Happily Ever After: Relationships Are Hard

[Shanna Marie]

2 hours ago, Curio said:

I was just randomly thinking about how much screen time Regina (oh, sorry, the Evil Queen) and Rumple got in 6A with their random love affair...and then that story line just dropped out of thin air. Why spend so much time on those two when it literally had no impact on Regina, Rumple, or Belle whatsoever?

Add that to the list of things that ended up going nowhere, didn't matter, and are now completely forgotten. I guess the only reason for all that was to give Zelena a reason to flip on Rumple. It certainly didn't come up when the Evil Queen was getting her "happy ending" with fake Robin.

Another thing entirely forgotten: Emma giving up on Hook. Wouldn't she have felt at least a little bit bad about having misjudged him? While she was saying he didn't love her, it turned out that something bad had actually happened to him. I've been in a similar situation, when I was getting mad at my boyfriend when I hadn't heard from him in more than a week and another weekend was approaching without a word (this was in the Dark Ages when most people only had e-mail at work and cell phones were still a status symbol, so there was less expectation of constant contact). I griped about him to my friends and practiced my chilly response for when I did hear from him again. It turned out, he'd had semi-emergency oral surgery. He hadn't thought it would be a big deal, just a couple of days to recover, so he hadn't said anything, and he'd had it done with a doctor in his hometown so he could stay with his parents, but it ended up being a lot more complicated, and he'd spent more than a week on heavy painkillers, swollen and bruised (and the next time I saw him, he was still a bit puffy and eating soft foods, so it wasn't a lie). I felt like a total jerk for thinking the worst of him when he was actually really unwell. Wouldn't Emma have had at least a moment of cringing? The writers aren't doing her any favors when she seems to have forgotten giving up on him while he's risking almost everything he owns in order to get back to her. Not to mention, there was no mention of it with Snow. The last Snow heard, Emma was talking about moving on, and now she's all "I have to get Hook back!" So I guess they've already forgotten that, as well as the reason he's separated. Because nothing really matters.

[KAOS Agent]

Emma beat the shit out of Gideon for banishing Hook. That's Emma's reaction and I deeply appreciated it. Mostly, I just enjoyed seeing someone punch Gideon. I don't need a scene of Emma talking to Snow about how she was wrong or whatever because that's a waste of time that should be spent with Emma working to find a way to get him back. Who cares what Snow thinks anyway? If she wants to apologize to Hook later that's fine. And honestly, people would be complaining about how Emma was all about herself talking about how she felt about it rather than taking action when Hook might be in danger. She went to get back up and then was immediately in information gathering and action mode to get him back. 

[Camera One]

4 hours ago, Curio said:

Rumple also threatened to kill Zelena. Is that going to go anywhere?

Attention please.  This is the captain speaking.  This is the "Rumple is trying to be the man Belle wants him to be" half of the flight.  Please turn off all brain activity until further notice.  Thank you for flying with Shadow Air.

Edited April 12, 2017 by Camera One

[RulerofallIsurvey]

28 minutes ago, KAOS Agent said:

And honestly, people would be complaining about how Emma was all about herself talking about how she felt about it rather than taking action when Hook might be in danger. She went to get back up and then was immediately in information gathering and action mode to get him back. 

You know, they could have combined the two.  It would have been a 30 second exchange while Snow and Emma are walking to Gold's shop:

Snow: I thought you said Hook just took off?

Emma: I was wrong.  I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions.  Turns out Gideon banished him.  That's why I need to talk to Gold. (They walk in the door.)  

See how easy that was?

[Shanna Marie]

30 minutes ago, KAOS Agent said:

I don't need a scene of Emma talking to Snow about how she was wrong or whatever because that's a waste of time that should be spent with Emma working to find a way to get him back. Who cares what Snow thinks anyway?

