[MysteryKat25]

We saw a lot of wonderful Hook/young Bae moments on the Jolly Roger – teaching him how to steer the ship (and apparently how to navigate). We even watched Hook painfully scratch through the markings at the helm because it hurt him too much to see it after his relationship with Bae fell apart when Bae discovered that Hook was the pirate who ruined his family even though he was just told that Rumple killed her, not Hook like he was originally led to believe.

There are…a lot of blanks to be filled in. Hook said that he spent quite some time with Bae so I’d like to see more of that for sure. They definitely had some cute fatherly moments between the two of them, and bonding over their lousy fathers (a backstory we still need for Hook since all we’ve seen so far is his relationship with his brother), but there were definitely moments that showed he actually is good with kids and genuinely cared about Bae (which helps negate the “he won’t be a good dad for Henry” stuff.

Right now he’s keeping Henry at arm’s length by referring to him as “Emma’s son” or the “boy” or the “lad” and we’ve only ever heard him say Henry once when he asked Emma who Henry’s father was after she said the kid just lost his dad, but we haven’t really gotten any interaction for Henry and Hook yet.

I’m really hoping once they get him back that Henry will be going around hugging everyone and literally the only person he won’t be is Hook and that Emma tells him to go thank him too and it starts off all awkward and then Henry just hugs him anyway cause everyone says he was instrumental in getting them there and helping (he saved Charming’s life too – that should win him some favor), and then you just see Hook melt at once again having a child care about him if only briefly (fully expect Henry to be SwanFire til given a reason not to be but the kid believes in true love, so we’ll see what happens!) – That’s my perfect Henry headcanon though, everybody else will be hugging him but Hook won’t feel like he has a reason to be included. *major sad face/Killian feels* so somebody better remind everyone that he’s helpful and one of them.

I’m not really sure what to make of the rest of Hook and Neal’s history. We’ve seen but a glimpse of it so far which originally led many of us to believe that it wasn’t for very long but he could easily have been there for awhile. Hook taught him many things and we’ve seen that come into play once in awhile, but he obviously grew to care for him greatly. He initially took him in because of Milah but he was absolutely devastated when Bae found the sketch of Milah and it all fell apart. Hook was ready to give up his revenge (which we know is a huge thing for him) in order to be a family with Bae as Milah would have wanted. The look on his face was excruciating, hearing how much Bae was hurt by all of this and the assumptions that he made off of the information. He didn’t really have much time to process the fact that Rumple killed Milah, not Hook and then jumped to Hook being just as bad as Rumple (in all fairness, Bae was a child and we see that kind of tendency from Henry once in awhile and then they grow out of it so it’ll be fine).

The problem comes in with the last time WE saw them interact. I don’t count their time in NY because it was offscreen that Hook was tied up so not important enough for us to know, and they didn’t talk before that at all, or any other time in SB. So until this episode, we haven’t seen them talk at all as adults and they seemed to be perfectly fine until Hook tried to smooth over things by commenting on the elephant in the room to get it out of the way and be done with it. He was truly surprised that Emma didn’t say anything and was initially hurt by it and then seemed to realize it meant he had a chance still because of the way Neal was acting about it. It’s rather unfortunate that Hook chose to stoop to his level of childish behavior about it all, sending Emma over the edge, but hopefully that’s our of their systems now. Boys will be boys I guess, but they’re hundreds of years old and should know better!

So that leaves what happened in NL in the past that we don’t know about. How did Hook know about Neal’s cave? Did he keep an eye on him after he sent him with the Lost Boys?

I think the answer to this is yes. He made a rash decision in anger because Bae was adamant about leaving him. There’s no escaping NL (or mostly no escaping it) and Hook was responsible for his crew as well. The Lost Boys were constantly coming around looking for Bae and had he just wandered off, this likely wouldn’t have stopped and they would have gotten more and more upset. It’s not an excuse, just like I don’t excuse Neal just because his actions for various things were with the best of intentions at times, but Hook did have a lot going on that was more than just Bae.

It was a knee-jerk reaction that I’m sure has haunted Hook ever since then. He’s always extremely sad when talking about Bae and cared for him a great deal. Neal seemed to think his sword was back in the cave and surprised that Hook had given it to Emma and that Hook was sentimental. I was a little surprised at that line from him because he did seem to have a good relationship with Hook until he discovered Milah’s picture. I fully expected something along the lines of “You kept this? All this time?” and have a moment where Neal recognizes that Hook does care about him, and I think maybe in a roundabout way that line did that, but I was hoping for more acknowledgement of their past friendship.

The timeline is majorly fuzzy, especially when people don’t age for a very long time. Hook said they spent quite some time together and I think that what ultimately happened was all done very quickly and presumably they both regretted it whether they got a chance to say so or not. It’s clearly something that affected Hook. It was the last time he let someone in so close that he almost stopped caring about his revenge. We saw him make the same offer to Bae that Emma made to him – to be a part of something. To let go of the longer/revenge thing and have people that care about you. He wanted to be a family with Bae and it destroyed him when Bae refused (though he had good reason to).

I HATE that he gave Bae up to the Lost Boys even though it wouldn’t him or his crew to keep protecting someone who doesn’t want to be there and I fully believe that he gave Bae every opportunity to change his mind and then he would have fought to the death for him, no question. He begged and pleaded and it did absolutely nothing.

We don’t know how long Bae stayed with the Lost Boys. They may have realized it wasn’t Henry, and he took off on his own until he “escaped” – still seems like Pan manipulated everything in the timeline so I’m really not sure if he escaped or was let go, we’ll have to see how his plan works and what information Pan gives out along the way, but we do know he was off alone living in the caves presumably for a long time. He had made it his home and had tally marks on the wall and sketches of things that meant something to him everywhere etc etc.

It IS important that we know that Hook knew about this cave. I have a feeling once things calmed down again, he was panged with major regret and probably went to make sure that Bae was safe. He may have even gone after him to try to repair things (we just don’t know) but he did find the cave. For all we know, he saw Bae and almost said something, only to not end up doing it because he presumed that Bae was happier/better off without him at that point. We just don’t know yet.

But given the way that Hook has talked about him, including this episode actually REMINDING us that Hook does indeed consider him a friend, as well as seeing all of those adorable moments of Hook and young Bae when he was pulling him over with his hook and teaching him how to steer and ruffling his hair, that there was a genuine friendship between them and that everything was great until Bae found his mother’s picture.

At the beginning of this episode, it seemed like they were perfectly fine and Neal wasn’t holding anything against him (not even stabbing Rumple – there was literally no reaction to anything until he brought up Emma). Whereas when Neal was confronted with Rumple in NY, he was having none of it AT ALL.

It was also interesting to me that even though Neal was OBVIOUSLY upset (and rightly so) given the information that Hook gave him, they still had more of a playful banter about how Hook came to NL on a ship through a portal but was giving him grief over a magical coconut. It was cute. I felt like the “are you daft?” scene would have been an even lovelier Hook/Neal moment had it played before Neal finding out there was any competition for Emma’s affections, but it still served as a reminder (at least to me) that these two were once good friends and it seemed more like a playful/friendly fight in that moment. It wasn’t until Neal went to leave that scene, and then again later, and then outright fighting later on that that disappeared albeit temporarily.

I have high hopes that they’ll sort it all out. I think Emma needs to learn all about it at some point but Hook and Neal need to work it out between themselves too. Should be extremely interesting once Rumple is added to the mix as well. Neal is a grown man now. He loves his Papa (even though he doesn’t trust him) and I still think, even with Emma being an issue, that he cares about Hook as well. He’s had a lot of time to think things through and I think on some level will understand it better now that he’s grown up (and has made mistakes of his own).

Hook was the one who told him about Milah. That she ran away with Hook but regretted leaving him every day and that Rumple was the one that killed her. Bae reacted badly (obvious reasons) but then said that Hook was as bad as his other (bio) dad Rumple and threw a tantrum about it. Wanting to go back to his “real family: the Darlings” etc etc. Who does that sound like? HENRY. Telling Emma she was just as bad as Regina, or calling Emma his “real mom” but we know he loves BOTH Regina AND Emma and considers them all to be his real (& complicated) family, so I fully expect Neal to care about both Hook and Rumple, especially once some of these issues get sorted out.

Neal will run into the same types of issues that Henry and Emma are right now. Hook and Neal are now roughly the same age (like Emma is with her parents), and Neal has his dad back in his life but Hook was like a dad to him so he likely still cares about that, and now they can be more like friends cause he doesn’t really need him to be a dad (+ the awkwardness with the Emma thing), but then he’s still family like everyone is to Henry regardless of the weirdness of the situation (like Regina being both his mother and his step-great-grandmother). It’s just gonna be one of those things, but like Emma and Snowing – it will be more like friends that are family rather than parent/child since they’re all the same age.

Hook has never been able to destroy anything that was Milah’s. He should have destroyed Rumple’s only way of finding his son and let that serve as revenge, but he couldn’t because Milah made it. He took Bae in in the first place because he was Milah’s son. He cares greatly about him to the point where he was willing to give up his revenge only to have it thrown in his face and rejected. He was genuinely hurt by it and they built that relationship in so that it IS all complicated. They genuinely care about each other and have hurt each other deeply (and in different ways – I don’t condone how Hook reacted by handing him over but I get why he did it), but I do think that genuine love is there and will resurface over time.

They have a past and they genuinely cared about each other. They know things about the other that Emma doesn’t have a clue about. It’s like the shared past between Emma and Neal. He knows a side of her Hook doesn’t, just like Hook knows about the younger version of Neal was who very different to the man Emma knew before.

Ultimately I have massive hope for the CSF friendship and that they can all get along once this triangle business is over with. Neal may not need him as a father figure any more, but they do share people they love and that’s a start. I would really love to see how Bae escaped and have him talk about learning how to navigate from Hook when they go to leave. They’re all counting on Neal to get them home but we’re getting pieces of the puzzle at a time. It would be great to show him doing what Emma did in this episode – acknowledging who taught him that very useful thing.

It is interesting how alike the men are and how different. A lot of the skills that Neal taught Emma were probably taught to him by Hook (at least some of them likely) which is why they seem similar at times (and the stories paralleled slightly in Tallahassee) but Emma is in the process of learning how different they are too, and appreciating Hook more and more every episode and seeing him stand by his word (which is huge for her as well as sets him apart from Neal).

