Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-33624935-20171112011107/@comment-28162607-20171125100936

Lola987 wrote: Aine1989 wrote: Emma was already eyeing up Hook when Neal was alive and had no intention of getting back with Neal (she had made that crystal clear in the Echo Caves and confirmed it in Storybrooke). So no, Neal's presence would not hinder Emma getting with Hook. I don't remember what episode (somewhere in 3A), but I do remeber that Hook said he'd back off of Emma, to Neal, so CS prbably wouldn't be together. Plus she did admit to Neal that she loved him in the Echo Caves and he said he'd continue fighting for her.

I prefer Swanfire to CS myself, but I also agree that CS was planned early on, The Tallahasse has flashbacks of Emma;s love story with Neal, while the present story had her and Hook. Plus she hit him over the head with a rock, like Snow did to Charming. I also feel like they killed Neal off, just to get rid of the love triangle, which vothered me since I loved Neal's character (they always kill off the best ones) Yes Emma admitted she loved Neal. She then said "I was you were dead because it would be easier for me to put you behind me than face all the pain we went through all over again".

For reference the episode is 3x10, The New Neverland. And Hook may well have backed off but that doesn't mean forever. Emma was clearly not interested in Neal, so who's to say he wouldn't have started making moves on Emma?

Neal was killed off to further Rumple's arc and because he had no purpose on the show anymore. Also MRJ wanted to leave.