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Haha, I saw something about that last night. Love it!
This is going to be long (sorry, I had a lot of feelings!) but one thing I do want to mention early for those who will likely skim.
Any new thoughts about the group pic that Ginny said had a lot of spoilers in it? Josh was holding an arrow which is obviously Charming getting hit with it, Emma is holding a lantern above Tink and Neal (interesting…), Neal is holding a coconut (should have been HOOK, it’s a CS thing!!), Ginny is standing between Emma and Hook with her arm around both of them (potential for Snow to get used to the idea? Ginny did seem a little more pro CS possibly toward the time when the premiere started…what ep were they filming then?)
On to the rest of my long-windedness:
I too always struggled with how young Bae would turn out because I LOVE and ADORE young Bae. He stands up to people (including his father), he does what’s right, he risks his life to save Morraine and Wendy (and her brothers).
But I was afraid. Very very afraid of what he may have turned into. Would he stay that boy and prevail? Or would some of his father’s darkness rub off on him after being bitter about his father ditching their deal and falling through the portal?
He seemed to really love it with the Darlings. In fact, he told Hook that they were his “real family” and he wanted to go back to them. (Reminds me of Henry actually – whoever he’s on good terms with, THAT’S his “real family” at the time). But I still loved him. He’d been through a lot already and his pain, like Hook’s, was understandable. Both had been burned by Rumple and had their lives turned upside down but they were adorable together and Hook was giving up everything. He had chosen HOPE and LOVE for Milah over bitterness and anger and revenge for her death. He was taking care of her son the way she would want him to, and Bae couldn’t see past HIS anger and resentment and threw it in his face, blaming him for everything and opening old wounds.
Neither was right in this instance. Hook had a crew to look out for and Lost Boys coming after them to get to Bae at all times and now Bae wanted to leave. There were NO good choices for anyone, and Bae kept digging at him to the point where he pretended not to care anymore. It was too painful. It was EASIER to fall into his hate and anger and rage and go back to plotting his revenge on the man who not only screwed up his life, but ended Milah’s and changed Bae’s.
And yet, I still adore young Bae. I keep hoping that some of that goodness is in there. That he wasn’t completely destroyed by what his father did. And yet he’s different (they all are. They’ve ALL been through so much heartache and anger and pain).
When we first saw him in NY, I had no idea what to think. He seemed sad and distant but not quite as bad off as I expected him to be. He hadn’t changed into some monster that I had been expecting from the moment he fell through the portal. It’s like he was stronger than that. He wasn’t falling into the trap his father had of letting his anger dictate his life and turn him into something he wasn’t. He was holding it off for the time being but clearly wasn’t happy or unaffected by it.
Tallahassee showed that he still had a sweet side. He was still thieving and doing what he had to get by but there was still hope for goodness in him. We saw him react to the dreamcatcher and realized that he still suffers nightmares of the portal where his father let go of him. He didn’t come out unscathed and it’s been building for a LONG time.
I see why people enjoy their relationship. I get it. It’s the choices he’s made since listening to Pinocchio I have a problem with. (Jail is bad enough but afterwards is where he really screwed up and hasn’t held himself accountable until recently). He showed a lot of self-doubt and a lack of faith in the one person who always backed him up, always believed in him. He had already tried to leave her once and she insisted on being a part of things and ended up going to jail for his crimes (reminds of the Regina/Genie relationship except Neal wasn’t outright using Emma).
But now we have a DESPERATE Neal. One who thinks nothing of putting a 4 year old at risk (who, let’s face it, I will be SHOCKED if the kid doesn’t say “I believe” again and calls the shadow – seriously). The way he was going through that cupboard to find a portal was the act of a desperate man with everything to lose. That makes him VERY dangerous.
He was 14 for a VERY long time. That HAS to leave some emotional scarring (especially given his reaction to Rumple suggesting that he turn back the clock). He knows his life isn’t perfect but he doesn’t want to undo all of it either. That doesn’t mean that his mentality wasn’t stuck at a rotten age for too long.
One of the things I loved about young Bae was the fact that he DID stand up to his father (was the only one who could really). He loved him but he saw him for what he was and he called him out on it. It was him trying to change his father and set him back down the right path that caused all this mess in the first place but he MEANT well.
Now, I fear he’ll go the same way and start down that path. He’s starting to UNDERSTAND Rumple. To see why he does things the way he does. Why he NEEDS magic. But that is taking the easy route. The short-cut.
He spent enough time in NL surely to know about PP and his games. We know that, at least for right now, PP is all about HOW you get there, not getting to Henry in the first place. This will be significant, and I don’t think just for Emma.
