[MysteryKat25]

YIKES.

Hmm, as I understood the line with the whole Jiminy/Gepetto thing it was as long as he needs him, Jiminy will stay alive. If they *wanted* to argue the point, if Gepetto dies he may still “need” Archie to look after Pinocchio for him. Otherwise it would likely be both of them and then Pinocchio would be left all alone. =/ I could see it going either way though within the confines of the wording.

That being said, I doubt they’ll kill off Archie (1 – it’s been tried already and 2 – he’s important to the Charmings etc whereas Gepetto hasn’t been seen as much and while it would be sad for all, he’s not as integral to the plots really)

Since it sounds like only one character will die I’m not sure what to think. I am inclined to agree that once Gepetto is gone so is Archie but then that would be two deaths so…hmm.

Either way I really don’t like this! I don’t want anybody to be gone permanently!

Most of these are regulars which means appearing in over half the episodes of the season. (That brings up the huge debate, especially since Graham was a starring character in S1 but that’s when it was 13 episodes before the back 9 were added, and 7/13 = over half.) That said, I feel like we can safely eliminate anyone who’s considered starring as they *should* be appearing in over half the season meaning we’d see them in the 2nd half. So that narrows it down slightly by eliminating the first few names.

Goodness only knows what’s been going on in Storybrooke while we’ve been focusing on NL but I’m pretty sure it’ll be someone from that side of things which means a supporting character of some kind.

I can’t imagine they’ll try to kill off Archie again (or Charming, or anybody else who has almost “died” before) and I can pretty much say with certainty it won’t be Neal or Hook because nobody wants the triangle to play out because the other dies. Likewise I think they’ve pretty much said that losing Snowing would be like losing hope so I don’t see that happening. RumBelle traditional storyline hasn’t played out yet so I don’t think we’re going to lose either of them, and Regina hasn’t met Robin Hood yet so that would be pointless as well to build her up for her second chance at love only to kill her off.

We don’t know how the person dies yet so if Gepetto does die, he may tell Archie he needs him to promise to take care of Pinocchio or something and then the Blue Fairy can assure him he’ll be able to because Gepetto still “needs” him.

I’ll be sad no matter who’s gone! Such is the pitfall of loving a show and all their characters! (Ok, 99% of the characters but I don’t hate anyone on the list and it’s sure to be emotional no matter who it is cause even if we’re not entirely attached to that character, one that we DO care about will likely be devastated which will make us hurt for them if not for the person who’s gone). Ack. I hate rumors like this. We have way too much time to speculate too as it’s weeks away.

 

[MysteryKat25]

surayya – I was looking for that the other day too! I think it was from the Once Magazine that was put out beginning of S2 and the sketch had Emma dressed as a pirate! Love it! Hopefully somebody can find that and link it here soon! I would hazard a guess that is is buried somewhere in these 200+ pages but not sure! I’ll see if I can locate it.

YAY FOR THE PCA NOMINATION! Love how we’re up against established couples but they still made it in! This is only the beginning! (No idea why they didn’t change the picture on it though – I got not using the picture of the kiss during the preliminary stuff since the episode hadn’t aired but why not a side by side shot of them working together at least? Seems weird when all the other couples are more couple-y while Emma has Hook tied up from the beginning of their interactions but I’ll take it!)

Haven’t had a ton of time but wanted to add my 2 cents, starting with pointing something out that I saw on tumblr that finally clicked into place for me with this episode because I couldn’t put my finger on what was really bugging me about it.

BOOKENDING THE EPISODE:

Beginning of the episode – Hook goes out of his way to talk to Snowing about the information from Pan first in case it was a lie. He and Charming were going to go off on their own to rescue Neal if it was true so that he WOULDN’T GIVE EMMA FALSE HOPE. Because let’s face it…thinking the person you love is dead is bad enough, finding out they might be alive and then losing them all over again? Unacceptable, and he didn’t want her to go through that kind of pain again (as perceived by him, not knowing she was hoping he was dead).

Cut to the end of the episode – EVERYONE BELIEVES that Neal can get them off the island because he can read the map. They ASK him about it and he actually says that he CAN DO THAT. Um, forgive me if I’ve forgotten something but didn’t Pan pretty much TELL HIM that he DIDN’T escape? But that Pan let him go when it was the right time according to Pan’s schedule? So based on what NEAL KNOWS at this point, he either is super cocky and thinks he can get them home, or he’s trying to be optimistic and he’ll just figure out a way to do it later on but doesn’t want to admit (especially in front of Emma who he now knows he has a long way to go with) that he can’t do the one thing she really needs him to do. Either way, if he can’t get them off the island (which he should KNOW because that’s what Pan told him and Pan doesn’t seem to lie…) then it was FALSE HOPE for Emma.

So basically we bookended the episode with Hook doing his best to NOT give her false hope and being willing to go off and rescue Neal with Charming’s help to make sure that Pan wasn’t lying (even though he hasn’t been), and we ended it with Neal saying he could definitely get them out of NL which is what everybody is counting on him doing, only he JUST learned not long ago that he DIDN’T escape, Pan LET him go.

*throws something*

If there’s one thing I can’t stand it’s false hope, especially for Emma. She’s been through enough already and was clearly upset at this point in time to begin with but once again it shows the selflessness vs the selfishness.

Hook was absolutely SELFLESS in this episode. We heard his reasoning for telling Charming but not Emma right away and Charming agreed with him. Hook knows what it’s like to lose someone and the idea of how cruel that would be to be told they’re really alive when they’re not.

When they got to the Echo Caves, Hook SELFLESSLY did what he had to do FOR EMMA. He told his deepest secret which is basically that he’s finally MOVED ON and Emma is his hope and his second chance at love, KNOWING that they were rescuing the man who he is repeatedly told is Emma’s love and the father of her son. He’s saying what he has to because the secret has to be true (and it worked so it must have been!) but is basically giving himself an emotional breakdown because he is saying it knowing doing this basically loses his chance at Emma (at least in his mind). It is the embodiment of NOT RUNNING AWAY and letting a fear of rejection overpower trying. He is laying it all on the line knowing there’s a very good chance he’ll get rejected now that Neal is back in the picture, and he does it anyway.

Neal was SELFISH in this episode – Not all the time (he did let her say what she needed to say) but she point blank said it would be EASIER (not impossible, just easier) to move on if she didn’t have to face all that pain all over again. That she couldn’t change how she felt and that she wanted to MOVE ON (funny how both Hook’s and Emma’s secrets were about wanting to move on and find a new love and get over their 1st loves…) and Neal never had to give a secret within the caves at all but when he felt the need to volunteer a secret it was to say he’ll never stop fighting for her.

Firstly – that REALLY rubbed me the wrong way. I’m sorry, that’s a RUMBELLE thing. You do not use the same line for anybody else. I am deeply offended.

Secondly, she just told him how much pain she felt seeing him and how she wants to move on so he made it all about him and how he doesn’t want to let her go. Before this Neal has been “I didn’t get to tell her I love her when I should have” (which makes NO sense since he’s said it back when she’s said it before, or at least he did YEARS ago, not in Manhattan or anything like he should have acknowledged how he felt back then since she was begging him to say that it was real for him too even if it was in the past – sorry Tamara isn’t an excuse for not saying “It was real for me too but things change” or something along those lines when she’s bawling her eyes out thinking he used her and he DID say it back at the portal scene so that is SO NOT HIS CRIME HERE but whatever).

Before this, Neal has been about getting to her and making sure she knows how he feels and that he really wants to fight for a second (*cough*HA! as if it’s only 2nd *cough*) chance, and yet he does nothing to tell her how he feels about her or acknowledges the pain she’s feeling or apologizes for anything but instead just says well I’m not gonna make it easy for you to walk away. The only good thing he did say is that he understands after all the stuff he put her through but instead of apologizing or crying and telling her he knows how much he screwed up and he’s gonna do whatever it takes to FIX it, he just says he’s never gonna stop fighting for her.

Um…I’m sorry but this REALLY bugs me. She just said her deepest darkest secret is that she wishes you were dead so she wouldn’t have to relive all that pain you put her through and she wants to move on with her life and put you behind her (way to go Emma!), and ALL you can say about it is you’re not gonna give her up?

Again, SELFLESS vs SELFISH – Hook is willing to give her up if it’ll make her HAPPY. He is doing absolutely everything with HER in mind and making sure that SHE IS HAPPY even if it HURTS HIM DEEPLY. He’s putting himself on the line with a very real fear of rejection because he LOVES HER and wants her to be HAPPY no matter what it costs him (and he is in some serious pain right now). And then we have Neal who isn’t apologizing, isn’t trying to actually fix stuff, is (probably) the only one who heard Emma’s secret and his answer to that is you’re not gonna walk away from me that easily even after all the crap I put you through that I’m reminding you of RIGHT NOW since I’m RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU.

I’m sorry how is that remotely healthy or happy for Emma? She needs to work through this so her spending some time with Neal and talking through things is a GOOD thing for us. It’ll be PAINFUL because Hook doesn’t know these things. He thinks he’s reunited her with her love but she didn’t tell him everything when they were toasting Neal or finding his cave or giving her his sword. He doesn’t know that he has a chance here. And he is STILL willing to help her get to him because he believes that is what will make her happy and he lets her take the lead so he knows she will be.

She was happy and “feeling good” when she kissed Hook. We haven’t seen her smile since she found out about Neal. She’s probably going to be miserable again for awhile because this is not something she needed right now while trying to find Henry. It’s only been a week since Neal “died” and it was probably the beginning of closure for her because she wasn’t going to have to deal with it anymore. As she said herself, she lost him a long time ago. It took Hook 300 years with Milah dead to be able to move forward, and Emma was already moving in that direction before Neal showed up again.

They have a lot of things to deal with and hopefully it’ll give Emma more answers but I really resented his line (and not just because it’s a RumBelle thing – stop quoting your future step-mother!). Hook has always left it up to EMMA and Neal is basically saying “I’m never gonna leave you alone or let you choose.” Which…is basically his standard operating procedure.

How people still think that Hook doesn’t respect women I don’t know. He may flirt and try to charm his way into situations but remember, when we first met him Snow and Emma were rolling their eyes at all that and Emma sees through all of that now: she sees Killian, just like she did when she saw his tattoo on the beanstalk. He let Milah take charge with the whole Rumple situation. He lets Emma choose to make the first move on stuff. He can suggest WHATEVER HE WANTS (and frankly it’s refreshing that he can actually admit what he wants rather than hide out cause not even trying automatically equals failure) but he still waited for her to kiss him, not the other way around. The only time he’s been remotely pushy with her about anything is when he insisted on bandaging her hand. OH THE HORROR! How dare he try to take care of her.