I don't need a whole scene, but when you have a complete attitude about-face between episodes, you need to at least acknowledge the change. Someone who didn't see the previous episode would never know based on this one that Emma had ever had the slightest doubt in Hook, and yet this episode picks up immediately afterward. Just one line might have done it -- Emma when talking to Gidiot saying something like, "I can't believe I fell for it. I should have known he wouldn't abandon me." Or Regina when Emma was talking about having to help Gideon to get Hook back: "Wait, so we like Hook again now?" Or Snow smiling her smug little smile and saying, "I knew he'd never abandon you" and Emma saying, "Why didn't you say so last night?" Snow: "Well, there were vikings, and drinks and I wasn't thinking very clearly."

[RulerofallIsurvey]

4 minutes ago, Shanna Marie said:

Snow: "Well, there were vikings, and drinks and I wasn't thinking very clearly."

Gotta admit: those Vikings were pretty distracting.  ;)

[KingOfHearts]

While my hatred for Henry stirs unyielding, I was curious. Whatever happened to the relationship with Emma that S1 spent so much time cultivating? Weren't they the main drive of the events in Storybrooke? Starting in S2, the writers dropped it like a hot potato. It's not as though Emma and Henry never interact any more, but it's usually either about her boyfriends or some cheap angst. (Such as the dreamcatcher debacle in 5A.) A few episodes ago, we heard that they went on a canoeing trip together. I guess we're just so supposed to believe that happened without actually seeing it. At the current rate, we see Regina parenting more than Emma, and not by much. That is especially sad considering Henry thought she didn't love him. The last time we saw Emma taking any real responsibility with Henry was in 3B, when she rightfully chastised him.

Edited April 19, 2017 by KingOfHearts

[Shanna Marie]

5 hours ago, KingOfHearts said:

Whatever happened to the relationship with Emma that S1 spent so much time cultivating?

REC

Though he doesn't have much of a relationship with Regina, either. At least he looks like a teenager comfortable at home at Emma's house, where he lies on the sofa and plays games on his phone (or whatever he was doing). I don't think we've ever seen him really looking at home at Regina's house. I can't even imagine him lying on the sofa like that at her place. Mostly, I think Henry stopped having any kind of parent/child relationship with either mother when they started writing him as an aging Gen Xer.

[Camera One]

He definitely has more of one with Regina.  They had a whole subplot together in "Mother's Little Helper" and he gave her some encouraging words when she was frustrated.   In "A Wondrous Place", did he say more than three words to Emma?  Did he have any reaction to Hook proposing to Emma, or Hook leaving town, or Hook coming back?  No.  We would have to wait 'til the next "You dirty pirate" episode in Season Never.

Edited April 20, 2017 by Camera One

[Inquirer]

6 hours ago, KingOfHearts said:

Whatever happened to the relationship with Emma that S1 spent so much time cultivating? Weren't they the main drive of the events in Storybrooke? Starting in S2, the writers dropped it like a hot potato.

Not true, I think it was still present for a good part of both S2 and S3.  It was S4 with its Operation Mongoose where he shifted toward Regina.

[superloislane]

6 hours ago, Camera One said:

Did he have any reaction to Hook proposing to Emma

He seemed interested when he asked how Hook had proposed (and brought up way better examples of proposals). There was a nice relationship moment for them in Street Rats and his entire argument with Hook in the episode after that was about caring about Emma. I actually thought Henry spent more time with Emma this season than with Regina. We see him at Emma's house eating breakfast with her and the aforementioned lying on the couch on his phone. He's also there when Snow and Charming are there making breakfast and he then goes to school walking past Regina without speaking which I found a bit weird. I got the impression that he was actually living with Emma full time since we never see him at Regina's house. And we do have confirmed outings for them with the canoeing - it happened offscreen but it still happened.

