Board Thread:Character Discussion/@comment-25926288-20151211170125/@comment-26159109-20160122113231

Found this post on Tumblr from before season 5 and thought it was relevant to the topic:

http://nothingeverlost.tumblr.com/post/122974938853/can-i-ask-why-you-think-emma-has-changed-in

I'll quote what they say:

"Let’s look at the Emma we first met.  We first see her at a restaurant on a job and her first real comment, as herself not the fake date, is “And the worst part of all is your wife. Your wife loves you so much that she bailed you out, and how do you repay that loyalty? You’re on a date.“  This guy not only left his family but he bankrupted them.  And Emma doesn’t take that well.  This sets up who Emma is.  She fights for the little people, the underdog.  This is the woman that’s going to save Storybrooke, not with one single gesture but by fighting for all the people.

This is who Emma is. We see it time and time again. Emma stands up to Gold for Ashley. She stands up against Regina for Henry. She fights for Ava and Nicholas. She gives Graham a chance. She gives people chances and listens to them and when it’s a fight against a bully or stronger vs weaker she’s always there protecting who needs protecting.

Take the scenarios from season 4 or late season 3 and put them in season 1. Look at Belle calling Hook out on trying to kill her. Season 1 Emma would have been in Belle’s corner and said that it’s totally understandable that Belle’s not comfortable with Hook. Emma, however, shrugs it off when Hook brushes off killing her as extenuating circumstances and his ‘sorry?’ gets a bemused smile. It’s almost a ‘isn’t that cute’ affectionate moment which mocks what Belle suffered at Hook’s hands.

Look at Will. Second season Emma finds a drunk man with a illustration from a book and she’d ask his story. She might roll her eyes a bit, but Henry would probably point out it’s the Red Queen and Emma would ask about Wonderland with her ‘am I really talking about this’ tone and we’d have some answers and Will wouldn’t be a punching bag for Hook. But no, now Emma locks him up and makes some blithe comment about him interrupting her date. her attitude towards the very people that need her help has changed and not only is it OOC for Emma but it’s shitting behavior for a sheriff. Will getting drunk gets him in jail but Hook shooting Belle didn’t get him a minute inside of a cell. Hook keeping Archie tied up on his boat didn’t even get addressed.

And then there’s her relationship with Henry, which is almost non existent. Of course it’s natural to confide in your boyfriend, but all emotional scenes are now with Hook because it’s the only way to humanize Hook (making him the supportive BF) and to give him a purpose. Otherwise he’s just standing around looking pretty, carrying things around and sort of being in the background. But this leaves no time for Emma’s relationship with her mother or her son. Not a scene with baby Neal musing about what it would have been to raise her son. And now Henry’s living with Regina and Emma doesn’t make a single comment. It’s not addressed at all; we skip from Regina ignoring her son to Henry pounding on the door to Regina taking Henry to school. Emma, who’s main relationship for three years has been her son, and who has gone on this wonderful journey of ‘I can’t be a mom’ to being Henry’s mom, now has virtually nothing to do with him. Last season she’s seriously considering not getting his memories back because of how many negative moments there were in his childhood, the abuse, and now she’s all ‘la di da, Regina can have him, gives me more time for Hook.’

All of the things that Emma used to care about are being eroded to make Hook more important. Emma is becoming less compassionate and she’s whitewashing Hook’s actions. And while at least a little is about whitewashing Regina, most of it is about making CS work."