Reply To: Emma + Baelfire = Swanfire

[Slurpeez]

I agree. When Emma kissed Hook, it felt more like she was just trying to avoid his question by distracting him rather than an I love you kiss. I think Emma is still mourning Neal. She’s coming up with excuses, she’s worried about what Henry is going to think, she doesn’t feel ready to jump head first into a new relationship so soon. ?

It’s difficult for me to understand Emma’s mindset as of late. In 3×16, Emma told Henry she’d found his father again, but that it was too late. Too late for what? Too late for Henry to say goodbye? Too late for Emma and Neal to talk? Too late for Emma and Neal to get their second chance? While I know she said she’s tired of living in the past, she never really dealt with it. Instead, she told Neal in the Echo Cave that it was easier for her to put everything behind her than it was for them to live through all the pain again. Yet, that isn’t really character growth if Emma never dealt with the past issues. Instead, she just buried them when she symbolically put that dirt on Neal’s coffin. Is Emma feeling guilty about her confession that it would’ve been easier on her if Neal had died in the S2 finale than it was when she discovered he was alive in NL? Is Neal’s death even remotely affecting Emma? Does she feel badly about the fact that she was unable to save him in 3×15 and again in 3×22? Is she simply transferring her feelings of true love for Neal onto Hook–someone who also had a strong tie to Neal? I’m not so sure. If I had any faith in the writers portraying Emma faithfully and showing real internal conflict, I might be inclined to believe that interpretation.

However, I think Emma avoiding Hook is simply more of the same of Emma in S3b: Emma has her walls up which Hook has to try and knock down. It’s just a big set up for Hook to thaw Emma’s frozen heart. (Although, if OUAT were really being faithful to the spirit of Frozen, which put family before romantic love, they’d have it be Henry, rather than Hook, thaw his mother’s heart out. After all, this is supposed to be Emma and Henry’s fairytale, not the tale about Emma and the pirate captain).

Also why does Hook think Emma is avoiding him when it’s only been “almost a full day” since their kiss (basing that time frame on Rumple saying he and Belle had been married “almost a full day” and the CS kiss happened at the same time as the wedding). Was Hook expecting Emma to suddenly be attached to his hip

Yes, that is exactly what Hook was expecting, especially since he let it be known he gave up his ship for her.