Everyone on the show has made massive mistakes at some point. They all have some apologies to make and I fully expect Hook to do that once they get back to town and people are (hopefully) more accepting of him (especially with Emma backing him up bigtime after everything he’s done for her) but it’s a step in the right direction.

During Hook’s secret, David flipped out in protective dad mode for a second, but then he nodded once the cave accepted the secret and he saw earlier that day/the day before that Hook really is doing everything for Emma and I think he’s more likely to accept that for now.

Snow (who was WAY more observant about Emma when she wasn’t trying to think as a mom cause let’s face it, MM rocked at that), actually looked guilty when Hook was revealing his secret. Like she hadn’t even thought that maybe he did actually have the capacity to care about anyone. She hasn’t seen all the goodness in him that Emma and now Charming have. She JUST heard from Emma a little bit before this about the kiss and she spent so much time writing it off and trying to tell Emma to have hope about Neal that it didn’t even occur to her that Hook might be a good match for her.

In S1 when Emma would say “it’s nothing” MM would tell her “If it’s nothing then we wouldn’t be talking about it” – Emma didn’t have to tell Snow about the kiss AT ALL. She could have let that be revealed by Hook in the cave. If it was truly nothing to her (and not just her walls going skyhigh especially with the reveal that Neal was alive), she wouldn’t have mentioned it. Snow projects herself and her perfect first love/TL life onto Emma because as she has said before, she doesn’t know how to comfort/relate to her own daughter. MM was GREAT at it and great at reading Emma and Snow just hasn’t learned yet because she’s thinking of her as her daughter and not her friend so she has blinded herself in many respects where she used to be quite observant. Emma doesn’t go around talking about kisses for no reason especially if they didn’t mean anything. Notice it was SNOW who said Neal would understand, not Emma. Emma never even said that’s why she was worried about the kiss, that was SNOW’s interpretation. When Snow told Emma to have hope about Neal being alive Emma gave an exasperated “Why?”

This came across to me as “Why are you pushing this mom I’m not interested and once again you have no clue about my life because you’ve conveniently forgotten ALL THE TIMES I’ve said how awful he is and how I don’t want him near Henry and oh yeah, do you remember how AFTER THE CURSE BROKE I called you from Manhattan and said I didn’t want him to know about Henry because he’s no good?”

I swear, with as much of a hard time as Snow has given Hook about everything (Charming too but he’s warming up a bit, it’ll just take time) they better 1) Learn the history between Emma and Neal and 2) there better be at LEAST a couple of Charming punches cause I don’t know how anybody in their position would ever say “Please choose the guy that broke your heart, sent you to jail for his crimes where you would have his baby while shackled to the bed, made you think for 11 years that you were unlovable clearly causing all of these emotional issues and making you have walls so high you never let anyone in and then NOT coming back for you to explain when he could have and MOVING ON with someone else” (which is basically impossible for TL couples – look at Snow who had to take a memory potion because she couldn’t bare to live without Charming while she KNEW he was alive in the world somewhere), over a guy who they have SEEN do absolutely anything for her no matter how much it costs him or pains him emotionally.

I don’t have any kids but I can’t imagine actually PUSHING Emma toward Neal with what Snow/MM DOES know about their past AT ALL (even if Hook weren’t in the picture). Snow is clearly back into her fairy tale mode of first love = true love and wouldn’t it be great if Henry got his family back together and this guy doesn’t seem that bad, it was all a misunderstanding but you can overcome it!

*headdesk*

Snow clearly can’t read Emma right now (especially since we’ve been shown that a number of times this season) and I don’t see why she would push Emma to anybody. Emma isn’t behaving the same way with Neal that she behaved with Graham where MM called her out on it. If anything, she’s behaving that way with Hook.

Emma has said repeatedly over time that she doesn’t want Neal back in her life or in Henry’s but he ended up there so now she has to deal with him but it doesn’t mean that she HAS to go back to him. I would TOTALLY understand HENRY pushing it. But Snow? Charming? Snow knows enough to be wary and not push Emma into it. Charming I could see cause David didn’t really know much but seriously? She’s a grown woman, let her make  her own choices. She didn’t live the same life you did.

I really hope that during Hook’s secret, Snow was taking that into consideration cause they made a point of showing her looking confused/conflicted when he talked about moving on from his first love and finding hope in Emma (especially after everything Snow said in the flashbacks of this episode). It’s just disappointing to see her put Neal on a pedestal and condemn Hook when she should know that Emma has serious issues with the guy.

Side note: I WANNA KNOW WHAT EMMA WAS ABOUT TO SAY! Hook looked so hurt after he finished his little speech and Emma IMMEDIATELY went toward him and looked like she was about to say something and was REACHING for him when Snow interrupted by jumping in with her secret and then the moment was lost (kinda like with Ariel trying to get to Eric and then not being able to say anything). Emma definitely reached for him though, considering the fact that a few seconds before that she was all “it was just a kiss” and then he gave this big declaration which we know she doesn’t take very well but she REACHED FOR HIM which is big cause Emma doesn’t do that kind of stuff.

In fact, when Neal first called her name she physically recoiled and got farther away. When she felt BAD about what she had to say to him in the caves to free him, she went and talked to him but she didn’t reach for him in that moment. He hugged her when he got out and she hugged back but she didn’t make that first move (Hook always lets her so she’s not ambushed!).

THE HUG:

Um, major major flashbacks with the blocking to David/Kathryn with MM watching. Absolutely. I hope we get some major Daddy!Charming/Emma moments coming up because if anybody can understand what she’s going through it’ll be him. (Plus we just need those moments).

CAMERA ANGLES:

This whole episode showed us Hook’s reaction to basically everything. Gearing up to reveal the secret, watching Emma hug Neal (again, VERY similar to the Kathryn/David hug with MM watching), him listening when Neal said he was gonna fight for Emma etc etc.

Except when they were shouting hello, I don’t think the secrets carried back and forth across the cave. So we don’t know for sure what Neal knows and I’m pretty sure that Hook DIDN’T hear Emma’s secret or he wouldn’t be as worried/sad right now. So going off of what he knows, he is.

EVERY Emma/Neal scene, the focus went to HOOK’S face. If it’s some big epic love thing you focus on them in their moment, but they kept showing us Hook and how deeply wounded he was (even though he was willing to do whatever he had to so that Emma would be happy, no matter what it cost him). In showing us his face, it didn’t feel like some big sweeping epic love reunion to me. If you want the audience to love what you’re showing them and root for it, you don’t switch the camera to the person who is so desperately heartbroken from it because all that does is make the audience feel for THEM instead. If I was supposed to like the SF moments, any chance at liking the interaction is killed immediately by the intense pain felt by Hook (or rather at this point, Killian). THAT was the focus they were using in this episode. How deeply hurt he was but STILL doing what he had to FOR HER, no matter the cost.

Sadly he didn’t hear her say she wished Neal was dead and that she wanted to put him behind her. He doesn’t know any of that. He doesn’t know that’s why she’s been conflicted and quiet this week, toasting to Neal, finding out all the things she never knew about him. It was HURTING HER but not in the way anybody thought. It was hurting her being reminded of him because she wanted to MOVE ON, not get him back, and that’s throwing people now because they haven’t heard her admit that.

NEXT WEEK:

Things are about to get very interesting! Looks like Emma will be going off on a mission with just Hook and Neal. AHH! WHY would they do that to her?  Regina must still be off with Rumple, and Snowing need to sort out their own issues but poor Emma is going to have to deal with the guy who won’t let her move on easily and the guy she just kissed and who just basically admitted he loves her but she doesn’t want to hurt anybody, she clearly hasn’t had time to sort out any of her feelings for Hook since the kiss, much less since learning that Neal is alive and her secret revealed to him, and oh yeah: HER SON IS STILL CAPTURED. It’s going to be another emotional week for Emma for sure (and for us of course because goodness knows what interactions we’ll get), but I don’t expect her to do anything other than focus on Henry 99% of the time  because she just can’t deal with it right now. Pretty sure that the triangle will be in full swing but somewhat backburnered as much as possible for Emma but her emotions will still be out there and it will have major conflictions for Hook as well because he thinks he’s seeing one thing and it’s another.

What Hook Thinks vs Knows:

It’s very reminiscent of Han & Leia in Return of the Jedi. Han THINKS that she’s secretly in love with Luke and he gets it and he likes Luke too so he doesn’t want to hurt anyone and he ABOVE ALL wants LEIA to be happy, and then learns that Luke is her brother and that she’s in love with Han. Obviously the situation isn’t entirely the same since Neal and Emma aren’t related, but I think it could be the same PERCEIVED kind of issue for Hook. He cares about both of them, he wants Emma to be happy and as much as he fights for what he wants, he’ll still be hesitant to go all out like he would against anybody else because he cares about Neal too.

Cracktheory Confession:

With how well Neal took everything but didn’t quite go into the defeatist attitude I had anticipated, as well as him using the RumBelle line (GRR, don’t even!), and the fact that we learned in this episode that the Shadow can pretend to be someone else I almost wondered if possibly they hadn’t actually rescued the real Neal. We saw Pan tell them to move him and then we saw him in the cage. NOTE: I’m inclined to believe it is the real him, but since the Belle quote was bugging me so much and I found it odd he used it, I did briefly wonder if perhaps it were Pan’s shadow infiltrating the group to get even more info (like he doesn’t have enough already) and that the shadow was used to pretending to be Belle. It would also explain why Neal said he COULD get them out of NL even though he was JUST TOLD that Pan let him go, not that he escaped but I doubt it, hence the cracktheory.

I feel like the shadow thing is almost like S2’s “everybody is Cora” thing but I felt like something was off. Either that or Neal is just trying my patience even in an episode where we didn’t see him all that much and he didn’t have a lot of opportunities to say anything that bugged me (their interactions were mostly non-annoying and other than giving her false hope and blatantly ignoring her wishes, there wasn’t any mocking or pretending he wasn’t at fault for everything – though they still have a long way to go).

HYPE:

If it were some big romantic reunion wouldn’t it have been hyped up a bit more? They hyped the heck out of the CS kiss and here we had an episode that was all about rescuing Neal, the supposed love of the main character a week after the big hype with CS and there was nada. He was barely even in the episode and when he was she said she wished he were dead and he was being selfish vs Hook baring his soul, TAKING A LEAP OF FAITH even in face of (in his mind) almost certain rejection. I mean..how was this supposed to be a bad CS episode?

