Killian Jones/Captain Hook: One Handed Pirate With A Drinking Problem

[OnceUponAJen]

I haven't speculated too much about Hook's background because I've been waiting for the show to do it. Ha, I know. I like filling in puzzle pieces as much as the next person, but I feel like I've only been given the edges of the puzzle, and there's this big blank hole in the center. I don't want to have to speculate in elaborate detail. Give me something to work with, A&E!!!

Edited August 23, 2015 by OnceUponAJen

[Dianthus]

Thanks, Shanna Marie!

I'd really rather they give us more in show as well, but patience is not one of my virtues. It's been said before, but it seems awfully silly for the writers to give us elaborate backstories for characters we'll never see again after their centric when we know so little about one of the most popular (if secondary) characters on the show.

OTOH, his popularity might actually have something to do with that. My mom said as much the other day, and I wonder if maybe she's on to something.

Edited August 25, 2015 by Dianthus

[RadioGirl27]

I haven't speculated too much about Hook's background because I've been waiting for the show to do it. Ha, I know. I like filling in puzzle pieces as much as the next person, but I feel like I've only been given the edges of the puzzle, and there's this big blank hole in the center. I don't want to have to speculate in elaborate detail. Give me something to work with, A&E!!! 

Well, Hook's childhood is at the bottom of A&E's list of interests, right behind the flashback to the day when Emma bought her red jacket, so I like reading all this theories and possible backstories.

[Curio]

right behind the flashback to the day when Emma bought her red jacket

 

I never realized I needed this flashback until now. Need.

 

I truly wonder how long Adam & Eddy think this show is going to last. If I were a show runner, I'd recognize that I'm incredibly lucky to even have a show on the air, so I'd want to explore the details of my main characters while the show is still popular, relevant, and not cancelled. With the way Adam & Eddy give interviews, they treat Hook's past as if they're 100% certain there's going to be a Season 8 and don't worry, they'll get to it eventually. I just don't understand that logic at all, especially considering how many freaking flashbacks other characters have gotten at this point.

Edited August 25, 2015 by Curio

[YaddaYadda]

Jane Espenson said 7 seasons when asked. If Hook was still a villain, he would have had a mother, a father, a nono and a gammy, plus 7 siblings. He's not a villain. We had to wait until Tallahassee to get something on Emma and then 3x21 to actually see her as a barely teenager.

[RadioGirl27]

Yeah. My problem is not the lack of info about his childhood (while I would like to know it, I don't need it), but the fact that not only the other regulars but also all the recurring and guest characters have got this elaborated backstories when he has got nothing. And I don't like A&E's attitude, with their "someday" we would get there. If they think that Hook's childhood is not important for his present, they should just say it. It's not that difficult: "Hook's past is not important, his present and his relationship with Emma are and that's what we are going to explore". See, easy, and they stop giving false hope to his fans.

[YaddaYadda]

David didn't get a backstory that had nothing to do with Snow until season 4.  And even then, it was all about Anna. If he gets a backstory, I want it to be about him, not about the guest star du jour and how their awesomeness made him who he is today. 

[Curio]

If Hook was still a villain, he would have had a mother, a father, a nono and a gammy, plus 7 siblings. He's not a villain.

 

This is so true. Back when he was a "villain" in Season 2, we got to see his past with Milah, Rumplestiltskin, they shoehorned him into Cora and Regina flashbacks, and astonishingly, he got a flashback during the Season 2 finale. But now that they've officially made him "good" in Season 3, he's been downgraded to Charming-level flashbacks where the writers give them one centric per season and call it a day.

 

Edit: I will say, however, that sometimes less is more. I could have done without the flashback of Hook trying to "rescue" Belle from Regina's cell in the past. It seems incredibly out of character for him—even at his most villainous—to kill an unconscious person. That's the definition of bad form. I could see him locking Belle back up and ditching her while listening to her yell at him for being a terrible person as he leaves, but not killing her. The whole scene just seemed off. (Which is sad because it was written by Adam & Eddy).

Edited August 25, 2015 by Curio

[YaddaYadda]

Edit: I will say, however, that sometimes less is more. I could have done without the flashback of Hook trying to "rescue" Belle from Regina's cell in the past. It seems incredibly out of character for him—even at his most villainous—to kill an unconscious person. That's the definition of bad form. I could see him locking Belle back up and ditching her while listening to her yell at him for being a terrible person as he leaves, but not killing her. The whole scene just seemed off. (Which is sad because it was written by Adam & Eddy).

