The way that Adam just said, “Hook isn’t going anywhere” makes me wonder exactly the meaning of that decleration. He isn’t going anywhere this season or ever? It was really odd and uncharacteristic for Adam just to seemingly remove Hook from the line of fire. Could someone tweet him for further clarification? Maybe we can take that at face value, but maybe not. Maybe he just means Hook isn’t going anywhere in the next several episodes? I’m not sure. Also, the way the said a character may revert made me think it could be Hook; he’s been known to switch allegiances before whenever it suited him most.
The lack of detail of Neal could be an ominous thing for his character, but it could also be a good thing, too. Maybe Neal’s role is an important secret to keep, and his contribution to the story will be revealed piece-mill wise. I still think the theme of “home” being so important to both Neal’s and Emma’s characters is very important to where the story is going. Emma ending up in NYC, rather than Boston, is still the biggest indicator in my mind that her idea of home matches Neal’s concept of home.
By making it seem like Hook is this reformed pirate content to exchange his pirate coat for blue jeans and a flannel shirt for Emma’s sake, they might be deliberately misleading people into believing Hook is safe from danger. Yet, is he really? They also said, “And sometimes that growth can mean reversion—I’m on a path that’s not working for me, so I’m going to go back to my old ways.” Of the two, Hook and Neal, whose character does that description most fit? In my estimation, Hook’s.
For clever writers like A&E, they could be lulling fans into thinking a “beloved” character like Hook is safe and then they lower the boom. As they said, they could tell us everything, but then there’d be no suspense.
"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy