The problem with KR is that it doesn't fit in Hook's narrative. If we assume Wish Hook and Real Hook have the same backgrounds up to the curse, nothing that made WH a villain has been addressed. WH hasn't dealt with the death of his brother, or of Milah, or the betrayal of his kingdom. None of his past is addressed at all. It's a nice story that he didn't leave Wish Alice to die, but it's shallow. It lacks any connection to why he became a villain in the first place.
Same anon here. I realize there are people who didn’t like Real Hook because they shipped Emma with someone else who like KR. And there are people who just really like parent-child stories who may have liked CS but prefer KR. But from a standpoint of a fully developed redemption arc, Real Hook had a 5-year arc that covered everything–he became a hero again (overcoming Liam’s death & descent into piracy). He found romantic love again (overcoming Milah). (½)
(2/2) And he became a real stepfather to Henry, willing to sacrifice himself to save him (overcoming his failure with Bae). Every part of his descent into villainy is overcome. Whereas with Wish Hook, he arguably overcomes the Bae issue (although Henry is a more direct substitute for Bae, being his son). But Liam and Milah are never addressed. The two most defining moments of his history that led him to become a villain are completely ignored. There’s no resolution to those pieces.
Okay, I’m going to start with two things. Most of what you said in the second set of asks is fanon or rose colored glasses CS viewing. Especially because there is literally nothing about Hook becoming a father to Henry. In fact the last time it came up Henry was explicitly telling him he wasn’t and not to push it. Just because someone is married to his mother does not make you a father. No matter how much you want it to and no matter how much fan fic you’ve read. The show left it nebulous as family. Emma wouldn’t even call him a father in 7.02. To compare Hook “fathering” Henry to what has been shown in Knight Rook is really frankly insulting and makes me think you haven’t watched Season 7 with an open mind. Or at all.
But your ask really tells me that you haven’t actually read @queen-mabs-revenge‘s meta that you are presumably whining about. Because she addressed all of this a lot better than I will. But let me give it a shot.
Hook’s entire character originating in the original Peter Pan source material is of an alternative failed father figure. That is why he is traditionally played by the same actor as Mr. Darling. His villainy in the show is not rooted in his piracy. To say he overcomes becoming a pirate presumes the show ever showed that as the root of his villainy. Should it? Sure. But Once wasn’t at all interested in dealing with what a pirate actually is. So no. You don’t get to say he overcame that as part of a redemption arc when they’ve never portrayed that as a life that one needed redemption for.
And what’s more your ask betrays a startling lack of looking at Hook as a complete character from the backstory we’ve been given. Hook is abandoned/sold into slavery by his father. Knight Rook explicitly shows the turn around from that when he refuses to abandon his own child and gives up the life he thought was central to him for the sake of his child. So automatically Knight Rook fits his narrative both in the original Pan source material and in the show and your original ask is garbage from the get go.
But let’s pick it apart more. We’re introduced to Hook as a villain in 2.04 and his villainy is in breaking up a family and hurting Bae. His worst act is selling Bae to a literal demon for his revenge. You can’t just wave your hand vaguely and say that the Knight Rook story might address the Bae story. The Bae story is fundamental to the set up of the character and thematic to the show and was completely crippled by CS and is one of the reason so many of us found the idea that CS was a path to his redemption completely offensive. Especially when you tack on Henry as if Hook is magically his father. Henry had a father. And Hook sold him to a demon. Playing sword fighting with his son doesn’t deal with the Bae story at all. What’s more arguably the turning point for Hook’s character is when he turns the JR around at the end of season to and that’s not because he’s in love with Emma it’s because he had just witnessed the Charming family scene.
Hook did not need to find new love for a redemption because not having love is not what made him a villain. That’s not at all how the Milah/Rumple/Hook story was set up. One of the fundamental problems with CS in the context of Once Upon a Time is that it was always always the adoration in the themes of the show.
The show is about parent child relationships. Emma and Henry. Regina and Hen. Snow/David and Emma. Rumple and Bae. Rumple/Belle and Gideon. Knight Rook places Hook finally in a fully developed parental relationship that places him in a context of the show thematically that does not scream “sexy lamp inserted by a network executive with a boner”.
You can scream all you want that CS gave him a “fully formed redemption arc” but that doesn’t make it true. CS made him a hero by saying Emma loved him and he loved Emma and that was a redemption. There was nothing at all hard about that journey. There was no pay off. In fact every time there was a chance for him to face a consequence for his past action Emma shook her head and said no that’s not who you are anymore. THAT’S THE OPPOSITE OF HOW A REDEMPTION ARC SHOULD BE WRITTEN.
The fact that Knight Rook, fitting in perfectly with the themes of the rest of the show and with the set up of his character and with the original Peter Pan source material, fixes those problems is why people like it.
Now go away and play in the sandbox of people who want to listen to your echo chamber nonsense.