Sure Neal got taken by the shadow and was found by Felix and may get closer to Henry first, we don’t know. But did he get there in the RIGHT way? PP isn’t one to mess with and he’s in the middle of his game and doesn’t like it when people mess with the rules.
This season’s theme is about BELIEF and doing things the RIGHT way vs the EASY way. We had that drilled into us as to why Regina can’t just magic her way around the island and catch PP that way. We’ve seen Neal actually say he took the easy way and now we’re watching him do it again out of desperation. Mulan outright told him that his BELIEF in love wasn’t strong enough to outweigh his fear of rejection. (Reminiscent of Manhattan where he was more upset with Emma for bringing his father to him and making a deal that she would never have to see him again if she lied to Rumple and left – a deal which she tried to take but Rumple saw through).
On top of that, Emma BELIEVES Neal is dead. We’ve already seen in the promo Snow FREAKING OUT at at least the idea of Charming dying – we don’t know if she knows or if he’s hinted at the idea and she’s just freaking out. Either way, she can’t IMAGINE moving on. Likewise, look at how Regina spiralled after Daniel’s death. The change it made in her. Or the change in Hook after Milah was killed. It’s taken him 300 years to step away from that revenge. Now look at Emma: she’s still strong. The woman who falls apart over everything emotional including doing whatever it takes to get her son back, is NOT FREAKING OUT.
She is focused on saving Henry, and is genuinely SMILING and being a little flirty at times in Hook’s company. This is DAYS after she thinks Neal died. She was sad for him (and for Henry), but she toasted to him, took his sword, and moved on. She’s not crumbling. She’s not sitting around crying about it. She’s off working with a guy who is CLEARLY INTO HER and HAS SAID SO and is NOT pushing him away – even when Regina suggests they’re a couple. Sorry but sitting that closely and sharing coconuts is not exactly “What? Why would you think he’s my boyfriend? You’re crazy!” material. If anything, she’s adding fuel to the fire of that rumor but she’s certainly not going out of her way to shut it down. I think we’ll be shown Snow’s reaction to the thought of losing Charming to show that this is exactly how Emma is NOT acting. Especially since we just focused on HOW LONG it’s taken Regina to get her act together and maybe even think about choosing love over anger. 40 odd years or so and she still hasn’t gone to find the man with the lion tattoo. Snow’s yelling about never being able to move on and Emma’s…well, Emma’s flirting with a pirate after a matter of days. If that doesn’t tell you she’s moved on after over a decade of hurt and betrayal that finally has closure, I don’t know what does. She’ll still be shocked that Neal’s alive and it may make her panic slightly because of her inner 17 year old but I trust who she is NOW to recognize that that’s all in the past and choose Hook. I really do.
We understand why SNOW thinks it’s too soon because to her, she can’t even fathom loving someone other than Charming. As far as we know, that was her first love and it happened to be her true love as well. She doesn’t WANT to see anything happening between Emma and Hook and doesn’t think it’s possible so she just shuts Regina up and Emma never backs either up on anything but goes back to doing what she does.
For someone who flips out and yells at people who stand in her way of getting her son, the trek so far has been fairly peaceful for Emma. She’s CALM and COLLECTED (for the most part) and Hook has been there every step of the way, SUPPORTING her and BELIEVING in her and COMPLIMENTING her for figuring things out. He goes along with HER plans and she backs HIM up when he is being helpful. He’s taking care of her family as much as he is of her and EVENTUALLY they will be bound to notice this. Some will stay blind to it for as long as possible but just because Emma is focused on Henry doesn’t mean that she’ll stay blind forever to the way he’s been treating her. Especially since he hasn’t been pushing (much like Charming vs Snow – Snow pushes and Charming sits back and does what’s needed but doesn’t push).
We’ve seen what good men have become when they get desperate. Rumple was once a good man with the best of intentions. He loved his family. He did whatever he had to to GET BACK TO HIS BOY including injuring himself and getting a cowardly reputation if it meant living to be with his family. He became the Dark One by accident, hoping just to control him long enough to get the boys home from the Ogres War. To save all the children. Again – best of intentions. But he got desperate and once he tapped into that Dark One power, things started unraveling for him.
He even pushed Belle away when he had the chance at real, true love because he needed his magic to get to his son. He’d do whatever it takes as quickly as possible (which still took forever) including manipulating people into doing horrendous things so that HE could get to HIS SON no matter what it cost anyone else. Who does that sound like right now?
