but seriously, can MRJ be more awesome with how he uses his eyes to convey Neal’s emotions?! Wow. I am beyond impressed with him this year (and I loved him last year too). He’s done this with Neal all season from his disappointment in how cowardly he acted instead of going to find Emma after the curse broke, to his anxiety at finding out she was in Neverland, his anger and frustration with his father, his hopeful face when he found the group’s campground and knew that Emma had been there, his sadness and understanding at Emma’s confession to him, his determination to do the right thing now and fight for Emma no matter what, and now his eyes conveying so much in the sneak peak…dang, I just love this guy more and more every single week.
MRJ has embodied the character so well. He totally gets Neal and portrays him so well, just a mere expression can instantly crush your heart or make it soar. He’s seriously wonderful in this role!
I love the fact that Neal isn’t perfect. I love that he’s ADMITTED he isn’t perfect and that he’s made big time mistakes.
This is a major difference in either side of the triangle IMO. Neal’s said, “Yep, I’ve hurt you, you have every right to feel whatever you wanna feel about me.” Hook’s like, “I’ve done some crap to you, like that time I left you to die in a cell, and I’m keeping some major secrets from you about my history with the father of your child, but pucker up and give us a kiss?” It just doesn’t compute for me that Hook and Emma can be the more healthy relationship option, considering those facts.
But Hook’s a pirate, he’s got a long life of lying and secret keeping and dirty deeds under his belt, and you can’t just instantly change when that’s been your life for a few centuries, so I think it’s in character for him to have not been honest and/or apologetic with Emma yet. I do hope he makes an effort to do the right thing and change that, for his own sake more than anything else, but if it doesn’t happen immediately, and he keeps playing this game dirty for a bit, I think that’d be believable. And the fact that that IS his character, means he’s not good for Emma IMO. I like him with his rough, dark edges, and will weep if they 100% woobify him over this Emma stuff.
Neal may not have faced up to his own crap in the past, like when he was scared to go find Emma after the Curse broke, but he reached a turning point and now he IS facing up to it all, he’s owning it all, he’s accepting responsibility for his actions.
BTW-Someone on Twitter today said something like they couldn’t wait for OUAT to go back to before they were focusing on the pirate with a drinking problem and a deadbeat dad. Count that as another one that I don’t understand if she’s talking about Neal…how could he be a dad at all if Emma never told him about Henry?! From the moment she told him he was Henry’s father, he’s been GREAT with him and not at all a deadbeat dad. Does she understand what that term actually means?!
Apparently there was a comment left on the sneak peek where someone was giving him crap for not having claimed his son for his whole life, so why is he going on about saving him now. Like, seriously? Do some people even watch the show? Because newsflash: Neal didn’t actually know that Henry existed until a couple of weeks ago!!!! It’s a BASIC CANON FACT. When people ignore stuff like that just so they can hate on him, it infuriates me to no end. And from the moment he DID find out that Henry existed, he’s been there, getting to know him, sacrificing his life for his sake, trying to be the best dad he can be.
If people wanna dislike Neal based on reasonable reactions to things we actually see in the show, then be my guest. He’s not everyone’s cup of tea, whatever, we all have characters we do and don’t like. But when people INVENT reasons to HATE him…I just…GRRRRRRR.