If they wanted it to be about Emma reuniting with her love they wouldn’t have done it this way. This was a very David/Kathryn end of the episode oh ___’s taken moment by throwing the “person they’re supposed to be with according to other people but not their choice” into the mix. Remember David telling MM that whoever chose Kathryn it wasn’t him? (Before cursed memories got in the way of course, but even then he couldn’t choose Kathryn and just ignore MM – he screwed up royally and lost her eventually but he couldn’t stay away from his CHOICE even though he was straddling the fence and trying to do what everybody else wanted him to do WHICH IS THE EXACT WRONG THING TO DO IN A SITUATION LIKE THIS. Seriously, if you’re listening to what everybody else wants instead of you want, you’re going to be miserable and it’s not exactly a good message for a tv show either. Go back to the guy who ruined your life instead of the one who has been proving to you every step of the way that you deserve to be loved and treated with respect and you’re amazing but no, go back to the one who broke your heart, sent you to jail, and was going to marry someone else even once you were back in life because he was too afraid to take a chance.

How many times have we heard this season about taking a leap of faith? And love is a risk that is worth taking? Who is actually taking the risks? That would be Hook (or more aptly, Killian Jones). He’s putting his heart on the line and making sure over and over that Emma knows he has her back and that he cares for her (first the fancying thing and now basically saying he’s in love with her or at least falling in love with her which is huge because she knows how much Milah means to him even if nobody else has a clue about his past). He’s taking the risk that Neal refused to take until suddenly someone else is in the picture. Funny how he didn’t have a problem with it seeing that Emma was single and he seemed to think it was cute that she was acting all jealous but he was still going to marry Tamara until she shot him. Can’t wait to see what happens once he realizes that Hook is genuinely interested in Emma but if that’s what it takes to get him fighting for what he wants, that’s too little too late for me.

Emma deserves better than to be a rebound or a 2nd choice and no matter how much WE know about Neal’s feelings etc, all SHE knows is that he was with Tamara in front of her, repeatedly chose her, and CONVENIENTLY is willing to fight for her once 1) he is basically forced back into her life – NOT that he came looking for her when he should have 2) Tamara is out of the picture (which he still needs to learn about her death – hoping Tink shows up and he recognizes the watch and finally addresses all of that but goodness knows what tale he’ll spin out of it – I was happy he was finally admitting to things with Mulan but he left out a LOT of stuff and he better darn well own up to it with Emma because I can only take so much of this POOR NEAL junk coming from him when it’s HIS CHOICES that got him here. Feel sorry for yourself but understand when she doesn’t want you around and LET HER GO if you really want her to be happy when she’s telling you that being around you is miserable for you.

The message is one of the things that bugs me the most about putting Emma back with Neal. If he had come to SB the moment he got the postcard and hadn’t been able to care about anyone else and was waiting around to get the postcard so he could get back to her no matter how long it took for that postcard to arrive, THEN I would say it was like Snowing and that it at least had a chance to be beautiful. There wouldn’t have been a triangle at all if that had been the case because he would have been there the moment she showed up from FTL. The jail thing would still SUCK majorly but and have caused a lot of pain but it might not have been insurmountable but he didn’t.

This season started off with us seeing that his fear of rejection was too much for him to go after what he wanted and he is only NOW coming around to that after he has put her through so much pain and torment that didn’t begin and end with sending her to jail. He wasn’t even going to come back with them to SB after learning about Henry! He only came because he didn’t want to watch his father die and THEN he stayed for Henry. Even then it wasn’t about Emma, as he was prepared to marry Tamara IN FRONT OF HER, knowing that she and Henry would be in his life. At this point I can’t even fathom them being able to turn that into a beautiful love story and putting it up next to Snowing.

THE TRIANGLE is more about past vs future than it is about the two guys. Otherwise there’s not much point to it, especially in a season where they’re confronting their pasts and moving forward. Every other triangle we’ve seen has been obvious from the start because we knew who was TL and we just felt sorry for the 3rd wheel. Tallahassee set up the triangle but it wasn’t Hook vs Neal, it was Emma dealing with her past and whether she’d let it continue to destroy her future. She is the product of true love and is hard-wired to want that but has kept her walls up for over a decade because of Neal’s choices for her. Hook represents moving past that and now we’re seeing that he has and the talk of moving past a first love in his secret, and following that up (bookending it actually since Hook went 1st and Emma last) with wanting to ALSO put her first love behind her is HUGE, especially in NL).

Hook has had 300 years to deal with Milah’s death and it wasn’t until he met Emma that he realized he could put it behind him and move on. Funny how Emma’s mindset is going in that direction now too…(plus it harkened back to Snow telling Charming that she didn’t really have a home until she met him and that was this season!)

Emma hasn’t had very long since she thought Neal “died” but she has had 11 years of pain and misery and seeing him again and having it brought back showed her what she didn’t want anymore. She flat out told him that what she wants is to put him behind her. She opened up to Hook and moved in that direction (and actually said she was “FEELING GOOD” when she kissed him) within days of thinking Neal died. That is not grieving for her. That’s realizing that living in the past with all that pain and anguish is doing NOTHING good for her and it’s time to move forward. Hmm, that sounds a bit like Hook’s recent revelations with his quest for revenge and living in the past and *gasp* moving on is the HEALTHIER and BETTER option.

We’ve been shown again and again this season that while *some* first loves ARE true loves, that is not always the case and does not always mean that you can’t have a second love. This goes back to my “Snow is projecting onto Emma” rant because she’s clearly forgotten everything she’s ever known about how to read Emma. Pretty sure when she told Emma to have hope she had NO CLUE that Emma didn’t want to find Neal alive.

So Emma has taken some major strides forward this season in trusting Hook (it’s been less than a week for them in NL and she goes to him for EVERYTHING, even after his declaration about fancying her and then again this week when he basically said he loved her and that she was his hope for finding love again she immediately reached for him and stayed by his side during her mother’s emotional secret. She stopped to look back at him to gather her STRENGTH every time, sometimes not believing her parents or wanting a 2nd opinion on something and it’s always HIM she relies on. She even looked back at him before being able to force herself to cross the bridge, knowing that she didn’t WANT to find him and needing the courage to go over there because of how PAINFUL it would be for her).

I hope that she doesn’t take too many steps back with everything that’s been revealed to her lately but she is 1) appreciating Hook and he is proving things to her time and time again (*cough* actions speak louder than words *cough*) and 2) she knows that BOTH guys have feelings for her and at least one of them is saying “it’s up to you” because Hook has ALWAYS let her decide. Both guys can talk until they’re blue in the face but as of right now, only one is saying “I want you to be happy no matter how much it hurts me” and I think we ALL know which one that is.

I trust A&E and truly believe that however the story goes, I’ll find a way to fall in love with it. There have been very few things that I’ve genuinely had a problem with in the overall story and we only get bits and pieces along the way. Things fall into place better as we get more information and can stop putting our OWN projections into what is being seen (we all have different filters and different ideas of what goes on in the moments we haven’t been shown yet – which is how we all see hope for our ships even when they conflict, and out of the same exact moments).

Personally I am very very big on it being Emma’s CHOICE, no matter who she chooses. Right now I have faith that while she needs to work on closing up the past, she will ultimately choose Hook. After all, NL is where you confront your past and grow from it and move forward. Neal is her past (and she has been trying and failing to make that clear but we’ve seen that since Tallahassee) and Hook represents her future, her second chance at love, and he seems to be one of the only characters actually respecting it as her choice. We expect him to fight for what he wants but I think his fighting for it is very subtle: he’s letting his actions speak for him. Yes he’s made his feelings known multiple times now, but he’s still letting it be HER choice, whereas a lot of the other characters have clear opinions on who they want her to end up with. I’ll take a man who respects that it’s my decision any day of the week.

It’s easy to be blinded by a reunion of any kind and think it’s automatically wonderful because they’re together again which is a start for hashing out issues and moving forward but I didn’t get a romantic vibe off of anything last night except for Killian’s heart-wrenching speech. Sorry but finding out the person you love is alive & your reaction being:

1. To recoil in fear when he calls your name
2. Tell him you were hoping he was dead so it would be easier (not impossible, but easier) to put him behind you
3. That you can’t change how you feel and even though you don’t want to hurt him you don’t want him back
4. Him (after hearing you say all of this) that he’ll “never stop fighting for you. never.”

I’m sorry but I just can’t see that as romantic. It’s romantic when BELLE says it to Rumple because she’s fighting for the goodness in him and they genuinely share TL and she knows he loves her and wants to be with her and she’s fighting to save him from himself.

It is NOT romantic for Emma and Neal when it’s literally preceded by “I’m sorry I wished you were dead but that’s how I feel. I don’t want to go back. I want to put you behind me and move on with my life and that would easier if you were just gone.” All it comes across as is “I heard what you said and I’m never going to stop fighting for you because it’s what I want and I’m not even going to stand here and apologize or grovel because yes I put you through a lot but let’s just forget all of that.”

The extra “NEVER” on the end of that statement about fighting for her? Kinda creepy to me. What if she doesn’t choose him. What if she GENUINELY MEANT WHAT SHE SAID and wants to move on with her life and falls in love with someone else? Is he EVER going to leave her alone if he’s not her choice? Is he going to let her go if it means she’d be happier elsewhere?

This is the man who said in Tallahassee to August “If I knew she was ok, I could move on.” and then eventually did just that. He genuinely loved and wanted to MARRY TAMARA even when Emma was right in front of him and he was gleeful that she was acting jealous. The HONORABLE thing to do would have been to call off the wedding like Charming did with Abigail and then pursue Emma with an abundance of “I’m sorry. I screwed up. I thought you’d never forgive me.” etc etc and show um, genuine emotion? We’ve seen him break down before. We’ve seen him upset and hurt and humble about it (even when he’s glossing over the details) but that whole scene he just….it was like he let her talk because she needed to and then said what HE was going to do for HIM and it sounded more like Henry and young Bae. A child’s way of viewing things and not being willing to give up his favorite toy or something.

She does not belong to ANYONE but herself. That line really really bugged me because it IS a romantic line when Belle says it to Rumple. It really is. But 1) it is THEIR line, not Neal’s and 2) Saying something like that after hearing how much she doesn’t want you back? NOT COOL and slightly creepy.

I really really want it to be EMMA’s CHOICE and for EVERYONE to respect that and as “understanding” as he seemed at times last night in letting her say what she had to and her trying to apologize for hurting him but having to say it, the fact that his response was basically “never going to leave you alone until you choose me” after he JUST started fighting for her is mind-boggling.

Snowing’s “I will always find you” is cute because they are EQUALS (love that Josh Dallas said that’s what he loves most about Snowing is that they’re equals!). They BOTH want it that way. It’s one of the things that I love about CaptainSwan – they rely on each other and they treat each other as equals. Hook isn’t making life-altering choices for Emma.