I have hope for most of the characters on the show and that includes Rumple & Neal. But that doesn’t mean that Neal isn’t currently following a path set by Rumple. The fact that he’s willing to risk Roland KNOWING how awful it would be if he was wrong and Roland got sent there, to take the easy, magical way to get to his kid with no regard for anyone else’s, he is now starting down that same slippery slope.
He was a good guy once. I LOVE young Bae. He has had the best of intentions but hurts those closest to him and makes bad decisions about HOW to go about getting the things he wants (and that was BEFORE choosing to embrace magic and by sympathetic towards his dad now that it suits his needs). I HATE that he has had such a horrible life and been manipulated by goodness knows who or what or why (seemingly PP) and that he, like his father, has made some TERRIBLE choices but it doesn’t meant that I want him to suffer.
I was genuinely upset when Tamara finally told him the truth. The hurt and betrayal on his face, once again him being manipulated and walked all over and becoming heartbroken. It was devestating when you think about everything he’s been through for hundreds of years…but he’s NOT THE ONLY ONE.
We will be getting more backstory soon on Hook 3×05!!!!! and I really really hope that people start treating him like a human being after that because we HAVE had way more backstory on NealFire. We’ve seen him as a boy and his rotten childhood. We’ve seen him suffer. But people still say that Killian Jones is “just a pirate” and therefore doesn’t deserve anything. That he hasn’t suffered nearly as much. That he needs to find love elsewhere. Um, why?
That’s like playing Survivor and voting for who is the most deserving of the money at the start based on their jobs and how many kids they have. There’s no point in playing otherwise. Likewise, the person who Emma loves shouldn’t be based on “who’s suffered the most” and we haven’t even SEEN how Hook has suffered other than watching him lose the one he loved and having her die in his arms which would make ANYONE hurt. (I KNOW there are lots of Gremma fans in this fandom and it hurts ME to see them so upset for Emma but make nothing of Hook losing Milah in the same way for practically the SAME REASON).
When we do know more I think people will finally get that BOTH men have suffered greatly and I truly believe that both deserve to find love again but true love needs to be with who they’re meant to be with, not who they take pity on. I hate the argument that NealFire has been through too much so it’s not fair to want Emma to hurt him too but he hurt her first…and repeatedly and in a big way and as she’s demonstrated this season, she can’t just forget that. She may forgive it and find a way to come to terms with it, but it’s something that she lives with every day.
I don’t want to see Neal hurt anymore. I really don’t. Everyone hated Milah and Cora for hurting Rumple but he was MEANT TO BE with Belle. We all know that. Many of us LOVE that. Don’t you think that if Neal is on a similar journey to Rumple (though hopefully not nearly as severe of one!) that he’ll eventually find his true love too??
Desperate souls do desperate things and I really do fear the path that he’s on since we all know what road that paves, but just like Rumple it doesn’t make it impossible for him to find love again. It doesn’t (and most CSers genuinely want that for him too, and love young Bae and the potential that he had. We want him to find who he’s meant to be with). It just hurts me that people seem to think that Bae has been through too much so he needs the woman he hurt badly to go back to him. That’s not how it works.
He’s had WAY more than 2 chances to make it up to her and is just now realizing he should have done so already. I honestly don’t know how to feel about his recent declarations because it’s great that he realizes he screwed up but he’s so downhearted about it that it’s like he still doesn’t believe in it. It’s the same mistakes over and over again. On the one hand, I’m thrilled he’s being realistic (even if he’s not giving a full confession of his mistakes to Mulan…) and acknowledging he screwed up and it may be too late, but it also reminds me of him making the choice FOR Emma and not even bothering to try because he just didn’t believe she could take him back. At least now he’s trying and I hope it brings him closure, I really do. I’m just scared of how he’s going about getting to them, especially since he’ll be spending time with a suicidal Rumple in 3×04 .
Contrast that with Hook and it’s like everyone here has been saying: he’s going about this the RIGHT way. He’s not pushing Emma, he’s just being supportive. I loved that Charming and Hook were holding the lanterns for their ladies and letting them lead the way. It’s a subtle supportiveness. On top of that we have Hook occasionally saying positive things out loud and not just the “I fancy you” stuff but telling Emma she did a good job or backing her up when someone doesn’t agree with her plan – which is usually a plan she overrode him on. Captains aren’t used to taking orders, from anyone. Yet Emma has repeatedly changed the plans and instead of being upset with her he is IMPRESSED and let’s her know it.
Even though we didn’t have any big conversations or anything in the last ep, we still had the genuine camaraderie between the two. He was opening a coconut for her which she gladly took instead of saying “I can do it myself, pass me one” (yes letting him use his Hook is more practical, but she’s also VERY independent and not used to anyone putting her first, which he has been doing since they got there).
