Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-26159109-20160201202653/@comment-25926288-20160201204338

Well, Season 4 would have still happened......hahaha. I guess you could have Lily meet Bae in a flashback or something. Otherwise, I don't think there was any centric for Hook. Now, to clarify, I'm doing if Neal didn't die, rather than switching places because it actually helps Hook to live rather than die off randomly. Hook's jealousy could have been the driving force for the "Blackmail Rumple" plot and realize he went over his head and start an actual redemption.

Henry would spend time with dear old Dad and change the Author plot to not be about bringing back the dead to the fact that you can't write happy endings (Which was what the whole arc was about, but they didn't really stress that moral at the end). Rumple would remain the same for simplicity's sake.

You could keep up the triangle of the century and have Emma slowly choosing Hook over Neal in her mind, even though Hook is doing his whole "Can't share" arc. Keeping everything the same pretty much until season 5. Have Neal stay behind to keep SB intact and watch over his father. Emma would still send Merida after Belle because she still harbors feelings for Neal. Oh and add Neal to every Belle scene in 4x22 and in SB in season 5. Could even have Hook die and Emma "saving" him with little to no difference.

In the end, Neal would flesh out Emma and Hook's characters as well as Henry and Rumple's and keeps Belle from being the oddball of the group in constant abuse and solidarity.

........see nothing had to change and everything is better. Just have them pass the burden of Neal's onto Zelena and stil have her return, but I guess change her dialogue to "almost" killed Neal and it works just as good and really paints her as EQ-lite in her villany and gives her an even better chance at redemption. Okay, let me stop or I'll write pages on this.