So I think there’s definitely hope of Hook and Neal becoming friends again. They should at least learn to get along since they’ll both be in Henry and Emma’s lives and it would be really great to see that friendship rekindled. I’d also really love to see more flashbacks of Hook with young Bae when they were getting along too (perhaps with the navigation training – all I remember is the helm stuff; I need to rewatch!). I know Neal mentioned navigation in a deleted scene on the ship with Henry, but since it’s an important point to this season I bet we’ll get a little nod somewhere, and maybe a moment of pride for Hook in learning how Bae escaped the first time / appreciation from Neal for his old friend Hook teaching him. That would be lovely.

As I’ve said, we’ve seen Neal be in a relationship with someone other than Emma but have the two of them get along fine for Henry’s sake (and I actually loved their interaction in those moments, it was much more lighthearted and fun!), and I think the same will be true once Hook is in the picture officially too. Neal will see that Emma’s happy and that should be enough and I do believe that the guys genuinely care about each other as well. I hope that comes out more as the season progresses because I need that relationship fixed as much as I need the triangle over and for CaptainSwan to happen!

But I agree – we definitely need more flashbacks to explain their shared history a bit more. We’ve only seen Bae arrive and learn a little bit from him and then flip out about Milah and decide to leave, only to be handed over. We know he lived in the cave and he somehow got off the island, but we haven’t SEEN any of that yet. But the fact that NONE of that has been brought up, even in snarky comments to Hook over Emma, makes me think he’s not as bitter over the past as some are expecting. He was WAY more reactive with Rumple and that’s the hardest relationship for him to deal with. I think maybe over time he’s realizing that with Hook he made mistakes too, but with Rumple it was all on him (one could maybe argue Neal tried to change him and it backfired, but it WAS the only deal Rumple ever broke so he had good reason to believe in him and he abandoned him – technically Neal abandoned Hook, not the other way around).

So we’ll have to wait and see! I adored Hook with young Bae though so I want them to be alright! I’ve been very pleasantly surprised in how they’ve been behaving about the whole thing (in and around the childishness/stooping to the MINE MINE MINE level of a 5 year old with a toy, but I think that will be put aside now). And like I said, they still seemed to have a playful/loving banter even after Neal found out about the kiss.

It was after that that he undermined any nice thing that Hook was trying to do to be helpful by automatically either snapping at him saying his sentimentality wasn’t needed because she has the real thing now, or mocking him not being able to adjust to modern day in the blink of an eye/hardly giving him a chance to try without just accusing him OUT LOUD IN FRONT OF EMMA of trying to make it about impressing Emma instead of getting the job done. It was Neal that made it about that, and then Hook stooped to his level when Emma was already upset at the idea of it being over that but by the end of the episode he calmed way down and Hook seems focused on the mission as well since he interrupted the TinkerFire smiles to get this show on the road.

I’m VERY curious about how this continues to play out. I do think Hook and Neal can do it though, in and around their shared love of Emma. I’ve been so fed up today because everyone keeps saying Neal was being selfless in the shadow scene because he told Emma to save herself but I coulda sworn that BOTH men did that. Neal said it first I think but Hook completely agreed with him. Correct me if I’m wrong but I was CHEERING because they actually AGREED on something for once! (And it was something selfless for sure but it wasn’t just one of them!)

I still think that moment was a very interesting staging since they kept Emma close to Hook, Hook was the one she called out for, and the candle magic somebody made a gifset of showing the parallels to when Rumple taught her how to use magic with it being about emotions and think of who you’re protecting, but then Emma said that Regina was the one who taught her how to use it so I suppose it could have just been out of complete anger at the two of them for being idiots, but she was still physically closer to Hook, called out for him IN TERROR, and Neal was way off to the side shouting for her, and then being extremely disappointed in her use of magic.

I have a feeling the magic thing will come up again in the near future, especially since in the promo, Neal is RIGHT THERE when Emma and Regina use magic so we should get more reactions out of that. My guess: he’s really not gonna like that at all and yet again, somebody that loves Emma will be disappointed with her for using her magic to try to save the people she loves. Snow is already disappointed in her / worried about what she’d be willing to do with Regina’s help because she doesn’t want it to destroy their family. Emma is doing only what is necessary and without any bloodshed, but still gets criticized for it. Hook is the only one who completely trusts her and her every decision and isn’t the least bit bothered by her using magic to save the ones she loves, even though he’s been burned by magic before.

Everyone’s opinions are completely valid and understandable from their points of view 100%. That’s what I love about Hook and Emma is that he sees her for what she is and never ceases to be amazed by it and loves it because it’s all a part of what makes her her, while others in her life don’t seem to read her well or understand how she feels and are disappointed with a major part of her: magic. It’s scary for them. They’ve been burned by it badly before too and see how quickly people have slipped to using it for evil. But Emma is the product of true love and a source of light and hope. She’s doing what she has to but in the right way and for the right reasons. She won’t let herself go as dark as Rumple or Regina with it. Hook knows and trusts that. Emma can’t change the fact that part of her very essence is pure true love magic. She can choose not to use it sure but it’s still very much a part of her.

Which is why I’ve always had an issue with Neal and Emma on that point. Neal hates magic and he has every reason to and I don’t blame him one bit. But with Emma in his life, he’s never going to get away from the thing he hates most. Now he’s kinda stuck back where he didn’t want to be because his family, all that he has, are staying there together so he can’t escape magic and he can’t walk out. But he’s very much like Henry in many ways. Magic has ruined their lives, and while they love people who are magical, it hurts them. Henry wanted it DESTROYED so that his family would stop hating each other all the time. So pairing the very essence of pure magic with someone who hates it is tough for me. Hook doesn’t seem to mind as it’s just a part of her and he believes, IN HER, but Neal has massive issues with it. Henry doesn’t love it but it doesn’t stop him from loving Regina and it won’t stop him from believing in Emma, but it’s harder for someone like Neal.

That’s one of the reasons I’m really loving the potential of TinkerFire and I’m torn on how I want that to play out. On one hand I would love for Tink to go back with them and prove to Blue that she deserves her wings and get it back and on the other, I’d love for her to have the OPTION of getting her wings back from Blue and turning it down and choose a mortal life with Neal instead. It would be very fitting for her character in multiple ways and it would have someone officially choose magic over him (which was one of the appeals of the idea of EvilFire for me since Regina is already trying to quit for Hnery and Neal would have helped her in that but now they can both be on Team Parents with Emma so it will be ok and still helpful). On the other hand I wouldn’t mind seeing Tink become a fairy again but then if she doesn’t choose to clip her wings it’ll 1) Be Nova all over again 2) Be Rumple all over again for Neal in a way, watching someone choose magic over whatever they have and 3) It would kill off yet another ship that I saw potential in that actually made Neal smile.

Forgive me for crackshipping but I like my ships to actually make each other happy instead of miserable, and everytime we see him flirt or be happy in any way, it gets shot down. It’s very upsetting and he’s been through so much. I’d love to see him start something with a clean slate and just be happy instead of constantly having the past thrown in his face which, Emma’s walls would definitely do.

It’s just excruciating to watch. Emma was trying to be a little playful with Hook (emphasis on little) when she said “well you are a pirate” and she was all little smiles and it seemed like she was just ribbing him cause OF COURSE most people would think he wouldn’t choose his friend in that situation. She LIT UP when she said he chose his friend and he was hurt that it surprised her, but when she called him a pirate it was like something inside of him died because he’s been doing so much to counteract that! Can’t wait until she can call him a pirate and have it be a term of endearment instead of a slap to him. It was bad enough when Charming said it!

*major Killian / CaptainSwan / TinkerFire / CaptainCharming / CaptainFire / CSF feels*

 

[MysteryKat25]

Thanks for pulling up those pictures! I was interrupted by dinner (boo) so didn’t get a chance to rewatch the promo and see if Neal was indeed in the cave scene (it all goes by so quickly I haven’t had a chance to freeze frame it all yet).

Definitely thinking that they need to get Wendy while going after Pan because they need to leave asap once they actually get Henry. We know Wendy has to talk to SOMEONE who she truthful with so I still think Neal and Tink might go after her but are back in time to help the rest of the group go up against Pan (so again – why were they left off to further aggravate the fans? *headdesk*) – Neal is clearly in the cave with them; not sure about Tink or Wendy’s locations and the rest all happens outside.

I feel like this is kind of like with last episode where conveniently Snow and Charming had to off alone to get to Tink to tell her the plan was almost in action and then the trio literally showed up PRACTICALLY AT THE SAME TIME (which makes little sense since we saw Snowing wander around the jungle with presumably only a brief stop to hash out their issues and then continue on whereas the other three had to fight the shadows etc etc but somehow got there right behind them) so perhaps, if getting Wendy is a side mission for Neal and Tink, they still aren’t far behind.

I need a DarlingFire reunion to make up for the ridiculousness of leaving him off the list when he’s clearly right there with them both outside AND inside the cave. (I debated if maybe he wasn’t there in the cave but the stills show that he was so…their logic escapes me. WHY rile up the fanbase even more?? UGH!) – You know it’s bad when even opposing shippers are getting mad about it. There’s no point to it and just makes everyone hate you that much more when their character is slighted by the marketing people. That’s gonna help things SO MUCH *headdesk*

*Takes out a red pen and adds in a line saying Neal and Tink go to rescue an old fried while the rest PLAN for the big fight against Pan and then [insert ENTIRE list here] …*

*headdesk headdesk headdesk*

*cookies*

Keeper of Hook's Trenchcoat.

[MysteryKat25]

I totally understand being upset and I’m upset for you, believe me! I’m just trying to find a reasonable explanation as to why BOTH Tink and Neal were left off which makes no sense and then I remembered the Wendy thing.

I fully expect either Rumple or Regina to tell everyone that while they’re there they have to save some girl named Wendy too and Neal is GOING to react to that. He considers the Darlings his “real family” and since we saw Wendy say something in the promo that was giving absolute truth about what Pan was up to, it makes sense she’s talking to Neal.

As to the marketing department in general – they suck. There were so many better ways of handling, oh, everything this season and they haven’t been very fair about it. Why this continues to surprise me I don’t know, but I really think that in this particular case, that line with the list of names refers to specifically a scene within Skull Rock where they’re going up against Pan, and not giving away that Tink and Neal are on a side mission to rescue Wendy because that reunion is going to be important and they want to keep it a surprise.

I will stick by this theory until proven wrong simply because it makes no sense otherwise to eliminate Neal and Tink from that lineup because they’re a part of this too, but we know SOMEBODY has to talk to Wendy at some point / be rescued to join everyone else since everybody promised to rescue her it seems, and Neal is the most likely candidate for that.

I agree their marketing has been awful to Neal and it’s wrong because he IS an important character and connected to a lot of central characters as well as oh, the ENTIRE STORY since he’s the reason Rumple needed the curse to happen, but I think that maybe just this once, they were actually trying to downplay an important scene.

