it makes me crazy that like. In 2x06 Tallahassee when they were paralleling Hook and Neal with Emma's distrust, did that have planned that Killian was Neal/Baelfire's guardian and Bae was Killian's (unknowing) kinda stepson for a while? How much did they know about how Killian would've influenced the man Neal became yk? bc if I think about their narrative effects on each other especially in reference to Emma for 2 seconds I go down a spiral
Like I read on the wiki that Colin had been signed on for 5 episodes that could potentially turn into the full season, and Tallahassee is in those 5 but 2x22 And Straight On Til Morning definitely doesn't. was it in the ideas but hadn't been nailed down or did they come up with it later or was it the whole plan bc y'allllllll.
In the Enchanted Forest climbing the beanstalk to steal the golden compass, Emma's distrust of Hook is directly informed by her history with Neal/Baelfire as partners in crime that ended with Neal's betrayal.
Baelfire was on the Jolly Roger for an unspecified amount of time, under Hook's protection, and Killian took a liking to him enough to risk the wrath of Pan by hiding him. He taught him how to sail. He saw Milah and himself in Bae, he wanted to give Bae a home, a family.
Neal is shown on multiple occasions as being incredibly tactful, an effective and creative problem solver with street smarts for days. He doesn't like magic but he can play the game of it without having any. He's a survivor and self-preserver as much as Killian is, and is honestly better at it than Killian for the most part.
Bae lived in Neverland for as long as Killian did or longer, and he did it alone for most of that time, resisting being made a lost boy (at least not indefinitely, theres a lot that we don't know about Neverland character history). You could say he got a lot of his smarts from Rumple if u'd like, but Rumple protected and shielded him from the world, he didn't learn much that helped him survive from his father besides arguing and making deals.
So Bae learned his defining strengths on the fly trying to survive in Neverland and in the real world, and I think Killian would've taught him a lot too, a lot of the foundational stuff. Look at the way Killian enjoys looking after Henry in s3b onward, teaching him sailing, teaching him sword-fighting, busting out weighted die and teaching Henry that it's only cheating if you get caught. Killian sees Bae in Henry and says as much, and he's literally teaching Henry the same thing that he taught Bae with the sailing, and probably everything else. Bae learned thieving in London in the past before he met the Darlings, but u can't tell me he didn't learn plenty of pirate and thieving skills and ideas from Killian.
Emma's distrust of Hook is based in Neal's betrayal. But Neal's strengths and his approach to survival that drove him and Emma into the stolen watch situation in the first place were directly influenced by Killian. When August goes to Neal and tells him who Emma is, what her destiny is, Neal doesn't want to abandon her with nothing to show for it, but he does anyone thanks to August keeping the money. He doesn't know about Emma's pregnancy, he doesn't know that August is not going to be there for her like he asked him to. It's a selfish decision for him to screw her over without saying a word to her, but he's trying to believe August will have her back if he can't. And he wants out of this life of thievery, he'd talked about settling down with her. He wants a simple life, one that isn't on the run from the law or from magic, and he, now knowing Emma's identity and destiny, wants to get away bc now he knows he couldn't have that simple life with her, that her fate cannot be changed.
And August scratches at his insecurity of what life he's living now, that he's bad for Emma. So far he's been an improvement, but now she has family and people that are waiting on her and need her. In his weakness, in his fear, he thinks that he and that Emma aren't going to be able to change from these paths. A doubt that he learned from his father's betrayal and refusal to change for him, and one that he projected onto Killian after learning of his history with Milah and vengeance quest against Rumple.
Baelfire rejects Killian's plea that he stay, that Killian says he can change for Bae, but Baelfire doesn't believe it. He believes Killian only cares for himself and those kinds of people can't change, bc of his father. And Neal misses that he did the same when he betrayed Emma, that it was selfish of him to want to step away without facing her, without checking for himself, without trying harder, all because of her ties to the magical realm he wants nothing to do with.
With Bae's rejection, Killian does a very similar thing. I think he justifies handing Bae over to Pan bc Pan would find Bae anyway, its inevitable and Bae will never forgive him, so Killian might as well get something out of it. Bae doesn't trust him or want to stay with him anyway, might as well burn the bridge that Bae has torn down. With Pan pleased, he can kill Rumplestiltskin better than if Pan isn't happy, and maybe that'll be enough to do well by Bae and Milah, to kill the bastard who crushed Milah's heart for abandoning their son and then promptly abandoned his son anyway.
Neal justifies his betrayal by the fact that it'll be better for Emma in the long run, better for whatever curse bullshit she's destined to fix, and maybe he can see her again once all the magic bullshit he doesn't want anything to do with is done.
So when Emma sees Neal in Killian, she's seeing what Killian helped put there with what he did right and how he failed Bae, the survival instinct and destructive burning of bridges when things turn sideways. In 2x05 Hook flips to help Emma, Snow, and company to get the compass instead of Cora. So at the top of the beanstalk, she knows he'll betray if he sees a better option that suits him, and that's exactly what she thinks Neal did.
Anyway. I just wish the show didn't get weird love-triangle-y with Hook and Neal in s3, these two have way more baggage with each other than just them both crushing on Emma, like. Killian had an immense impact of who Neal became, and I neeeeeeeeded more about that dear god