 

I agree, and I'm not even gonna pretend to remember the details of the scene, but is it possible that he found out that Belle was important to Rumple in some way. It makes no sense that he would slap her into unconsciousness and then try and kill her. I mean this is the guy who gets his ass handed to him by women.

 

How did he even find out about Belle? From some person he encountered? No one even knew Belle was still alive. 

[Mari]

Is it possible (or likely) that in Offscreenville Cora sicced Hook on Belle?  

 

It would be a bit of entertainment for her, to have Rumple's girlfriend killed by Hook, and would be an inexpensive way for her to establish that she was somebody Hook wanted to help, instead of just placate and then avoid.

[YaddaYadda]

Is it possible (or likely) that in Offscreenville Cora sicced Hook on Belle?

 

Cora was in Wonderland. 

 

Come to think of it, he had no idea who Belle was to Rumple considering Regina's dialogue when she "caught" him and stopped him from killing Belle.

[Shanna Marie]

How did he even find out about Belle? From some person he encountered? No one even knew Belle was still alive.

Good question. He might have learned about Belle being sent into slavery to Rumple, but there's no telling how he learned that Regina had her as a prisoner, unless maybe he somehow paid off/threatened someone working for Regina.

 

However, I can kind of believe he'd lose his temper at her once he found her and she defended the Dark One even when he told her Rumple had done something to her father. As anti-Dark One as Hook was, and knowing how Rumple had treated Milah, a woman defending him and refusing to believe he'd do anything wrong might have been enough to make him completely snap. No one wants to hear what a wonderful person his enemy is.

[HoodlumSheep]

I think Hook was in 150%-must-destroy-dark one mode when he encountered Belle in those flashbacks. Just like how he behaved in the mid/latter half of 2b. Rumple just makes him snap (no excuse for what he did though). He was probably running out of options at finding/killing the dark one at that point and was getting desperate. And then he lucked out by meeting Cora shortly after.

Sometimes I miss the Cora/Hook evil brotp (which is probably more fanon than canon but I don't care, just let me have this one!).

Could Peter Pan have supplied the info on Belle? I feel like he could be the solution to almost all the questions on how Hook gained certain info. Maybe he said, "oh, look for a girl named Belle when you reach the EF," when Hook finally left Neverland. And then Hook could have asked around and gotten the rest of the details. Pan knew about Henry 200 years before he was born so he could have easily supplied the info on Belle.

Actually, I have a random theory I'll share. The only thing that I'm uncertain about is the timeline. If the stuff with Ursula went down before Rumple was imprisoned, maybe the squid ink used to imprison him (and/or the ink he used to write Emma's name on the paper) was from Hook. Maybe he traded it for something and it made it's way to Snowing. I think that would be a good way to connect some of the stories.

[YaddaYadda]

How will Hook look at non-magical Rumple? I mean that's one thing I've been wondering about. Rumple has been Hook's greatest foe, he tried to kill and Emma last season, he stole Emma's magic from her and condemned her to remember and be unable to do anything to save the people she loves which seems to be a great punishment for someone who has never done anything to Rumple. And he turned Hook into the complete opposite of who he is.

 

How will he look at that man? He already had tons of contempt for him and loathed him. What now?

[HoodlumSheep]

I imagine he'll still be wary of him. Hasn't Colin mentioned before that Hook and Rumple will probably never get along? Maybe he'll finally get a good punch in?

I think he'll try to support Belle though when it comes to Rumple.

It'll certainly be interesting.

[Shanna Marie]

I think Hook was in 150%-must-destroy-dark one mode when he encountered Belle in those flashbacks. Just like how he behaved in the mid/latter half of 2b. Rumple just makes him snap (no excuse for what he did though). He was probably running out of options at finding/killing the dark one at that point and was getting desperate.

Yeah, he did seem to have that automatic override where Rumple was concerned, and it got worse the closer he felt he was to achieving his goal.

 

As for how he found out about Belle, when you think about it, no one was actually looking for her. Her father thought she was with Rumple, and Rumple thought her father had killed her. So Hook may have been the only one asking questions and figuring things out -- hang out in a tavern, listen to the buzz, chat up Regina's guards and buy them drinks to learn what's going on in the kingdom, hear about the captive she's hiding from the Dark One. It fits the pattern with Rumple and Hook. With Bae, Rumple took what the Blue Fairy told him about the World Without Magic and never looked beyond it, never used any of his significant resources to learn where he really was for more than a century. Meanwhile, Hook ran across him in Neverland without even trying. With Belle, Rumple seems to have taken Regina at her word about Belle's fate and gave up on her, never bothering to verify, use a locator spell, or anything else to see what really happened to her. Meanwhile, Hook manages to find her and might even have freed her if she'd cooperated and had a grain of sense. (really, Belle, when someone rushes into your cell and tells you your father is in danger from the Dark One and you might be able to save him, that's not the time to act like the Dark One Fan Club president. That's when you say, "Oh no! I know just the thing, and I can show you where it is." You can defy him when you're no longer locked in a tower, after you've verified that your father is okay, and maybe even when you're in a place where your evil and powerful boyfriend can find and save you.)

