![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
So apparently I am watching White Collar now?
And enjoying it ridiculous amounts. *g* I don't think I'm really fannish about it, but this show is terribly fun.
And I'm watching it a bit differently than I watch some shows. With White Collar, I really do not care about being spoiled; I actually started watching (after trying it in season one and not really liking it) because I'd been reading meta about this season's meta-arc, and wanted to see a couple of those episodes so that I actually understood what I was reading. And then I liked the characters, so I've been cherry-picking episodes from season two to see more of them.
Thus far my favorite episode of the ones I've seen has actually been the one that sold me on the show: the most recent one, 3x03. It was adorable in pretty much every way, and it gave great ensemble, and then the last little bit at the end made me flip over from just having fun with the show to going, "Whoa, I love these characters and I want to see more of them!"
Because, dude. Peter is playing Neal. Or, more accurately, I'm pretty sure that he's gently pushing Neal's buttons in an attempt to make Neal 'fess up and do the right thing before they catch up with him, because Peter believes that Neal's got it in him to choose friends and found-family over money. I'm not sure if he knows for sure that Neal's got the treasure, but he certainly suspects it, and with the clock running down, I really do think that Peter is both doing his job to the best of his ability (because that's who he is) and trying to give Neal enough leash to do the moral thing before the feds, led by Peter, catch him. That last comment about family, and then that little glance at Neal -- oh yeah. He really does believe in Neal, and he really does believe Neal is capable of doing the right thing (Peter's definition of the right thing, that is -- which is also the thing that won't cost Neal everything he's built here) before it's too late, with the help of a nudge here and there.
Now that I've seen more of it, I definitely do get the issues that people have with the blood-art thing, and if this season's meta-plot was going to be "running away with a whole bunch of stolen treasure", I really, really, really wish that they had chosen to do it with almost anything else than looted Nazi art. It's giving opportunities for great character interaction, but oh, I wish that it had been something less emotionally loaded and full of problems in the way they're handling it. Damn it, show. >_>
It's frustrating because I like almost everything else about the show! I love the cons/stings and the character interactions and even the casting of minor characters. Though I really don't care much about the meta-arcs in general -- I'm discovering quickly, even through the random episodes I've watched, that I really, really don't care about the Kate-Adler arc in season two. I don't hate it, and maybe it's just 'cause I already know how it turns out, but for some reason it bores me to death -- whereas usually I'm more interested in the long story arcs, in this show I mostly I just care in terms of how it affects the characters.
Because I really do love the characters.
I think the biggest thing I adore about them is that they're all smart and clever and competent! But not super-competent, can-never-make-a-mistake competent. Although I love con/sting/heist shows and movies in general, my biggest problem with a lot of them is that I hate it when the characters' million-variable Xanatos gambits go perfectly due to coincidences that they could not possibly have foreseen and planned for. (This was actually one of the reasons I stopped watching Leverage; it did it to me once too often.) I don't want the characters to be criminal genius masterminds all the time, even if they actually are criminal genius masterminds, because no one is right every time, and how much fun is that, anyway? I want to see them failing, and then having to use their cleverness and competence to get out of it.
So another thing that actually sold me on the show in 3x03 is that Neal's first plan to switch the briefcase, while clever and something that he and Mozzie have probably practiced a million times, didn't work, not because of incompetence but because of a factor he couldn't possibly have foreseen. And then he has to make up something else on the fly. And he gets Sarah's help to do it. Which is another thing I love about this show -- even though the characters are all good at what they do, their plans generally rely on teamwork, and end up using everybody's unique skills in order to get the desired result. SWEET.
Random side note: no more exposure than I've had to the fandom, I've gotten the impression that the fandom in general doesn't like Sarah/Neal. I am so baffled by this! I love them! Perhaps it's at least partly that they were already a couple when I first encountered them, so even in the earlier episodes where they're just getting to know each other, I already think of them and relate to them as an established couple, as I also do with Peter/Elizabeth. But, but ... they're so neat together! They're bantery and fun and they really get and respect each other, and she helps him pull off cons. ♥(I actually thought at first that she was lying to Diana & Christie about being a legal-type person, as part of whatever scam she and Neal were running on them, and was actually a con artist like Neal. But no! She's a cop and he's a con, and yet even in the earliest episode that I've seen with them so far -- the one where she helps him and Peter scam the guys at the yacht club -- she's already got a lovely bantery, flirty, teamwork thing going with Neal.