Why they didn’t bother to have a line saying Neal and Tink go off on a mission to rescue an old friend I do not know and it’s horrible that they didn’t acknowledge where they were at all, but since they didn’t mention Wendy either, I’m hoping that it’s all connected and that they were just trying to keep something a surprise instead of just ignoring an important character who has very good reason to be there. It would be shocking for him NOT to be there and involved after everything that’s happened so it makes no sense otherwise. =/

Keeper of Hook's Trenchcoat.

[MysteryKat25]

Thanks RG – I didn’t think so but better safe than sorry!

I really think they were in a different section maybe and that’s the distinction? Tink and Neal were lined up with everyone else outside and elsewhere, but the scene in Skull Rock is *I think* what they’re aluding to in this ridiculous attempt at a press release.

We know Tink and Neal are working with everyone else so I don’t see why they didn’t include them in this line unless they don’t actually go up against Pan but are working on some side thing while the others end up going straight to where Pan is. Either way it makes NO sense. BOTH should have been included in that AND/OR there should have been a line mentioning what they WERE doing because most of the others are accounted for!

Just had a thought!!!

Wendy is clearly talking to someone in the promo and she’s in the press release. RUMPLE has been asked to save her on Belle’s behalf cause she promised the Darlings. NEAL will be SHOCKED to find she’s still alive and being held captive and they’re supposed to save her ANYWAY (plus Henry wants that too) so what if he and Tink head off to get Wendy and they didn’t want to reveal that in the press release cause it’s a big thing? DARLINGFIRE REUNION. (We know she means a lot to Neal so this would be an acceptable reason for him to be helping elsewhere – with Tink by his side maybe since she wasn’t mentioned either – and THEN the others end up in a crash course for where Pan is. Maybe he volunteers to go get Wendy because she means something to him, thinking there’s more time before the others will get to Henry and he’ll catch up? I don’t see him forgetting about the Henry mission to save Wendy, but Rumple made a promise and Neal has a personal connection to her so it makes more sense for him to go rescue her and then he’ll catch up with the others. It’s a side mission they have to accomplish because of the gazillion promises made and did I mention DARLINGFIRE REUNION. – that’s something I definitely want to see, that family means so much to him!

I’m sorry there is NO other acceptable reason for Neal to have been left off that list and we know Wendy will be talking to someone and telling them honestly what Pan is up to so she has to trust them and who does she trust the most? Bae.

Keeper of Hook's Trenchcoat.

[MysteryKat25]

Press release is just teases not full recap (thank goodness cause that last one left a lot out and set up thoughts that were turned upside down for me at least) but um…

Promo stuff that makes me confused:

Don’t we see both Neal AND Tink lined up with the rest? Is it possible that Neal and Tink are separated from the group when they get to where they’re actually up against Pan and that’s why it’s worded that way? They *might* go off to work on the escape plan somehow maybe? (I’m grasping at straws here cause I’m really really confused).

I know we see Emma and Regina working together and it’s more in Skull Rock (looks like a cave anyway) whereas the shot of them all lined up including Tink and Neal is outside somewhere. So maybe they do get separated somehow and that’s why they’re not mentioned as part of that lineup?

I swear this marketing department confuses the heck out of me. Neal is there for Henry too and Tink is with the group now. Both should have been included in that unless they somehow get separated from the group for a side mission that is equally important and thus…should have been mentioned.

It would make *some* sense if they get separated because the more magically powerful going against Pan makes sense but Neal has history with him and even though he and Tink don’t have magic, neither do Snow and Charming and Hook so…what gives?

On behalf of all my NealFire/SwanFire friends I am personally offended on your behalf because Neal should have been included in this as well. I hope the fact that they didn’t mention him (or Tink) just means there’s lots of surprises in store and I’ll take that any day over outright spoiling it but this makes…no sense to me. He has an important reason to be a part of things to find his son! I’m hoping since BOTH were excluded there’s a reason for that and they’re off elsewhere and it better be something pretty darn important because it doesn’t make sense that he wouldn’t be right in the “path” to Pan to save Henry too otherwise. Very curious.

Also yay for Colin being a placeholder name and not the real thing (too confusing with an actor that has that name on the show already), but Malcolm huh? Interesting. Isn’t Mr Gold’s first name supposed to be the same as his father? So is it Malcolm too? If so, what does it all mean?

Shadow finally speaks! (With a creepy voice no doubt but what else can it do? It does what it wants, follows orders sometimes, can impersonate people, and can talk. CREEPY!)

SPINSTERS! We’re finally going to see where Rumple learned to spin because he was raised by spinsters! Interesting that it looks like we’re getting that + Pandora’s box around the same time, as many have suggested the spinsters might be the Fates (though I am very surprised there’s only 2 of them so hmm…). Either way it’ll be interesting to see young Rumple finally and get backstory on his father!

MODERATOR QUESTION – do we have to spoiler out promo stuff in the press release forums? I never know where I need to do what when and I feel like the two tie in together (and I just hate coding) but wanted to be sure so left it for now).

Keeper of Hook's Trenchcoat.

[MysteryKat25]

Sorry I rambled a lot (again!) – I’m a writer who should be writing anything but CS analysis right now but couldn’t help myself!

I’m not sure why I’m still remotely amazed at how one-sided the ABC people are being with it. It made sense to use CS stuff when Hook was all that Emma had in front of her but in an episode where all 3 were on screen multiple times, not to mention there had to be a picture of Hook and Neal fighting over the lighter, it seems very very odd that they used THE CS scene. LOVED their picture and quote mid-ep last night though. I agree though – this isn’t how you show a triangle which goes back to what we’ve been saying about it being past vs future and future is winning.

LOVED the wording of Hook’s speech. Sure it was confident (even though he has his moments of being worried like anyone in his position would be) but it was WHEN not IF. Interesting wording and I don’t think it’s just because he’s a “cocky pirate.” She didn’t shut him down on it though and was visibly affected by it.

This is Emma Swan. She’s bashed a guy’s head onto his steering wheel, threatens to punch people (so like her father!), she pushes guys away physically, she outright tells them when she isn’t in the mood for whatever emotional discussion they’re trying to have, and walks away. Hook *tests* her by moving in closely and she doesn’t budge! She is COMFORTABLE with him being that close. He moves in close and she can see his eyes. He’s always known about her lying thing. He has BEGGED her to look into his eyes to see if he’s lying (he’s not).

So is it so surprising that he moves in closely when he’s making very important statements that he NEEDS her to not only hear but to believe? To see the proof in his eyes? She was studying them throughout his speech (in and around looking at his lips) but she didn’t flinch or feel the need to back away.

She could very easily have seen how the conversation was going and said we don’t have time for this and kept moving. She stopped him to ask what the deal with Neal’s attitude was (she could have gone to him and asked him what was wrong but she didn’t) and after she got that answer, Hook got all serious and obviously talking more about their eventual relationship and she DID NOT BACK AWAY or shut it down.

Emma doesn’t like to be vulnerable. At all. Yet with Hook, all he had to say was how absolutely sure he was that she would accomplish her goal and she is compelled to ask if he really thinks that and goes immediately to her vulnerable state. She needs his reassurance. It gives her STRENGTH. What do we know is strength to Emma Swan? LOVE. Which she discovered in Queen of Hearts. It was the moment she realized that love wasn’t weakness it was strength, and every time she needs a moment of courage and strength, who does she look to when she’s surrounded by her parents and the man she loved and everyone else? HOOK – or rather, Killian.

I thought about the JMO quote as well with the flicker of hope and how she talked about Graham and Hook. Seems like that was ages ago but it was very interesting that we saw Emma shout for Hook while Neal shouted for Emma, and it was while she was watching Hook be attacked that she was able to summon her magic (which is based off emotions according to Rumple) and then she was able to light the candle.

Both guys were in danger, she barely risked a glance looking back at Neal before hunkering down in the thing and she knew what both guys were going through because she could see the shadow attacking Hook but he’s the only one she called out for. She put herself in a position where she could see him and Neal was off to the side. Even when they were released from the shadows, Hook dropped very close to Emma and Neal was way off on the side. Interesting blocking for sure.

Neal’s reaction to that moment – I really felt a switch there. We know how he feels about magic. It’s been one of those sticking points for us for as long as I can remember because he doesn’t like magic (even though he did begrudgingly use it recently to find Emma), and hearing Emma say that Regina (of all people) was teaching her how to use it, it’s like he shut off. He had this look of disappointment and disgust about it (understandably so from what he’s been through), whereas Hook was just accepting of it. Whatever means necessary and Emma just saved their lives.

We’ve said it a million times but I completely agree – Hook sees her for who she is and accepts all of her. Neal has the memories of a few months (not sure exactly how long but not too long) over a decade ago when neither really knew the other one. I stand by my theory that we’ve watched Emma learn she never really knew Neal, and now we’re going to watch Neal come to that conclusion about Emma. He said in Manhattan if he had known who she really was, he wouldn’t have gone anywhere near her and now he’s learning who she really is and as much as he loves her and always will love her, I don’t see him being able to be in love with someone who is literally made of magic. It’s a part of her.

Hook trusts her to use it for good. It’s who she is. She’s using it to save people. He has absolute faith in her and all of her abilities. Neal is distrustful because magic is magic and it’s burned him too many times in the past. Totally understandable. It’ll be interesting to see how that plays out, but it was an interesting switch how, after all that, he seemed totally fine with Emma saying she wouldn’t choose anyone but Henry, and then he saw Tink (more on that in a minute!) and then went back to what he said in Manhattan only less depressed-sounded saying that Henry was the one good thing that came out of them being together and if that’s all that’s there then that’s alright.

HUGE turn. I’m sure some see it as him respecting her wishes (and more power to him if that’s what it is, I was actually happy with him for it so I’ll take it) but I really felt like suddenly his heart wasn’t as in it as he thought it was. It’s more like where Emma is with him now, she loves him, probably always will, but a major issue for her (trust) won’t let her take it further than that. In his case, it’s magic. He hasn’t given up yet, and I’m anxious to see how he behaves in the future with everything else going on too. HOOK believes that neither man will give up fighting for Emma because he knows that Neal cares greatly for her too and that she is worth fighting for and not giving up on, but he doesn’t know NEAL anymore, and he hasn’t had a lot of time to get to know what their relationship was like. He only knows that Neal is the one that affected Emma so greatly that she now has these huge walls up that he is fighting every step of the way and slowly but surely, getting her to let him in and he’s doing it in a way that proves to her time and time again that she can trust him. He may vocalize things sometimes, but it’s his ACTIONS that speak more to her.