[Panopticon]

It must have been common knowledge that Captain Hook-- with his magic ship and pirate riches-- was always in the market for anything that might hurt the Dark One. Any enterprising soul who was desperate or just wanted to make a buck could have sent the lead on Belle's whereabouts Hook's way.

[Shanna Marie]

Hook is good at research, and I imagine that the moment he got back from Neverland, he set out to learn everything he could about the Dark One, whether it was by doing the digging around himself or by making it clear that it was worth people's time to bring him useful information. It is ironic and amusing that he managed to find Belle in Regina's prison when Rumple never did (and didn't seem to have bothered trying), just as he managed to find Bae long before Rumple did.

[YaddaYadda]

I know there's been a big deal made out of Hook's rings, but he has the Storybrooke seal (that tree we see everywhere) on his forefinger ring? I had never noticed it before and now that I've seen it, I cannot unsee it.

 

I always find it interesting how much thought the set and costume people put into these little things. It was like how Emma's room at Granny's and her apartment were littered with pirate references or the beanstalk in her nursery or the swan on the side of one of Hook's rings. 

 

I wish they'd be able to tell the story of these objects in relation to the characters. Why does Hook have a ring with a swan on it or why does Emma have a tattoo of her father's crest on her wrist.

[Shanna Marie]

How will Hook look at non-magical Rumple?

I would hope he's grown up enough not to be as much a bully and a jerk as he was back when he first met a non-magical Rumple. Otherwise, it might depend on how non-magical Rumple behaves. If he cowers and cringes and stays out of the way, probably a mix of contempt and pity. If he schemes in a way that puts others at risk while trying to protect himself, then probably contempt and anger without the pity. If he's trying to get the dagger to kill Emma and get his powers back, then I don't think that the fact that non-magical Rumple is smaller and weaker would stop Hook from dealing with him. In general, I think there would be a wariness. No matter how helpless non-magical Rumple might seem, I don't think Hook would take him off his potential threat list. He does seem to have moved past the need for revenge. He was willing to taunt Rumple when Rumple didn't dare use more magic, so there might be a bit of trash talking of the "You're not so bold without all your magic, are you, crocodile?" variety.

[Dianthus]

If Rumple is scheming to get in with the most powerful person in town, wouldn't that be DO Emma? I can't imagine Hook being too happy about that. Will Rumple be his usual scheming self, now that all the darkness has been Hoovered out of his heart? Will Belle be a more positive influence on him now (I can dream), especially considering her friendship with Hook?

I'd like to see Hook get a few digs in, as long as they're not too nasty. Even better would be if Rumple has the grace to acknowledge that he deserved them.

[PixiePaws1]

I just don't know if Rumple is going to be able to stop himself from gloating. He wanted Emma filled with darkness (for a specific and now defunct reason) and now he got exactly that and then some plus the absolutely once in a lifetime bonus deal of Killian losing his happy ending in the most heartbreaking of circumstances. While Rumple has a clean heart and Belle back.

I can see Rumple twisting the proverbial dagger in those wounds every chance he gets. Probably when no one else is watching so he can play the innocent when they are. Killian will never trust him and may be forced to by the others which may be part of the split over how to save Emma.

[didia]

I don't think Killian will waste his time on Rumple, unless he tries to hurt/kill Emma. I am glad this show didn't try to make them friends.

Now, about his parents... I always believed he had rich/powerful relatives, probably on his mother's side, because they didn't seem to suffer social repercussion from their father's "mistakes". (Rumple was the coward's son, he had problems even before the war). They just felt this compulsion to be heroes and bring glory to the Jones family. Maybe there is a possibility that people didn't know about their father's crimes in the realm where they lived. The king wouldn't give a privileged position to the sons of a traitor or criminal.

Edited September 5, 2015 by didia

[YaddaYadda]

I've got my whole headcanon for Killian's parents.

