@Oncewatcher wrote:
Before I begin, please let me apologize for the length. I do think it’s worth reading, though.
Regarding the previous post:
In a perfect world, yes but….
When Neal shows up in Storybrooke, initially, he will not receive a good reception from Emma. She doesn’t know why he allowed her to end up in prison for something he did. She doesn’t know that the decision he made was sacrificial and unselfish.When he shows up, from her point of view, this may be a situation where she feels like he’s showing up one day to say “honey, I’m home “. Neal will have to earn his way back into Emma’s life, and he will have to earn his way into Henry’s because Emma probably won’t be real keen on letting him get to know him. At least, not right away.
With the theory I have, I’m just taking emotion out of the equation. Regina, is still Regina. To her, whether justified or not, Henry is still her son. That’s why I think she’ll see this as an opportunity for her to swoop in and take advantage of the situation. I think she will, or at least will try to schmooze Neal in her direction. If she knows Emma has an emotional connection to Neal, there’s a lot she can use against to her advantage; having Henry’s father in her corner, and another way she can “stick it” to the Charmings.
For Neal, he will already be emotionally vulnerable before he even gets to Storybrooke. When his first encounter with Emma doesn’t go well (and, it won’t), he will be heart broken. Regina will know that when she finds out who he is. She’ll see an opportunity here for herself. In fact, my instincts have me thinking she will at least try to influence him romantically.For Hook, in the same way as Regina, this will be a romantic opportunity for him to save the day for Emma; to be her knight in shining armor and be the man who will stand in battle for her; to fight the dragons in her life that caused so much. To help himself, he’ll put Neal’s name on every one of those. Initially, some of this may not be for the most honest of reasons. Some of it may to help him get closer to Gold, but I think he really does have a crush on Emma, but those feelings will begin to mature when he learns the whole story about what happened to her, which made her distrust so much, that she’d leave him on that bean stalk. She put Neal’s face on Hook when she did that. There’s also the aspect of what happened to Graham. He died in Emma’s arms. There’s an emotional tag attached to his event, and is certainly something Hook can identify with himself.
Psychologically, I think Hook is still trying to “save” Milah. Trying to “save” her, is what has damanged him emotionally, and the passion for this “mission” he has is what has led him to do so many evil things in his search for Gold. He knows Milah is gone, but he hasn’t let her go. When he truly understands how much he and Emma have in common, I think his priorities will be made very vulnerable to realignment. It’s funny how when you think you see things clearly in life, all of a sudden something happens and you look at things from a different perspective. I think that’s what will happen for Hook. Oh, he’ll still hate Gold and for now, regardless of of how he feels for Emma, revenge will be his #1 target. That said though, I see a huge weak spot in him, which is definitely subject to that “floor” of his purposes giving way under the weight of his heart with again, shows a lot of vulnerability. It would be interesting, is to see how all of this will calculate for everybody. It will certainly provide for some great story telling.
Great post! 😀
I do agree that Hook has some sort of connection with Emma. Whether or not that will develop into something meaningful is another story. But there’s definitely promise there. And I agree that Neal will have to earn his way back into Emma’s good graces. But due to the fact that he’s been aware of the curse and everything that’s happened in Storybrooke, that also means that he’s aware of Regina and her past as the Evil Queen. I highly doubt he’s going ally himself with a woman who he probably views as evil. And not only that, but raised his son as well. And if he is indeed Baelfire, then I’m almost positive he won’t ally himself with Regina. He’ll probably be very angry with Rumpel, so I don’t see him allying himself with someone who’s almost as bad as Rumpel.