RumBelle’s “I’ll never stop fighting for you” again is romantic because it’s something that deep down they BOTH want. Rumple would do anything for Belle (he even tapped back into his darker side so that Lacey wouldn’t abandon him because he thought that was the closest to having his Belle back that he could get) and Belle always stands up for him no matter what awful things he’s done so that she can bring him back from the edge. But it is MUTUAL.

Something to keep in mind that Emma said back in S1 about hope and why Hook’s actions in this episode better have earned him some respect because it was exactly the right move to make to tell Charming and offer to go find and rescue him themselves on the off chance that Pan was lying because it would be too painful for Emma (or so he thought) to get her hopes up about him being alive if he wasn’t:

Emma herself said in S1:

Not having a happy ending is painful enough, but…giving someone unrealistic hope is far worse.

It also applies to how Emma reacts to Hook and Neal as well. She shut down Neal not once but twice in this episode. She’s not remotely acting like it’s even a possibility of them getting back together. Whereas with Hook, he’s said he fancies her, he’s made it quite clear, she still kissed him. Now he’s basically said he’s in love with her, and she immediately reached for him before being interrupted by Snow’s secret (which had to be painful for Emma to hear because all she heard was how she wasn’t enough probably which is basically how she’s always felt which is part of the reason she sticks closer to Hook than anybody out there because she can’t relate to Snowing the way they want her to and clearly given Snow’s confession, that’s true to a point even though it’s completely understandable for Snow to feel that way).

So I don’t see Emma wanting to give ANYBODY false hope but she stays close to Hook and watches him (she did this even after the kiss!). When she was mad at Graham even she shut him down until he came around and actually made a choice to pick her. Hook HAS picked her. He gave up his revenge and basically everything to do whatever he could for her. Neal didn’t PICK Emma until after Tamara was conveniently no longer an option.

So watching Emma with Hook, letting him in, FLIRTING with him from time to time even knowing he fancied her, KISSING HIM etc – those are not the actions of Emma Swan when she wants to shut something down, but we saw her shut Neal down twice last night. To not give him any hope AT ALL because she doesn’t want him back and I don’t think you can make that any clearer than saying she hoped he was dead and that she can’t change how she feels about it.

It will be very interesting indeed to see how things go down when Emma is on a mission next week with just Neal and Hook. I could see her continuing to stick closely with Hook because that’s where she feels safest but at the same time she hasn’t had time to deal with her feelings about their kiss or his revelation and I don’t see Neal giving these two anytime alone to discuss anything, especially since I’m sure he’d rather Hook was off with Snowing so that he could have some time with Emma. I really hope that Emma insists that Hook go with them instead or something like that. Also I don’t think Emma will want to give Hook any false hope either and now that he’s basically said he’s in love with her, if she still stays close to him then that’s pretty telling.

Remember: when Neal got out of the cage he hugged her and she reluctantly hugged back but she did care about him at one point so it makes sense (and again, it was a very David/Kathryn with MM watching kind of moment), but when she apologized for what she said and not being able to change how she felt, she stood there to talk to him but she didn’t REACH for him and want to go comfort him in any way. She just wanted to get it off her chest that she knows what she said hurt him but she can’t do anything about that.

Yet when we saw Hook reveal his secret, she immediately went to reach for him and say something but never got the chance (bad timing Snow, seriously bad timing! Especially since she just listened to how Hook thought Emma was his second chance so Snow had to admit to her wanting a 2nd chance before she lost her nerve even though that 2nd chance probably made Emma feel pretty worthless and Hook was watching Emma the entire time to make sure she was ok). Hopefully we get back to what Emma wanted to say to Hook very soon! I doubt she’ll be having much one-on-one time with anyone, or if she does it’ll probably be with Neal and then Hook will think that’s lost all hope again which is exactly what Pan wants but I think Pan thinks that Hook will go back to work for him or get out of NL, whichever works best so that Hook isn’t a threat to him anymore, and Hook will just continue to do what we’ve said all along, and do whatever is best for EMMA no matter how much it hurts him, which means he’s exactly where he should be and most definitely IS a threat to Pan, especially if he feels like he has nothing left to lose but wants Emma to be happy).

The way they framed everything showing Hook’s pain in all of this shows me more than ever that Neal is the OBSTACLE for CaptainSwan and not the other way around. Otherwise they would have had the caves echo so that everyone would hear everyone’s secrets, and we would have been shown Neal’s reaction to what Hook said to Emma. We saw Charming nod in understanding (after his initial freakout), Snow looked conflicted for about 2 seconds but they made a point, once again, of showing her facial expression in a Hook/Emma moment, just like they do with Charming, and we saw Emma reach for Hook. It was a moment ABOUT Emma and Hook. Then later on we see a supposed Neal/Emma moment (not once, but twice) and BOTH times they show us Hook.

Fun side facts: Han and Leia meet in “A New Hope” and Neverland is the place where “new dreams” are born which is totally Flynn and Rapunzel (which is what we’ve been saying all along) so that covers Han/Leia and Flynn/Rapunzel which leaves the Westley/Buttercup stuff which is *drumroll* Buttercup may have agreed (reluctantly and by force) to marry Humperdink but according to her, “I died that day” when she found out her love was dead. She didn’t “move on,” she lost all hope and feeling. Which is exactly the opposite of how Emma felt when she thought that Neal was dead, and she was finally letting herself move forward and put the past behind her (which is also a NL thing!).

On the bright side, regardless of what’s happening right now, Emma knows that she’s loved. The secret wouldn’t have worked if it wasn’t true so she knows how Hook feels about her which is a huge step forward for CaptainSwan! Now Emma just has to deal with HER past like Hook has and put the past behind her for good. Her secret wouldn’t have worked either if it weren’t true so that’s genuinely how she feels and that’s a good sign. It’s totally in character for her to still care about him and the fact that she probably always will which is what we’ve been saying. But loving someone and being in love with them are two different things and what she genuinely wants is for him to be past tense.  Now she has the opportunity to get more closure and wrap that up a LOT faster than Hook did for his past, but all in all it’s a very good sign and totally in character for the Emma.

Chomping at the bit for the rest of the season. Looking forward to proving that Hook has been the right choice for her all along because we’ve said for awhile how OOC it would be for her to go back to Neal at this point. If they want us to buy that then they’ve been doing such a good job at hiding obstacles it’s ridiculous. Especially when they’re voted worst couple and CaptainSwan has been nominated for best on-screen chemistry!

I have a lot of friends on the other side and I do feel for them. Both sides have been given so much reason to hope I can’t stand it and I wish the triangle were decided 100% already without BOTH sides declaring endgame after every single episode including this one (even though Emma said she wanted him DEAD which isn’t…romantic), but as much as I love Bae, I just don’t see how Neal is remotely right for Emma and I don’t think as many would love him if he weren’t also the Bae that we know and love. The fact that they almost changed who Henry’s dad was when people guessed (but decided to stick with their vision of the story which makes me happy that they don’t pander to the audience), and the fact that they always intended to have this triangle from the beginning makes me feel pretty good about it being a fight for Emma’s past vs her future and that the only reason there IS a triangle is because she obviously has to have some feelings for her past, but that she’s moving toward the man who is who she’s meant to be with. (And there was Tink’s thing about not being with the person you’re supposed to be with ruins both lives and Emma and Killian’s lives have both sucked up until now – we haven’t seen Emma truly smile now that Neal’s back but with Hook she was “feeling good” and flirting and smiling).

True love isn’t easy. At all. There have to be obstacles – things will always get in the way. But it has to be a mutual fight. It’s like with TL’s kiss: one can love the other so much but if it’s not mutual, it doesn’t work. Emma and Killian have both been broken, badly, and it takes a lot for them to come around again. But the Emma we met in S1 was very adamant that actions speak louder than words, making a CHOICE means something, and that going back to someone you didn’t really want to be with was the “safe” and “easy” choice (when talking about Graham and Regina) but not the RIGHT choice.

*cookies and rum for all the intense Killian feels we’re sure to feel for quite some time* But have hope! The behind the scenes pictures of 3×10 I think it is show Hook right by Emma’s side which means there’s ALWAYS hope! This season has built up so much hope for Hook that I have to believe it’s for something beautiful. There’s no point in doing all of that to him just to kick him to the curb, especially with all of the not-so-subtle CS/Snowing parallels within the episodes!

The realizing you want to move on and love again friendly convo would have sufficed (a la Hook and Regina on the ship) but that wasn’t dangling a perfect love interest in front of them and then snatching them away. That conversation would have been enough to show that Hook was realizing his revenge didn’t grant him happiness and he hopes to find love again and have a future that doesn’t consist of revenge. There was absolutely NO NEED to build up this thing with Emma if they weren’t going to do something with it so I have faith! It took Hook 300 years to move on from Milah. I can’t see them taking Emma away from him permanently either and having her choose Neal after everything he’s put her through.

I’ve seen so many say that Hook losing the girl to Neal would be “character growth” for him, for handing her over and not “keeping” her like he did with Milah and I just want to throw something. I seriously feel ill about all of that. Milah chose to run away with Hook. He didn’t force her to. He doesn’t owe anybody anything other than an apology. It is NOT up to him whether Emma wants to be with him or not. Losing the girl who makes him feel again isn’t character growth. It’s just adding more pain to an already painful past which would be true for EITHER guy.

You can’t choose who you fall in love with. Whether it makes the family tree more awkward or not, you can’t help how you feel about someone. Is it unfortunate that the woman Hook loved 300 YEARS AGO is also the mother of his rival for Emma’s heart? Yes. That doesn’t mean that by losing her he will grow in character. His character growth has already started and he is in pain right now BECAUSE he doing the right thing and doing whatever it takes to make Emma happy, including watching her potentially choose someone else no matter how much it hurts him. He is being SELFLESS and his character continues to grow this season and I have no doubt it will continue into the future regardless of who Emma picks. But him “losing the girl” isn’t justice for past wrongs or nobody would find love on this show. Ever. Period. If he does end up with Emma he will be extremely grateful and humble and recognize how unbelievably blessed he is that she chose him. But I don’t think knowing that it took 300 years for him to let himself love again, that they’re going to rip away his new love too and leave him alone – nor do I think he’s going to just turn around and be able to love again if he loses her. I also don’t see any reason for him TO lose her based on what we as an audience know about all three characters.

