So all you SF fans, how do you explain that? I know Emma says that she had never experienced true love before at her wedding…and that is rather damning.
I see no problem with taking Emma at her word. I simply think that we should then take her at her word consistently. During the wedding, she states that she is experiencing something with Hook that is qualitatively different from her previous experiences, and labels that true love. Sure, why not? In fact, I should hope that her feelings for Neal, for her parents, for Henry and for every other important person in her life are each particular and unique forms of love — of course they are, why wouldn’t they be? And all are equally true, lowercase t. But as far as TL as a magical force is concerned (rather than an emotion/feeling/state or what have you) I am simply saying that Emma shares it with Henry, and that’s confirmed beyond doubt. In other words, both things can be true: Emma’s statement of her experience can be an accurate reflection of her experience, AND she does in fact share TL with other people. I don’t necessarily see a contradiction here.