I was worried for him a bit when she said that the important thing to her was that he told her Neal was alive. For at least a split second I’m sure he was thinking that she had chosen Neal and he had been wrong, but he recovered nicely when she made a point about him not having to say anything and he did. She thanked him again and that gave him hope that she’s starting to see him for who he really is.

The pirate thing. Is it just me or was she trying to banter a little and it just took a wrong turn? She just made the off-hand comment that he is a pirate, but he took it so badly and looked so hurt by it. It reminded me of his dramatic body language when David complained about having to work with him during Emma’s speech in 3×01. Like after everything’s that happened, that’s still how you see me? Only now it’s intensified because he has proven so much to her and yet she still called him a pirate (which is a touchy subject for him, especially after spending time with David but that should have alleviated a bit now and then she said it so it brought it all back. Poor guy!)

Smiles. Man it was so good to see some smiles finally. All 3 smiled in this episode and it was refreshing. What’s interesting is WHEN and WHY they smiled though.

Emma hasn’t smiled since the kiss. Right after that she learned about Neal being back and the flood of emotions that caused, and Hook hasn’t had reason to smile either, and given Emma’s secret to Neal, while he was happy to hug her and finally be back with everyone and out of the cage, he didn’t have a lot to be happy about either. Not to mention on top of ALL of this, there’s still the issues with Pan and Henry.

So let’s break it down: Emma stops to have a moment with Hook and ask him what the heck’s going on with Neal (interesting how they had a mini-CS “fight” if you will in the same episode that Snow is fighting with Charming!). During that conversation, Emma gets her answers and instead of pushing Hook away or backing up or walking off when he gets serious about relationship stuff, she stays. She listens. She hears him out. She doesn’t say something like “I’m not a prize to be won” she says (in a breathy manner showing how affected by him she is) that it’s not a contest. (At this point I really don’t think it is but she hasn’t had time to process anything. She wants the guys to stop fighting over her but her priority is Henry – perfectly understandable).

To Hook it IS a contest because he truly believes she’s worth it and that both guys will want to fight for her and he’s letting her know that he will, but that when she chooses eventually (and she’ll have to – it’s a fact, not forcing anything RIGHT NOW), she’ll choose him because she wants to, not because of anything else and that’s how it should be. In fact, the whole reason he said she’ll have to choose eventually is because it was explaining the behavior going on saying “See – we’re both in this and that’s not going to stop. The fighting for you isn’t going to stop until you’ve made a choice (eventually) but right now the focus is Henry and once he’s safe and home, that’s where things will heat up with the rest.” It explained perfectly 2 things: 1) Neither guy is going to back off until she’s made the choice but it’s hers to make and 2) The priority is Henry and once that’s all settled, then she can focus on it.

THEN they went into her asking him for reassurance. He was so confident about everything and she didn’t question his confidence about any of it. She could have flirted back and said something about him being confident and so sure of himself (would have been nice to see her do that but under the circumstances she’s less flirty since the triangle is too much for her to deal with right now) but the moment he shows absolute BELIEF in her (in a season all about belief and an episode all about belief for core canon true love couples (Snowing and RumBelle), she immediately becomes vulnerable and seeks more reassurance. And in those moments, we get genuine smiles from both Emma and Hook. She sees that he’s sincere and he’s saying he’s never doubted her and knows with absolute certainty that she will succeed and his praise (once again) is making her genuinely happy which in turn, SEEING HER SMILE cracks that smile we haven’t seen from Killian in a long time. That REAL smile. He puts her happiness so far above his own it’s painful at times, but it was so nice to see a real smile from him that he saves for Emma these days!

Not to mention that she never shut him down, or backed away (if anything she leans closer, like always) and gave him so much hope, while Neal is running around grumbling that she doesn’t need Hook, or Neal’s sword cause she’s got Neal now (that was a very childish moment in a string of childish moments for both men – Hook is not excused from that).

Interesting staging too for when they’re all on screen because when they go to move together, Emma is right next to Hook and sticking close to him and Neal is always lagging behind or way out in front only to find that Emma and Hook DIDN’T follow him and he has to go back to get them. It felt like that was the case through most of the episode. The only time it felt remotely the other way around for me was when Neal and Emma were sitting on the log together and Emma suggested that she and Neal were on shadow duty and Hook invited himself (which Emma totally could have squashed if she wanted alone time with Neal which would have pained Hook in thinking that something else were going on, but would have understood and backed away had she done that, which she didn’t).

Side bar before finishing up the smiles thing: The childishness. Both men had moments of this but the lighter scene started off in a genuine way. Neal WAS having trouble lighting it and Emma was off to the side telling them to hurry and what’s taking so long. Hook asked for a chance to try it and was given that for all of 2 seconds. NEAL was very into combat mode and felt threatened (remember: he doesn’t know the details of Hook and Emma. He knows they “shared a kiss” and Hook called it a dalliance but he’s probably imaging all kinds of horrible situations for himself).

Hook tried for 2 seconds, Neal took the chance to show him up and say it’s not so easy huh (seriously – Hook just isn’t allowed to light stuff in NL, somebody is always shoving him out of the way). NEAL is the one that jumped back in and made it a fight and THEN Hook stooped to his level. Neal was also the one accusing Hook of trying to impress Emma right now which he reacted to with the “is that what you think I’m doing?” and then Emma yelled about how now is not the time for all of that (which it wasn’t). I think Hook would have gotten it if given more than 2 seconds but given the wind and the shadows and everything, it makes total sense that magic would win the day since anything else seemed to go out before it got anywhere near the candle. It was still ridiculous on both their parts.

Neal apologized for it and I was proud of him in that moment. I’m waiting to see how Emma and Hook’s next interactions go. She read them the riot act TOGETHER, but Hook tends to wait for quiet moments to talk to Emma one-on-one and doesn’t deal with a big audience unless he can help it. He did explain that it wasn’t over a stupid lighter, but I want to see them talk alone as that’s when he’s at his best and he knows when she needs to talk and knows when people need to shut up and listen and he let her say her peace and then move forward. Quiet moments are for after they’ve calmed down except in extreme cases (see Charming INSISTING on Snow talking to him because she hasn’t done so in over a day – was that being pushy? No. That was acknowledging that he did something wrong, gave her some time to cool off, but that the conversation HAS TO  HAPPEN eventually and it was a great moment.)

One of the things I love about Charming and Hook is that they know the women in their lives really well and they know when to push and when to back off. We saw that with Charming when the curse broke, telling Snow not to rush things with Emma, not to push. He’s there for her when she needs him but he isn’t rushing anything (even though some of us really want more father/daughter moments!). He knows when SNOW needs to be pushed as well and he let her have a day to cool off before that happened. He was getting the silent treatment, all the while WANTING her to go home with everyone else and knowing that the closer they get to saving Henry, the less time he has with her and he still let her stay mad at him for a day before pushing the conversation.

Hook has shown time and time again that when he wants a serious conversation, he waits and has it one-on-one (the exception being the cave). He waited for people to leave in the diner to ask Emma the important questions. He waited for EMMA to pull him aside and talk about things (notice in this episode that Emma pulled Hook aside when it could have been a bonding moment with Neal and told Hook to go away or not come with them to begin with, and then on top of that followed his lead and looked to him through everything, and called HIS name when the shadow attacked both men, but then later on we see Neal pull Emma aside for them to have a chat, and by then she was just in a “what now?” kind of mood. She had all the patience in the world to let Hook invade her personal space and yes, deal with triangle stuff even though she doesn’t want to think about that right now, but also lift her up and show his unwavering belief in her. They were standing close and she leaned in to him.

But when Neal wants to talk, she’s so fed up with all of it that she doesn’t even look like she wants to hear anything he has to say. She’s said her peace, and one is giving her the space she obviously needs, and the other is pushing it a little to make sure he gets back in her good graces, but she does stay and listen and it was a really nice moment even though it started off with her look of now is not a good time for more of this garbage, didn’t you get the memo two seconds ago?

That moment: really really nice. He stayed back, gave her her space (she’s not comfortable being super close to him at the moment and he recognizes that – even though he likely also sees how close she stands to Hook, how she looks to him for everything, how she SCREAMED Hook’s name – full of panic, moreso than we’ve seen from her in a long time if ever and I swear her reaction to that moment was significant – and not Neal’s when they were attacked, etc etc, and all he wanted to tell her was that if Henry WAS the only good thing that came from their time together then they did alright. It acknowledged that Henry was her priority (something Hook already acknowledged earlier by saying that yes, the guys both want her and it’s gonna be an issue until she chooses but Henry comes first) and that it may have been the one good thing from their relationship (which is something that could very well be true (and I think is).

TINKERFIRE / Neal Smiles:

I find Neal to be like Bae in the moments where I find him very shippable with just about everybody but Emma. I haven’t even shipped EMMA this much. Bae: Morraine, Wendy; Neal: Regina (the idea of it anyway, no interaction really), Mulan (*sniff*), and now Tinkerbell. I find that when he interacts with women who aren’t Emma, I actually really really enjoy him. He seems more fun and lovable than he does when he’s around Emma. They had their cute moments over a decade ago but so much has changed and when I see them interacting, 95% of the time they’re just miserable for multiple reasons. But when Neal is interacting with anyone else, even with Mulan and explaining his Emma problems, there was just something there that lit up more for me.

TinkerFire was an interesting *idea* from the BTS cast picture where they were both crouched on the ground and she had her hand on his shoulder and Emma was holding a lantern above their heads. But I didn’t want to give into it because the idea of EvilFire was already sunk because of Robin (I’m totally on board with OutlawQueen though!). So I decided I probably wouldn’t ship Neal again until the Emma thing was dealt with and then somebody new would come into the picture.

So imagine my surprise when Tink doesn’t want to be helpful. When she thinks it’s all a stupid plan and she’s waiting for proof. And then BAM: Neal struts in with his magic coconut shadow cage and says hey Tink, long time no see with a smile on his face. Tink lights up! She recognizes him! (How remains to be seen because as far as we know, she last saw him as a 14 year old, but I think she might be the fairy who talked to August – without knowing it would hurt Bae in any way so she may have seen him older too, who knows – remains to be seen).

Neal actually SMILES and lights up that Tink remembers him. They spent a LOT of time focusing on Tink and Neal SMILING. It was a surprising reunion. Tink obviously didn’t know him with the name Neal when Snowing told her the plan. (We don’t know when he actually changed the name though so still no clarification on what age he was last but I strongly suspect that Bae at the very least had a huge crush on Tink even though I don’t think their timelines overlapped much in NL).

