I want to talk about something that has been bothering me a lot in the last two seasons. I’ve been thinking a lot about the change in Hook’s attitude from season 3A to season 4 and 5, and by that I mean his overconfidence of winning Emma’s heart in 3A to the lack of it during seasons 4-5. I really tried to understand what made the person who told Pan that Emma finally starts to see him for who he really is – a man of honor, to the person leaving her that message on the phone in 4×08, feeling that he’s unworthy of her. Or what happened to the person who confidently said “When I win your heart, and I will win it”, to the one in 4×13 afraid to let her know about his past with Ursula because he fears she will change the way she looks at him. I think only now while I was thinking about things to put in this gifset, I finally have an answer (or at least I think so).
You see, the guy in season 3A was in love with Emma, but while he wanted to “win her heart” and thought he could do it, he had no idea how
intense this love will become, hers and his. As the time passed, however, that love became stronger and stronger. The girl who started as someone who constantly run away in panic from him, transformed into someone that adores him like no one did since Liam (and yes, I also dis-include Milah here for a reason, which I won’t get into on this meta). In fact, Emma became for Killian what Liam was for him before he died. She became his role model, she helped him become a better person, and bring out good things out of himself. But as the love of them has grown, so did his insecurity. Because the more love he got in return, the more unworthy of it he felt. It was one thing to “win her heart”, an entire different thing to bring her to the point where she wants to literally split her heart in half and share it with him. And the more love he got form her, the more his past came to hunt him. Because unlike Regina who was whining about not being able to be happy because of her past, Hook felt unworthy of the happiness Emma gave him because of it.
I think that although Killian has always wished that Emma will love him, at the same time he felt like no one could ever love him, at least not that intensively (aka nothing but a pirate). So when he realized how much she truly cares for him he began to panic that it will fade away when she learns some truths about his past life. This is why I think the most significant phase for him was to truly understand that this love is not only true regardless of his past actions, but it also increased because of his remarkable development.
Knowing that there’s a person in the world that accepts you for what you became and overcame and truly loves you for it, is something that only now Killian starts to realize that he deserves. I can’t wait to see him reaching the point in which he also truly loves himself for this remarkable transformation, and I have no doubt that Emma will bring him to that point as well, with the help of her love for him.
Send me a 20 reasons why… request and I will turn it into a gifset
Picking up from the end of “The Dark Swan”, we have a very strong sense of continuity with this episode. Killian remains focused once they enter Camelot. Everyone else appears a little starstruck at meeting Arthur and Guinevere. Emma has gotten over her initial panic at being the Dark One and has perhaps fallen into a false sense of security as a result; she assures Killian that there is no danger right now. Killian seems to be the only member of the visitor group who is on task, and who inquires about the subject of their quest: Merlin.
One of the things I feel this season did very well was to complicate the heroes’ situation beyond any hope of a good solution. In many of these situations, there was no “right” choice. Easy for Merlin to give his warning, but was Emma truly supposed to let Robin die? How were they supposed to get anywhere if Emma wasn’t allowed to use magic at all?
5a is a tragedy, and already in this episode’s flashback I feel like the train is in motion, the conclusion inevitable. Too many things are already wrong; there are too many poisons at work. The visitors have started their mission with a lie (thanks Regina) that will require additional lies as they proceed. The only way forward (magic) is the way they are not allowed to take because of the curse. Justice miscarries into pointless death. Zelena is ever-present, the silent serpent nursing her resentment.
In the moment of crisis, Emma can be persuaded to overlook her own danger. She’s scared, but Clippy knows how to work her – pride, the need to not give in to fear, the need to help others, the lure of power when she has so often been powerless. So her kiss does not quite nothing, but not enough, and she knows it.
Of course, we know from the present time that everything is already lost. Killian is still determined, throwing himself at the problem with the attempt to kiss-break Emma’s curse. Which of course doesn’t work any better than hers did. He’s already running out of options and using forward momentum in place of actual hope.