 

if his father was truly a fugitive and not someone who just abandoned him for the sake of abandoning him, then he was likely a criminal of no consequences to the crown. It's not like he would have a been traitor to the crown. People like that, their families would usually lose their lands if there are any, the children/wife lose any status if there ever was one.

 

So Hook? Big mystery!

Edited September 5, 2015 by YaddaYadda

[Curio]

People complain that Hook hasn't had a backstory, but that's not really true -- his backstory was the thing with his brother, and it was a good one (IMO), too!

The idea about revealing his parents is just a face to put on the fact Hook has very little independent story. At this point, he's just a sex symbol/love interest for the protagonist and a rival for the antagonist.

The reason why I think Hook needs more backstory, even though he already had some good backstory exploration with Good Form, is because that flashback introduced even more questions about his past.

 

Good Form showed Killian being a naïve, idealistic Lieutenant, but we now know him as a hothead who's been jaded by being alive for centuries. When did he develop his temper? Did a flip just switch when his brother died and he decided to say screw it to the world and become angry? Or did he always have a bit of a temper issue when he was in the navy, but he just hid that hot temper around Liam because he knew that wasn't good form? Were there moments during the navy academy (which is technically head canon at this point because of—you guessed it—lack of backstory) where he'd get a little too aggressive during his fencing practices that would foreshadow his personality of today? We saw the moment where Killian tossed his coat into the water and declared his crew pirates, but how long did it take for him to morph into the iconic black coat with black eyeliner and piercings? That's a big visual transformation that doesn't really happen overnight. Did he run into someone who helped influence him to change his look? Was his idealistic navy crew a sucky pirate team at first because they still considered themselves to be righteous crusaders trying to fight against an evil king? And then Hook's story about his father abandoning him creates an even bigger list of questions that have already been discussed quite a bit in this thread, but one of the bigger questions is how Killian and Liam could have joined the royal navy if they were orphans.

 

Some characters get backstories where you think, "Oh, that's nice, I guess. But I really don't need to see more." Charming's flashback with Bo Peep, Belle with Anna, and Robin Hood's adventure to steal from Zelena fall under those categories for me. They were good to see because those characters desperately need more fleshing out any way they can and I'm all for that, but those specific stories didn't open up a bunch of other doors that need to be explained. (Well, except for Robin knowing who Zelena was but never offering that information up during 3B.) But Good Form opened up a lot of questions for me that I want to see answered, and exploring that would be a good opportunity to actually give him an independent storyline outside of Emma.

[Camera One]

"Good Form" was the first look at Hook's background and how he became the pirate, so it did open a lot of doors.  But so did "The Shepherd", which was the first look at David's background.  After "Good Form", Hook got centrics that didn't delve into his childhood, but they did give him meaty moral dilemmas.  While Charming got filler like "The Tower" and "White Out".  That was also the case with Belle.  I would eventually like to see a flashback to learn more about Hook's past, but to me, other people need the "character time" a bit more.  I actually don't see Hook mainly having storylines with Emma is a problem since the writers at least give them quality conversations with her.  That is not the case with many of the other regular characters.  

 

I don't think we need to worry about Hook not getting enough material to work with in Season 5, though of course people who watch mainly for Hook will want more Hook.  I worry about the other characters way more in this respect.  As Eddy said, Hook is a writers' favorite.  Of course not as much as Regina but that is still the case.  Having said that, having a Hook flashback to his childhood while dealing with being rejected by Dark Emma would work quite well.

Edited September 6, 2015 by Camera One

[KingOfHearts]

Hook as a character is really the problem for me. Flashbacks that answer questions are just part of a possible solution. I find him to be bland because the writers rarely let him go any deeper than "I love Emma" and "I hate Rumple". Little book-ended stories like Ursula's or Ariel's are great, but they miss the point. Yes they show us how Hook dealt with vengeance, love and honor in his pirate days, but that's a small portion of his life. We can get pieces of his past, but they don't necessarily flesh out his present self.

 

I'm hoping 5A will give us more exploration of Hook's current personality as a opposed to more random adventures in EF. I want to see the irony of his girlfriend becoming the very thing he's attempted to hunt for years and how he deals with it. Captain Swan angst has been minimal since they became an official couple, so this should be interesting. I think it will do a lot for his character (and his relationship with Emma) if the writers don't screw it up.

Edited September 6, 2015 by KingOfHearts

[Mari]

I'm hoping 5A will give us more exploration of Hook's current personality as a opposed to more random adventures in EF. I want to see the irony of his girlfriend becoming the very thing he's attempted to hunt for years and how he deals with it. Captain Swan angst has been minimal since they became an official couple, so this should be interesting.

