September Speculation: Killian Jones Edition!

Things I did not do between May and September: Catch up on Scandal, Revenge or even all of Game of Thrones. Blog intermittently while re-watching episodes of OUAT.

Things I did do between May and September: Read all of the currently in-print Song of Ice and Fire Series. Began watching The Big Bang Theory, Watched Bob's Burgers, and Orange is The New Black. Bitched about S2 of OUAT being UTTER NONSENSE while trying to entice other people to watch the show. (I was bad at this last thing. You see the conflict.)

There are other things that I did and did not do, but those would make this blog long and entirely too personal and not at all about OUAT, so...yeah.

Welcome to September and S3! It is a new season! Jane Espenson is back! I am optimistic! I want to be optimistic! I remember what happened the last time I was optimistic!

I could write about my hopes and fears and disappointments about this show - but I'm going to make a very conscious attempt to be forward thinking, and only look back as it relates to what we know or don't know about the story so far.

With that in mind - I'm going to start off with some speculation about Captain Killian Jones - aka Hook.

"No, you're right. I wear less eyeliner than
Jack Sparrow. Three guesses why."

Who is he?: Killian Jones, pirate, Captain of the Jolly Roger. Former ally of Cora, enemy of Rumpelstiltskin, Relationships with the rest of the Storybrooke Gang - unclear, bordering on antagonistic. Emma is CLEARLY drawn to him, but (rightly) doesn't trust him. Snow White is understandably repulsed by him, and he and David are doing the alpha dog 'circle and snap' deal that guys do. To be fair, Hook has been charmingly lewd toward David's wife and daughter, so David sort of has the moral upper hand (HA! Get it?) here. His relationship with Regina is a bit fraught. She's got to hold him a little responsible for Cora's death - which is for some reason upsetting to her, even though she sent Hook to Wonderland with instructions to KILL CORA. Then again, Regina's default is to blame Snow White, so maybe not.

What do we know about him?: He's the current Charming Rogue in Emma's life, whether she knows it or not, or wants to admit it. It'll be interesting to see if her "superpower" re-manifests in his presence. He spent time in Neverland for the purpose of living long enough to plot his revenge against The Dark One. He has a healthy (?) fear/respect of the Lost Boys.

"Captain, I really don't think we should
accept blankets from these colonists."

What do we NOT know about him?: How he became a pirate. How he became a captain. How much time he spent in Neverland, (Query: How can one "spend time" in Neverland? We know there is day and night, and they're not on some kind of temporal loop that causes them to repeat actions a la 'Groundhog Day', but people...lifeforms?...don't age. Does this include plants? If nothing dies, how do food chains work? I've been watching a lot of The Magic School Bus lately.) and what he did or who he interacted with while he was there. Incidentally, we also don't know what happened to the rest of his crew. When he heads into Neverland, he's got a ship full of pirates. All of whom but Smee go conspicuously missing. Smee goes missing later. There's a very good chance he's still a rat.**

Where is he from/going?: Originally from the Enchanted Forest, Hook travels to Neverland after Milah's death and his impromptu amputation so that he can remain the same age and plot the death of the Dark One.

Why does he do the things he does?: Short term - revenge and survival. "If there's one thing I want more than my revenge, it's my life." Hook wants to survive long enough to get to Rumplestiltskin and kill him, thereby avenging Milah. Long term - Hook, like everyone else on this show, is looking for love. D'aw. The bitter pill is that he FOUND it, albeit briefly. Moral of the Story: Happily Ever After, rarely is. The bigger question is what led Killian/Hook to become a pirate, and why does he have these fixed ideas about Good Form and fair fights?

A black pirate captain?
Why not? It worked in Blazing Saddles.
(Wait, that's not right...)

Before S2 began, I entertained the idea that Lancelot after being banished from the Round Table in disgrace, might have become Hook. Swordsman, strong principles, it could have worked. Oh well.

How does he impact the story?: Well, his only motivation that we've seen, is to kill Rumpelstiltskin. Which means he has to get in the same universe, to begin with. I'm not sure why Cora needed Hook, but we know why Hook needed Cora. Now that he knows where his nemesis is, and what some of his weaknesses are (Belle, the dagger, and garden variety poisons APPARENTLY.) he's....helping him get to Neverland because....reasons?

What does the protagonist want?: I know, I know. Hook isn't a protagonist. ...in Peter Pan's story, as we know it. But first - that's Captain JAMES Hook, not Killian Jones. And bigger point, that's in Peter Pan's story.  No one is ever the villain in their own story, and EVERYONE has their own story. Told from Hook's POV, he's avenging the the death of his beloved at the hands of the Dark One through the use of Good Form and Pointy Objects. So, what he wants is...unclear. The only way to put it right now, is that he wants an opportunity. Whether that's to genuinely redeem himself in the eyes of the Charming-Snow-Swan family, or just lull Rumpelstiltskin into a false sense of security remains to be seen.

Crackpot Theories: Hook's not just captaining the ship, he's going to be the guide to Neverland. Rumpel seems to have a passing familiarity with Neverland, and we know Regina knows about it - but David and Mary Margaret are in the dark (Why are they going? How are they supposed to be useful?), and Emma might only know what the rest of us know about Peter Pan, which is never absolute knowledge.

Hook as a love interest for Emma, natch. Especially since we're all comfortably assuming that Neal/Baelfire is dead, which he is NOT. That'll be an interesting love triangle - Daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming at the crux of the pissing contest between the Son of the Dark One and the Pirate Captain who used to be all about the Dark One's ex-wife. JER-RY JER-RY JER-RY!!!

Honestly, it's hard to form a proper crackpot theory around a character who's motivations are so obscured. We've seen him ally himself with literally every character at this point, however disingenuously. He agreed to kill Cora on Regina's behalf, he assisted Mary Margaret and Emma at Cora's behest, He helped Baelfire evade the Lost Boys, he even helped Greg and Tamara trap Regina. Now he's helping Rumpelstiltskin and Company get to Neverland. He seems to be playing a very ADHD endgame. Stay tuned!








** Actually a rat. S2 Ep11