They were so focused on each other and smiling that Hook had to actually INTERRUPT the moment (seemed more like taking Tink out of a trance!) and remind her that they held up their end of the bargain in finding an escape plan so now it was time for her to do her part. (Remember she didn’t overly believe in this “plan” 2 seconds ago and all of a sudden she was happy to help. Anything for Baelfire!)

I know there were some interesting looks people have latched onto with Tink and Hook but the way he addressed her as Lady Bell and the fact that he was almost downright blushing (and that as far as we know – based on what Colin has said and Hook’s comments here and there, Hook was loyal to Milah’s memory until now. So anything that happened with Tink was at best, him trying to charm her into helping him with something. Hook flirts to get what he wants but I think that Tink may have pursued him heavily and said all kinds of things to make him blush but never got anywhere with him, which is evident by the fact that he didn’t give up his revenge for anyone but Emma).

So I think it likely that in NL, in the few years that might have overlapped for Tink with Hook and Bae: Tink was into Hook big time, Bae had a huge crush on her but was only 14 so had no chance, and Tink wound up alone with both of them gone and it added to her bitterness. Remember, she didn’t care so much about helping Hook (although him being there helped a bit since it was a familiar face and according to the actress a former alliance of hers but all the sudden Neal shows up and smiles and she’s totally on board?

It was very strange in that moment given his behavior about Emma all day long though. He was getting into petty fights with Hook which made it more like they were fighting for the sake of fighting over something and less about what they were fighting for, and then he was downright disappointed that she was embracing magic, she read them the riot act about them fighting over her and wanting to focus on Henry, he sees Tink and all of a sudden totally forgets Emma is standing RIGHT THERE which means either he:

1. Was trying to make her jealous OR
2. He really did forget temporarily and was just having a happy reunion with Tink

I’m inclined to believe the 2nd one because of how it was done. He wasn’t amping it up to make Emma jealous and we didn’t get any solitary Emma shots of her glaring or anything like that. It was let’s show how happy Tink and Bae are to be reunited with looks! I was almost expecting her to go hug him and have him lift her up and swing her around or something.

It was HOOK that pointed out they had a mission to do. Hook is invested in this just as much as Neal is because Henry is important to EMMA and on top of that, he’s basically said now that getting Henry back and going back to Storybrooke means that’s when he’ll get his chance and not until then. So while I don’t blame Neal AT ALL in that moment (it was totally human of him, just like Emma when she kissed Hook) it was very very interesting to me that in the midst of all of the things going on, including needing Tink to help them get to Henry, that they spent so much time focusing on how happy Tink was to see him and to see an actual genuine SMILE from Neal as well!

I really do find that I enjoy Neal in moments where it’s not about Emma at all. He can be sweet and charming when he wants to be (in a very different way from Hook but there’s nothing wrong with that – I have varied taste in men so I can appreciate both). It’s really just in his moments with Emma that I tend to want to smack him upside the head and tell him to get it together. So it was refreshing to see a genuine moment where he wasn’t thinking about anything and was just happy about something. Tink brings that out in him, like Hook has brought that out in Emma this season and I’m very much looking forward to learning more about their history and watching them interact more!

Not sure if she’ll just be a good friend for him or what. If she did know him as a 14 year old it’s obviously a little weird but again, I equate it to August being almost giddy when Ruby was hitting on him because now they were the same age and he likely had a little crush on her as a kid. I look forward to Neal at least having a good friend (and I think that Tink is friends with both him and Hook so might be able to help them get back to the days when they were friends maybe – she’s pretty intuitive about stuff too, not to mention stubborn!). And there’s always the potential for more.

My one issue with them is the fact that again, Neal hates magic and I’m not sure I could see him with a magical being. Right now Tink doesn’t have her wings but I kinda always figured she’d want to get them back someday and prove herself to Blue. That said, I think it would be very very interesting to watch her do what Nova apparently didn’t / didn’t get the chance to do, and actually CHOOSE to give up her wings for love. We know she’s a BIG fan of True Love and I could see Neal wanting someone who would actually give that up for him, especially since this entire mess started because Rumple couldn’t. (I fully expect him to repair his relationship with Rumple somewhere down the line, but it will likely be after Rumple’s “undoing” which I think will mean the end of the Dark One, and that’s still 300 years too late to undo the damage of all that time and the nightmares Neal suffered through – he’ll always love him though and I need that fixed!)

So I do find it very interesting / compelling and look forward to more of their interaction be it friendly or romantic. Since they killed MuFire off so fast, and then followed that with EvilFire by showing us OutlawQueen, I’ve been racking my brain trying to figure out who I do feel Neal interacts with well that makes me actually like it and they made a point of showing these smiles even with Emma right there and Neal was focused all on Tink (and then afterwards told Emma that maybe Henry was the only good thing – it was refreshing to go back to the beginning of the season mentality instead of the “must fight Hook” mentality regardless, because it puts things into perspective, but it also felt important because it came after Emma showing Henry was her priority yes, but also after he saw her do something that the perfect image of Emma in his head wouldn’t do: magic. I don’t think he’ll be over her and backing off right away, but he is starting to learn more about her and I could see this triangle being non-existent a lot sooner than I thought before this episode.

His reaction to her magic spoke volumes to me, and even though it was to save their lives, and looks like she’ll be doing magic again next week for something equally if not more important, he’s still not going to like that about her. I stand by him learning more about her like she’s been learning more about him. She’s had time to come to the realization that she wants to move on. He’s still hung up on the past but getting a big dose of reality.

If it wasn’t about any of that and he was just acknowledging that Henry is more important than still great, because it’s character growth (especially wording it that way since it’s something he’s held onto since Manhattan). It did seem like an interesting shift in tone for him, especially since at the beginning (when Hook and Neal were actually getting along albeit briefly, his reaction to what Hook was saying about his and Emma’s dalliance was to remind Hook that Henry is “our son” – it was very biting, all of his remarks were throughout the episode, which is why I said it sounded childish though TOTALLY UNDERSTANDABLE even though annoying watching grown men turn into 5 year olds, even if it was slightly amusing at times though badly timed).

It was a nice shift in tone (even if it wasn’t actually giving up on the idea) from sounding like Henry was an excuse for him to be with Emma, to making Henry be important again and that he might be the only good thing. I know I’m not wording this well at all because I do believe that Neal loves Henry and values him and he is the most important thing here to him. It’s just a different tone from the beginning of the episode when it was used more as a verbal dagger against Hook, and then it shifts to yes he’s our son and he’s important but he *could* be the only good thing that came out of them which is basically what Emma had been trying but failing to say. We know she felt that way in Manhattan for sure (and lied about it so he wouldn’t know about Henry at all), and then last episode she told him she wanted to move on and he stubbornly said he heard everything she said, didn’t blame her, he was never going to stop fighting for her. never. So it was a nice moment to hear him come back down from his emotionally charged outbursts (totally understandable), to being more realistic.

It was in those moments at the beginning of the season when I liked him the most – when he was actually accepting of the idea that he’d go back and try and hope that Emma would give him a second chance, but that 1) Henry is more important and 2) Emma may not give him another chance. He was realistic about it and accepting of it, and other than his stumble / knee-jerk reaction right outside of the caves, he was actually pretty good about everything she said at the beginning of the episode. We didn’t get much of it before Hook tried to mend his own relationship with Neal and failed miserably (*sniff*), but after they got the tantrums out of their system, he calmed way back down and came back to reality which was very nice to see!

I know people think Hook was pushy and I hate it. There’s a difference between acknowledging what’s going on around you and he wasn’t just saying “I will win” like she’s a prize to be won, and he wasn’t saying he was going to force her to choose him in any way shape or form. He acknowledged it would be HER CHOICE and that these stupid comments that she was asking what was going on about weren’t going to end until she actually MADE A CHOICE. That that element was always going to be there until a choice was made.

He WAS very confident about what her choice would be but it was still a CHOICE and he made sure to make it crystal clear that he was going to keep winning her over by doing things the right way (like he HAS BEEN) and that when she chose him it would be because she wants him and not for any other reason. She could have shut it all down RIGHT THEN by calling Neal back and then making it clear to both of them (since Neal was the one acting like a child in that moment, NOT HOOK), that her priority was Henry and if she didn’t want to even entertain the THOUGHT of choosing Hook, she could have shut HIM down right then too. But she didn’t.

It wasn’t until watching BOTH men act childish that she felt the need to shut it down. She was sad for Neal who was obviously hurt and therefore making multiple comments that sounded like he was about to cry and she obviously felt it was because of something Hook said (which it was but he explained why), and it wasn’t until later when it was literally getting in the way of the mission AND ALMOST COSTING THEM THEIR LIVES that she said the only one she chose is Henry.

She never said Hook was out of line in telling him. She was greatly annoyed because she made it clear to Neal that it was all about them and their issues and now Hook’s gone and made it seem like she was choosing him over Neal when it had nothing to do with Hook at all. That’s just an added layer that is hurtful to everyone. I really think Neal could have handled his past mistakes getting in the way. Once he calmed down he would have understood that. But now there’s another guy in the picture and it at least gives the temporary impression that the only reason he’d lose her is because of the other guy and that’s not the case.

I really really hate this “triangle” and I will be so happy when we can focus on just Killian and Emma and enjoy Neal being happy with someone else. I really do enjoy him when it’s not an Emma thing. It was GREAT to see him actually smile but it was Tink that made him smile like that, not Emma. Emma and Killian made each other smile.

Emma could stop the triangle at any time but she hasn’t which gives both hope. Killian is latching onto that hope and making sure he’s got a chance and she basically said that he did because she’s not with Neal and she’s obviously not making a choice right now. She has issues with both of them that need to be resolved and she’s got to process how she feels about something.

She trusts Hook. That much is evident through body language as well as words. She goes to him for strength, reassurance. She watches him closely when he says anything and she believes him. She trusts him implicitly and asks for his opinion when she could (and sometimes should) ask Neal. The staging of so many of the scenes in this episode made that clear for me. But she has to deal with a lot of things before we get to that point.

He also needs to give her sword-fighting lessons – she almost took his eye out trying to be helpful! Loved that she discovered that Neal thought the sword was in the cave though, and then outright told Neal that Hook gave it to her. Meaning he went back there and found it and kept it safe all this time because it meant something. And he made a point of saying he had given it to her because it was Neal’s and he wanted her to have something (isn’t he carrying Milah’s sword at this point? I need to rewatch the Crocodile but someone pointed out from the [spoiler]promo when Rumple takes Hook’s sword that it’s actually Milah’s and I recall there being some sword switcheroo from that so if so, that makes even more sense why he felt so strongly that Emma should have it.

