Reply To: Why is Hook such a divisive character within the fandom?

[TheWatcher]

You can’t say there is bias on one side and not on the other.

Sure. I’m not saying there isn’t. It’s not fair to say that everyone who hates hook is just bitter over ship related issues (as Michael said earlier), just as its not to say everyone who hated Neal hated him because he was in opposition to Hook being with Emma. But we can have a discussion about the character of Neal that wouldn’t always rewound itself to “He’s Emma’s boyfriend”. That gets very hard with Hook.

Why? Because he’s so heavily tied to the ship with not much else outside of it. I’m really trying to level here and not be snarky or anything, so I was not calling it a bias or saying that CS fans are “blind to the truth” or anything like that. But it’s just a matter of perspective or logic or whatever you want to call it. If you loved the character, wanted him to get with Emma from the jump, and are invested in their relationship, you probably don’t see much wrong with anything going on because the show is playing into what you are interested in.

My whole point was that other characters on this show get more passes, or at least their actions don’t get dwelled on as much as Hook’s, it seems.

I disagree. Just look at Rumpel.

I think the show is much more willing to address when other characters clearly do something bad, as opposed to Hook where it just often gets swept under the rug and we are to act as if it never happened. Regina did rape Graham. She killed countless people. She and Cora were actively trying to hurt the main characters in season 2. But the thing is by the latter half of season 2, Regina had put down her role of a villain and from that point on was actively trying to do better. She was trying to escape her evilness (this is the 6th season and shes still trying to do it, despite having used light magic and even used TLK to break the curse in season 3 like Emma did in season 1) and the image that came with it. Regina isn’t perfect, but her character was and still is going through a constant journey. She’s not turning around and hurting people, lying, or doing bad things when no one is looking or when it suits her needs, and when she does it gets addressed. Rumpel is doing that, and the show is treating him like what he is. A bad guy. And almost all of us are looking at Rumpel for what he is. A villain.

Regina had a richer, better written arc given to her. Hook just went from villain to “hero” quite easily. He’s done bad or at least questionable things since that never got addressed, which I already spoke on. And that’s not fair. Excuses are made for any negative thing said about Hook.

One example was when Hook took the book out this season and reminded Emma of who she was and that she can do anything she puts her mind to. Many fans were annoyed bc they felt it was just Hook being Emma’s lapdog again and only serving to act as her supportive boyfriend, when in fact, the scene was actually really sweet and continued to put Hook in a great light this year 

But Hook’s constantly doing that. Pretty much everything about Hook is putting him in a good light. He’s her cheerleader, all the time. That’s nothing new, nothing special. It’s incredibly typical for those two. I said that pages ago. She says she cant do something, he tells her to believe in herself.

Robin was just as boring as Hook but people on this thread loved Robin and hate Hook

Okay, this is an interesting though. I think Hook is way more prominent than RH is, which makes him a little more unbearable to those who aren’t invested in him. Everyone here wasn’t a huge fan of OutlawQueen and a lot still aren’t. I agree that it’d be nice if both of them were given better storylines, and RH has been a bit bleh at points. But the show isn’t constantly trying to force RH down our throats, so to speak, or make him look like hes the greatest thing since sliced bananas. RH has a family, RH had the conflict with Marian and Regina because of the time travel thing, then he was raped by Zelena a season or whatever ago, and has a child by her, and RH was a good heroic guy. He was vastly more interesting than Hook. In my opinion. I’m very interested in what is going to happen with him….Hence why there was no reason RH needed to die at all because the writers clearly have or had some sort of plan for him (including Page 23 and his dark past thing). To kill him is sort of out of left field. It served no purpose.

Same thing with Neal. Their deaths just doesn’t seem as if they were supposed to happen all along, and I think Sean said as much (I vaguely recall an interview where he said he just got a phone call one day telling him Robin was going to die).

Hook is boosted up in the story as this major character but doesn’t do anything outside of his ship, mainly. He has no relevance, very little story. He is boring to a lot of us. And the arc where he should have been featured front and center (Neverland) he was downgraded to nothing more than a point in a love triangle between Emma and Neal. I guess its comparable for some who aren’t impressed with either. I personally grew to love OQ and want to see them succeed because their story was relatively interesting. Moved a bit quickly, was contrived, but I think its much better now than what it was when it began, or has the potential to be. Hook and Emma are in a constant loop. It doesn’t even seem like Emma is growing as a character.

And if you think that Robin getting a pass and Hook getting more scrutiny has nothing to do with inherent bias within the SF fan club who simply don’t care for Hook bc he’s not Neal, then I think we aren’t being honest with ourselves

 I think anyone can have opinions of characters that are not centered around who they are sleeping with.