This.  Very much this.

 

I have no problem with having relatively minimal information about his family.  However, they've pretty much centered his current story line around his relationship with Emma.  If they're going to continue that trend, I want it to have some meat in it;  I don't care about the metaphorical coffee scenes or giffable kiss scenes.  I want actual story with some depth, and having Emma become a version of exactly the creature he spent 2-300 years chasing and trying to kill should, logically, provide  a lot of opportunity for it.

[Rumsy4]

Hook was pretty much relegated to Charming levels of background scenery in 4B. This excessive reliance on plot to move the story forward hasn't helped to flesh out anyone much.

[Camera One]

Charming as an individual character received much less.  He and Snow were lumped together to deal with the egg babynapping which did not provide any opportunities for their characters to grow or develop at all.  Yes, Hook too had it sparse but at least he got to play an active role in the Ursula episode where he got agency to make a better choice when confronted with a demon from his past.  In the premiere, he got to express frustration and remorse at what occurred in 4A.  In the finale, Alt-Hook got to dig deep to find his courage within himself. To me, that put him miles ahead of what Charming got, within the standards of this show where most characters get chump change.

Edited September 6, 2015 by Camera One

[Shanna Marie]

The reason why I think Hook needs more backstory, even though he already had some good backstory exploration with Good Form, is because that flashback introduced even more questions about his past.

That's pretty much where I am. I would have been okay with his backstory being limited to what we saw in "The Crocodile" as his "origin" story, that he was just a pirate who lost his love and then lost his way on a quest for revenge. But the bits of backstory we've been told and shown only raise more questions and were just enough to suggest that there is a story there. There are the contradictions between the pieces of his backstory and between his backstory and his present -- the upright, rigid naval officer who became a rash and hot-tempered pirate, the abandoned child who has the education and social skills of a gentleman. Just the abandonment alone is a life-altering thing that has to have a story behind it. A father would have to be pretty desperate or pretty awful to leave his kid on a ship at sea. Why couldn't he have escaped with the kid? Did he ever go looking for his child again? Why was he a fugitive? What kind of life did Killian have before being abandoned? Then there's the transition between Lt. Jones and the pirate we first met in "The Crocodile." And the question of how his one-ship war against his king went. Who was that king? What was he really going to do with that poison? There's at least a two-novel series that could fit between "Good Form" and "The Crocodile."

 

But I suspect there is no Unified Theory of Hook. When the character was created, he didn't come with a backstory other than what was in "The Crocodile." I'm not sure they even know now, and that's why they're holding back. They may have an inkling that there's a story there that they might want to play with in the future, but they don't know what it is yet, so they don't want to commit to any details onscreen. I suspect what we've been shown or told so far is pure plot device that didn't come from a strong sense of his origins or any grand plan. The abandonment story came because they needed something for him to bond with Bae over, and it fit pretty well with the fact that he instantly pegged Emma as a Lost Girl when he met her. At the time, he covered by saying he knew the Lost Boys, but it makes sense that he's been there and recognizes a kindred spirit. The "Good Form" background came because they were rehabilitating him to make him a suitable love interest for Emma, and making him not always have been a pirate and giving him a good reason for having gone bad was part of that.

 

I'm hoping 5A will give us more exploration of Hook's current personality as a opposed to more random adventures in EF.

I agree that I'm more interested in his present than in his past, other than having a lot of curiosity thanks to the questions they've raised, but I'm less optimistic about getting anything in season 5. What I find most interesting about him is that he's swung from so good and earnest that he made Charming look shady in comparison to being a full-on evil pirate, and now he's swinging back again. Now he should be going through something of an identity crisis because just who and what the hell is he now? He's proud of being a pirate and clinging to all the trappings of his pirate identity, except he isn't really a pirate anymore. He doesn't seem to have any real direction, and he's such an action-oriented, goal-oriented guy that this seems odd. I think a big part of the problem is similar to the issue they have in writing for Regina, where she's supposedly reformed, but they can't quite give up the snarky, sassy Evil Queen side of her. With Hook, they've settled on something that's weirdly half-assed, where in his behavior he's verging on full-on good-guy hero, who's sensitive and a good listener and supportive partner and is working on realigning his sense of right and wrong, but they don't want to let go of the pirate because they know that a lot of the character's appeal is the guyliner and black leather. So the guy who talks about hating his former self and who refers to himself as "Killian," not as "Hook," has only really changed in somewhat modernizing his clothes a bit, but he's still visually identifiable as a pirate. That's one reason I wouldn't mind him getting his hand back for good, because it would force him to face the question of who he really is if he's in no way "Captain Hook" anymore. It's like the character is being held back from real development for the sake of branding.