It was a nice callback to the fact that Hook is sentimental as well. He always has been and WE know this but it was nice to see that as much as Neal thought he knew him, there was still something there that could surprise him, just like it surprised Emma. (Seriously that’s becoming one of their things – Snowing’s “did you ever doubt me?” is becoming CaptainSwan’s “does that surprise you?” – always with the look of hurt *sniff* Killian it will be alright!)

There are still a LOT of conversations that Emma needs to have with Neal and with Hook. I’m sure there’s also a lot of backstory that we still desperately need cause right now we’re going off the assumption that Bae & Hook parted on terrible terms (which they did) but somehow aren’t at odds right now EXCEPT over Emma. And on top of that, even with the Emma thing clearly bugging Neal and getting in the way, not once has he lashed out at Hook about Milah. It would be the PERFECT time to do so. In the cave when they were talking and he was asking Hook what he meant by all that, I completely expected him to say something like “what, first my mother, now my ex-girlfriend?” right when Emma walked in. I was completely and totally expecting that. It was nice to see that it didn’t happen that way, but that still needs to be addressed.

It was what bugged me about Neal’s reunion with Rumplestiltskin too (every single time). It was something that was SO important to him – it’s why he hated Hook (he thought he killed her) and why he wanted to leave Hook (he killed her just as much as Rumple did in his mind), and yet even when he’s angry at Rumple in Manhattan, he doesn’t once address it. It’s all about the nightmares and the letting go of his hand (perfectly reasonable) but even when they’re having nice bonding moments, there’s NO MENTION OF MILAH.

So it will be interesting to see how that comes into play. I feel like Emma has been putting two and two together. We saw her reaction to Hook talking about Neal’s sketches and how he gets it from his mother. She reads Hook pretty well and it was the same kind of reverence in his voice that he uses when he talks about Milah, but she didn’t push it. She also knows that Rumplestiltskin is the one who killed the woman he loved, but again – she has the clues I’m just not sure she’s putting it all together (and Rumple has killed a lot of people so it’s not out of character).

I really need her to talk to Hook and find out more. She was the only one in the cave that understood what a big deal it was for Hook when he said that he was letting go of Milah. The others don’t know that name. I think Snow understood on some level because she can’t even fathom losing Charming much less ever moving on so it was a big deal, but Emma knows who Milah is and how important she is to Hook. It reinforced every thought of what he’s given up to help her save her son and backs up all the trust she’s had in him this entire mission.

It will be VERY interesting to see the group back together next week. Rumple and Neal interacting after Neal paralyzed him in the jungle. Rumple AND Regina likely picking up on the triangle – Regina will feel vindicated since she was lashed out at for calling Hook Emma’s boyfriend and has no clue about the kiss, and Rumple – Rumple needs his son to love him again and doesn’t want him to be hurt so he could try and get in the way and the best way to do that would be to make sure Emma knows who she’s dealing with with Hook and put a wedge there, even though he’s the one that killed her. I think it might actually backfire on Rumple if he does it because 1) It’s admitting it in front of Neal and 2) Emma knows the depth of the love that was there and it makes perfect sense why he would do anything to avenge her death. If anything his loyalty is a commendable quality, even if it does make things slightly awkward with the whole Neal situation which leads to 3) Neal’s reaction to all of it: last we saw, he was upset with Rumple for having killed her but never got the chance to address it.

So if at some point Rumple does try to driving a wedge between Emma and Hook by telling her about Milah, he has some other issues too. It might really backfire because Neal could react and remind everyone that he’s the one who killed her and then…then there’s HOOK’s reaction: HOOK KNOWS that they were about to give Rumple the bean. The bean that would get him to Bae. That would have ended all this pain and suffering for everyone ages ago. The one that would have spared ALL of them a lot of torment. (This could look bad on Hook momentarily for keeping it, but if the entire truth is revealed, I think all of them will understand completely and it would ultimately look worse for Rumple, in at least Neal’s eyes. He already expects the worse out of him at every turn, but to actually KNOW that Rumple just had to let her go be with the man she loved and he could have gotten back to Bae but chose to kill her and make an enemy out of Hook instead, that would be extremely heartbreakinng but completely understanding too.

There’s so much stuff that needs to be resolved and out in the open before anybody will be satisfied with Emma’s choice. She needs to know about Hook/Milah, and the whole lost boys thing for Bae (I’m still hoping there’s more backstory that we get shortly of what happened to Bae once he left the ship), but they don’t seem to be holding any grudges. I think Neal probably realized a long time ago that he was wrong in that moment to say that Hook was as bad as Rumplestiltskin. I hope that the friendship they once had is  repaired by them both admitting that they were stupid and headstrong in that moment. It doesn’t change anything, but I really think they’re not holding it against anyone. Neal can hold a grudge but he wasn’t that phased by Hook being around until he said he had something with Emma.

(Seriously that moment of pain in Hook’s voice when he was all “We shared a kiss.” *pause* expected more of a reaction to that. did she not mention it? let’s rephrase here. panic mode. “Our dalliance” – the way he said that word made it sound like “Wasn’t it important enough to warrant a mention? She really didn’t say anything??” My heart just broke for him in that moment because he sounded so lost and hurt!

So maybe the rhombus “joke” wasn’t realllly a joke? Cause I really feel like we’ve got Hook/Emma/Neal/Tink going on right now. In the promo Hook is on the left, then Tink, then Neal then Emma, Charming and Snow. Emma and Neal are facing away from each other, Neal and Tink are turned toward each other (much like Emma and Hook do) and Hook is off to the side. Makes sense to me as he’s all about the mission at the moment. He knows stooping to the childish level only upset her and almost cost them their lives, and he knows when she needs space, and on top of that he knows that in order to get her, they have to get Henry and get home first which makes it all the more important that they do so sooner or later. Perhaps he focuses better when she’s not right in front of him? – which will backfire because they always watch each other and not being by her side will likely make him panic) but I found the body language between Tink, Neal, and Emma in that shot very interesting, especially after the Tink/Neal interaction in this episode.

CHOMPING AT THE BIT for the next episode. I need to see the aftermath of everything that happened in this one. I need to see how people react, and what happens when the group is reunited! SO MUCH DRAMA that needs to happen and lots of conversations that either need to happen or be alluded to. I’d be fine in some cases if we just know that Emma know certain things and is fine with them. I really don’t think the Milah revelation is going to be a huge deal, but I’d still love to see Hook opening up to her and making sure she knows the history of him and Bae. It would be great to see them go off on a little mission or something sometime to be along the lines of “Hook told me” or SOMETHING. Nobody will accept her decision unless she knows him fully but they are opening up to each other and letting them in.

I still want Emma to tell Hook her history with Neal as well. He knows that somebody (likely Neal) did a number on her ages ago and that they share a son, and he also knows that she’s not running back to him like he was led to believe might happen which gives him hope. But I’d still love for him to learn what happened so that he fully understands why she reacted the way she did on the beanstalk.

The plus side to all of this? Ultimately I don’t think it matters. They’re things that will be thrown at them with the expectation of breaking them apart. No idea who will say what but given all the chances that various people have had so far, even trying to keep them apart in other ways, they haven’t been thrown out yet. Wouldn’t surprise me in the least if Pan goes to see Emma and tells her to ask Hook how he and Bae parted company all those years ago as another test to Hook to see if he’ll come clean with her about all of it. To make him admit that. It’s a villain’s job to get between them and the only couple he’s tried to get between where Emma is related, is Captain Swan.

But in the longrun, Emma will just be happy that he told her. That he opened up and let her in. She KNOWS the timing of everything that’s been going on basically since the moment they met? Hasn’t been good. (Love always comes at the most inconvenient and unexpected of times!) It was never really appropriate while Emma was in “mourning” (Hook’s view of the situation) to tell her by the way, the woman I just got over? Neal’s mom. And he might kinda hate me right now because I left him with Pan.

It’s VERY similar to Ariel and her mermaid secret. There have been a lot of parallels between Hook and Ariel recently but this one really sticks out for me. Ariel made a point of asking Snow to let her try to get Eric to fall in love with her before revealing the mermaid thing. It’s a very big part of her/her past, and is important for him to know, but you don’t go meet someone and tell them the worst things about you. That’s learned along the way but it usually starts off with at least a sliver of a chance at something good and real. We already watched Belle leave Rumple because he couldn’t open up to her and then bit by bit she’s gotten the important parts of the story as they’re relevant to now.

For Hook, all of that was in the past until Neal showed back up, and there hasn’t been a lot of time for him to talk to Neal about any of it, much less Emma. Again, he likes to have the serious heartfelt conversations one-on-one and it’s hard to get any of that time. As much as he’s got invested in winning her over, and trying to do it the right way, I’m sure that eventually she will learn all of this stuff and by then it won’t matter. It’s just another tragic part of the past and ultimately, while she needs to know about it, the people who need to actually address it/deal with it are Hook and Neal. (And given Neal’s attitude once he calmed down a bit, and the fact that he DIDN’T lash out at Hook about anything with the past, even after finding out he’s vying for Emma too, I have hope that they can be friends again someday. It won’t be the same as before and they’re roughly the same age now, but I think it’s actually possible at this point).

I’m more and more pleasantly surprised because I had huge concerns at the beginning of the season that Neal would be seduced by magic and follow in his father’s footsteps but so far it looks like it was just the one time and he’s against it enough to not go down that dark path. He wanted to break the cycle with Henry as well, agreeing with Emma that he doesn’t want to do to Henry what his dad did to him. Now that things have calmed down and refocused a bit, I think it’s more likely than ever that Neal is going back to when he and Emma were able to be friends/co-parents and got along fine even though one was with someone else, as well as what he told August about being able to move on if he knows she’s ok.

There’s so much history with CSF that needs to be hashed out but that takes time. I don’t think any of it will affect Emma’s choice at all though. She told Henry before that she wasn’t getting back together with his dad (though I fully expect a setup or secret mission at some point and I’m very curious what NEAL’s reaction to that would be by then – does he team with Henry to try and get her back or does he accept her choice and back her up on this? Is this before she’s made a choice? No idea but I know the kid is rooting for his dad obviously so I’m not sure. I’d really like everyone to respect her choice whatever it is though and I really want Hook to win over Henry too – and I think he will).

