Emma only took his memories but didn't do anything to repress his magic. He still had the darkness which means he should've been seeing the vision of Rumplestiltskin, plus the darkness should've still been influencing him which we didn't see at all, he was acting perfectly normal. Also he had powerful magic. I could argue that he did feel it but didn't know what it was so he ignored it, but how did the magic not come out on its own? For example in self defense when he was fighting, or accidentally because he sneezed and set something on fire?

The Dark One's curse is supposed to be something terrible and overwhelming yet somehow not remembering you're the Dark One is enough to make you normal. Why go through all that trouble to find Merlin? Just take Emma's memories, problem solved.

Anyone have any explanations for this? I really hope there's a plausible answer I'm not seeing.