[Shanna Marie]

Henry really didn't have much of a relationship with either Emma or Regina for much of seasons 2 and 3. In 2A, Emma was in the Enchanted Forest and he was living with David, interacting with Regina only to lecture her about not being evil. In 2B, he sided with Neal against Emma, and his main interaction with Regina was to be horrified by her plan to kill everyone else so they could be together, after which his memory was wiped. He still wasn't on close terms with her, even if he didn't want her to die, when he was taken to Neverland. He barely interacted with either of them in 3A, just the one moment on the Jolly Roger with Regina before Pan switched places with him, and then Emma and Henry-in-Pan's-body interacted, while Regina didn't notice that her "Henry" was really Pan. In 3B, Henry mostly had a relationship with Emma because he didn't remember Regina. It was just the insta-relationship that happened when he got his memories back that suddenly made him act like he and Regina had always had this close, caring bond with them casually chatting about his schoolwork and her relationship with Robin, and that carried into season 4. The writers clearly didn't think back to their last interactions when writing season 4. When Henry was demanding that Regina let him in the house because he missed his room, they don't seem to have remembered that the last time Henry was in that room, it was when Regina was trying to hold him prisoner and used the magic vines to trap him.

[jhlipton]

I guess Violet kicked him to the curb, too, once she found (a) how vapid he is and (b) that he has double Mommy issues!  I don't think we've seen her this season.

[Camera One]

2 minutes ago, jhlipton said:

I guess Violet kicked him to the curb, too, once she found (a) how vapid he is and (b) that he has double Mommy issues!  I don't think we've seen her this season.

She hasn't been seen in 6B... her last episode was in the latter half of 6A - "I'll Be Your Mirror".

[KingOfHearts]

Something occurred to me while eating lunch today. There's rarely ever been a normal break-up on this show. Couples are broken either because it was an arranged marriage type of thing or half of the couple died. There are a couple of pairings that bend this a bit. Emma and Neal did break up, but that was due to August's meddling. Later Emma told Neal she loved him and they were separated by death. The writers kept trying to validate their ongoing connection. The two didn't make a mutual decision to part ways. With Zelena and Hades, they ended up getting back together, and then she killed him.

The only notable exception I can think of is Belle and Will.

Edited May 13, 2017 by KingOfHearts

[Curio]

4 minutes ago, KingOfHearts said:

The only notable exception I can think of is Belle and Will.

Which happened entirely off screen. For all we know, Belle could have ghosted Will, or if you didn't watch Wonderland, you could assume Will is dead.

[superloislane]

I'd say Belle and Rumple broke up in the 4a finale. She did banish him and told him never to come back and she started dating someone else

[KingOfHearts]

But they're back together again, and we learned later she never really let go of him. She was just "dating" Will to forget about Rumple. I just want to see a main character date someone officially for a while, then have an onscreen break-up. Right now the show is saying if you're going steady with someone, it's automatically True Love and only death can separate you. That's a very big jump.

I'll reword it - there's rarely ever a permanent break-up involving a main character going steady with someone then one of them deciding to end it.

Edited May 13, 2017 by KingOfHearts

[Shanna Marie]

32 minutes ago, Curio said:

For all we know, Belle could have ghosted Will, or if you didn't watch Wonderland, you could assume Will is dead.

It kind of came across like she did ghost him. My headcanon is that Wonderland happened after all this, and when he disappeared from Storybrooke, that was when the White Rabbit came to get him to go rescue Alice, so he was dating Belle while Ana was married to the king, and he was the one who ghosted Belle because he left without a word when he ran off with the rabbit. The one thing that doesn't fit is that he wouldn't have had his heart during that time, so he shouldn't have been affected by Shattered Sight, but it's hard to tell how much of what we saw of him during that spell was because he was affected by it or because of his animosity toward Hook. It wasn't that different from their previous run-ins. Maybe he was just drunk and belligerent, not under the spell.

40 minutes ago, KingOfHearts said:

There's rarely ever been a normal break-up on this show.

There was the short break-up between Emma and Hook, when she called off the engagement and believed he'd never loved her because he went missing. At that time, she considered the relationship to not only be over, but to have never been real.

[Dianthus]

Which was/is completely nuts. A pirate captain doesn't trade away his ship/home/livelihood for you unless he's serious about you, especially if said ship is also his last physical link to his beloved elder brother.