When I look at events in this season from Emma’s perspective, the S5-finale kiss and ILU does feel more appropriately momentous. It has, at the point of this episode, been two days since she last Killian die, since they came back from Isaac’s world, since everything seemed to be all right. That only lasted a few hours before the Darkness ™ broke free and she was cursed. The curse stands between her and Killian for the entire half season, even before Emma succumbs completely. She knows that; she spends the whole time fighting it, trying to get their connection back, and she is finally in sight of that when she lights the flame – only to lose him almost immediately.
Little wonder that she did what she did, or that a quiet affirmation of their feelings for one another was the note they chose to end on after this season of pain.
When my mother died my husband (then finance) was halfway across the world. I really, really needed him. But the location he was coming from was so remote that it took him two days to make it home. He arrived just in time for the wake.
When he showed up I ran to him and I hugged him. I even kissed him. Right there in the funeral parlor. Nobody was offended. My uncle laughed even commented on how happy I looked and that it was nice to see a smile on my face. My family was glad that he was there to support me – they were happy that in the darkest of hours his appearance brought me a small moment of joy.
My mother would have been glad too. So don’t even try to fucking tell me that my being affectionate with him was disrespectful to my mother. DON’T.
Emma Swan’s boyfriend wasn’t across the world. HE WAS DEAD. DEAD.
If I was that happy to see the man I loved while at MY OWN MOTHER’S funeral, then I can only imagine what she felt seeing the man she loved come BACK TO LIFE in an empty cemetery after burying a friend.
There was LITERALLY nobody around too see them kiss. And upon seeing Hook RESURRECTED Emma had a moment where she forgot about the world around her – and who could blame her? I can tell you right now that if my mother had shown up – ALIVE – at the cemetery after we’d buried her I would have lost it – I wouldn’t have been even remotely conscious of where I was nor would my mind have been on ANYTHING but her in those first few moments.
You think Robin Hood would have been offended that Emma and Hook were happy to be reunited and expressed that in a moment ALONE? After he risked everything by marching into hell to reunite them? No, he would not.
Emma and Hook weren’t “making out” there was no tongue involved, he didn’t feel her up. When I see people using that term to describe that scene I wonder if they’ve ever even been intimate with someone before.
You want to be mad that the writers chose to bring back Hook in the same episode that Robin died? OK. You want to be mad that Emma got her True Love back but Regina lost her Soul Mate? Fine. But stop saying ridiculous things like “CS basically fucked on Robin’s grave” because that’s NOT EVEN REMOTELY what happened.
this fandom needs to get a grip.
THIS
Also, human beings are capable of experiencing more than one emotion at a time, after they expressed joy over been reunited and KILLIAN BEING BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE BY A GOD, they clearly showed sadness over Robin, I mean Emma asked Killian to wait outside until she could tell Regina, it’s not like they marched into the diner together and started kissing in front of Regina.
I feel like this George Bernard Shaw quote applies here: “Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh"
Also, thank you for sharing this story with us Gia ❤
(Fuck basketball, by the way, because we missed this bit when the episode aired and we had to go back later and watch.)
Think back to season 3 and season 4A. Hook has always been aware of Emma’s apprehension about their relationship. He’s had to constantly be patient with her, knowing how easily she backs away from commitment and affection.
Even in 5A, he faced these issues, with Emma being so afraid of commitment that she couldn’t light the Promethean Flame right away.
So here he is; Emma’s asked him to please just wait outside, like he’s a big secret, so she can do damage control. Even if he understands why–Robin’s just died–that’s got to feel like crap.
And then he bursts in and accidentally ruins whatever she was planning on doing or saying. He looks at her, desperately apologetic, like, “OMG BABE SORRY SORRY SORRY FUCK I FUCKED UP PLS DON’T BE MADDDD”
But the way she looks at him is just … she doesn’t even care. And after he sees that, he visibly relaxes.