[YaddaYadda]

They both love adventure too much.

 

I sort of agree and disagree with this. I didn't think Emma would be someone who would want to live under the same roof as her parents for such an extended period of time. But she's always been on her own, without a real place to call home and a family, so her living there with mom and dad even though she's not a 30 year old woman with her child sort of makes sense because she's craved that kind of normalcy her whole life.

 

With Hook, yes, he loves life at sea and the adventures (and even then, how many adventures did he have once he went to Neverland and spent centuries under Pan's thumb). Outside of his revenge, we know next to nothing about what he really wants from life and what his expectations towards a relationship are. So, he's a long term commitment kind of guy. But what does he want? Is he the marrying type? Does he want children? Did he ever think it was something of a possibility?

 

Spending centuries going on about your vengeance means that you've given up on those things if they were things you wanted in the first place. Having children while living on a ship, travelling the seven seas and pillaging and plundering isn't really the best thing ever. What little insight we got from Hook was that once he thought he had his revenge, he felt empty and as though his life had passed him by. He didn't get the fulfillment he expected from it.

 

So I think that saying both Emma and Hook would be bored with a domestic life might be a bit of a stretch. Emma never had that stability before and as far as we know, he may not have had that and maybe he decided to forgo his dreams of domestic life because that's not what Milah wanted. She'd already had that and didn't really like it, she already had a kid she'd left behind, so maybe she wasn't too hot about having that. 

 

I don't think it's "fair" to assume that Hook having evenings of rum with Emma in their home isn't right. I think it makes plenty sense that people who haven't had certain things to be content once they actually have them. Hook gave up his ship to his enemy without a second thought on the off chance that things between them might work out because she gave him hope in 3x11 with just one word.

[Shanna Marie]

The reason Hook's current appearance/behavior doesn't necessarily work for me is that one of his key characteristics is that he's an all-in, 100 percent, full speed ahead, damn the torpedoes kind of guy. He doesn't do anything halfway. When he was a naval officer, he was the ultimate naval officer, obsessed with good form and going strictly by the book. He could have been on the recruiting poster. When he became a pirate, he became the most piratey pirate ever, from the guyliner to the pointy-toed boots. If pirates had recruiting posters, he'd have been grinning from under the words "Travel the world! Meet interesting people -- and then rob and kill them! Become a pirate today!" He could have been the cover model for Swashbuckling Quarterly. When he went after revenge, he gave up everything else in his life and let nothing get in his way, betraying people he cared about and allying with people he didn't like or respect.

 

And then when he realized how empty revenge was and decided to turn his life around ... he switched to a more Storybrooke-appropriate leather jacket and shoes without pointy toes. Where Emma's concerned, he's all-in, trading his ship to reach her and jumping through time portals, but other than that, we have no idea what this goal-oriented guy really wants. He seems to want to be a good man, but what he thinks that means is about as vague as Regina's desire for a happy ending. During the missing year, he seemed to have figured out that his heart wasn't in piracy anymore, and that's not even a practical career choice where he is now. Even if he could sail away from Storybrooke and still get back, his only hope for targets would be getting a Rolex off the occasional pleasure craft. The kind of valuable cargo he'd want to go after would be on oilers and cargo ships, and they'd laugh at the Jolly Roger, if they even noticed it as anything other than a blip on the radar. It's nice that he's so all-in for Emma, but what else does he want? What is he really trying to be? That seems rather undefined, and I'm afraid that the lack of definition is because they still want him to be the sexy pirate in black leather because if Killian Jones is acting at all in character, once he made a change, he'd make a huge change and become the poster boy for whatever he's trying to be now. It's not really like him to be all "I don't want to be bad, but I don't want to be too good, and I may have given up piracy, but I still think of myself as a pirate and I'm dressing like one, and I'm not a hero, but maybe I could be one, but I'm still not one of those hero types because I need to be a little bit of a bad boy." I'm sure in the coming season he'll have the clearly defined goal of finding and saving Emma, but that's still about Emma. Who and what does he want to be? He needs to figure that out before he can really be all there for Emma because he needs to know the person he's offering her. It's not healthy for her to be the only meaning in his life.

[OnceUponAJen]

Also, Hook has been content to live in Storybrooke and stay put as long as he's near Emma. I'd say he'd be content (probably for quite some time, at least) to live a quiet life with her.