[Curio]

8 hours ago, Shanna Marie said:

There was the short break-up between Emma and Hook, when she called off the engagement and believed he'd never loved her because he went missing. At that time, she considered the relationship to not only be over, but to have never been real.

 

I don't even know if that was a break-up. Maybe a break...and it lasted all of 12 hours.

[Shanna Marie]

I did kind of feel like Emma and Neal's final conversation was a breakup. He was giving her the "have a nice life" speech and talking about her finding happiness with someone else. Even before he knew he was dying, they were talking about how over things were between them.

One of the reasons I was irked about Neal's death was that this was their chance to show that your first love isn't necessarily the love of your life. You might have had some good times together then, but you might move on and grow in different directions. Ending up with someone else doesn't mean the first love was all wrong, just that he wasn't the one. It's a healthy message. This whole "your first love is the love of your life, unless he dies" thing is kind of warped, considering that there are two characters in the show who went absolutely nuts and destroyed their own lives and the lives of a lot of other people over losing their first loves. But Neal dying kept them from being able to show the concept of choosing to move on.

[Curio]

12 minutes ago, Shanna Marie said:

One of the reasons I was irked about Neal's death was that this was their chance to show that your first love isn't necessarily the love of your life. You might have had some good times together then, but you might move on and grow in different directions. Ending up with someone else doesn't mean the first love was all wrong, just that he wasn't the one. It's a healthy message. This whole "your first love is the love of your life, unless he dies" thing is kind of warped, considering that there are two characters in the show who went absolutely nuts and destroyed their own lives and the lives of a lot of other people over losing their first loves. But Neal dying kept them from being able to show the concept of choosing to move on.

 

Agreed. I was actually interested to see how the Emma and Neal dynamic would work when it came to parenting Henry kind of like a divorced couple. Emma ended up giving Regina a ton of wiggle room with parenting, but I don't know if Neal would have done the same, so Neal/Regina scenes would have been entertaining. But I guess the writers feared that if they kept Neal around and paired Emma up with Hook, there would always be fans crying foul over Emma and Hook's "True Love Status" or whatever.

[Rumsy4]

13 minutes ago, Curio said:

But I guess the writers feared that if they kept Neal around and paired Emma up with Hook, there would always be fans crying foul over Emma and Hook's "True Love Status" or whatever.

Except even when dead, Emma told Neal she would have gonw to the UW to bring him back too. It kinda fits with Emma's personality. She thinks Lily and August and Regina are her BFFs. 

Edited May 14, 2017 by Rumsy4

[KingOfHearts]

Quote

This whole "your first love is the love of your life, unless he dies" thing is kind of warped, considering that there are two characters in the show who went absolutely nuts and destroyed their own lives and the lives of a lot of other people over losing their first loves.

It doesn't help that Henry being dissed by his first crush was framed as the worst thing ever. Like, as bad as Cora killing Regina's fiance in front of her eyes. I loved how Emma defended herself by saying she made it happen for his own good, yet Regina came back with "that's my what mother said!" Cora killed Daniel for social status. Emma borrowed Violet's heart so she wouldn't turn into a full Dark One and kill everyone. Big difference.

Edited May 14, 2017 by KingOfHearts

[Camera One]

7 minutes ago, KingOfHearts said:

It doesn't help that Henry being dissed by his first crush was framed as the worst thing ever. Like, as bad as Cora killing Regina's fiance in front of her eyes. I loved how Emma defended herself by saying she made it happen for his own good, yet Regina came back with "that's my what mother said!" Cora killed Daniel for social status. Emma borrowed Violet's heart so she wouldn't turn into a full Dark One and kill everyone. Big difference.

Please repeat after me.  Emma is as bad as Cora and Rumple.  Snow is as bad as Cora and Regina.  Now, stay in the clocktower and let's not speak of this again.

Edited May 14, 2017 by Camera One

[KingOfHearts]

3 minutes ago, Camera One said:

Please repeat after me.  Emma is as bad as Cora and Rumple.  Snow is as bad as Cora and Regina.  

