What pains me the most, was Emma as a mother, from S1 to S3A, wanting to be with her son, and doing everything for henry, i didnt put S3B, because was the start of Henry being replace by Hook, and seems that continues on S4, where is her thought in henry, in S1 and S2 the person who we see most around emma was henry, now is hook, is like she doesnt even care about it, is like she thinks, this is SB , he grew up here, so many people to take care of him.
Yes, where exactly is Henry in the midst of all this? While Regina and Emma are busy having their attention taken up with their male suitors, who is minding Henry? His maternal grandparents are too busy with their newborn son. His paternal grandfather is off on his honeymoon. There literally doesn’t seem to be anyone even remotely concerned with what Henry must be feeling after the loss of his dad. Neal was probably the only one left in town who would’ve given his undivided attention to his son. The moment he learned he was a father, he turned his life upside down to make sure Henry wouldn’t have to grow up fatherless the way he did. Looking back, Neal’s speech to Henry (who was really Peter Pan at the time) fills my heart with a bitter-sweet note. Neal told his son he’d have a father now and forever. And then, Neal didn’t even get to say goodbye to his son in the end, because Henry had no memory of him. Neal was not a deadbeat dad. He wanted to be the best dad he could be and gave his life twice to save his son. It’s just total crap that now Henry really has not one parent who is totally dedicated to him.
Don’t even get me started on Emma’s choice of would-be step-father to her son. The last time they spent any substantial amount of time together, Hook was teaching Emma’s kid to gamble, telling him it’s not how you play but winning that matters, and permitting him to runaway from home. Yup. Of the two would-be step father figures to Henry, Robin Hood is the obvious choice. He’s a family man, is a thief but with real honor, and has numerous years experience being a single dad already. The only problem is he already has a family of his own and (hopefully) won’t prove to be as bad as David Nolan was.
No wonder Henry starts hanging out at Rumple’s pawn shop. Henry is a young man now who needs male guidance. Too bad Rumple isn’t exactly the best male influence, especially when it comes to dark magic. And should it happen that Henry has innate magical ability like his mom, then Grumple may not be the best source of wisdom on that front. Too bad Charming seems to be too busy with his own son to show much regard for his grandson. Remember how precious it was to see Grandpa Charming and Henry bond over play sword fighting and horses? Henry needs that sort of positive male attention, and who better to get it from than Prince Charming? Why does OUAT have to make Henry find his grandfather boring? That’s so typical of OUAT to make the actual heroes of the stories into fuddy-duddy types.
"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