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White Collar 3x06
So, before I get started on this week's episode, I need to say, because I did not say it before, that I loved last week's episode LIKE WHOA. It was fun and funny and adorable, and the ending was a total squeesplosion.
And about this week's, well, first of all, that scene at the beginning with Peter barging in on Neal and Sara ... WTF, writers, seriously. Because I adore Peter and I love his cat-and-mouse, battle-of-wits thing with Neal, and I still can't figure out a single way to view that scene that wasn't Peter being a gratuitously nosy, cockblocking jerk. The fact that Neal wasn't actually doing anything except enjoying a quiet morning with his girlfriend tipped Peter's generally smirky I'm-onto-you thing from "cute" into "just plain annoying".
Unfortunately this overshadowed the first fifteen minutes or so of the episode, until I was finally too caught up in the general squee to really think about it anymore.
Because, as for the rest of the episode?
I LOVE
THIS SHOW
SO MUCH.
♥
Okay, so -- I adore heists and clever cons and general outside-the-law stuff. But I also want the show/movie/book/whatever to sell me on the idea that the characters are still criminals -- that is, I want to be able to sympathize/empathize with them without feeling like the show is whitewashing them in a transparent attempt to make them more sympathetic to the generally law-abiding audience. It's not that I want them to be portrayed as being clearly in the wrong or punished in the end or anything like that; it's just that, if the show is going to tell me that the characters are [x], [y] or [z] (whether a thief or a con artist or a prostitute or a former street kid or whatever), I want it to give me the good and the bad together -- I want it to make their world feel lived in, and make them seem like they live in that world.
Hustle does a fabulous job of walking that line. And I really do think that White Collar does, also. I particularly loved Neal's conversation with Peter about the "rush" and the addiction of the con -- especially since on some level Peter really doesn't get it, isn't able to see past what he wants for Neal to what Neal wants for himself. It's not simply that Peter's 100% right and Neal's wrong; it's way more complex than that.
The show was totally anvillicious about comparing Scott and Neal's respective situations, and maybe a little over-the-top with Scott giving himself up at the end, but all in all the analogy between the two of them did work for me, if nothing else because it gave us another angle into Neal's emotional state and his past, and an opportunity for more of those sideways conversations that the show does so well. (Some neat, neat bits at the conference table scene in the beginning, and I loved the final scene with Peter and Neal, also.)
And -- HEIST! Going behind Peter's back! but for altruistic reasons! Clever con artists being clever and sneaky! And this is definitely one of those situations where Neal would totally be going back to prison if he got caught, so Peter stepping up to help out with the lawbreaking was another of those big "squee!" moments: because he really does watch Neal's back, and because he also trusts that Neal is doing something important, not going back to a life of crime. He may not know what Neal is up to, but he's willing to put his own career on the line to back up Neal's play. Ohhh yes. It's adorable and hilarious that Peter probably wouldn't trust Neal with his wallet, but he trusts him with his life, or with someone else's life. And Neal's simple answer to Scott's question: Why is he doing it? "Because he's Peter." There's a whole universe of history between the two of them in that simple line of dialogue.
Ahhhhh and then the moment in Carlyle's office when the penny dropped and Peter figured out what Neal was up to, on the basis of a few tiny crumbs of information and a general awareness of how Neal thinks -- oh, I was grinning SO HARD through that whole scene; just the way the whole thing came together and clicked.
I know the fandom hates it, but I am still completely fascinated with, and enamored of, Neal and Sara's relationship. I hadn't realized it was as much of a secret to their friends as it appears to be, but the way that this episode presented it -- I liked it a lot! I liked that it isn't supposed to be some kind of grand romance, that they aren't even (as far as I can tell) in love with each other. I get the impression that it's more an arrangement of mutual convenience, that Sara is mostly in it for thrills, while Neal is still trying (not very successfully) to capture the elusive idea of love/stability/marriage/family that he's apparently been chasing all his life. It has the potential to go just about any direction right now: to develop into something deeper, to blow up horribly in their faces, to quietly fade away when they mutually decide to go their separate ways. There is something about it that's a little gray and a little melancholy and almost 100% doomed, and basically it just works so damned well with my general fondness for relationships that fall outside the traditional falling-in-love --> getting-together --> white-picket-fences dynamic.
And the ending! eeeee suspense! It doesn't make a whole lot of sense that Sara would be that surprised that Neal has a fake passport (hello, CON ARTIST) but now there are still more secrets and more angles, and even though on most shows I absolutely hate characters keeping secrets from each other, on this show it's totally part of the charm and the appeal for me. Peter and Diana are closing on the Degas; Sara is picking up her own pieces of the truth; Neal and Mozzie are putting their escape plan together. (Though seriously, Neal, you've never heard of identity farming? I'm familiar with it from suspense novels written in the '80s. C'mon, man.) Plans! Cons! Lies and truth and lies all wrapped up together, and wound around with the fragile threads of friendship and trust and shared history binding the characters together. EEEE SHOW!
This entry is also posted at http://friendshipper.dreamwidth.org/357768.html with
comments.