Deep inside, maybe we're all heart-ripping dictators bent on revenge against a Disney princess. This show is so relatable.

Edited May 14, 2017 by KingOfHearts

[Camera One]

We're also all one step away from going to prison to protect our children and loved ones.  I wouldn't be surprised if this show was very popular in the federal penitentiaries.

Edited May 14, 2017 by Camera One

[Shanna Marie]

On 5/31/2017 at 3:12 AM, RedKeep said:

That and it certainly would have helped to keep Hook relevant and interesting beyond his role as a sort of romance/shipping accessory if Milah/Shelley had been granted a bigger role and some of his centrics had at least been devoted to showing more of a consistent narrative regarding their pirate-y life together rather than propping up random one-off guest stars by repeating the same story of how Hook has wronged them in the past over and over.

I wonder if they held back on flashbacks of the Milah era lest it look too much like "competition" for Captain Swan. Even though there's a century or more in between, it might make him look fickle if we see him madly in love with two different women in the same episode.

But done right (yeah, I know), it could have been a way to show what's different about this relationship and how he's different now. I have no doubt that Killian and Milah truly loved each other and were happy together, but it was a relationship built on selfishness, while Killian and Emma were more focused on sacrifice. Given what he went through to avenge Milah's death, he likely would have been willing to sacrifice for her, and we saw that she gave up her cover under a faked death to save his life and later was willing to work with his new girlfriend and her evil ex to save him, so she seemed willing to sacrifice for him, but would the two of them together have been willing to do anything for the greater good, the way he was with Emma later? Or were they all about traveling the world and having fun?

I guess the other problem was that the present-day relationship was so mired in misery that it would have looked bad to contrast it with flashbacks of swashbuckling adventure, but that's on the writers. Maybe it would have helped if they'd been forced to write the present-day relationship against the contrast of the past one, so they'd have had to make it look better.

[InsertWordHere]

3 hours ago, Shanna Marie said:

I wonder if they held back on flashbacks of the Milah era lest it look too much like "competition" for Captain Swan.

I think this is true. They also seemed to consider Milah more of a Rumple side-player than a key figure in either Killian's or Bae's stories, hence why all of her scenes after The Crocodile were with him except for one scene with Killian in the tavern. She spent most of her time in the Underworld with Rumple and had no scenes with Hook. When she did get to interact with someone who wasn't Rumple, it was initially played for laughs so the writers could comment on the wacky family tree. It's also why she didn't get to meet Henry while Henry Senior got a touching scene with him. 

[Camera One]

I was watching Lana Parilla in a panel video, and she mentioned that she and Bobby (previously) had conversations about maybe Rumple was Regina's real father.  This was in response to a question about the Evil Queen and Rumple hooking up.  

[KingOfHearts]

6 minutes ago, Camera One said:

I was watching Lana Parilla in a panel video, and she mentioned that she and Bobby (previously) had conversations about maybe Rumple was Regina's real father.  This was in response to a question about the Evil Queen and Rumple hooking up.  

Up until 2x16, that had been a possibility. Even in that particular episode, the writers made you think their child would be Regina. Then - surprise - Cora took her own heart out.

Edited June 6, 2017 by KingOfHearts

[Camera One]

It could still be a possibility.  They had one last night of passion and then drank some memory tea.

[KingOfHearts]

57 minutes ago, Camera One said:

It could still be a possibility.  They had one last night of passion and then drank some memory tea.

Golden Queen felt incestuous. This would only confirm it.

[Camera One]

This is a very special twist retelling of the Oedipus myth.  

[Rumsy4]

*shudder*

[KingOfHearts]

Was there really a point to the Rumple/Hook feud beyond giving Hook a character motivation? It never really went anywhere. They duked it out a couple times, but nothing actually came out of it. It serviced the plot okay in S2, but later their dynamic loses a lot of its purpose. It seems the writers were struggling to give it relevance. In 4A, there was the contrived "I need the heart of someone I knew before I became the Dark One" and in 5A, "I'm going to use a duel as a ruse to get Rumple's blood". The writers stopped caring altogether in 5B when Milah reentered the picture.