Dedicated to the sweet @justcheckingstuffcs (and she’s new to tumblr, so go check her new blog out 🙂 )
When my brother got married, he asked me to give him and his wife a blessing with the theme of “love” under the “Chuppah” (it’s the Jewish altar). I truly straggled a lot to write something, not because I’m bad at writing, but I didn’t know how to express with words something that is so abstract, something that is basically the most divine thing in the world, on a piece of paper. A similar thing happened to me when I thought of which reasons to put in this gifsets. Because I know Emma loves Killian with all her heart, there’s no doubt about it, but being specific about what makes her love him was a little more difficult. Because how do you transfer this
divine feeling into rational reasons?
So I thought about all these things that would make a tough-lass like Emma really truly love someone, and I think the key here is not only what he did and does for her, but also what she did and continues to do for herself thanks to him.
Because if you ask me, this is what true love is really about, it’s not only about how the person makes you feel about him, it’s also about what he makes you feel about yourself. And Killian made Emma believe in Emma, to bring out the best of Emma, to be a open person, to feel that she matters. He made Emma truly love Emma.
In 5×20 A&E chose to prove us that CS is true love by making Emma choose Killian’s life over her own, but maybe that’s the point, maybe choosing someone else over yourself if you don’t truly love yourself is easier, but making this choice when you came to the point in which you feel in peace with who you are and you valuable yourself more is even more outstanding, maybe that was the point of placing her heart on that weight, her heart had a “heavy
weight” for her, but she chose Killian all the same.
On my brother’s wedding I decided to speak about how hard it was for me to write about love, and at the end of things the blessing that I want to give is simply to wish them “love”, and I think this is what truly matters, just to have love! Everything good that’s a head of you will just follow its path, in the same way that it happened to Emma.
Send me a 20 reasons why… request and I will turn it into a gifset
Okay so here’s what I like about this juxtaposition:
In the first scene, in the season 4 finale, Hook KNOWS what Emma is planning to say. He’s trying to be encouraging, but that grin, head tilt, and eyebrow just give it all away. (Also, there’s the “Tell me what?” bit where it’s just like you KNOW he knows what’s coming.)
And in the second scene, he’s just as encouraging, but look how serious he is. He doesn’t really know what she’s planning on saying; he’s curious and maybe even a little concerned about what she wants to tell him.
Judging from his complaint in the Underworld about Emma’s difficulty expressing her feelings, I genuinely believe that these two, before and during Camelot, never once talked about their feelings with each other off-screen. It explains why Emma was so damn shocked at his admission that she was his happy ending in 4B. Emma’s response to his complaint, that she just doesn’t know why she’s like that, isn’t really settling the issue, so I do think he really never expected anything to come of the conversation (especially since at the time, he already figured he was staying dead anyway).
So I really just love that the first time, when he THINKS she’s going to say it, she backs out, but then when he’s finally accepted that she just doesn’t express herself well during the quiet moments, she surprises him.
That was my take on the scene as well. And that’s why his joy was so great – she’s managed to surprise him in the best possible way 🙂
My head canon is that moving in together is a given for both of them :p and 6×01 will definitely have a scene where they leave the house together in the morning or get to the house in the evening 😀
I love that it is now CANON that Emma’s basically a slob and Killian’s a bit of a neat freak. I’m so here for…
“Bloody hell, Emma, would it kill you to make the bed once in a while?” “What’s the point if you’re only going to sleep in it again?” “That’s daft, Swan, with that logic you shouldn’t be bathing everyday!” “Maybe I would, if I could get away with it!” “What?” “What? Shut UP, Killian.”
Killian be like:
For real tho, it makes a lot sense. When a man joins to the navy, the 97% of them ends up by having super important routins, strong discipline, a sense of caring and appreciation for things. And let’s not talk about cleaning the house, they want everything done before lunch. Unlike Emma, she had an unstable childhood, living in different houses where they probably had different ways of thinking or doing stuff. It’s hard to add a good habit that you never had in your life. I like this contrast between them, it’d be funny to see a domestic scene dealing with these things. Considering how patient he is with her all I can imagine is him teaching her some silly stuff, like: “Don’t you think this is the best way to fold these clothes?” as he shows her the super militar style of folding clothes. (I swear is not that good but it’s practical).