And while I'm on the topic of couples, PETER/ELIZABETH 4EVAH. ♥ ♥ ♥ The episode I just watched was the one where they had their "fight" before Peter got kidnapped, and it was SO cute and adorable and awesome! They're great -- I love, love, love that they're so respectful and understanding of each other; I love that they've been together so long that "hon" means "I love you" ... I just love them a lot. ♥ (And I also love that Elizabeth is cute as a button, and sexy, and stylish, and obviously Peter's dream woman, while still being shaped like a normal person rather than model-skinny. OH SHOW.)
And not to leave them out, Diana/Christie are very cute too! This show does couples very well; I am very picky in that area, and I gotta say I don't have a single complaint.
Anyway! Before I got off on all of that, I was talking about characters being competent, and I'm not done yet! Competence is a big story-kink of mine, and it's something that has been in short supply in some of the shows that I've been watching lately (... Sanctuary, I'm looking at you ...) and I think that's another of the things that's really sucked me into this show. Whether they're cops or cons, the characters are all good at what they do, and we're actually shown them being smart and resourceful and knowledgeable, rather than just told about it. They know their stuff and they can think on their feet, but they're not completely infallible and they often have to rely on each others' skill sets in order to get the job done. (Teamwork! ♥) And the plots are pretty well put together as well -- at the very least, I haven't hit an episode yet that relied on any of the characters acting like idiots or going randomly OOC in order to make the plot work. I adore that Peter's not the "dumb sidekick" with Neal being the "smart one" -- they're both really smart, and they both come up with the plans, and I am falling harder and harder for Peter's little-kid delight when Neal gets him to do things the fun way instead of the fed way. (Well, okay, I am crushing pretty hard on Peter in general. But those little-kid grins, his sparkly delight that keeps peeping through the tough-fed exterior ... yeah, that's a big part of it. ^_^)
So yeah! I find that I glaze over a bit whenever the show hits meta-plot stuff, but in general it's really a happy place for me right now.
This entry is also posted at http://friendshipper.dreamwidth.org/353416.html with
comments.
And I'm watching it a bit differently than I watch some shows. With White Collar, I really do not care about being spoiled; I actually started watching (after trying it in season one and not really liking it) because I'd been reading meta about this season's meta-arc, and wanted to see a couple of those episodes so that I actually understood what I was reading. And then I liked the characters, so I've been cherry-picking episodes from season two to see more of them.
Thus far my favorite episode of the ones I've seen has actually been the one that sold me on the show: the most recent one, 3x03. It was adorable in pretty much every way, and it gave great ensemble, and then the last little bit at the end made me flip over from just having fun with the show to going, "Whoa, I love these characters and I want to see more of them!"
Because, dude. Peter is playing Neal. Or, more accurately, I'm pretty sure that he's gently pushing Neal's buttons in an attempt to make Neal 'fess up and do the right thing before they catch up with him, because Peter believes that Neal's got it in him to choose friends and found-family over money. I'm not sure if he knows for sure that Neal's got the treasure, but he certainly suspects it, and with the clock running down, I really do think that Peter is both doing his job to the best of his ability (because that's who he is) and trying to give Neal enough leash to do the moral thing before the feds, led by Peter, catch him. That last comment about family, and then that little glance at Neal -- oh yeah. He really does believe in Neal, and he really does believe Neal is capable of doing the right thing (Peter's definition of the right thing, that is -- which is also the thing that won't cost Neal everything he's built here) before it's too late, with the help of a nudge here and there.
Now that I've seen more of it, I definitely do get the issues that people have with the blood-art thing, and if this season's meta-plot was going to be "running away with a whole bunch of stolen treasure", I really, really, really wish that they had chosen to do it with almost anything else than looted Nazi art. It's giving opportunities for great character interaction, but oh, I wish that it had been something less emotionally loaded and full of problems in the way they're handling it. Damn it, show. >_>
It's frustrating because I like almost everything else about the show! I love the cons/stings and the character interactions and even the casting of minor characters. Though I really don't care much about the meta-arcs in general -- I'm discovering quickly, even through the random episodes I've watched, that I really, really don't care about the Kate-Adler arc in season two. I don't hate it, and maybe it's just 'cause I already know how it turns out, but for some reason it bores me to death -- whereas usually I'm more interested in the long story arcs, in this show I mostly I just care in terms of how it affects the characters.
