From what I’ve gathered, there were comparably little Hook and Emma scenes in this episode. Without Hook around, Emma can be herself. You even see the look of love, of grief, of loss when he pulls out the picture of Neal and Emma. Yet, the Emma we see featured when she is on a date with Hook has to be dumbed down significantly. Also, the Emma we see letting her kid pal around with Hook shows a surprising lack of sound judgment.
I said this in my own review, but Emma Swan felt like Emma Swan again. At least a little. And the fact that she spent almost the entire episode sans-Hook says it all to me. And she was the most real when that photo came out of the box.
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"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"