Emma was raised in foster care, she probably didn’t have much, probably had a very small place to keep her stuff, and never was allowed to spread out or claim too much as her own for fear of losing it. Once she learned theft and pickpocketing, “stuff”, to her, was just what you needed to survive, it had little value to her since it had little value to everyone else around her too. Even the car is stolen, just a vehicle, method of transportation and, occasionally, sleeping quarters, and while it was one of her first possessions once freed from prison, soemthing she seems to have taken care of considering what must be the mileage on that thing, it’s still just a “thing” to her.
Now, consider that Killian grew up with literally nothing, no possessions, nothing of his own as an indentured servant on someone else’s merchant ship, trading in food and commodities. The ship he served on eventually went down, all possessions he might have sneakily acquired lost with it as well. From there, he went straight to the Navy where, yes, emphasis is placed on structure and discipline and order, but again he still wouldn’t have much besides for the uniform from the navy and whatever trinkets he might manage to purchase on a midshipman/Lieutenant salary, which isn’t much either.
Once he goes pirate, he suddenly has not only a ship, an entire place to keep the treasures he might decide to acquire from now on, but also memories of his brother and his past as well as a new future. Of course he’d have it neat and orderly, it’s his first time ever having a place of his own, and he gets to show off his treasures to anyone who ventures into his cabin, both for him and most likely in memory of Liam, who never got a chance to have anything of his own. Each and every thing he’s ever owned from then on probably had a specific place, a featured setting in his only home, something that meant a great deal to him, something he was proud of.
Two lost souls, both with very little of their own, but two very different approaches to the value of things, and the care in them. It just fits so perfectly with who they are, and I cry.
i have a question for CSers. like, a genuine question. i don’t want to start an argument.
are you happy with hook being brought back from the dead? are you happy with the laws of magic being broken so your ship can happen? personally i feel like i would be unhappy with that if it was my ship. idk
I think that the fact the laws of magic were broken for our ship to happen, that not even the laws of magic itself can keep them apart, is what makes us to happy about the whole thing. Nothing, not even death, can keep them apart. Honestly, why wouldn’t we be happy about that?
I honestly think this question perfectly illustrates how the different biases of anti-shippers and shippers color our perception of canon. We’ll set aside the fact that the show plays fast and loose with its own rules all the time. (They’re more like guidelines. :))
Anti-shippers see Emma and Killian’s situation as “Oh, gross. the only way this ship could even happen is throwing out all the rules of magic written thus far.”
Shippers see Emma and Kilian’s situation as “Wow, this love is so strong and so special that it not even the rules of magic can contain it!”
(Also, to the original point, I don’t see Killian’s resurrection as “going against the rules of magic.” A god used his godly powers to bring him back to life. Emma didn’t break some kind of magical rule to bring him back. Her end-run around his death actually failed. Even with all the power she had at her disposal, she couldn’t bring him back from the Underworld. So, yes, it’s absolutely a deus ex machina – Zeus ex machina? – but I don’t think it’s a violation of the show’s rules of magic.)
^^^^
I think the show has made it clear that magic actually came from the gods as a gift to a worthy mortal (see Merlin drinking from the “light” grail and him getting magic and immortality), and in this case the King of ALL the Gods saw fit to resurrect Killian because he thought he was also worthy and deserving of it. So it’s logical that the “rules of magic” don’t apply to the King of the Gods.
(2/3) and I DO understand the importance of Emma saying ILY without any
impending threat, and I honestly knew from reliable spoiler-knowing
people that it WASN’T a proposal way before A&E confirmed it wasn’t
so it’s legit not that I was expecting a proposal, but I thought maybe
they could have Emma just say one line about asking him to move his
things into their house or something. I just couldn’t help for it to
feel anticlimactic, and I mean I understand that’s my problem (cont. in
part 3)
(3/3) and especially that yes, they are going to stretch their story out
because A couple, but idk, I feel like they put them through the
ultimate ringer and while important growth, I think they could have
reached that point without so much angst in the middle. I’m sorry I’m
not really good at explaining myself, but for me it was 100% not that I
was expecting a specific milestone to “check a box”, but certainly
expecting a closure that was more adequate to the crazy level of angst.
