Board Thread:Spoilers!/@comment-23906605-20131017110136/@comment-6195464-20131020225839

I don't consider Emma and Neal a ship. I consider them canon. They have a history, they have CHARACTER DEFINED chemistry and they have said on multiple occasions that they love one another. That, to me, is what further's a storyline. They're on the same level as Snow/Charming or Rumple/Belle. Shipping is certain characters being mashed together because they look hot together, or they have "chemistry" as actors (far different from having -actual- chemistry as characters). Misconstrued sexual tension or misinterpreted subtext do not a love story make...

As a writer, I can tell you that subtext is one of the most important aspects to any relationships in a story. When you make a character with a past like Emma's "fall in love" too many times or too often, it's shows a lack of continuity in characterization, and is a blatant display of poor writing. Emma is a broken, bitter young woman when it comes to love on all levels (even familial - as was indicated by her refusal to accept the Charming's "call us Mom and Dad" shpeal). She was hurt by her parents, hurt by Neal and then, when she finally allowed herself to feel anything akin to love again with Graham (though I would argue that wasn't "love", but desire - given the time frame it happened in), Graham was killed. Then Neal comes back and suddenly she's forced the face love again, in a very different sense. She's forced to see that you can love someone, despite being hurt by them and that sometimes even, you can't -help- but love them.

Emma and Hook don't work for this very specific reason. Emma is not the "Bella Swan" type character... She doesn't fall for the bad boy or the dangerous guy. She doesn't fall easily. And when she does fall, she falls hard and long. The idea that -SO SOON- after Neal's perceived death, she would be feeling -any- form of romantic longings for Hook goes against her character's subtext entirely. You may argue that she's "rebounding", but I promise you, psychologically, someone with Emma's personality isn't the type to "rebound" quickly, if at all - particularly if the man she loves was "killed". Someone with that personality compartmentalizes their emotions, so they don't have to feel the pain of their loss... which means a rebound would be nearly impossible, because then, subconsciously, she would have to admit that she was upset over Neal's death and therefore vulnerable enough to run to Hook.

Emma and Hook makes -zero- sense to me, and I have yet to find one CaptainSwan shipper who can give me a good reason for them being together, other than "Hook is hot". I eagerly look for debate on the issue, but I just don't see how it could ever work with how they've created Emma's character.