I’m not going to delve directly into the ‘rape culture’ argument because as stated earlier, I find it utterly ridiculous and, the attempt some have made to compare real life to ficticous television, frankly, insulting to victims of rape and violent crime. But I do like the conversations that have stemmed from it.
In regard to Milah. As a mother, I have HUGE issue with her and her decisions. I realize she was in a loveless marriage. Regardless of whether you agree that Rumple was selfish and kept them in their village or her notion that Rumple was cowardly by running from the Ogre Wars or whatnot, I think everyone can agree their marriage was loveless for both Milah and Rumple. However, that does not mean you leave your child. Even if my child’s father was a perfect father, I could never leave my son, especially without explanation and under false pretense. You fall in love with someone else, fine, leave the child’s father. But I cannot fathom falling in love with someone else and placing that romantic love above the love of my child. So I do and will continue to dislike Milah. The only backstory I would be interested in seeing involving Milah is one that addresses Hook’s feelings toward Milah leaving Bae behind, given that he fell in love with Emma – a woman who will always put her child first, and I believe this is one of the things Hook loves most about Emma.
On the other hand, I don’t have too many problems with Neal. I think a relationship between a 17 year old and 24ish year old – one that resulted in pregnancy no less – is, for lack of a better word, gross. And I still have not been given a sufficient answer as to why Neal had to leave Emma and let her go to jail or ‘bad things would happen’. I doubt I ever will get a satisfying answer to that question, however. But I can appreciate that Neal did seem to turn his life around after that decision, and establish a normal, adult life. And when he found out he had a child, he stepped up and dedicated himself to Henry 100%, as a father should (and unlike Milah did for Bae). I never really saw a love triangle between Emma/Neal/Hook; I saw Neal & Emma come back into each other’s lives and genuinely try to sort through the anger and misconceptions and develop a good friendship for the sake of their child; and Emma moving on romantically with Hook.
And…then the killed him off 2 minutes later. That still makes me so angry. I think the writers did a disservice to the fans and actually brought out some of the hate in the fandom needlessly. I still don’t believe killing Neal was ‘story driven’ – I think they had some great ideas for Neal that never really developed well and they found themselves with a character they had no idea how to write for. But the potential was there – I don’t understand why they didn’t continue and really flesh out the Neal/Bae/Rumple storyline, and get Belle involved with it. And I really loved the idea of CaptainFire – I wanted to see Hook and Neal sort their crap out, because I think they could have developed a fantastic friendship that each of them need. And most importantly, THEY SHOULD HAVE HAD EMMA CHOOSE BEFORE NEAL DIED. I think it’s easy for some fans to cry Emma’s only with Hook because Neal’s gone, etc etc because the writers chose not to answer that very heated debate.
So…what was my point again? Oh yeah – ‘rape culture debate’ – ridiculous. Milah – hate her. Neal – don’t hate him. Writers – y’all messed up a little with the Neal/Hook/Emma stuff but I’m willing to forgive thanks to our wonderful CS movie. Now, keep going A&E – and don’t screw it up with shiny ‘Frozen’ toys!!