Seeing people comfortable enough to sit that close in silence is refreshing. Matching that with Snow curled up in Charming’s arms a few feet away, also silent and it was beautiful. Emma and Hook aren’t quite there yet. Emma still has her arms wrapped around her knees, a little closed off and paranoid. Her walls are still up. But instead of refusing a drink, she has accepted 3 of them from him now. She’s trusting him more. He’s getting to her, whether she’s allowing herself to think about it or not.
Her prime objective is getting to Henry. She’s not letting anything get in the way of that and that’s what JMO has been saying. But it doesn’t mean that sometimes love doesn’t sneak up on you when you’re least expecting it. Hook definitely isn’t pushing but is making it clear and Emma, like Snow, is a woman who thinks actions speak louder than words. He is showing her he’s there for her and always will be, all without making a sound. I fully expect them to keep getting closer and closer to the point where she doesn’t feel the need to have her guard up. She was still sitting VERY close to him and she didn’t have to at all (and they certainly didn’t have to show it).
Again, that scene came after Regina’s comment about Hook being Emma’s boyfriend and she definitely wasn’t worried about it or trying to prove anything. She just continued doing what SHE wanted and she clearly gravitates to Hook these days. In almost every shot we see of them, they’re standing closer and closer. Body language, body language, body language. She may not want to think about her emotions right now, but he’s still getting her to take a breather and actually smile sometimes so she’s not all doom and gloom. He’ll be there for her if she starts to panic. We’ve seen nothing but supportive from him, even when it meant leaving his ship in ruins or trying to protect her family who clearly don’t like or respect him much. That’s HUGE!
I feel like we’ve had a lot of foreshadowing in 3×01 and 3×03 to what will happen ultimately once Neal gets back to the group. As much as he’s said he’s going to find them and save them and tell her how he feels cause that’s what you do when you love someone, we’ve already SEEN that from Hook. Mulan says that she believes Emma will forgive him (even though Mulan doesn’t have the whole story) and I think she will too, but that doesn’t mean going back to a relationship.
The fact that they do have Neal saying over and over again that it won’t necessarily means that he’ll get her back but he’s going to try is big. It means he’s finally learned SOMETHING from his mistakes and that he will try, but Emma already has someone there who IS trying, hasn’t left her with nearly as much emotional baggage, and is going about doing things in the RIGHT way and has already made his intentions known.
We know that Neal was upset and regretted leaving Emma in jail and all that, but we’ve heard other characters say they’ve regretted things every day and never did anything to fix that either (Milah is a prime example). We also have seen him NOT go to Emma the moment he could (when the curse was broken), whereas Hook, minutes after leaving, turned back around when he DIDN’T have a good reason to do so. He didn’t owe her anything. In fact, she thwarted his revenge plot at every corner. He didn’t owe her a big explanation or have years of pain to make up for, and HE TURNED AROUND.
They literally book-ended season 2 with the man who didn’t come back for her (when he could and should have) and the one who knew, within a very short time of leaving that it was the absolute WRONG thing to do and HE TURNED AROUND TO MAKE IT RIGHT and has been by her side ever since, offering up absolutely everything he has to help her.
He hasn’t belittled her. He BELIEVES in her superpower. He KNOWS her for who she is and WANTS to know more (direct contrast to Neal saying if he had known who she really was he never would have gone near her). He is super supportive of her and is SHOWING her left and right. This is a man who IS doing things the right way and not letting his past dictate his future. He’s LETTING IT GO in a season where everybody is supposed to embrace who they really are, let go of the past, and move forward.
Letting go of the past doesn’t mean forgetting. It means learning from it and moving forward. It doesn’t mean forgiving to the point of sweeping everything under the rug like it never happened and going back to something that didn’t work. It means finding a way to co-exist and get along and still care for the people who hurt you (even with the best of intentions) as I believe Emma WILL forgive both her parents and Neal. They’ll always be a part of them and she’ll love them but she won’t be IN love with him and she doesn’t HAVE to be (and especially just because he’s been hurt so much! So has she – and mostly by him).
I don’t know what to think about how things will play out now. Will Neal accept his fate and be ok as long as he knows Emma’s ok? Will he be hypocritical about her moving on even though he moved on and, in Emma’s words, “found Tallahassee with someone else” even though it didn’t work out? What’s his current relationship with Hook like? Did they ever patch things up in NL after we saw Bae go to the Lost Boys? We haven’t seen them have an actual conversation in present day yet.
