was to make room for Hook, whose natural character arc should’ve ended when Neverland did, as it did for the PP, the Darlings, Tinkberll and the Lost Boys. Emma and Hook could only ever happen when Neal was dead, because as long as Neal were living, Emma would’ve naturally gravitated to him. They were confirmed as having true love! They were the modern-day fairytale couple we SF fans were rooting for. Now the man who seduced Neal’s mom gets to swoop in and seduce the mother of Neal’s child. And they lived happily ever after.