Part of me was waiting for Hook to ultimately kill Rumple. Their feud felt like foreshadowing.

Edited June 7, 2017 by KingOfHearts

[Shanna Marie]

52 minutes ago, KingOfHearts said:

Part of me was waiting for Hook to ultimately kill Rumple. Their feud felt like foreshadowing.

Well, there is season seven ...

But this is one of those things that suffered from Rumple's plot armor and his inability to change. After 3A, with their truce to save Henry and Rumple's sacrifice, there was potential for them to learn to co-exist. Hook had learned that revenge didn't help matters, and he was trying to move on and be civil. They had their caring for Neal and Henry in common. During season three (and in the hiatus between 3 and 4), I imagined them having a kind of detente, where they would never be friends, but where they found they could work together when necessary, and even if they hated each other, they did care about some of the same people. There are other relationships on this show that have done more harm to each other and they were able to work things out and be friends (Snow and Regina, for one), so Rumple and Hook having a weird, uneasy link could have worked. After Neal's death, they were both mourning, and Hook had a lot of info on Bae's life in Neverland that he could have shared with Rumple.

But Rumple wasn't allowed to change as much as Hook was, wasn't allowed to learn any lessons, and season 4 happened. And then season 5. And by then it got ridiculous that Rumple was never really allowed to be punished or face consequences while he kept causing harm to Hook over and over and over again, and Hook wasn't allowed to get mad about it or do anything about it because he'd changed. Both of them had to stay on the show, so Hook could never kill Rumple and Rumple could never kill Hook, but Rumple couldn't change because they like him as a villain, while the point of Hook was that he was changing, and that meant Hook had to put up with Rumple being an epic-scale bully to him.

[RulerofallIsurvey]

18 hours ago, Shanna Marie said:

Hook could never kill Rumple and Rumple could never kill Hook, but Rumple couldn't change because they like him as a villain, while the point of Hook was that he was changing, and that meant Hook had to put up with Rumple being an epic-scale bully to him.

What a terrible message, imo - especially for any young girls who may have been watching the show.  (It is about Fairy Tales after all.)  Since when does being a hero, or even just not-a-villain mean that you have to tolerate a bully?

(I know, I know - look at the Snow/Regina or Emma/Regina relationship....)

[KAOS Agent]

If young girls are looking at the horrible messaging on this show, they are more likely to be messed up by the Rumbelle relationship and how it tells us that you can maybe, sort of, kind of "fix" your abuser with the power of your love, but you have to continue to stick with him no matter how abusive it gets. I think it's really telling that when Emilie was asked whether she would continue to forgive a partner that treated her as poorly as Rumpel has Belle, she responded, "Hell no. And neither should any of you."

[Rumsy4]

1 hour ago, KAOS Agent said:

If young girls are looking at the horrible messaging on this show, they are more likely to be messed up by the Rumbelle relationship and how it tells us that you can maybe, sort of, kind of "fix" your abuser with the power of your love, but you have to continue to stick with him no matter how abusive it gets.

I agree. Victim-blaming could be a byline for the Show, and the Rumbelle relationship encapsulates the most dangerous form of it. Only this morning I thinking of the fact that the writers had so little integrity that they chose to keep Rumple alive for their stupid reboot over giving him at least a Darth Vaderish death. They say they enjoy writing for him, but he hasn't had an interesting storyline after reuniting with Nealfire in Season 2. It went steadily downhill from there. His last best episode was the 3A finale. They should never have resurrected him--just kept him on as Imp!Rumple for flashbacks and Clippy.

[Camera One]

The Writers think they can dissociate all the truly horrible things Rumple did at the end of 6B from his "love" for Belle and Gideon.  He would have destroyed the lives of practically everyone at "The Last Supper" table if things had gone the way he had intended.  And The Writers still seriously believe this despicable character is entertaining.  It's unfathomable.