Can we just talk about the fact that Jared’s opinion has changed a little bit over time? Months ago he was saying that Emma HAS to end up with Henry’s dad (which caused a lot of people pain who thought it was more than an opinion or something when actors can think whatever they want but have to act as they’re told to onscreen), but now when asked about it, he says “gotta say I’m rooting for my dad but the Captain is pretty cool.” PROGRESS! It’s kinda like how Josh has come so far from “not with my daughter” to “I want her to be happy” – it’s a slight shift but an important one even if it just the opinion of actors! It’s more accepting of the idea that Emma will make a choice and that will be it (and I certainly hope so because the triangle is driving me bonkers and I can’t go through more hiatuses with the shipper drama after this season). Not sure if it’ll be over before the winter hiatus or not [spoiler]LOVE that Hook is close to Emma and Henry and Snowing in a lot of shots AND that we know they spend time together alone and we haven’t seen anything about Neal/Emma yet

Also from those pics Neal is back with the Darlings and everyone else (aww, DarlingFireFamily reunion!!!) and that when Neal IS close to Emma, it’s usually with Henry and Regina as well – I’m looking forward to the Neal/Belle interaction though too!

So I have hope that it *might* be finished sooner, especially with the way it’s continuing to be promoted (all season it was CS heavy but that made sense since Hook was her only option right then, now it’s still seems CS heavy). Not sure WHY they are doing that and as much as I love seeing it, I think it’s also very hurtful and ignores the fact that it is a shipper-made-triangle if nothing else (can’t believe they used THAT picture today for it. I expected to see the guys fighting over the lighter which would have been a bit more fair…) but the fact that they are doing that makes it look like they really want us to associate that with it. Otherwise they just used the picture from the scene where Hook said that he’d win her eventually because of that quote so that it related to the question they were asking, which was still hurtful to the other fans.

I celebrate the moments we get, even if it’s from the silly PR department that has no clue sometimes, but I do feel bad about it. I’m just happy that I’m enjoying Neal more and have reason to hope that CSF will be alright someday!

BELIEVE in CaptainSwan as much as Hook believes in Emma and we’ll all be ok. *deep breaths & cookies*

Keeper of Hook's Trenchcoat.

[MysteryKat25]

Can’t believe I forgot to add these in!

• CAPTAINSWAN MUSIC! Their theme played over their discussion about Hook’s feelings and his belief in Emma. AWW! Hope it’s on the Season 3 soundtrack! It keeps getting better & bigger, like Snowing’s!
• Physical closeness. When Hook gets in close, Emma doesn’t back down. She doesn’t feel threatened or smothered, she backs up and walks off if she does (and she has before). She was staying very close to him in that conversation and getting a good reading on him – her eyes were studying him the entire time and she was PLEASED with what she saw because it was genuine (which we already knew)
• This continues in almost every shot of the episode except for the early one with Neal and Emma sitting on the log opposite Snowing with Hook standing nearby and pacing. Every other time, Emma and Hook were close together and Neal was always off to the side a little bit. Physical closeness = comfort with the person you’re close to, especially if they’re invading your space. Very good sign!
• Rewatched stuff from the shadow fight. Emma screams Hook, hears Neal scream Emma, she turns around for like, a split second, then hunkers down in her little hiding spot. She focuses on Hook through almost all of it, with only a brief glance in the other direction. Interesting staging for a supposed triangle that they had her facing Hook and screaming HIS name in terror with no reaction to Neal’s screaming of her name. Very interesting indeed.
• It just felt like for the most part, even though it started off with Hook awkwardly joining them on their mission, that Neal ended up being the odd person out. Hook and Emma had conversations about the plan, getting Henry (his belief that she’ll find him) as well as them personally on a possible relationship level. His unwavering belief in her, his confidence that she will CHOOSE him because she WANTS TO and that he will earn it by doing things the right way (he’s consistently impresses her and surprising her again and again which she acknowledges every time) etc etc. Neal’s conversations with Emma equated to the plan, and rescuing Henry with him even saying that Henry may be the one good thing that came out of them.

All very good stuff for us! Both men acted like children in this episode and hopefully learned from it and won’t be trying to outdo each other in the future. Remember that Neal was the one who accused Hook of trying to impress Emma and started the mini-brawl. Hook was acting like Charming did with him, wanting to get it done faster and being annoyed with it. They are BOTH trying to impress Emma but got in trouble for the way they went about it this episode and almost got them all killed so hopefully that stops and they behave more like adults in the future.

I’m really thinking though that Neal might be starting to realize that Emma isn’t the same one he’s had in his head all this time. She’s grown up and changed a lot (and so presumably has he since they were last together), and that’s finally starting to come out. In Gold’s shop last season, he said something about not knowing she was magical, but now (after having recently used magic himself even though he hates it), his reaction to actually watching her use magic was extremely interesting and he didn’t sound overly pleased. Looks like next week she’ll be not only using it, but teaming up with Regina to use it (so understandable he’d worry/not like it) but I think the backhalf of this first half of the season *might* be Neal learning that Emma isn’t what he thought, like the first half was Emma learning she didn’t know as much about Neal as she thought.

Right now getting Emma is a “challenge” which means neither guy will want to back down from making it clear he’s still in it. Hook didn’t like the idea of Emma and Neal going off alone, and Neal doesn’t like leaving Hook and Emma alone for long either and understandably so. We know that there are genuine feelings from Hook so it’s not “just about the challenge” and we’ve seen it before Neal was back, and likewise Neal loved Emma (a decade ago and they’re different people but hopefully learning that in this journey) but it still amps everything up knowing somebody else is in the mix. When the other person is getting a lot of facetime, it’s easy to think you’re going to be forgotten and that whatever good deed she sees last will be the clincher and you’ll lose. I love the fact that Hook made a point of saying she’ll have to choose eventually and they’re both in this for her but that it will be her choice and that WHEN she picks him, it’ll be because she WANTS TO. That’s huge. I get it made anti-Hook people uncomfortable but EMMA did not budge and we’ve watched her shut people down before. She doesn’t seem to mind being in close company with Hook so I’m not sure why we should mind on her behalf at all…

AMAZING EPISODE and rewatching the promo I just…I have no idea how but it looks like season 3 just keeps getting better & better! Can’t wait to see what we learn next and how it affects everything!

Keeper of Hook's Trenchcoat.

[MysteryKat25]

Let’s make this place very happy again, shall we?

AMAZING EPISODE! One of my favorites for sure and lots of my ships all in one episode, yay!

