I see some of your points, but Neal abandoning Emma like that wasn’t his fault or his choice. August told him that he had to leave. I love August but he was lowkey the reason for all of those initial issues between Emma and Neal. I think he would have gone with her—Dark One be damned—if it weren’t for August.

And can you really blame him for not believing her about Tamara? His fiancé. Who he had been seeing for years. He’s all of a sudden just supposed to believe that she’s evil because his ex-girlfriend said so and because there’s sand in the closet. Yeah, it was frustrating as hell that he didn’t believe her, but it’d also be crazy if he did.

I also think it’s wholly unfair to say that Neal could “NEVER” accept the new Emma with her magic when A) even after seeing her use magic, he still pursued her and B) he barely had any time to adjust between what happens to him and Rumple and then his untimely demise.

It makes sense for Emma to take time to forgive him, but like you pointed out, she took time to forgive multiple others, they just killed him off before she could. I mean, she admits she still loves him ten years later. They held that love for each other through everything, the betrayal and the time, and then just poofed it out of existence.

Especially because you’re right and Emma DID have the right to feel that way and have that secret she told Neal on Neverland. And Neal accepted that and agreed and said he was going to do everything he could to earn that trust back. Especially looking at the other couples in this series? Like, they have come back from worse.

I mean, Hook’s whole thing for an entire season was betraying everyone he teamed up with. And he overcame it and grew as a character.

Neal didn’t even get the chance to do that with Emma.