[Shanna Marie]

I figure that if Hook went the quiet life route, he'd go all-in on the quiet life, maxing out the quiet life concept to its fullest potential. He'd be the poster boy for quiet lives. He'd have a garden and grow his own food and learn gourmet cooking for those quiet dinners at home. He'd cut his own firewood for those cozy evenings in. He'd have shelves full of books and the latest home theater set-up (once he learned what that was). A dog and a cat would be mandatory. And then he'd dress the part in jeans and flannel or cuddly sweaters. He might have a telescope for stargazing. There would be fishing and hiking and long walks on the beach. He would quiet the hell out of that quiet. He doesn't seem to do anything halfway.

 

I'm not sure if it's necessarily adventure he wants so much as purpose. I think he could deal with a quiet life as long as it was a purposeful quiet life where he knew what he wanted and was going after it, even if what he wanted was nothing more than peace. I can imagine he'd be drifting somewhat now after giving up one purpose that had consumed him for centuries, but I can't imagine he'd be happy for long without some other purpose. Then again, with the threat of the week in Storybrooke, that keeps giving him temporary purposes so he might not yet be feeling the lack of purpose. He had his worst sense of aimlessness during the missing year when he tried piracy again and his heart wasn't in it (though it would have been nice to see what he got up to between the Ariel incident and getting Neal's message). But since then there was trying to stop Zelena, and then trying to stop both Ingrid and Rumple, and then trying to save the hat victims, and then trying to stop the Queens of Darkness, then trying to help Ursula, then trying to protect Emma from efforts to turn her dark, and now trying to save Emma from the Dark One, so he hasn't yet had a chance to pause and think about finding a new purpose in life. Though I still think that, if they were being true to the character rather than conscious of branding, when he adopted Storybrooke dress he would have made a cleaner break with his old self. He was horrified that the hand would revert him to the person he used to be, so why would he keep dressing more or less like the person he used to be and even maintaining the guyliner?

[Dianthus]

"Devilishly handsome" is also a pretty big deal to him, so that might feed into some of his style choices (i.e., guyliner), as well as what (he thinks) Emma would want. ITA, Zoe, that she needs lapels to grab! For now, I'm willing to give him a pass for being in transition. Also, I have to confess I wouldn't want to see him give up everything that sets him apart from the others, certainly not all at once. I'm a sucker for outliers. 

[Souris]

Colin is featured VERY briefly in this Whitecaps video. Or you can see a slowed-down gif here.

[YaddaYadda]

Aww, but Eddie Lack is in it too!

[Scovies]

So the S5 premiere screeners are out and people are talking about them. This tweet doesn't spoil any plot points, but talks about the type of role Killian takes on (i.e., how involved he is) in the show, if you're inclined to look.

[Shanna Marie]

Not really Once Upon a Time or Hook-related, but in my Facebook feed I came across an article on why some men who don't have red hair have red beards, which reminds me of our favorite dark-haired, ginger-bearded pirate, and I figured y'all might find it interesting.

[Mari]

In the preshow special, A or E made a comment about how it's finally clear that Hook saw Emma as more than a conquest.

 

Can anyone pinpoint when he did see her as a conquest?

 

Or do were they talking about Emma's perception of Hook?

[HoodlumSheep]

^ I think it's one of the many things A&E say that doesn't translate on screen. Maybe at the very, very beginning in like, season 2, when he said he liked a challenge? But then again, I don't think Killian's ever seen Emma as just a conquest.

It reminds me of way back in 3b when A&E made comments on how Hook was getting antsy/tired of waiting for Emma to reciprocate his feelings. It made him sound like a jerkface. Except, when 3b came around, we never really saw that. He gave her plenty of space and never pushed her, unless it was about her opening up to happiness her family (he wasn't really including himself into that equation at that point).

*shrugs*

Liked watching desperate Hook this episode.!his plan with Zelena was pretty good and well-thought out. He just didn't account for Zelena being totally bonkers. I wasn't expecting her to chop of her hand either.

And apparently he carries a knife. I can see it. He is a pirate. His sword was left behind in the 3b finale. Although I doubt we'll ever see him use that knife.

It was nice to see him act piratey again this episode. And I wonder if the potion on his hook will come into play again, or if it'll be forgotten about just like the other 2 zillion things. I'm still waiting for that sleeping needle Zelena took from Regina to pop back up again.

Edited September 28, 2015 by HoodlumSheep

[YaddaYadda]

Hook showed a lot of pride in Henry's mercenary tendencies. 