At the end of the day, it’s EMMA’s choice based on what she knows and what she feels and that’s all that matters. Somebody will get hurt. A whole section of the fandom will be devastated for their pairing and their guy. It’s inevitable. But it doesn’t matter what we know about EITHER guy or how much we feel for them (especially if they don’t make it known to her or wait until it’s too late – and how many times has the “it’s too late” thing played out pointing to Neal already this season?) It matters what EMMA feels. And based on what we know, I firmly believe as much as I always have that she loves Neal, a part of her will always love Neal, but she’ll fall IN love with Killian.

CS is a long slow burn and we’ve been at this for over a year but it’s gathering speed and people are starting to notice! I almost feel like they need a cheesey love montage to prove it to some people, but based on what many of us have said about Emma’s character, I just can’t see her NOT reacting to Killian in a positive way and choosing him. It would be completely out of character to revert back to her 17 year old self and eliminate who she is now when that’s actually appreciated by someone who is done living in the past and is right in front of her. Especially since she just admitted that she wants to put the past behind her and that would be easier to do with Neal dead. (Sorry but big epic reunion of TL shouldn’t be “I wish you were dead” – not exactly something to root for when we’ve seen everybody else FALL APART when their TL is perceived to be dead). One of these things is not like the other….

VIVA LA CAPTAIN SWAN!

Keeper of Hook's Trenchcoat.

[MysteryKat25]

Eddy Kitsis said something in May which is why some of us thought Wendy would be older. I suppose 19 qualifies as “grown up” if she’s acting her actual age rather than being younger but it still implied (especially with her brothers being older too) that she might be older as well and that Freya would be used for flashbacks. I fully expected a mystery woman to be in the other cage and then have them discover that it’s an older Wendy and not just by a few years. They introduced Neal that way without telling us who it was right off the bat, though I suppose for some, seeing her and recognizing her as Wendy would be just as much of a shock.

Anyways here’s what Eddy had to say that made some of us think that:

As to whether Wendy could be a resident of Storybrooke, Eddy remarked: I would be very disappointed if we didn’t see Wendy grown up and a part of the ONCE UPON A TIME world.

As to how they got home I will be supremely disappointed if pixie dust and a flying Jolly Roger are not part of the deal. It’s iconic and since they’re trying to use a map to get home, much like Killian and Liam did to find it in the first place rather than a portal, I would really really like to think that’s what we’ll get. As to how they get in with SB being guarded…I’m not sure yet but looking forward to it!

 

Keeper of Hook's Trenchcoat.

[MysteryKat25]

I would hazard a guess that she helps them reunite, yes. Glad to see more of Gil! (And he looks adorable in that sweater). Love him on twitter and so glad we get to see him on the show soon finally but even happier he’ll be back later on too! (*cookies for Hookriel fans as it does appear that Eric has his arms around Ariel*)

As to that pic with Gil and Emilie, I think the other girl who tweeted it is an actress he worked with on Supernatural if I’m not mistaken. She may live up there and have gone to hang out with them for the day or perhaps she’s someone in the cast that hasn’t been announced yet? Not sure since I was surprised to see Emilie in there as well but maybe they have worked together previously too or something and they’re all in town at the same time.

Wendy Wendy Wendy. What happened to her being grown up? Love that she’s wearing Bae’s old robe but…I’m confused. Literally the only way that doesn’t work is if it’s Freya playing Jane and not Wendy (Jane is Wendy’s daughter) but that still wouldn’t account for the brothers being older but not like…way older, unless Wendy never joined them in NL but the shadow *someday* came back for Jane but then we still wouldn’t have older Wendy so…I’m all kinds of confused since they said “grown up” and even if Freya is playing her actual age rather than younger Wendy, that’s still not what I would consider “grown up” – I was really expecting much older and that Freya would be around for flashbacks, not hopping off the ship!

I think it’s likely Freya is just Wendy though and that would make Neal more of an older brother figure toward her. *watches the extinguishing of DarlingFire and passes out cookies for those shippers too* Seriously that’s gotta be so awkward to be so much older than someone you had a connection with as a kid even if only briefly! I’m still all for a DarlingFireFamily reunion though but now her little brothers and the boy she took in are all older than her? I guess Neal will somewhat adopt them as they did with him before. Not sure we’d see tons of them but at the same time I can’t really see him abandoning them either, especially since he once considered them his “real family” and the only family that didn’t in some way abandon him purposefully.

That’s…definitely a lost boy of some kind on the right. Can’t really tell who though. This episode is The New Neverland so I’m curious to see how/why we’re getting SB stuff already. I expected that in 3×11. Very interesting.

Blue Fairy, Dwarves, and Tink are all there, as well as Eric, Ariel, Granny, a lost boy, Neal, Snow, Charming, Emma, and Hook. Looks like most of the town (that we would recognize) other than Anton, Archie, and Red but that makes sense actor-scheduling-wise. Not sure where Rumple, Belle, and Regina are though unless I missed them or they’re not in shot. I think somebody said that they did see Lana out there so she may not have been in frame unless I missed her, and I agree, they might be keeping the Rumple/Belle stuff a bit more under wraps.

This season has been amazing so far and even when it’s slightly disappointing crackship wise we’re getting answers and lots of great stuff so I’ll take it!

Keeper of Hook's Trenchcoat.

[MysteryKat25]

SO MANY FEELINGS after that last episode but 1) I still haven’t recovered and 2) haven’t been feeling great / have been busy.

1. Obisgirl – wasn’t the last time we saw the red jacket after she fought Maleficent? She was wearing brown in the EF so this marks a return to S1 Emma where she was strong and independent and didn’t take anything from anybody. It’ll be nice to see the red jacket back though! S1 Emma knew who she was and what she was about and didn’t let anybody tell her how to run her life.

A lot of my favorite Emma quotes with her opinions on things (including a certain other man in her life) are from S1 because she wasn’t clouded by anything. We got her real feelings and she was tough and strong and independent. Things are cloudy now because she’s finding out the reasons she’s felt that way her whole life weren’t the same reasons she imagined or thought possible, but at the end of the day, Emma STILL FEELS THAT PAIN, be it from Snowing or Neal, and an elaborate reason or apology doesn’t magically fix that. She already had a breakdown with Snow this season even though she knows it hurts her hearing it, because Emma remembers feeling like an orphan her whole life and nothing is going to change those almost 30 years for her. That’s why I really love unfiltered Emma because she didn’t have any of the people who hurt her in her life and we saw exactly how she felt about it.

I hope this return to the red jacket marks a return to the S1 Emma but with a little more clarity and information – a calm after the storm of emotions if you will. She’s been through a LOT since the curse broke and maybe this is a sign that things are getting a little more stable for her (at least as stable as they can be after getting home and then having to face goodness knows what after that!)

2. THE PICTURES – There are a couple in the who’s filming now thread that are different but I love them all. In the last one I saw over there Grumpy is hugging Snow, and Emma is looking at Hook with a huge smile on her face – could totally be just the actors goofing around but it made me happy. In that OTHER ONE THOUGH – not sure if she’s actually holding his hook or hand (doubt it’s been returned yet though) but she IS standing close to him and they’re going somewhere together in SB! It looks like they’re taking Tink to Mother Superior to maybe ask for her wings back which would be cool. Either way we see her in the red jacket and standing close to Hook! That’s a good sign. Wonder if he’s gonna start wearing his red vest again too?

3. Am I the only one that doesn’t want Emma to have a kid named Milah someday?? Save that for Neal and whoever he’s supposed to end up with but if Emma is with Hook, I’d rather they NOT have a kid named after his dead ex that he’s been loyal to the memory of for centuries. I love that about him, I do, but I don’t really like the idea of naming their kid that. Likewise if SF were to happen but with Emma having been involved with Hook at all, that would still be a little weird for me, whereas Neal and ___ having a kid named Milah would make a lot more sense, but even then she abandoned him so not sure why he would want to.

LIAM on the other hand, for a CaptainSwan child would be perfect! If they have a girl they could name her Ruth after Charming’s mother, or Eva after Snow’s but I’m not on board with the Milah thing. I know she meant a lot to Hook and all but it would just be awkward to me and I imagine to Emma as well.

4.  Excited that it looks like Hook WILL be a man of honor and tell Emma no matter how much his heart breaks. The press release said that Emma, Mary Margaret, Hook, and David go off in search of Neal and from the promos and such, it looks like Regina will find Rumple so the group gets split up a bit but Hook will be actively helping Emma and Snowing find Neal. It will be HEARTBREAKING for Hook and make things more messed up for now but it’s a step in the right direction. As always he is letting it be HER CHOICE and he’s proving he’s a good man by doing this even though it’s detrimental (or so he’ll think) to his potential “budding romance” with her. *curse you Peter Pan* Whether he tells her (I hope so!) or she stumbles upon the truth somehow early on as he’s trying to tell her (she probably won’t want to talk to him alone anytime soon), it does appear that he will be HELPING her to find him so that bodes well either way.

Emma has a lot to deal with and finding out that Neal is alive will cause a few problems for sure but she’ll have Hook with her and she’ll hopefully realize how much it hurts him even though he cares about Neal too. It’s a very tangled web since they both care about him and she is pulled to both of them but I have faith that in the long run, once Emma deals with a lot of her issues with Neal and gets some REAL closure, she’ll see Hook for who he is and pick him. It definitely bodes well that they’re working together in SB! And the red jacket is back!

GOOD FORM:

My feelings can be expressed in aslkjf;alsfa and KILLIAN!!!!!

Seriously my heart broke about a million times in this episode. The poor guy just can’t catch a break, even when he tries to do the right thing and he’s had not one, but two people he loved die in his arms now and have to be tossed overboard. *sniff*

Colin is amazing and says so much without saying a word. His eyes just killed me with the emotion over and over again.

HE DID EVERYTHING FOR EMMA. I repeat for those who have refused to believe it until now, HE DID IT ALL FOR EMMA. He didn’t want to go back there. He doesn’t like staying there up against Pan because it’s dangerous. He tricked her father into saving himself (but gave him the CHOICE because of consequences) because he didn’t want her to lose anyone else and he knew he wouldn’t do it himself. He gave up EVERYTHING to be there to HELP HER even when everyone is saying he’s nothing but a pirate  and he STILL helped Charming, even when he was driving him crazy and threatening to knock him into dreamshade and telling him to stay away from Emma. He made it CLEAR to Charming that he was right – it was all for Emma.

LOVED his “I didn’t do it for you, Mate” *wink*. Charming didn’t have to say ANYTHING about being saved AT ALL because nobody knew he was in danger. He could have come back and said dead end, wasn’t there, how’d you girls do? And moved on. BUT HE DIDN’T. He was GRATEFUL and made sure that everyone, especially EMMA knew that (he even made a point of saying that he deserved a little recognition for HELPING). HE was the one that started the toasting. He made up an elaborate story to show that Hook did indeed save him even though nobody knew he was in danger in the first place. If he really wanted Hook to stay away from Emma, what better way than to say “the stupid pirate was wrong and wasted our time.” He didn’t HAVE to say anything nice about Hook at all but he saw something in him that reminded him of himself and he APPRECIATED it and made sure they all knew it. It was AFTER that, after seeing her dad (a very unlikely person) praise Hook that Emma warmed up to him more, enough to kiss him.

