Reply To: The CaptainSwan thread!

[CaptainEala]

Some great points made here from carrielynne:

The element of suspense & CS

You know one HUGE thing that tells me that CS is the long term overarching relationship on the show and why SF will never be able to compete? Suspense.

The writers purposely hold them back from touching…even in their most intimate scenes like in Dark Hollow or Going Home — where they’re incredibly close together but not touching. And they have purposely held back on Emma all out stating her feelings. (Except in the ways only Emma knows how to and only Hook is able to understand) — And even though we KNOW he does, Hook hasn’t come right out and I said “I love you”. We see through their actions and reactions how they feel but, the suspense of actually having it confirmed is still there. The writers WANT you to want more.

Just like JMo said, it’s a tv show and they have to draw out the romantic suspense — but when you look at Emma’s interactions with Neal, they aren’t drawing out anything. Everything seems to put closure on their feelings. “I love you and I probably always will. But…” — there is no element of suspense, there aren’t any  ”oh my gosh emma tell him how you feel!” moments b/c she already has. She was telling the truth. And she wishes that her feelings for him didn’t spell doom for their romantic future but, there is too much pain there to just forget about, even though she will be able to forgive him. Their goodbye in Going Home was bereft of any sexual/romantic tension — during most of their hug, he wasn’t even paying attention to her, he was looking at Henry. There is no upward climax for Neal & Emma right now, there is no positive momentum that could lead to some big revelation at the end of the season.

Hook & Emma, on the other hand, have had a gradually developing love story — they are a work in progress. They’ve come such a long way and not only did they have the most emotional romantic goodbye (outside of rumbelle, obviousy…i’m talking about Emma’s goodbyes) —  they were also the ones to deliver the game changing cliff hanger. He tried TLK and it didn’t work, even though we know Emma does feel something for him b/c they made sure to show us in the scene directly before it. That pretty much kicked off their 3B romantic arc and left us going “Noooo Emma!!!!” — all of the excitement and suspense is in Hook & Emma’s corner (will they try the TLK again when she has her memories back? will hook be able to get through to her? how did he find her? etc. etc.) and that is what you want when you’re building a great on screen romance b/c it makes the BIG payoffs and revelations so much more thrilling and emotional. How beautiful of a story we’re going to see when the show comes back — Hook fighting to get back to Emma in the EF flashbacks and her regaining her memories and falling in love w/him in the present.

And how ironic will it be when they DO attempt the TLK and it actually works? Because Emma called their first kiss a “one time thing” — THAT is the kind of irony writers love. The fact that she called it that and one day they will break a curse with something she tried to write off as “just a kiss”. The writing and the suspense and the story is just there for Hook & Emma. I’m surprised more people don’t find it as obvious as we do.