Neal could yell about how Hook ruined his family and now he’s taking Emma (note: Hook and Milah were NOT married and it was 300 years ago. Also you can’t “steal” a person from one relationship to another. Milah went willingly and was in love with Hook and I think most around here can agree that Rumple is much better off with Belle). I really hope he doesn’t go that route and turn into the 14 year old boy again (it’s definitely where Henry gets it from with the occasional whiny attitude) but I really hope that on this journey, Neal has come to accept the past and that he and Emma can talk about things and come to terms with it and that it won’t end up where he’s slipping further to the dark side for awhile out of bitterness when it was his mistakes that landed her in someone else’s arms in the first place. (Especially since she didn’t throw a fit about him moving on with Tamara, just that Tamara was up to no good – which she was! Likewise Henry I swear if you whine about it, grrrr, he didn’t have a problem with Tamara either. He just got his hopes up with the idea of Tamara being evil but Emma has repeatedly said that she is not getting back together with Neal and I hope she means it).
They all seriously need to talk. I want CaptainSwanFire to get along and co-parent Henry and for Hook & Neal to get along like they used to cause I love the Hook and young Bae scenes on the ship and I love that Neal still knows how to drive the Jolly Roger and all that stuff. They need to get along for Henry’s sake and for their own.
It should make for at least a little bit of Jealous!Killian which should be fun, even if it’s misunderstood jealous (ie: Han Solo in Return of the Jedi when he doesn’t have reason to panic but still thinks that Leia might choose Luke – not knowing why she wouldn’t of course! – and tries to be understanding and step back even though the idea hurts him). I think we’re going to see a lot of emotion and Colin does a GREAT job showing that for Hook. This season has been incredible so far with how genuine Hook’s emotions have been. He’s wearing his heart on his sleeve for the world to see but it’s mostly in stolen glances that nobody but Regina seems to notice so far.
(By the way I kind of love the fact that Regina and Hook are bonding a bit – especially now that we know HQ won’t happen. It’s just a genuine understanding of each other and they talk about finding love again and Regina can read how into Emma he is. It’s cute and I love that she called them out on that).
Also, if Regina is redeemed this season (or mostly redeemed, she’ll still be sassy and snarky and awesome I hope!), and Rumple is willing to sacrifice everything to save Henry, and Hook has already given up everything AND PP will (possibly?) be wrapped up with the first 11 episodes when NL is done…what’s gonna happen in the 2nd half?? And who will the bad guys be? o.O Our current bad guys are all getting redeemed and finding who they’re supposed to be with (even though Regina hasn’t met RH or Roland yet, can’t wait for that!). Just something I thought of when I realized that, with all the goodness we’re getting CS-wise, I have no clue where to even start with the headcanon for a lot of it. (Also makes me mildly worry more about the fact that we are currently seeing Neal go down a slippery slope but I want him to be accepting of it all once he talks to Emma so….yeah, I’m just afraid for him. Or Henry. Gosh I can’t imagine Henry going dark but he does have both in him and goodness knows what he’ll have gone through in NL. I hope he stays a believer and is alright though but we’ve seen him have the capacity to be bitter and jump sides when things aren’t going his way too. Hopefully he’ll grow out of that, I love Henry).
Anyways this was a very long rant about where I think they might be going with the whole CSF thing but I still think it bodes very well for CaptainSwan. I have faith for now, especially with them teasing the heck out of CS and the pic being released on Friday – seriously can’t wait!!!! I want to see it NOW so we can theorize over it. I just don’t see the point in them teasing it to no end, if they weren’t going somewhere with it. After all, we got a poster for Hook saying “Believe a pirate can be a hero” and they’ve been promoting CS like crazy. With how rabid the fanbase is about things they never promoted or intended in the first place, I can’t imagine them being ok with CS being promoted like crazy only to shut it down. Unless they just relish the hate and want to pull the wool over our eyes, but in the past they haven’t changed stuff even when we’ve figured it out so…I trust their vision is still intact (which is what Adam has said about Hook and Emma’s journey before as well).
And keep in mind…these promo people are the same ones who gave up Rumple being the beast, and Whale being Frankenstein early too. (Sure, just the promo the week before, but still). They may get some things wrong from time to time, but I seriously doubt that the tidbits the writers and cast and everyone give to all these magazines and stuff are teasing something that won’t happen, and they’ve already set it up as NOT a fling by showing a slow burn and having Hook have OBVIOUS feelings. This is a great thing and I can’t wait to see it keep building! What are the odds they share another drink next week to keep it going?
(Sorry this was so long-winded but I woke up with a lot of feelings today after hearing about the picture on Friday!
Keeper of Hook's Trenchcoat.