Okay so it’s a look but I wanna talk about it. Because THIS particular look is so interesting to me.
Context- Emma has just pulled him out from under the rocks and presented him with the compass. They have a way to the LWM without Cora. He is in awe of Emma and the compass (cause he is a nerd for navigation stuff). He reaches out to touch it but Emma pulls it away and puts it in her pocket.
And then we get THIS look.
He isn’t mad. He doesn’t look upset or devious. He just smiles. Like “okay I get you still don’t trust me but we were successful so I’m gonna call it a win”
I’ve written before about how the beanstalk adventure gives us a Hook that feels more carefree and less revenge-y then other episodes in S2. He is teaming with the heroes and I think that made him confident that he didn’t have to watch his back. Heroes wouldn’t double cross him, right? Right?
And seeing this gif made me realize how in Tallahassee the writing and direction go out of their way to emphasis that Emma not trusting him is unjustified. Hook doesn’t have a secondary plan to steal the compass. They don’t have him lying or cheating in any way. The worst thing he does is probe at Emma’s emotional vulnerabilities.
And honestly that alone is why she chains him up and does a runner. Not because he was making her lie detector go off but because he wasn’t. Because he looked into her eyes and smiled and questioned and she felt something when he called her “bloody brilliant” and said they made a “good team”.
She looked at this bashful grin and was like “I can’t take the chance that I am wrong about you”
This is the last true Killian Jones-esque smile for the rest of S2 and most of S3.