Emma started off this episode much like she did with Graham in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter – brushing off the attempt to get close to her (though blatantly reacting to it soon after when making the rope with Snow looking on – you KNOW she noticed something and was shown looking for a reason; something she hasn’t done in a long time with regard to Hook and Emma moments) and ending the episode with kissing him. (Only this time with a FAR better outcome since he didn’t die, even though stupid Pan had to take his one moment of happiness and hope away by telling him that *throws something* I just want Killian to be happy for a few minutes is that so much to ask??)

SO MANY PRINCESS BRIDE MOMENTS. I lost track but they were numerous and wonderful. AS YOU WISH about killed me even though I’ve been wanting him to say it for agessss.

So glad Charming has bonded with him! He could have just let Charming die and been there to comfort Emma but he didn’t. Charming is one of the main people standing in his way really, since he’s protective of his little girl since it doesn’t feel like it’s been that long since he was holding her in one arm and swordfighting to protect her with the other! (Hmm, who does that remind you of, having to fight one-handed but doing whatever it takes to protect those he cares about??)

KILLIAN – young Killian just…so many feels! He was SO GOOD! And HONORABLE! (And ridiculously adorable in his uniform). He did everything the right way and it still backfired on him and he lost all he had. I loved how they paralleled his relationship with Liam to him and Charming in present day (with mention of Charming’s evil twin as well). It was the perfect bromance episode and made it even better than I expected it to be! Having Charming’s approval of him is huge because of how against him he was to begin with. We’ve watched them bond and watched Hook try to win over Charming just like he had to do with the dwarves (and most especially Grumpy). Absolute perfection, especially since Hook wants Emma and Charming KNOWS THIS and calls him out on it a million times and STILL praises him in her company later on and then walks off with everyone away from them leaving them alone. Protective dad’s approval? HUGE. (Though she’ll always be his baby and he just wants her to be happy.) – Love that Josh’s attitude went from “not with my daughter” to “I want her to be happy” over the last few months! He said that Charming and Hook would be a slow burn but that’s just as it should be. Charming wouldn’t be worried about him AT ALL if he didn’t worry his little girl might actually end up with him and Emma can take care of herself. I was so glad to see her shut him down early on just so that it proves that she CAN and DOES when she wants to which meant that she DIDN’T MIND the flirting/banter which SHE ratcheted up a whole nother notch when he probably thought she’d just roll her eyes and walk away like usual. He was pleasantly surprised sure but it was still ALL UP TO HER THE ENTIRE TIME. I love that he is the gentleman who makes his thoughts and wishes known but would never force it. It has to be HER choice. Makes me so mad when people say he doesn’t respect women just because his facade flirts a way they don’t like. He always lets Emma take the lead and goes along with HER plans even when they override and undermine his own. He ADMIRES her and RESPECTS her, even if he is ridiculously awkward about saying he’s interested (even though it’s SO clear to us because we see the looks). Emma is catching on though! 🙂

Tons of Tallahassee parallels (I don’t remember where the list was I was going to bring over so I’ll find it later if I can), but I love that for Emma’s backstory we saw a lot of CS and key moments in shaping her hitting bottom and having to rise back up from it, and then with Killian’s backstory we saw the same, as well as a CS kiss! (And this time when she went into his arms, she didn’t “stand on ceremony” that’s for sure!)

I’m just thrilled we finally GOT some Killian backstory. I still want way more on him, especially when he was younger, but it’s a start and it showed one of the key moments in shaping who he has been for the last few centuries which is basically what we’ve gotten so far with Emma. Sure we’ve seen her as a baby but only briefly. We’ve only heard stories about her days in the foster system etc. Good things come to those who wait I guess. I’m sure we’ll get more though and I’ll be really interested to see what parallels with more backstory for either of them in the future!

So many things about this episode I’m sure I haven’t even begun to cover cause my feelings are all mush and Killian pulled at every single heartstring during it but asldfjsljl it was so good! Can’t wait to see more of the CaptainCharming bromance even though the triangle will be heating up soon. I’m looking forward to seeing a lot of Hook/Neal stuff too. The whole triangle has massive issues and messed up relationships that all need to be sorted out regardless of who ends up with Emma. Killian is hurting too and his emotions will be all over the place because this makes things very very complicated. It’s no longer a shared person from the past that they didn’t realize the other knew until he was “dead” but it doesn’t make feelings vanish either (not to mention the rough histories between all of them since nothing was perfect ever).

Can’t believe I forgot to mention this til just now but with regards to setup. Peter Pan could be taunting Neal. He could be saying his girl thinks he’s dead and she’s off with Captain Hook – that would be an obstacle to SF. What are we seeing him doing? He’s talking to Hook and telling him that the thing standing between him and Emma is that Neal’s alive. That makes NEAL the obstacle here. Villains love to point out the things that the heroes don’t want to admit (how many villains have now pointed out CS? Let’s see…Cora said Hook chose Emma, Rumple threatened to kill Hook if Emma didn’t go with him to NY, Regina called Hook Emma’s boyfriend, and Peter Pan not only knew that the way to get Hook out of the way was to offer to take Emma with him so he could leave, but he also got under Hook’s skin by saying that he wouldn’t get the girl because Neal is alive).

Villains are often right about seeing who has feelings for each other. They use it to their advantage – to twist the knife, to compel someone to do something for them, to size them up and find their weaknesses. This entire episode was one big HOOK HAS FEELINGS FOR EMMA AND SHE IS HIS BIGGEST WEAKNESS. It also had some delicious Protective!Snowing moments (Snow was totally watching Emma follow Hook with her eyes and then there was the entire CaptainCharming trek through the jungle) and of course, the kiss which may have been suggested by Hook but he (once again) let it be her choice and she practically jumped him.

The way Pan was talking to Hook makes me pretty sure that what Pan says can’t happen, will happen. Just like when Charming made a big point about saying that Emma would never like Hook and he’s nothing but a pirate (both of which were proven false in this episode). So the fact that Pan said the kiss didn’t mean anything…pretty much means it did (not that we doubted). The other news is an OBSTACLE, just like Emma’s history with Neal was an obstacle on the beanstalk.

So many feels! Season 3 has been incredible so far and I can’t wait to see where it goes but I trust that it will continue to be amazing and that we’re gonna love where it ends up. I love the show first and foremost and they rarely make me hate things or have problems figuring out how they justified it so I have faith that it will continue to be that way (and we’ve had a lot of buildup in S3 for CS so far! Always a good thing when they want to ramp things up and show why she’s making that choice! We even got father/future son-in-law bonding!)

Love what everyone has been saying and agree with a lot of it! Can’t believe it took me this long to recover and type something up about it but this episode was amazing and had tons of Killian and CS feels to where I just couldn’t think about it and function at the same time! (Which is very difficult for a writer – I imagine my NaNoWriMo experience would be done in 2 days if I wrote a book about CS stuff! lol)

*cookies*

Keeper of Hook's Trenchcoat.

[MysteryKat25]

I would love to! But the spoiler tags don’t work like they used to and you have to do it for each paragraph. (I hate it…with a passion). And I agree, it becomes a HUGE PAIN to try to read it that way but not much I can do about it unless somebody knows how to do that and I just didn’t find out it switched until now. Believe me I’d love to stop having to put in a gazillion little spoiler codes for each and every paragraph.

Keeper of Hook's Trenchcoat.

[MysteryKat25]

I’m totally on board with the Wendy theory and just came across this excellent meta about why it would be her on tumblr, courtesy of onceuponamirror. I’ll quote and spoiler it out but she makes some excellent points!

reasons why it could totally be adult wendy in that cage

1. As one awesome anon presented to me: Glasses and Keychain are most likely John and Michael Darling.

2. Remembering the casting call?

Both Brits in their late 20s, both have been hardened by their years of servitude. While Glasses is sophisticated, erudite and focused, Keychain is a wild card who lost his innocence a long time ago.

John Darling wore glasses, but his shtick was always that he was a “proper English Gentleman.” Sophisticated, erudite, etc. Michael Darling had a memento, his teddy bear, and carried it everywhere…kind of like a keychain? He was also very much the one who got into trouble.

3. The rest of that spoiler refers to Glasses and Keychain being on Pan’s payroll and hardened from years in servitude.

So if they’re in Neverland as adults in their late twenties, that would put Wendy in her early/mid thirties.

4. And remember, we’re going to see Wendy as an adult. If she’s in Neverland, she’s an adult.

As to whether Wendy could be a resident of Storybrooke, Eddy remarked, “I would be very disappointed if we didn’t see Wendy grown up and a part of the ONCE UPON A TIME world.”  Adam added, “Wendy is a big part of the Peter Pan mythology, so as we fold that mythology into the ONCE UPON A TIME mythology, we’ll have contact with her more.”

5. I just don’t think they’re going to reveal who’s in the other cage right away. We also know Freya Tingley (young Wendy) filmed for some episodes recently, and speculation is episodes including but not limited to 7-9. (does anyone have anything more concrete?)

6. The fact that there’s no casting call out for an adult Wendy implies they have someone special in mind. Several actors on the show were asked to join by the writers, rather than go through a casting process, and if Wendy were to be one of them, that could mean she’ll play a much bigger role down the line.

ask-oockillian added to that with the following which pretty much sold me on it as well even though the above arguments are all very valid

Um, are we just going to forget the whole WENDY-BIRD in “Peter Pan.” Are we? (Birds, cages, come on, it’s solid). 

I’m totally behind this theory.

It gives the “we’re building a house for Wendy” a creepy tone that is perfect for this Neverland.

Plus it would give us some extra backstory on:

• What happened to the Darlings after Baelfire left with the shadow
• Neal’s feelings regarding that part of his past which is something Pan would totally use to his advantage (remember: young Baelfire wanted to go home to his “real family: the Darlings” and he drew their pictures in his “home” on NL in that cave
• Interviews before have said that Emma reminds him of Wendy who is someone he cared a great deal for
• I’m reallllly interested to see how Wendy would come back into the picture. We know Freya has been filming but they did say a “grown up Wendy” which could make things very interesting indeed.

If it IS Wendy in the cage then I would hazard a guess that she’s there to be used to break Neal. I could see Pan using that in some way and if she is grown up, then they may not recognize each other at first to where we’re left wondering who the mystery girl in the cage is, much like when Neal was the mystery guy in the apartment.

