Captain Hook: Lulzy pirate villain, sexpants Draco reborn, or chauvanist catch-all plot device?

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

I've had several conflicting opinions about Killian Jones since the character was introduced in . The casting department clearly hit gold with his looks, accent, and general screen presence, but in terms of story I think the writers are trying too hard to have it both ways. They want us to sympathize with his vengeance, but then they consistently pull him back to villain behavior. In that way he's not much different from Regina or Gold, who've been given broad freedom in the story to act as villains or as protagonists, but Hook's character is so in-your-face with the charm factor that the whole dance is starting to annoy me. Nevertheless, it seemed pretty clear with the latest batch of episodes that he's moved from 'chaotic neutral' to full villainy. So let's discuss! Canon and fanon.

(Spoilers for the winter finale + unspoiled speculation about future story-lines and/or future characters.)

Comments

[rpowell.livejournal.com]

I have no problem with Hook. One, his ability to shift from heroism or compassion to villainy makes him a very conflicting personality . . . which I find interesting. For me, that is a more realistic aspect of human behavior than someone being being "good" or "evil". I'm beginning to suspect that many people do not realize how truly complex human nature can really be. And characters like Hook, Rumpelstiltskin and Regina strike me as more complex, interesting and real to me than the members of the Charming family.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

They've definitely done a good job of showing how focused Hook's character is on his objective! I just prefer to think that the writers behind the character have a clear objective, even if it hasn't been revealed to the audience yet. I'm not 100% convinced that they really know where they're going with his character in the long run. I hope they do, however.

If it wasn't for that, I think he would be one of the good characters, well at least as good as a pirate can be.

Which is really not very good at all, even if Disney likes to romanticize characters like Jack Sparrow. Atvery best you're talking thief and destroyer of property. At worst you're talking murder, rapist, thief, extortionist, bandit, ship-sinker, and 'the monsters who burned our city to the ground'.

So far, we've only seen Hook kill, kidnap, and beat people. He may do worse or better as the show goes on.

[jadestrick.livejournal.com]

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[tcoll813.livejournal.com]

I personally don't have a problem with Hook either, but I do see where his constant switching could be a problem. Hook needs character development, but we'll see how they do it.