Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25926288-20160321010032/@comment-24674051-20160323170323

Farerb wrote: Here are my thoughts about the episode: it wasn't bad, it was better than the previous episode, unfortunately I still remember season 2 even though the writers try to rewrite it. I remember exactly who Hook was and who Rumple was. While both of them are at fault for this fued, they treat it like it's solely Rumple's, but if you look back at 204, Hook was portrayed as a womanizing sex predator, a bully and a jerk, so forgive me for not buying his sudden change when he met Milah. They have not removed the womanizing from Killian by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, in Season 3 finale, he acknowledged that he was a womanizer back in the day, and he was definitely trying to pick up Milah in the tavern, so no sudden change at all. also, the way he handled the previous predator indicates some of his bully nature, even if he paints it as defending a woman's honor.

As for the bully and jerk aspect, let me spin a different view. By the point we pick up Killian and Milah in 204, she has come to him, and has probably explained the situration regarding Rumple, including how he's a coward, and how he has abused her. She might have even told about how sold their (yet unconceived) second child to save Baelfire, but we have not seen any signs of that yet. In any case. Milah was ready to ditch Rumple, and Killian, in good form, defended Milah from Rumple, and took her away to a pirate's life. And, in retrospect, he was good to Milah, and they had a good relationship until Rumple killed her. ANd we even know that Milah and Killian had discussed going back to get Bae to take him away from Rumple.

Bottom line, I don't see the retcon. I hate that they try to retcon Rumple and paint him as one who can do no right just to glorify Hook who they try to make him as the one who can do no wrong. Everything good that Rumple has done is forgotten, while everything despicable that Hook has done is either excused, whitewashed or swept under the rug. It's okay for characters to have flaws, but when those flaws are not acknowledged, it just makes the characters seem selfish and hypocrites.

Rumple's episodes such as 108, 119, 204, 214, 304 and 308 were always the strongest of the series and all of them fit well together. This one compared to them was weak and it doesn't fit, mainly because of all the retcons and characters iconsistencies



As for Rumple, there are not many things that he has done that were good. He did sacrifice himself, but if you think about it, it was to save 2 people, Belle and Baelfire. had they not been there in the street, he would have left the rest of them to Rot (in my opinion). So this was about as close as Rumple has actually been to a selfless act. Everything else was self serving, and not as good as people try to make it out.

And don't get me wrong, I love Rumple, but he is not a good character. At his best, he is neutral, and not caring. at his worst (which is what we saw in the UW), he is downright evil. Yes, he was being civil with Milah, but deep down he was still upset with her for how she treated him, and that came through when he cast her into the river of Lost Souls. There is, in my opinion, no contradiction in his behavior now and what we saw in season 1, and most of the stuff in between contradicts either (there might be a couple of things, but everyone has moments when they act out of character, even me).