Because I really do love the characters.
I think the biggest thing I adore about them is that they're all smart and clever and competent! But not super-competent, can-never-make-a-mistake competent. Although I love con/sting/heist shows and movies in general, my biggest problem with a lot of them is that I hate it when the characters' million-variable Xanatos gambits go perfectly due to coincidences that they could not possibly have foreseen and planned for. (This was actually one of the reasons I stopped watching Leverage; it did it to me once too often.) I don't want the characters to be criminal genius masterminds all the time, even if they actually are criminal genius masterminds, because no one is right every time, and how much fun is that, anyway? I want to see them failing, and then having to use their cleverness and competence to get out of it.
So another thing that actually sold me on the show in 3x03 is that Neal's first plan to switch the briefcase, while clever and something that he and Mozzie have probably practiced a million times, didn't work, not because of incompetence but because of a factor he couldn't possibly have foreseen. And then he has to make up something else on the fly. And he gets Sarah's help to do it. Which is another thing I love about this show -- even though the characters are all good at what they do, their plans generally rely on teamwork, and end up using everybody's unique skills in order to get the desired result. SWEET.
Random side note: no more exposure than I've had to the fandom, I've gotten the impression that the fandom in general doesn't like Sarah/Neal. I am so baffled by this! I love them! Perhaps it's at least partly that they were already a couple when I first encountered them, so even in the earlier episodes where they're just getting to know each other, I already think of them and relate to them as an established couple, as I also do with Peter/Elizabeth. But, but ... they're so neat together! They're bantery and fun and they really get and respect each other, and she helps him pull off cons. ♥(I actually thought at first that she was lying to Diana & Christie about being a legal-type person, as part of whatever scam she and Neal were running on them, and was actually a con artist like Neal. But no! She's a cop and he's a con, and yet even in the earliest episode that I've seen with them so far -- the one where she helps him and Peter scam the guys at the yacht club -- she's already got a lovely bantery, flirty, teamwork thing going with Neal.
And while I'm on the topic of couples, PETER/ELIZABETH 4EVAH. ♥ ♥ ♥ The episode I just watched was the one where they had their "fight" before Peter got kidnapped, and it was SO cute and adorable and awesome! They're great -- I love, love, love that they're so respectful and understanding of each other; I love that they've been together so long that "hon" means "I love you" ... I just love them a lot. ♥ (And I also love that Elizabeth is cute as a button, and sexy, and stylish, and obviously Peter's dream woman, while still being shaped like a normal person rather than model-skinny. OH SHOW.)
And not to leave them out, Diana/Christie are very cute too! This show does couples very well; I am very picky in that area, and I gotta say I don't have a single complaint.
Anyway! Before I got off on all of that, I was talking about characters being competent, and I'm not done yet! Competence is a big story-kink of mine, and it's something that has been in short supply in some of the shows that I've been watching lately (... Sanctuary, I'm looking at you ...) and I think that's another of the things that's really sucked me into this show. Whether they're cops or cons, the characters are all good at what they do, and we're actually shown them being smart and resourceful and knowledgeable, rather than just told about it. They know their stuff and they can think on their feet, but they're not completely infallible and they often have to rely on each others' skill sets in order to get the job done. (Teamwork! ♥) And the plots are pretty well put together as well -- at the very least, I haven't hit an episode yet that relied on any of the characters acting like idiots or going randomly OOC in order to make the plot work. I adore that Peter's not the "dumb sidekick" with Neal being the "smart one" -- they're both really smart, and they both come up with the plans, and I am falling harder and harder for Peter's little-kid delight when Neal gets him to do things the fun way instead of the fed way. (Well, okay, I am crushing pretty hard on Peter in general. But those little-kid grins, his sparkly delight that keeps peeping through the tough-fed exterior ... yeah, that's a big part of it. ^_^)
So yeah! I find that I glaze over a bit whenever the show hits meta-plot stuff, but in general it's really a happy place for me right now.
This entry is also posted at http://friendshipper.dreamwidth.org/353416.html with
no subject
no subject