 

Can anyone pinpoint when he did see her as a conquest?

 

Maybe during the innuendos phase?  I find it hard to pinpoint exactly when his feelings changed. I can't even say that it was when he turned his ship around because I don't think he did it for her. He was willing to leave town and basically let her die with everyone else. But like 2 hours later, he was super worried she had nearly drowned and then he looked proud of her after the speech she gave on the beach.

 

The problem with this show is that it needs to remember that it's not a daytime soap and on like 265 days a year or something like that and stop doing the whole "last night", "yesterday", "an hour ago"!!

[OnceUponAJen]

I would say that Hook might have seen her as a conquest at the beginning of "Tallahassee," but by the end of the episode, he was clearly impressed with her and her defeat over the giant.

Edited September 28, 2015 by OnceUponAJen

[mjgchick]

I seriously think it changed by the end of Tallahassee but he got so butt hurt that she didn't trust him. He was so petty at the cave. He still had to get one last perverted dig.

[Lieutenant]

I'm American and not the best judge, but I'm pretty sure what Colin's doing isn't nearly the level of that godawful cockney-by-way-of-Australia thing Dick van Dyke was trying. I figured his English accent was probably on par with his American one (i.e., shaky but not outright terrible). Anyone else want to weigh in?

Edit: to be clear, I like how he sounds on the show. I just don't know how accurate of an English accent it is (and yes, I know there are about 1,000 different ones), since I'm pretty sure that's what he's going for.

 

*shrugs*  Hook's accent has always been his own, imo.  He's not technically British, since he's not from this world.  I've never had a problem with it.  I don't hear Colin's Irish come through at all.  At least not like you can when's he's going for an American accent.  One thing I've always LOVED about what Colin's done with Hook's voice is how hard and crisp he makes the t's at the end of words.  It's unique to that character, and it makes me swoon every time.

Edited September 29, 2015 by Lieutenant

[HoodlumSheep]

If we're talking Dick van Dyke (based on Mary Poppins), then Hook sounds nothing like him. At all.

Anyways, in the 5x01 thread, Mari brought up Hook being Robin and Zelena's kid from the future that some how got sent to the past. It's a fun, crazy theory (not one that I agree with, but it's still interesting).

If Hook turned out to be the kid of some pairing, was involved in time shenanigans, and somehow ended up where/when he did...I'd want his parents to be Ariel and Eric. :P i know the likelihood of this theory ever being true is pretty much 0%, but it's fun imagining it.

Edited September 29, 2015 by HoodlumSheep

[Mari]

I'd be fine with Ariel and Eric, too, but I'd really, really like it to be Zelena and Robin because it not only gives us lots of wacky shenanigans possibilities, it solves the "Poor, poor, poor Regina.  Look how patient she's being by not killing Baby Green.  She's so sad, and deserves so much." scenes that I fear are coming with the second half of the season.

 

Instead, we'd get the craziness of things like Hook making mocking comments about evil stepmothers, bonding with his teensy older brother, and Hook interacting with more than just Emma, which as much as I've enjoyed those scenes, would be a good thing.

[HoodlumSheep]

^ that'd be pretty entertaining too.

[Shanna Marie]

Ariel and Eric would make a lot of sense. It explains his love for the sea and even his coloring -- Eric seems closer to looking like him than Robin does, and I guess both Zelena and Ariel are ginger to explain the ginger beard, but Ariel's hair is a lot redder. Plus, it makes all Ariel's scolding even funnier if you think that it's actually his mom slapping him upside the head and telling him not to be an idiot.

 

However, for that twist to happen, it would require bringing them on as major characters, and the show is already crowded. I can think of some characters we could ditch to make room.

 

As for Zelena and Robin, I wouldn't inflict being related to Regina on Hook, and it makes the way both Regina and Cora were sleazing on him and him turning on the "too pretty to die" charm with them really icky.

 

Actually, what I really want for Hook is some sea-related arc that brings back not only Ariel and Eric, but also Ursula and Poseidon. I'd like to catch up with what they're doing now, and they could also fill in the missing backstory of what Ursula did in her "villain" phase. Heck, throw in Blackbeard and reveal that he was the pirate who killed Ursula's mother. That could be the story in which Hook's origins are revealed, and I'd rather that be more interesting than Robin and Zelena. Ugh.

 

As for the accent, one of the things that I love most about Hook's voice is the specific inflection he uses when he bellows "Smee!" The disdain is so strong it almost entirely changes his voice.