And about this week's, well, first of all, that scene at the beginning with Peter barging in on Neal and Sara ... WTF, writers, seriously. Because I adore Peter and I love his cat-and-mouse, battle-of-wits thing with Neal, and I still can't figure out a single way to view that scene that wasn't Peter being a gratuitously nosy, cockblocking jerk. The fact that Neal wasn't actually doing anything except enjoying a quiet morning with his girlfriend tipped Peter's generally smirky I'm-onto-you thing from "cute" into "just plain annoying".
Unfortunately this overshadowed the first fifteen minutes or so of the episode, until I was finally too caught up in the general squee to really think about it anymore.
Because, as for the rest of the episode?
I LOVE
THIS SHOW
SO MUCH.
♥
Okay, so -- I adore heists and clever cons and general outside-the-law stuff. But I also want the show/movie/book/whatever to sell me on the idea that the characters are still criminals -- that is, I want to be able to sympathize/empathize with them without feeling like the show is whitewashing them in a transparent attempt to make them more sympathetic to the generally law-abiding audience. It's not that I want them to be portrayed as being clearly in the wrong or punished in the end or anything like that; it's just that, if the show is going to tell me that the characters are [x], [y] or [z] (whether a thief or a con artist or a prostitute or a former street kid or whatever), I want it to give me the good and the bad together -- I want it to make their world feel lived in, and make them seem like they live in that world.
Hustle does a fabulous job of walking that line. And I really do think that White Collar does, also. I particularly loved Neal's conversation with Peter about the "rush" and the addiction of the con -- especially since on some level Peter really doesn't get it, isn't able to see past what he wants for Neal to what Neal wants for himself. It's not simply that Peter's 100% right and Neal's wrong; it's way more complex than that.
The show was totally anvillicious about comparing Scott and Neal's respective situations, and maybe a little over-the-top with Scott giving himself up at the end, but all in all the analogy between the two of them did work for me, if nothing else because it gave us another angle into Neal's emotional state and his past, and an opportunity for more of those sideways conversations that the show does so well. (Some neat, neat bits at the conference table scene in the beginning, and I loved the final scene with Peter and Neal, also.)
And -- HEIST! Going behind Peter's back! but for altruistic reasons! Clever con artists being clever and sneaky! And this is definitely one of those situations where Neal would totally be going back to prison if he got caught, so Peter stepping up to help out with the lawbreaking was another of those big "squee!" moments: because he really does watch Neal's back, and because he also trusts that Neal is doing something important, not going back to a life of crime. He may not know what Neal is up to, but he's willing to put his own career on the line to back up Neal's play. Ohhh yes. It's adorable and hilarious that Peter probably wouldn't trust Neal with his wallet, but he trusts him with his life, or with someone else's life. And Neal's simple answer to Scott's question: Why is he doing it? "Because he's Peter." There's a whole universe of history between the two of them in that simple line of dialogue.
Ahhhhh and then the moment in Carlyle's office when the penny dropped and Peter figured out what Neal was up to, on the basis of a few tiny crumbs of information and a general awareness of how Neal thinks -- oh, I was grinning SO HARD through that whole scene; just the way the whole thing came together and clicked.
I know the fandom hates it, but I am still completely fascinated with, and enamored of, Neal and Sara's relationship. I hadn't realized it was as much of a secret to their friends as it appears to be, but the way that this episode presented it -- I liked it a lot! I liked that it isn't supposed to be some kind of grand romance, that they aren't even (as far as I can tell) in love with each other. I get the impression that it's more an arrangement of mutual convenience, that Sara is mostly in it for thrills, while Neal is still trying (not very successfully) to capture the elusive idea of love/stability/marriage/family that he's apparently been chasing all his life. It has the potential to go just about any direction right now: to develop into something deeper, to blow up horribly in their faces, to quietly fade away when they mutually decide to go their separate ways. There is something about it that's a little gray and a little melancholy and almost 100% doomed, and basically it just works so damned well with my general fondness for relationships that fall outside the traditional falling-in-love --> getting-together --> white-picket-fences dynamic.
And the ending! eeeee suspense! It doesn't make a whole lot of sense that Sara would be that surprised that Neal has a fake passport (hello, CON ARTIST) but now there are still more secrets and more angles, and even though on most shows I absolutely hate characters keeping secrets from each other, on this show it's totally part of the charm and the appeal for me. Peter and Diana are closing on the Degas; Sara is picking up her own pieces of the truth; Neal and Mozzie are putting their escape plan together. (Though seriously, Neal, you've never heard of identity farming? I'm familiar with it from suspense novels written in the '80s. C'mon, man.) Plans! Cons! Lies and truth and lies all wrapped up together, and wound around with the fragile threads of friendship and trust and shared history binding the characters together. EEEE SHOW!
This entry is also posted at http://friendshipper.dreamwidth.org/357768.html with
no subject
I like Neal and Sara, and I like them together. I thought Peter's caution to Neal to not let his "bad" ways rub off on her was interesting. Peter has great insight.
I didn't think Sara looked surprised at finding a phony passport. Conflicted, maybe. Does she mention it to Neal? To Peter? She has to be wondering what Neal is up to, especially to have one so good (and she has to be able to recognize the quality), and what her place in Neal's life really is.
no subject
I am really looking forward to seeing which way the passport thing goes. She's got to know that Neal has phony IDs around, unless she thinks he's completely reformed ... but surely she has enough evidence that that's not the case!