’m not saying he hasn’t changed 100% full stop. But it comes back to that choice and what it says about him as a character–when push came to shove he chose the wrong path, made a really bad choice, a choice that was selfishly motivated (if also sympathetic) without consideration to others. Redemption isn’t supposed to be easy, it’s supposed to be hard. And he took the easy (read: not fully redeemed) route. If apologizing to Belle and offering her a safe haven was 1 step forward, choosing to not listen to two sets of advice, and burn his memories without confessing to Charming was 1 step back. And that’s why I think it’s helpful to compare him to Regina in this episode. Her not killing the EQ, offering the EQ a chance to meet with Henry, and letting Snow forgive the EQ is a series of good choices–several steps forward, if you will. Regina could have taken the easy path by killing the EQ but she didn’t. Instead she did the harder thing which was accept that side and offer love and hope.
Oh I completely agree. Hook is not on Regina’s level. Never said they were. But to say Hook hasn’t changed at all seems asinine to me. I know that wasn’t you who said that. But yes, Hook still has a ways to go. What’s unfortunate is that Regina, who killed a bazillion people in her past, never had to confront all of them in the UW. The writers sort of let Regina off the hook there (pun not intended). Regina has had almost 5 seasons to repair wounds and go down the process of redemption. Unfortunately Hook has not had as long of a time and since the show is ending soon, his redemption is never going to be as well done as Regina’s. I have to think if we had another year or two, they wouldn’t feel rushed to do a proposal and Hook would have more time on screen to redeem himself in a more organic and natural way.