I’d love for them to have finally found a way to go after him, even if it didn’t quite work, and for them to be reunited since he did hold them very dear. I wouldn’t put it past Pan to have taken them after using them as bait to get Baelfire, and then kept them completely hidden from him on the island so that his “real family” was there all along and he just never knew it because Pan had other plans for him.

On a personal note, (CS shipper goggles aside, since one of the guys is going to have to eventually find someone else), I love the idea that DarlingFire may not be dead yet. I adored young Bae with Wendy and they have said before that Emma reminds him of her. He likely thought she was long gone but if she spent all those years fighting to find him (like his father but in a far more positive way) that could be rather sweet, especially since we’re being reminded that she did mean a lot to him (cave wall sketches) and it’ll be interesting to see what happens when they see each other again and what that brings out, especially if she’s been Pan’s prisoner this whole time.

Either way, romantic or friends, I hope that grown up Wendy is someone positive in his life and not yet another person who has betrayed or hurt him in some way. While I don’t think that’s a reason for him to “get the girl” because everyone on this show has been hurt and it’s just not a good reason, I do want him to have somebody in his life, romantic or otherwise, that was always good to him and didn’t abandon him. So I hope if grown up Wendy appears, it’s not to get info and betray him cause been there, done that. Too cruel.

I much prefer the idea of him being reunited with her and her brothers who he thought of as family, especially since he’s basically kicked his dad to the curb for now. Yes he has Henry and he’s going to try to get Emma back too, but he keeps saying that’s all he has and it’s sad, especially if he gets hurt again (even though he’s not the only one who thinks of Emma as basically all he’s got), but I’d love him to have his [/spoiler]“brothers” back and to know that somebody good and sweet (like Wendy) never stopped looking for him if that is in fact, how they present her (I’ve seen so many good ideas for her on either side of the fence that goodness only knows and time will tell – we need more info!)

How the hardened brothers fit into that I don’t know, but since they used that language, I would hazard a guess they’re fed up with Pan and don’t like him so unless it’s a long con *crosses fingers it’s not* I think we may have a DarlingFireFamily reunion which *at the moment given what we currently know* would make me happy.

Keeper of Hook's Trenchcoat.

[MysteryKat25]

Yay obisgirl! Now you’ll have more to work with and everything we’ve been talking about in context!

Getting so close to 3×05 I can almost taste it but it’s still so far away. Ahh!

After all the arguments I’ve seen and all the nonsense words thrown around to describe not only our beloved King Adam (long shall he reign!), as well as the other writers, characters, fans etc etc for allowing such actions to happen/enjoying them…all I can say as a writer is that I really want to throw dictionaries at a LOT of people right now; and all I can say as a fan (in reaction to a LOT of words I’ve seen used) is “That word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

In the meantime, here’s some lovely pics/gifs from tumblr:

1) CS/Tangled (cause of reasons):

http://captainswan4life.tumblr.com/post/65003673735/teenwolfmixtapes-are-we-going-to-talk-about

2) CS & CS! Tallahassee and Good Form. Almost perfection though it coulda used the neck scratching thing for both of the bottom set since he does it again before shifting into Hook facade before the kiss! But still, love the lip thing – he’s so cute asking for something he really doesn’t think he’ll get and then bam, he gets it and is just stunned and the touching of the lip afterward is perfect! Seriously cannot wait! We’ve come so far in just a year of tv time! (Tallahassee parallels within Good Form should be amazing!)

http://captainswan4life.tumblr.com/post/65007487704/its-been-there-since-the-beginning

3) CS / Han&Leia:

http://captainswan4life.tumblr.com/post/64908539237/captain-swan-han-solo-and-princess-leia

Keeper of Hook's Trenchcoat.

[MysteryKat25]

CaptainEala wrote 

So I’ve been thinking about 3×05 a little and about how it’s going to be paralleled to Tallahassee. Because we know it will be  So Tallahassee was the home Emma wanted with Neal. The home she didn’t get because he decided otherwise. And what is Emma’s theme this season? “Believe a Lost Girl can find her way home“. And the key in the picture of the episode title – Emma and MM’s home. So yeah. This episode is going to be all about home. And funnily enough (lol not really), it’s a Killian-centric episode.We KNOW that Killian won’t back down from Charming telling him to stay away from Emma, unlike Neal. What did Snow say to Charming in 3×03? That he was her home. Who first identified Emma as a lost girl? Killian. So yeah, basically Emma’s home is Killian, even if she doesn’t know it yet.  @obisgirl – you completely inspired the above, with your timeless love in NL post  Because the first thing Emma says about finding a home? “Where – Neverland?” in an episode called “Tallahassee” 😉 I originally thought that it would be a flashback of Killian in Emma and MM’s apartment but I highly doubt that’s how it’s going to play out now. *mourns loss of magic compass theory* But I think what I said above is quite likely to be what’s going on, because it’s more subtle.

@Captain Eala – I just wrote a ridiculously long thing and then realized you posted before me and I love basically everything you just said and hadn’t even thought about that! The key to their apartment was in that picture and you’re right, there should be a lot of Tallahassee parallels and the whole thing with home and I’ve been saying it for awhile but the home thing has shifted a TON for Emma. Right now home is where she and Henry are safely away from NL. But it could definitely be a big clue and it IS a Hook-centric ep where CS share their FIRST KISS! Excellent deductions.

CAN WE ALL PLEASE WORK ON THE SPOILER TAGS THOUGH. I know it’s a pain (believe me, typing it over and over again is driving me bonkers) but RG has to read all of it and go in and fix it and it’s not even her ship of choice but out of the goodness of her heart to do all of this for EVERYONE in this forum so even though I’m pretty sure we all read and watch basically anything we can get our hands on (especially for THIS episode!), let’s be a bit better about using the spoiler tags to keep everybody happy so nobody has to police us and look like the bad guy ok?

*cookies*

Keeper of Hook's Trenchcoat.

[MysteryKat25]

Well-said everyone!

We definitely need more context for how it fits into the episode to more fully elaborate on everything but my blood is seriously boiling over the stuff I’m seeing. Between the Emma-shaming and the more intense than ever Hook-hate and the people who almost thought he might be an ok guy before this but now it’s the end. Um, what? Let’s learn his story, his tragedies before jumping to conclusions.

This is a CLIP out of the story. We are getting an episode devoted to making us understand Hook (and his Killian side) and see why he & Emma are such kindred spirits. In the grand scheme of things, aka context, we’re likely to discover more blatantly that these are his WALLS just like hers. He isn’t used to people appreciating him at all. He hides behind being a pirate and now he hides behind being Hook but Emma GETS TO HIM and SEES RIGHT THROUGH THE FACADE.

Maybe Emma’s first inclination isn’t to go off into the woods and kiss the stuffing out of him because he saved her dad. SO WHAT? He was being cute and making it clear that he was hoping for something more and BANTERING with her. Usually she TURNS HIM DOWN and walks off and rolls her eyes. He let her have COMPLETE CONTROL. He was not MANIPULATING or COERCING or FORCING her in any way. Have you seen Emma Swan? Cause that stuff is NOT gonna fly. If she’s not into it, it’s done and she walks off.

She ENJOYS his company. She LIKES flirting back sometimes and she was SMILING like an idiot the whole time and dishing it right back at him! She was ENJOYING seeing where he’d go with it next and she never even moved away when he came in closer. He made it CLEAR (to some of us) that he wasn’t going to actually make her kiss him if she didn’t want to. He was being awkward and cute and saying what he was hoping for but usually all it gets him is a cute reaction from her and she’ll walk off. This time she DIDN’T DO THAT and it SURPRISED HIM in a good way. She was DEFINITELY flirting back the ENTIRE TIME and actually SMILED as she walked away after being blown away by the kiss. Seeing just how real it was for him I expect him to know after that just how deep he’s in over his head and do whatever it takes to stay in her good graces and continue doing the things that made her interested in him in the first place. He now has reason to think that maybe, just maybe, he can have the girl of his dreams because this time she did not shut him down. Which means she’s been noticing the things he’s done lately and appreciating them. She sees more of the real him than anyone and she LIKES IT.

It is seriously making me nuts that people think that it was some master manipulation. As if Emma Swan would ever allow that. A first kiss has to come from SOMETHING and banter? Banter’s a pretty good start. She didn’t owe him anything other than a thank you and she made a point of saying she had already said it. “That’s what the thank you was for” (all smiles). She didn’t HAVE to kiss him and on top of that SHE DIDN’T FEEL LIKE SHE OWED HIM A KISS SINCE SHE HAD ALREADY SAID THANK YOU. She was in full banter back mode at that point, waiting to see what he would do while he was waiting to see what she would do. He got close but didn’t even reach for her AT ALL until she was already kissing him. The stare between them gave her plenty of time to walk away or push him away if she felt he was too close (remember, she pushed Graham away when he kissed her) and instead she leapt onto him and pulled him for a very steamy kiss!

Emma is not an affectionate character hardly ever. She has her walls up at all times. Hoping for affection and saying you’re interested in it? Not a crime. Flirting your way to TRY to get it? Not a crime and since she was ALL SMILES and TAUNTING HIM BACK the entire time, I don’t see how anybody thinks she wasn’t ENJOYING HERSELF even before the kiss. Seriously.  When was the last time we saw her really smile? Oh wait, that was when Hook complimented her on her patience and unlocking the map. Ok, when was the time before that? SHE HARDLY EVER SMILES. Even before her kid was taken we don’t usually see her let her guard down enough TO smile. Maybe that’s all Hook was really hoping for for all we know. He gets into Hook defensive mode and flirts, and she smiles, banters back, and walks off. That’s been their thing until now. He was NOT expecting to get anything, much less THAT kiss. And that kiss is only the beginning.

With so much tension especially after a kiss like that, there’s no way Emma’s gonna just forget it. She may have been hoping it would get it out of her system but judging by her reaction that’s just not going to happen. She & Hook UNDERSTAND one another and are kindred spirits and have been building an awesome foundation for awhile now. JMO has said that Emma has a real pull between these guys. Wow I guess that means Emma must really hate Hook and feel like he forced her to practically jump him! *headdesk*

First kisses are awkward and somebody has to make the first move. He may have started the CONVERSATION and made it clear he would LIKE TO KISS HER but he let her make the actual move to kiss. He is USED to her walking away and shutting it down when he gets like that. For all we know this was him trying to push her back a little and comply with Charming asking him to stay away from her – we still don’t know what his response to that was yet – see, we need the CONTEXT of the entire episode, especially since it will deal with WHY KILLIAN IS THE WAY HE IS and make us understand him better and it should be way more obvious that HOOK IS HIS DEFENSE MECHANISM but that usually, he is most like Killian when with Emma (especially recently) and she appreciates that but IS NOT DISGUSTED when he puts his walls up and FLIRTS WITH HER.

