Agree on everything Obisgirl. (and thanks for posting the tweet so it was easy to find! More on that in a bit)
I enjoyed the sneak for several reasons but I still have major concerns, especially one that you highlighted.
Neal’s face when he was intent on doing whatever needed doing. He’s borderline desperate still, even if he’s calmed down slightly. He could go full desperate at any time and we don’t know what this conversation leads to since it should be fairly early on. It was either heroic, or borderline dangerous depending on what he has to face after that scene
I do enjoy him way more in scenes with Rumple and I want him to work on that relationship before focusing on anything else. (He conveniently forgot to list his dad when listing “all he has left” and he’s wrong. His father and his son are the highly important relationships in his life that he HAS to fix. He can hope to fix it with Emma but he’s been fairly realistic recently. However, that leads me to…
The look on his face when Rumple said nonchalantly, that he left the rest of them (including Emma) on Hook’s ship. Neal looked very uneasy but not freaked out worried like Emma was in any danger or anything like that. He almost looked sad. Which is realistic since he has to know she thinks he’s dead and now she’s spending time with a charming pirate (one who he used to be close to when he was more Killian and less Hook before the sketch was found).
It’s encouraging that he doesn’t want to go out of his way and kill for no reason (and some of the lost boys may once have been his friends for all we know) and that’s more of a thing his dad would do than he is, but he definitely concerned me with how desperately he could easily become. Rumple called him out that he didn’t have it in him to do what was necessary and Bae kinda scared me in that moment. It could have been very heroic or lead us down another path. This is near the beginning so we don’t know what he’ll face yet.
I do think this means that we’ll get backstory on Hook and Bae leaving NL and it sounds like there’s definitely a way to beat Pan and I’m excited to see that. I also want Rumple/Bae to focus on repairing their frayed relationship. I enjoy those things. It doesn’t make me less concerned about the consequences of actions that were NOT intended. I don’t think Neal has lost all of Bae’s goodness by any means. It doesn’t stop it from going down the slippery slope though or having something bad happen that he didn’t think could be a consequence.
That tweet: Ginny is a huge HP nerd (love it!) and it seemed like an odd comment to make otherwise. As far as I know (I asked RG, the knower of all things filming *gives cookies*), and they were filming somewhere around 3×05. So interesting that after 3×04 she would make that kind of comment AND suddenly be using CaptainSwan in a positive way considering how against it she was before. She could have easily said hey, have some JMO & Colin! Or here’s CaptainFire or MRJ/Colin.
Makes me wonder if something was happening around that time to make her change her mind since Snow is still clearly in the “she just lost Neal” phase *shakes Snow* – it’s not her place to say what Emma is feeling! But even though Ginny is still in that headspace, she may have read the scripts for what was going on with others (we know she does since she knew about the SleepingWarrior thing) so perhaps there’s something that is happening along the way that is changing her mind!
She’s in the headspace of anti-Hook but she’s also been known to not love all things about her own character like how ridiculous it is that Snow gives Regina a million and one chances and is still so optimistic about it, so maybe she’s either seeing that Hook is really stepping up right now even though SNOW doesn’t feel that way yet, or she read something in the script (possibly for 3×05??) that gave her reason to not hate it quite so much.
Also makes me wonder what might happen in 3×04 that has her calling him “voldemort jr” – I get it because it’s a play on who Rumple can be at times but uh…what exactly happens in 3×04 that takes it that far when he was far worse elsewhere? I think it could be a clue from her HP-loving heart for all we know. (Or it’s totally wishful thinking but I’m looking forward to it regardless!)
I want them all to redeem themselves and that includes Rumple who is FAR away from it, much farther than Neal would be because I don’t think he’s quite there yet (last week was questionable, I NEED to know that Roland is ok). But then I go back to Desperate Souls and remember how wonderful Rumple was, and had the best of intentions TO SAVE PEOPLE and it just went bad. Plus the whole once you start down that path thing…still worried.
I do enjoy the father/son stuff though so I’m looking forward to it regardless, and I love seeing young Bae. Dylan is amazing…though I didn’t care for the whiny attitude toward Hook once Bae found that sketch. I get he was upset but he was really annoying about it, similar to Henry when he told Emma she was “just as bad as Regina.”
Anything could happen and I really hope that we get at least a couple subtle little CS moments this week like we have been. I agree that the focus for 3×04 seems to be Rumple/NealFire and 3×05 Hook (finally! It’s about time that we see the more sympathetic background so people can treat him more like they do with Rumple or Regina. I hate seeing only 2 of the 3 defended when they’ve all done horrible things) and I really like the idea that they are back to back for a reason. It would especially interesting to see that Neal could go down a slippery slope depending on what happens in the REST of 3×04 and THEN see how good Hook is becoming. He’s really stepped up this season and that makes me so happy!
All in all, I need it to be Friday and Sunday like now. Seriously. (And especially the promo next week of course!)
I worry but I have faith still. We need to see this dynamic play out as they are important characters but it doesn’t necessarily affect anything with our ship. This season has been all about belief and what happens when you choose the wrong way to go about getting what you want and we keep seeing Hook doing things the right way and surprising everyone and being SELFLESS instead of SELFLESS which JMO (who is more in Emma’s headspace than any of us) has said that he is surprising her.
I really really love that Emma expects things of Hook because she expects them of Neal and now she’s seeing that Hook isn’t what she thought but is BETTER than that. Much like the audience, when we expect the best of someone and they slip even a little bit, we get upset with them, whereas people we expect to do bad things but start to do good we are hesitant to trust. That said, I think Emma would be very very upset with Neal for the Roland thing (which is bound to backfire, he’s 4!) whereas Hook, the man she was afraid to trust DIRECTLY BECAUSE OF NEAL’S ACTIONS, is showing her REPEATEDLY that he’s in this.
I need some CS scoop for this week though, badly. There were barely any pics and I’m not sure how much of that group we’ll get to see since a lot of it seems to be Rumple/Neal & Rumple/Bae – the group is with Tink but it doesn’t seem like there will be a lot of time for them. It’ll be interesting to see what they actually highlight within that for Emma and what is going on around her.
Still trying to figure out why the picture is coming out THIS week and not next though. I expect next week to make up for this one 10 fold shipper-wise (though I’m still looking forward to studying this one with a fine-tooth comb), but does something happen this week in the little bit of time we should be getting with the group? Is there some build-up to a kiss that is actually more likely to happen next week? Are we a week off on our guess and it could actually happen with this one? (Which would be a shock). Maybe there’s a reason that we haven’t gotten many pictures including any of them alone yet, just with the group talking.
Also, what are the odds of us getting another drink scene?
If we get another moment like the coconut scene, in an episode that is once again fairly light (I’m guessing) on CS, then it should be significant and the promo should be amazing. Can it be now please??
Keeper of Hook's Trenchcoat.