[RulerofallIsurvey]

I think Rumple is, or at least can be, still entertaining.  I rather like Imp!Rumple.  :)  He's most entertaining when he is unrepentant and evil, or self-absorbed at least, instead of doing it all "in the name of Love" or "for his family."   And that definitely means he doesn't get forgiven because 'he meant well' or 'his heart was in the right place.'  Uh-No.  The writers need to learn that the ends Do Not justify the means.  

[andromeda331]

11 hours ago, RulerofallIsurvey said:

I think Rumple is, or at least can be, still entertaining.  I rather like Imp!Rumple.  :)  He's most entertaining when he is unrepentant and evil, or self-absorbed at least, instead of doing it all "in the name of Love" or "for his family."   And that definitely means he doesn't get forgiven because 'he meant well' or 'his heart was in the right place.'  Uh-No.  The writers need to learn that the ends Do Not justify the means.  

Which is why they really need to pick if Rumple is going to be good and work on redemption or remain evil. Rumple remaining evil and constantly scheme would be fine and maybe even fun if they didn't try to also convince us that Rumple is "good". He loves power, betrays everyone constantly, and will never help anyone. If they want him to be bad and do horrible things fine, do that. But stop trying to convince us that Rumple loves Belle when he constantly choses power over her and stop claiming he does good things when he never does. He killed his mother for his own reasons and not for the town or anyone else. If they want him to be good. Fine have him actually try to be good, do the right thing and work hard on his marriage to Belle.

[Shanna Marie]

On 6/8/2017 at 11:27 AM, RulerofallIsurvey said:

Since when does being a hero, or even just not-a-villain mean that you have to tolerate a bully?

 

This may be a topic for the morality/social issues thread.

[KingOfHearts]

On 4/11/2017 at 4:37 PM, Curio said:

Rumple also threatened to kill Zelena. Is that going to go anywhere?

Ha! Just saw this post. According to Robert Carlyle, probably not.

Are there any canon-unlikely ships anyone could see working in an alternate universe? Or crack-ships? It sounds strange, but I'd actually ship Captain Charming if they met under different circumstances. It's no secret they have chemistry as people, but their backgrounds create some interesting contrasts. I'd like to see Charming initially judge him as a pirate, only to find out he was in the navy and does have a sense of moral code. They could outrun King George on the Jolly Roger. It's an opposites attract sort of scenario. Now, I would never want this to happen on the show. That would be really gross. In another universe, however...

The crack-ship I'd like actually like to see come to pass is Sheriff Queen. They're both redeemed villains. They dated once. Of course, she would be dating the man who wanted to imprison her boyfriend all those years, but Robin was dating his wife's murderer. So go figure. There are not many options for Regina, as most people would be repulsed by her reign of terror. However, the Sheriff never shied away from corrupted authority. On one hand he's morally ambiguous enough to be okay with her past, but on the other he's (presumably) reformed enough for her current self. 

[Camera One]

I agree Regina had chemistry with the guy who played the Sheriff of Nottingham.  He had a similar edge as the Original Robin, though it would have been difficult to make Robin work regardless.  Villains like Regina and Rumple could not believably have viable relationships with characters who were pure as snow like Robin or Belle.   Nottingham or Hook would have been a much better fit.  

[KingOfHearts]

Yesterday it occurred to me that Hook murdered Charming's dad. There goes my Captain Charming ship.

[Camera One]

2 hours ago, KingOfHearts said:

Yesterday it occurred to me that Hook murdered Charming's dad. There goes my Captain Charming ship.

Come on, what's a little murder between family members.  

[jhlipton]

On 7/1/2017 at 3:28 PM, KingOfHearts said:

Yesterday it occurred to me that Hook murdered Charming's dad. There goes my Captain Charming ship.

You must be referring o the mythical last 5 minutes of "Murder Most Stupid", where Hook has a fever dream and thinks he would kill a witness to a theft, and that he was supposed to know at the time that the guy he "killed" was his future wife's grandfather.

It only diminishes Hook if you let their dumb-ass, out-of-character retcon spoil him for you.