• Hook’s confidence: WHEN not IF, but still emphasizes that she’ll have to CHOOSE eventually & that when she does choose him it’ll be because she wants to and he’ll win her over in the right way (like he has been!) – reminded me of Han & Leia when Han was hurt that Leia said that “we need you” not “I need you” when asking him to stay because he’s a good leader and not acknowledging that she had any feelings for him (when she obviously did)
• Hook telling Emma he believes in her and doesn’t doubt for a second that she’ll accomplish her goal
• Hook being up front about the fact that both of them are not going to give up, that she will have to choose (emphasis being on choose) eventually (which she knows but doesn’t want to deal with right now)
• Emma having tunnel vision (aptly so under the circumstances!) and being called out on it by Snow as being a Charming thing!
•  Snowing getting a Princess Bride moment! (Felt very Fire Swamp to me, trying to make the best out of a bad situation) #CoreCanonTrueLoveCouple
• Finally getting some RumBelle scenes! Big emphasis on believing which was true for the 3 core couples tonight, Snowing, RumBelle, and CaptainSwan!
• RumBelle Star Wars moment with the shell #CoreCanonTrueLoveCouple
• The guys fighting over Emma at all the wrong times
• Hook really thinking Emma told Neal because he wanted it to have meant something & thinking Neal already knew because of the cave when he didn’t (he was trying so hard to repair the relationship and acknowledge the elephant in the room so it could go away and just made things worse) =/
• Hook trying to immediately mend fences with Neal so that it wouldn’t hang over them, only to start the silly fighting by accident
• Hook and Neal STILL bantering back and forth like the old friends that they are even right after Neal found out about the kiss (seriously I need this relationship repaired because I love their interaction and hate that they’re fighting over the same woman)
• The coconut is a shadow trapper and a piece of the way home but not the way home itself (and they still believe that Neal knows how to get them out of there so I hope they’re right even though Pan pretty much said he let Neal go but we’ll see – I’m open to it)
• Hook and Emma both carried lanterns and Neal carried the coconut (one of these things is not like the other in a lot of scenes!) – also reminded me of Tink being crouched on the ground in that spoilery cast photo and she was holding a lantern and near Neal who was holding a coconut. We keep seeing Snowing with Lanterns, CaptainSwan with lanterns (both Hook & Emma carried them tonight) and I was hesitant to get too excited but I was hoping that Tink lighting the way for Neal in that shot was also going to be a future TinkerFire thing since we’ve seen Snow&Charming & Hook&Emma light the way for each other. Plus I’m really liking that suddenly Tink is near Neal a lot – I want more backstory but I am so on team TinkerFire right now after they lit up like that! (Not sure how her wish to get her wings might fit into this but we’ll see how things go. I at least really love the potential and adored their interaction tonight)
• Neal being understandably upset and showing emotion but going a little overkill on trying to one-up Hook with outright saying “she has me now” in a childish way
• Hook fighting Neal over the stupid lighter (again, in a childish way) – they were 5 in this episode! lol
• Emma looking to Hook for his opinion on things – multiple times: about the plan, about Dark Hollow, about why NEAL was being moody (which was totally a what did you do now but let me chastise you a little moment, similar to Snowing – #CoreCanonTrueLoveCouple)
• Hook and Neal actually agreeing on something other than just the mission to save Henry (they both wanted her to run and save herself while they were being attacked
• Emma shouting HOOK while Neal shouted EMMA (very telling in my opinion as she was faced with losing both of them and her concern was Hook – in all fairness she situated herself in a spot where she could only SEE Hook, but she wasn’t exactly turning around to check on Neal either)
• Neal’s reaction to Emma being taught magic was full of concern and almost like he was personally offended by it even though he already knows she has magic (protection spell on gold’s shop) and HE used some magic to get to her
• Hook believing in Emma like we’ve said all along in a season about BELIEF and making sure she knows it
• Hook saying outright that Emma will CHOOSE him and it’ll be because she WANTS TO and not because of any trickery
• The fact that Emma is focused on Henry and not putting up with the ridiculous fights that aren’t helping anything
• Neal saying that if Henry’s the one good thing that came out of their being together then they did alright
• Emma NOT backing away when Hook got in close (it’s a good test and she passed with flying colors – she didn’t shrink away at all)
• Emma’s reaction to Hook wanting the kiss to mean something – here’s where it gets dicey. She hasn’t had a chance to process what it means for her, so she just doesn’t address it at all. She then says that the thing that means something is the fact that he told them about Neal. HE may read it one way (as more of a challenge) but she also said she was choosing whatever would get her son home and AS FAR AS SHE KNOWS, Neal knows the way to get home. It’s that simple. She then COMPLIMENTED and THANKED HOOK for telling them and was clearly impressed by his actions
• Hook wanting the kiss to mean something – you could tell he really thought after all of that that it did mean something (it’ll be ok Killian, it DOES. She’s just not ready to process that yet!) and you could tell with the look on his face, he was hurt that it didn’t warrant a mention! BUT it gave him hope because he really thought Emma would be telling Neal these kinds of things if they were getting back together and she didn’t and made it clear she hadn’t made a choice so now he’s 100% back in this and knows it and will fight for it. But his actions have made it clear all season that he IS going about things the right way and is willing to put her happiness before his own which goes along with him saying that he’ll get her the right way and not with trickery. He has a few hurdles to jump over (like that pesky pirate thing) but he’s well on his way!
• Lots of parallels, I’ll be hunting tumblr for ages to get all the gifsets!
• Emma SMILING when talking to Hook and getting genuine smiles back from him (that we ONLY see with Emma!)
• Emma reading the riot act to both guys and focusing on what’s important for now (they deserved it – they could have gotten all 3 of them killed and were lucky that Emma didn’t lose her head like they did. At least they agreed on HER leaving for safety but their petty squabbles could have been very very bad)
• LOL at the lighter though – poor Hook is still trying to prove that he’s worth something even one-handed (which he IS, and even Charming had to protect Emma one-handed when she was a baby!) but he keeps trying to light things and getting shoved out of the way! In all fairness though, he asked for a chance to try, Neal gave it to him for 2 seconds and then HE started jumping in on Hook to get it back. Almost feels like the triangle doesn’t it? Neal gets a chance first, Hook comes to the rescue and then Neal suddenly wants back in to the point where it screws things up for Emma instead of either guy outright getting to actually do something useful.
• Hook saying that he believes she’ll get Henry back and they’ll all get home and then the fun begins in vying for her (it’s called, priorities even if the men are acting like children) and NO, he did not mean he only wants Emma because she’s a challenge and he gets to fight for her – he genuinely cares about but ALSO proved that he genuinely cares about Neal which is the entire reason Pan told him and Emma was PLEASED that he chose his friend rather than being SELFISH and trying to get her in the wrong way (remember, according to Pan, “cheaters never win” and taking the easy way out doesn’t get you anywhere in the long run).
• Emma having the presence of mind to light the candle even when the guys were being idiots and trying to get themselves killed
• Did I mention her reacting to HOOK being in danger? She was totally focused on him and yelled his name while Neal yelled hers. #VeryTelling – when faced with death, who did she react to? HOOK (which is likely to make her panic a little and it’s one more thing she’ll shove down in. She’ll eventually have to talk to Neal about what was said at the portal, but she also has this moment now of thinking she’d lost Hook for good too and she had the same panicked breathing on her face that he did when she almost drowned on his ship)
• Emma’s reactions to having used magic are interesting, I’ll have to rewatch that section for sure
• TINK – she was sooo not ready to help, even with her past friendship with Hook without a plan (a plan that even SHE just mocked the heck out of about the shadow) but the moment Neal shows up it’s all smiles and she recognizes him even though he’s grown up and HE had a huge grin on his face and was all focused on Tink! It was Hook that had to snap Tink out of it and remind her they held up their end of the bargain but uh…totally on board with #TinkerFire! (It was nice seeing Neal have a moment of happiness, we haven’t seen a genuine smile in a long time and I do want him to be happy – he’s just not right for Emma. Interesting how right after getting chewed out for fighting over Emma, and reminded they’re supposed to be looking for Henry, he’s suddenly all smiles with Tink who is suddenly MORE THAN HAPPY to help with this absurd plan that involves Pan’s shadow, and then right after that he goes to Emma and basically admits that Henry may be the only good thing that came from their being together. I don’t think he’ll stop fighting for her right now because that’s what he’s hung up on at the moment other than finding Henry, but I hope we get some more Tink and Neal interaction cause I think they’d be really cute together and I loved their interaction tonight. He’s focused on Emma but Tink is supposed to *maybe* help out CS and her old pal Hook in the process but it would be interesting to see what her history with Bae is and see if something could happen between them! – It is weird that she likely knew him as a kid though. I imagine it’s kind of like August hitting on Ruby. Likely a childhood crush and now they’re older so trying things out (he totally hit on Ruby, it was adorable), and now we have Bae all grown up who likely had a bit of a crush on Tink as well! Here’s hoping anyway. It really was adorable & I don’t say that to  ship Neal off at all. I want him to be happy too!
• PROMO: I …need to rewatch and gather my thoughts.
• I need the CSF friendship regardless of anything else. I love it when they all interact and I really love the CaptainFire moments on their own as well (always have)!

SO MUCH GOING ON IN THIS EPISODE BUT IT WAS AMAZING! Lots of wonderful non-CS stuff too but I tried to highlight the stuff that directly related here. Such a great episode and lots and lots of ships represented, including the 3 big ones. YAY! (Also really really loved that Eddy & Adam’s inner fanboys were showing – Star Wars & Princess Bride references as well as a reverse Peter Pan situation by having Wendy meet Bae’s son when she hasn’t aged at all, vs Pan going back to see Wendy and meeting her daughter Jane. LOVE THEIR TASTE IN STUFF!

Season 3 just keeps getting better & better! Chomping at the bit for next week & I’ve already seen this one twice which I haven’t done with many eps for quite some time but have been with Season 3! Seriously getting better and better!

Probably missed a lot of stuff or repeated myself but massive massive feels for the big couples this week! So many wonderful & fun character moments too, and lots of good stuff with characters I didn’t even mention here but ahhh so many feels!

Also really enjoyed the @OnceABC tweets tonight, especially THIS ONE (for obvious reasons!):  https://twitter.com/OnceABC/status/399710472804380672/photo/1

 

Keeper of Hook's Trenchcoat.

[MysteryKat25]

Loved it!

I think someone said that Michael had a teddy bear keychain (I need to look for it on rewatch) and John said something about “following” orders which to me was a giveaway at the beginning of the episode for sure even though I was already pretty sure we were right anyway!

Also – love that they pulled a reverse Peter Pan in this episode! Instead of Peter staying in NL and then visiting Wendy only to find out she had grown up and had a daughter, they had Wendy stay young and find meet Bae’s son! (They’re adorable together and I fully expect them to be very good friends once they get out of there since it’s become part of the mission to rescue Wendy and we know the Darlings are important to Neal so it’ll be such a sweet reunion for all of them! Wendy should be closeish to Henry’s age possibly and since we haven’t seen Pinocchio in forever, he could use a friend!)

Yay for Henry trying to be the hero and rescue her (although um, could it have BEEN any more obvious it was setting him up? Henry! You’re smarter than that!)

Keeper of Hook's Trenchcoat.

[MysteryKat25]

Does Emma have a jail tattoo?

JMO: (Laughs) JAIL TATTOOS? No she has a tattoo, but that tattoo she’s had since she was probably 14. I think you’ve seen glimpses of it, it’s on her left wrist, it’s a flower on her left wrist. It hasn’t been featured in any situation yet, you’ll see it more in Episode 6. Just kind of by circumstances, but yeah, it’s definitely a youthful decision on her part but ends up being meaningful in the long run.

This interview was from Sept 28, 2012 and we did see the tattoo in 2×06 when she was arrested. So it’s definitely an Emma thing. Pretty sure JMO doesn’t have any and if Emma’s tattoo is “meaningful in the long run” AND matches Charming’s shield that’s very interesting! (Also if she was “probably 14” when she got it, it’s definitely an Emma thing on her own and not related to anything else – just a happy coincidence that she was drawn to it and it happens to be on Charming’s shield too. Wonder when we’ll learn about that finally! http://www.tv.com/news/once-upon-a-time-qa-jennifer-morrison-drops-a-few-hints-about-season-2-29691/

How 14 year olds are getting tattoos and 17 year olds are dating older men (I think most states have a 2 year rule and he’s a few years older at least – not that young thieves in love really care all that much, but she WAS concerned he might be a pervert when she first met him) but given this show’s math problems, and the fact that Ashley was drinking in Storybrooke at 19 etc, it’s a suspension of disbelief thing (seriously where does a 14 year old get a tattoo? I have none myself so not sure if it falls under getting a guardian to sign for it or what but given her track run with foster families….I think she ran away when she was 16 though I can’t remember where I’m getting that from either).

Either way, that’s the backstory that JMO has given us so far on it and she’s one that really gets into character and talks to people and asks questions of the writers about what Emma should already know (like she knew in S1 that Baelfire was Henry’s dad because it’s stuff that EMMA should know and react to, whether the audience learns it for awhile or not), so I’m assuming that this is the general backstory of how/why/when Emma got the tattoo but she doesn’t have to know yet how it ties in with Charming since she didn’t know any of that until we find out more than likely. Can’t wait to hear the story on this one though!

(It was a running joke about Lost that we have an episode many consider filler where we learn about Jack’s tattoo but it was the actor’s and it didn’t go along with typical surgeon look so a character commented on it in S1 and then got an answer about it later where they wrote it in. Since Emma’s was written in and JMO doesn’t have any tattoos herself, it must actually MEAN something and is therefore important! (Especially if it gives us Charming/Emma stuff! Imagine how touched Snowing will be if they ever actually notice/make the connection and it shows them all how linked they were with her even when she was away from them!)

I do shake my head at how much Snow knows but has seemingly forgotten, and you would THINK one of them would have noticed by now that she has a tattoo on her wrist that matches their shield (her tattoo has been MUCH more prevalent this season since she’s running around in a tank top – it was most visible to US during the kiss but it’s been there the whole time). Since Snow seems to have forgotten everything Emma ever said about Neal, even in the post-curse world with the phone call from Manhattan – which Snow immediately took as “maybe this will finally bring everyone together” instead of “my daughter doesn’t want her son around this guy, it must be for a reason let’s trust her judgment,” I’m really not sure what to make of Snow sometimes. So whether they’ve noticed or not remains to be seen. I feel like they would have tried talking about it to bond with her though…to prove that she may have grown up feeling like an orphan but they were with her all along in her subconscious or SOMETHING, but it hasn’t related YET. The fact that JMO said we should learn about it eventually though gives me hope! ESPECIALLY because it’s just an Emma thing. She needs something that’s just hers!

 

Keeper of Hook's Trenchcoat.

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