Seriously I’m sick of being told as a woman that I should be disgusted by Hook and his silly attempts at flirting. I’d do the same thing Emma does – roll my eyes when it’s too over the top or banter back in a situation like this. And that kiss? Was perfection and he let HER kiss him. He certainly didn’t force it. It was her choice the entire time, and if she wanted to REALLY make a point about whose in control – not that some of us ever had any doubt since he does WHATEVER SHE ASKS? She would have gotten in close as if she was going to kiss him…and then pulled back. But she bantered back and teased him saying he couldn’t handle it if she kissed him. She was challenging him as much as he challenged her and they were EGGING EACH OTHER ON for an epic kiss to see who would  break first. She wanted to prove he couldn’t handle it and he wanted to prove she couldn’t handle it and frankly, neither of them could handle it because it was so intense and we would all be so lucky to be kissed like that.

Heaven forbid Emma Swan have a real moment with someone who understands her better than anyone out there, that she has been drawn to from the beginning and ONLY left behind because she was afraid of history repeating itself aka: trusting him, falling for him, having the rug swept out from underneath her when he betrays her. That was set up that way FOR A REASON and he has been proving himself ever since he came back (when he didn’t have to) and has been truly helping her. Yes, that must have been awful for her. To share a genuine moment that maybe didn’t start from where everyone else’s dream kiss starts, but for these two, starting with walls SKY HIGH (ESPECIALLY since we saw Killian put the Hook persona back up the MOMENT she was GENUINELY THANKING HIM, something he’s not used to!, and ending it like that? Oh yes she must be a horrible person for allowing such a thing! And him, well he’s just the devil. *headdesk* 

I LOVE that we finally got that line out of him. I’ve been waiting for it since The Crocodile. The fact that he said it after the kiss and showed her once again that she has complete control here and he isn’t forcing anything, it was absolute perfection. He backed off as she asked him to even though he clearly wanted more (as did she). He let it go and let her have her space. He knows her. He understands her better than anyone and unlike Snow who pushes things too much, Hook lets her have a little time to herself and then only goes to take care of her later by offering her some form of comfort which until now and I believe at the beginning of that clip has been a shared drink or opening a coconut for her, or toasting with her. Something that is truly COMFORTING and NON-THREATENING.

She totally got the reference even though he has no idea what he just said. To anybody who hasn’t watched Princess Bride, I imagine they DID read that scene as her “winning” and smirking that she bowled him over and was able to walk away and he did just as she asked and isn’t he a cute little puppy dog taking orders. But to the rest of us? THAT LINE means everything. Not because it parallels them to a wonderful movie couple (though we of course enjoy that!). She HEARD him say it and reacted TO THAT LINE in a positive way, aka SMILING. Emma grew up in our world and has likely seen and enjoyed that movie. The fact that SHE SMILED when he said it and it is an iconic line and something she likely knew exactly what meant, she was therefore thinking that (like most of us were) and she actually SMILED at the thought after the kiss that was so intense she almost couldn’t stand up straight and had to hold onto his lapels just to right herself before pulling herself away from him. It was the icing on the cake of a beautiful moment and it showed once again that he wasn’t pushing but letting her come to him. Letting it be known that he’s interested is but one step in this dance. He still meets her halfway and then waits for her to cross that line, just as he didn’t go back in for that 2nd kiss even though he wanted it, and he certainly didn’t force the issue.

It really saddens me to see so much Emma hate (I get the Hook hate even though I loathe it with a passion. He’s the guy that could sink the other ship, it’s threatening, I get it). Emma is NOT being OOC. In fact the only moments of hers that have felt forced are the ones that JMO has commented on herself where it seemed a little out there and NONE of that had anything to do with Hook. They’re ratcheting up the triangle for sure which is annoying as anything, but we’ve been watching the foundation to this relationship build for awhile and it was VERY much in character with Emma and as JMO said, was a real human moment.

I’d like to think we all want Emma to be happy even though we can only really see her with ___ in the longrun for different reasons. How we all watch and love the same moments and read them entirely differently I will never know. I wish more people cared about Hook though. We’ve seen so much more backstory on others that I get it but it still saddens me that many can’t see through the facade. I’m hoping that changes after 3×05 but I doubt it will now because people are SO INTENT on hating the kiss or saying it was only a thank you so it doesn’t mean anything because they’re ALL wonderful characters and we want them all to be happy. I don’t think we’re building up Hook just to take the first woman he’s loved in centuries away. I really don’t. There’d be no point to that and it undermines all the setup that’s happened. Sometimes it’s better to learn from mistakes and move on and make sure never to make those mistakes again with anyone else, and good things fall apart so that better things can come together.  It’s the Rumple/Milah/ & RumBelle thing all over again. And we all know (at least in this thread) which couple was paralleled within the SAME EPISODE to Rumple/Milah.

So I will just enjoy the fact that in Emma’s ep we got foundation for her being drawn to Hook and that in Hook’s ep, we’re getting a CS kiss. Other people may be in their stories, in their pasts, but it focuses them back on each other and it is beautiful. It may not have been the ideal setup for a first kiss, but this wasn’t for a TL kiss, or a grand declaration of love.  This was a very real, genuinely human moment and it will affect both of them in the future, especially working so closely together in NL. Emma gravitates to him already, is almost always at his side, and looks to him first when a new plan is needed. She asks him his opinions on things. If she suddenly stops doing that? People will know and get suspicious. If she stays close by? That chemistry will continue to be “hard to deny” and I’m sorry, but it has not been set up as a lustful thing or a fling at all.

They’ve genuinely built up a trust and have been shown as a TEAM and they’re blatantly showing that this is anything but a fling for Hook. He’s been loyal to the memory of Milah for how long? This is HUGE, especially since we never even saw him kiss her. Add that to the fact that this is the most passionate, the most real, raw moment we’ve seen from Emma and to say anything less than that would be a disservice to her character. We didn’t see her go find some random guy to kiss when Graham died. She may have been a one-night stand kinda girl before going to SB but she has not been presented that way at all and if it WERE about something like that for her? To stop feeling the loss of someone else? Then she wouldn’t have pulled away from Hook at all. She’d have used him and walked away and he would have been presented the same way, as someone willing to be used for her fling and that’s it. But guess what…that’s NOT what happened and they made a point of showing us just how much that moment meant to Hook which is a GOOD THING for us.

I have faith guys. Most of the couples we love, especially the ones they’ve remotely been compared to, didn’t exactly like each other at first and had their issues. But women like Emma? THRIVE on that kind of thing in the best possible way. I saw a quote yesterday “It’s hard to resist a bad boy when he’s a good man” and Emma KNOWS deep down he’s a good man. It’s how she connects with him. Just like Flynn, Han, and Westley. Goodness knows they weren’t saints but some women actually LIKE a scoundrel that’s really just a hurt guy who needs someone to appreciate him. They actually ENJOY that type of flirting and banter.

And now I really wish I had time for the gazillion marathons I want to do all at once but most especially Tangled, Star Wars, and Princess Bride.

Can it be Sunday yet? I want the FULL context of the episode cause multiple members of the cast have said it’s a great ep and it’s about time we got some Hook backstory and I really really can’t wait to see THE KISS in full context since I really think it will be the first of many even though we’re going to have to wait awhile. The greatest stories that involve all the different elements that OUAT uses have at least one romance that is more of a slow burn.

Right now we’re just getting bits and pieces of the story and filling in the gaps for ourselves so of course our filters come into play. We’re partial to Hook so we see more of him than others do and I get that. But putting ourselves in EMMA’s shoes and making sure it’s her CHOICE is what makes me feel so strongly about this. Because at the end of the day, both sides can argue (and have and will) til we’re all blue in the face but it’s not going to be about what makes ____ happy. It HAS to be about what makes EMMA happy. All the explanations in the world about anything from either guy aren’t going to compel her to have to choose someone because of ___ (insert whatever here). WE see the backstories, and the tragedies, and we don’t want our guy to get hurt again, but what about Emma?

I will be CRUSHED if Hook gets hurt. But I see more in him than many who are indifferent or loathe his piratey ways do. I’ve called the Westley thing since the Crocodile and NOBODY on this show is that one-dimensional. The villains? Have ALL been hurt in some way. It comes down to the choices they make. Hook has made major strides this season and I feel like, based on that clip his walls are going back up. The Hook facade, the thing that everyone expects of him anyway, comes back out, just like Emma’s walls do and SHE gets that but some of the audience don’t.

People thinking he’s been OOC or toned down this season don’t equate that to walls. They equate it with the writers trying to cater to the CS fans and so Hook is now completely OOC to them. We see that he realized revenge wasn’t getting him anywhere, he told Emma she reminded him he could care, and he’s been on fairly good behavior and being helpful recently. What has that gotten him? Not much, but he’s still trying to win over people that clearly don’t like him. He’s doing everything to help Charming and has given up everything to help Emma on this mission in the first place and we know that sometime, probably early on this coming episode, Charming will pull a sword on Hook and tell him to stay away from Emma. Understandably, Charming is protective of his little girl, but in this instance, it’s still basically saying “I don’t care how much you’ve changed, you’re not good enough for her” when he has done everything he could to be helpful.

He’s not gonna do a complete 180, as we’ve seen is also the problem for Rumple and Regina. They slip from time to time but are trying and they have people in their lives that are motivating factors. Rumple needs Belle AND Bae before he’ll be able to overcome his demons but he has a lot to overcome. Regina has Henry and she begrudgingly has the Charmings now but I don’t think it will be until she has Henry and eventually Robin that she’ll be able to fully come around. Hook? Hook has Emma. He hasn’t done as many bad things but he’s still done his fair share and hides behind his Hook persona walls but Emma gets to him. I really think that after [spoiler]that kiss he’s gonna be doing whatever it takes to fight for her in the right ways because he’s been given a real glimmer of hope, especially soon after being told to stay away from her according to Charming – still dying to know what he says to THAT!

That moment will be a turning point for a lot of things I feel like. I’m expecting tons of parallels within the episode to both Snowing (and it seems like possibly book-ending the episode with a Snowing kiss and a CaptainSwan kiss!), and the similar circumstances we saw in Tallahassee flashbacks for Emma to present day now. We’ve already seen how Neal took it with Pinocchio, now it’s time to see what Hook does in response to Charming.

Keeper of Hook's Trenchcoat.

[Author]

Posts