Such a great analysis of the interaction between Emma & Hook that resulted in the kiss…love it! The arguments about this scene in particular get under my skin for some reason – maybe because I also love this episode for the Hook/Charming bromance in addition to the smooch. So I’m sharing!
That being said…from Wikipedia:
Gratitude, thankfulness, gratefulness, or appreciation is a feeling or attitude in acknowledgment of a benefit that one has received or will receive.
Gratitude is not the same as indebtedness. While both emotions occur following help, indebtedness occurs when a person perceives that they are under an obligation to make some repayment of compensation for the aid.[7] The emotions lead to different actions; indebtedness can motivate the recipient of the aid to avoid the person who has helped them, whereas gratitude can motivate the recipient to seek out their benefactor and to improve their relationship with them.
WOW, that second paragraph sounds quite familiar doesn’t it? Hook didn’t say “YOU OWE THIS TO ME, WOMAN” and beat her over the head with a club, dragging her to his mancave to have his way with her. He in no way suggested she was INDEBTED to him, he…in a flirty and joking manner…asked for a little bit of thanks. NOT EXPECTING ANYTHING FROM HER AT ALL.
And if they knew anything about his character, which they obviously don’t given how they talk about him, they would know that Hook flirts and uses his pretty face in uncomfortable situations. He uses flirting and sass to deflect his emotions. Charming just got done toasting him for heaven’s sake — the pirate who has been selfish for the last 300 years, running from authority and people like Charming, just got toasted by a king and queen right in front of their daughter slash princess he’s in love with. And he just stood there frozen until Emma broke the silence. It’s not a comfortable situation for him… he doesn’t fully know how to be this honorable guy yet. Like Colin said, he’s trying to do the right thing and be the hero but all still within the confines of his “Hook/Pirate” persona and it’s a struggle so he flirts and he’s sassy and he says things at inappropriate times but he’s trying.
Him asking Emma for a kiss was just shameless flirting. He fancies her. He’s always fancied her. He flirts with her ALL the time. He flirted with her on the beanstalk, during their sword fight by the side of the road after he got hit by a freaking car, chained up in a hospital bed…etc. They only have this huge problem with it this time around b/c Emma reciprocated. That’s the real issue here, make no mistake. If Emma would have stepped back from him and told him to get lost, they wouldn’t have an issue with it whatsoever. But instead, she looked at him like this when he stepped closer to her:
She liked it. She challenged him. She kissed him. You don’t have to like it, but to ignore canon fact that isn’t even presented ambiguously doesn’t make you look cool or smart, it makes you look like a moron. And if they knew anything about Emma, they would know that she doesn’t do things she doesn’t want to do. Earlier that day he tried connecting with her emotionally and she shut him down completely — yet he still went and saved her father anyway. For her. And didn’t even want Charming to say a damn word about it. He just didn’t want her to lose her father. He didn’t care about the gratitude, he cared about her not having to endure a loss like he did when he lost Liam to dreamshade.
So it’s hilarious to me that in the very next scene after he questions Charming giving him gratitude in front of everyone that he uses “gratitude” as a way of flirting with Emma and people actually take him seriously?! The dude didn’t expect a thing from her, she had given absolutely no reason to. So when the moment turned serious and she gave him a heartfelt thank you (that he still doesn’t feel he deserves b/c he loathes himself…let’s just be honest) he deflects and lightens up the conversation the only way he knows how to which is by flirting. And before you know it her lips are on his, her hands are in his hair and his world has been rocked.
But at the end of the day, there is no point in arguing with people who don’t get (or accept) the truth of what is going on in this scene. They are so blinded by their hate for Hook that anything and everything he does is just wrong so… again, there is no point. I would just let them do their thing, man. And it’s only going to get worse, especially IF Neal dies and Hook starts hanging out with Henry. So grow some thick skin, consider the source, and stay clear of people who in the same breath insult your intelligence then make things up to suit their own headcanons. There is no reasoning with people like that.