Board Thread:Character Discussion/@comment-28162607-20180101191335/@comment-1916997-20180111133717

Aine1989 wrote: CoolDudeAl wrote: Aine1989 wrote:

Neal Cassidy

Towards Emma, he was able to reconcile his hatred for magic and for brevity's sake, recognize that Emma would be best to move on from him and to find "Tallahassee". From season 2 to season 3, that is the best, uninterrupted or stagnated redemption arc. (Probably not planned, imo) For me, the issue with Neal's redemption (I am quite wary of calling it a redemption because he wasn't really a villain but he did some stuff that was pretty damn wrong) with regard to his relationship with Emma is that the writers do not seem to realise that they wrote sexual abuse. Obviously this kind of abuse is wrong but the writers (as they do with many issues with consent) do not seem to realise it, so in their minds Neal did not need to be redeemed from this. So it was never addressed that Neal's relationship with a then underage Emma was inappropriate and wrong.

I know that given the nature of the show it wouldn't-and probably shouldn't-have been addressed, but the point is that the writers apparently do not see sexually abusing a minor as something that needs to be redeemed or is wrong.

Does this make sense? My point is my frustration comes from the fact that Neal's relationship with Emma was not shown as wrong because it appears that, at best, the writers did not think the implications of what they wrote, and so Neal did not redeem himself from abusing a teenager, Emma was 17 and we don't know what Neal's age is (biologically, he was at least 100 timeline wise), and in some states age of consent is 17, so I think you are overthinking this. Ugh, this again.

We knwo Neal's age. It was 23. It said on the wanted poster. And even then, he is still years older than Emma because he is 100, as you said,

We know the state they were in. It is Oregon. Where the age of consent is 18.

Emma was either 16 or 17 because they gave us two birthdays for Henry (I believe he was born in March 2001 because it fits the best with the rest of the timeline, which would make her 16).

I am personally of the opinion that any adult having a sexual relationship with a minor is wrong regardless of what the legal age of consent is, but in this case Emma was underage.

This isn't just an issue with Neal, it's an issue across the board, that writers are not good with these kinds of things. Adult and minor don't have any meaning outside of the legal system, as an arbatrary number was chosen for the purpose of legality. Many years ago, it was simply when one had finished puberty, which can be like 14 for some girls and 16 for some guys, but also as late as mid-20s for other girls and guys. Also, if Neal being with Emma is wrong because of all the years he spent in Neverland, than Hook being with her is even more wrong, as he is even older than Neal. And you are choosing to make Emma 16, we know she was 18 when Henry was born and 18 minus 9 months would be 17.