Hi! You’re very welcome! I’m glad I could help. 🙂
I definitely understand the feeling that all of the angst was purely for melodrama’s sake and that a couple of happy scenes at the end doesn’t outweigh the sheer pain and torture inflicted on the characters (and by extension us :)) this season. I find angst tiring as well, and many, many times over the course of the season, I just wanted to get to the tying-up-in-a-nice-little-bow portion of the story.
I also understand the feeling that the cap on their story wasn’t on par with the meat of it. Maybe Emma and Killian could have reached this point with one less (gut-wrenching) goodbye but I do think each one served a purpose. The first one in Camelot was Emma refusing to let go but doing it in the wrong way. The second one in Storybrooke was refusing to let go but doing it the right way. And the third one in the Underworld was the seemingly final one. No magical cheats, no rescue mission.
Because as long as there was even a glimmer of hope that Killian could come back, Emma couldn’t really face losing him. Because there would always be another magical cheat, another rescue mission. Part of Emma’s issue was that she was so afraid of losing him that it was kind of stagnating her. She couldn’t move forward because of her fear and I do think the only way to get her over that was for her to face having to truly let him go.
Plus, in a fantasy, it’s hard to explain why dead has to stay dead so I do think they needed to show us that coming back from the dead isn’t easy or even necessarily feasible. Otherwise you end up with one of two problems: 1) well, they went down and retrieved Killian, so why can’t they just retrieve Next Dead Character?, and 2) ending up like Supernatural or Charmed where the main characters die and come back to life so many times that death kinda loses its stakes. (Charmed also had Problem 1 with Prue. Prue couldn’t come back because of real-life circumstances so it was always kinda jarring when Patty or Grams would show up but Prue never did.) So I think the mission to the Underworld needed to fail on multiple story levels. Maybe the point could be made why introduce it at all, then, but that’s something I can’t even begin to know.
I totally get that if someone found this underwhelming, I’m not going to change their minds. But I was seeing a lot of “after all that, all we get is another ‘I love you?!’“ and “the people who liked it are just positive anyway,” both of which rubbed me the wrong way. Because for me it wasn’t just another “I love you,” it was the culmination of the entire story, and positive opinions are just as valid as negative ones. 🙂
Thanks so much for your reply Danielle! I definitely agree with you and I think the issue is more like we all have different ways to approaching a story and how said story affects us, and many of us have a very knee-jerk reaction to things, I personally am very aware that I have a highly-sensitive personality type so things affect me more deeply, both in good ways and in bad ways, so my first impression was not a positive take out from this whole season of angst because I did want a cleaner or more appropriate closure, you know?
And on to your last point: I think we all tend to become really defensive of our opinions on here, which hey is totally fine and also totally human, BUT, I think we should all maybe take some time to look more calmly at someone’s reaction when they first voice it, especially when it’s opposite from our own, and know that it’s not an attack on US, first of all, and then be able to reply with a cooler head, you know? Instead of starting a blame game and passive-aggressive back and forth on why *I* am correct in my personal interpretation, we could calmly hear the other side and understand why their view is different from mine, and understand where they’re coming from.
Like just take your reply to me for example, you were able to make your point across perfectly without telling me I’m wrong or entitled for not having liked it or expecting more, and I’m able to understand your POV in why it was important growth for both Emma and Killian and their relationship, while I’m still allowed to feel I am not wrong for thinking it could have been more (and obviously not at all saying you don’t have a right to be 100% happy with it).
I just wish we could all be kinder to each other and more considerate of everyone’s feelings, because yes, BOTH positive and negative feelings are valid and have a right to be heard 🙂
Fighting a dragon… Giving up her magic… Becoming the dark one… Marching into hell with the intent to split her heart…
These things are easy for Emma Swan – she’s an action girl. There’s no thought, no struggle, no fear of losing love involved when taking action to protect the people she loves.
But saying “I love you” – that was the hardest thing for her wasn’t it?
Until now. Armor off. Walls down. Ready to take ALL the next steps. And to enjoy all the good moments of their future together.
cshappybeginning 