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White Collar reaction post? Haven't had one of those in a while.
I have Internet again! \o/
And I will use it to post about White Collar. No spoilers for next week, please.
Whiiiiiiite Collar! Well, I loved this episode for all the reasons one might expect. *g* It took me awhile to warm up to last week's episode (I enjoyed it on first viewing, but wasn't really "yay!" about it 'til later) but this time, I pretty much loved everything about this episode and still do. ♥ ♥ ♥
Mozzie and Jones! "Neal!" "Peter." "Moz." "Jones!" *bwaha*
... and Mozzie offering to donate his spleen to Peter. [[[[[Mozzie]]]]] So adorable. Yet so odd.
And then there's the lying, which ... well, I guess I was fairly up-front in the first part of the season that I was unhappy with some of the things Neal did that were, on the surface, similar to what he did here. But what he did in this episode, I don't have a single problem with, and I've been thinking about why that is.
... Though really, Neal, you DO have to stop letting other people make your decisions for you! It's always been an aspect of his character that is really interesting to me -- Neal wants to get along with people, and hates hurting people he cares about, and wants people around him to get along. So, basically, he tells people what they want to hear, whether or not it's true, and looks to other people to make important decisions for him. (Another area where this expresses itself is when he's around two people he cares about who are fighting, usually Peter and Mozzie -- I often get the impression that the conflict bothers him, and he keeps trying to intervene in small ways to make them get along with each other. And, of course, the treasure in season three -- he does feel the lure of the Big Score, certainly, but more than that, he doesn't want to fight with Mozzie and have Mozzie mad at him.) Neal doesn't like conflict; he doesn't like people he cares about being mad at him or at each other. In this episode, he goes along with El's idea not because it's a good idea -- it's a terrible idea! oh El, El, you idiot -- but because El told him to. Obviously he at least partly agrees with her or he wouldn't have done it (Neal isn't a pushover, and I don't think it's fair to put blame for the situation on any one person -- Neal or El or, for that matter, Peter -- they're all culpable here), but I really do think that, whether he realizes it or not, the "El wants me to" factor is a bigger issue for him than whether it's right, wrong, or the best thing for Peter. Which is something that's been consistent about his character since basically day one.
(And furthermore I should make it clear that I recognize this failing in Neal because it's something that's a failing in me. I know it when I see it. I think the show is portraying it very realistically.)
It also strikes me very much as the ingrained behavior of someone who grew up with parents who fought constantly -- so the child ends up playing peacemaker between them -- or a parent whose behavior was unpredictably abusive and, consequently, always had to be appeased, no matter what. Knowing what we know about Neal's background, the latter is a lot more likely than the former, unless his mother had boyfriends, but it is, to me, a fascinatingly consistent character trait for someone who had the sort of background that Neal is often given in fanon.
Even though the look on Peter's face when Neal lies to him is kind of heartbreaking, and I do feel for him, it still didn't bother me on Peter's behalf the way that I was bothered earlier in the season. Thinking about it, I think the problem I had in the earlier episodes (4x05 and, I think, 4x07 or 8) is that Neal was being dishonest with Peter in ways that could actively hurt his career or blow their investigations -- i.e. he was violating Peter's trust in ways that could take away things that are important to Peter, without seeming to give weight to the importance of those things in Peter's life. That was what bothered me, not the lying to him per se. (And yes, I know he had reasons, and I know that mileage varies on that whole issue; I know that a lot of people didn't have the same problem I did with those scenes! But it was something I struggled with and still kinda do. I'm only bringing it up because I'm trying to figure out why it bothered me there and not here.)
But this -- this is the sort of thing Peter and Neal have done since the beginning, and even though Peter is initially quite hurt, I think by the end of the episode he is genuinely enjoying the challenge and the race. He likes playing catch-me-if-you-can with Neal. This is the kind of mental game of one-upsmanship that I think he would not only forgive easily, but have fun with. And that's why it didn't bother me when they were keeping secrets all over the place in season three, either. It was a chase -- they were both running at breakneck speed, trying to stay ahead of the other one, but they were both also playing by the same rules. Earlier in season four, it felt like only one of them was playing the game. Neal was, but Peter wasn't, and it made it feel (to me) like Neal was taking advantage of him. And that hurt. But here, they're both on the same page again (Neal is lying to Peter; Peter is trying to figure out what he's up to, and keeping secrets of his own), and it's that fun push-pull, cat-and-mouse, trick-me-and-catch-my-tricks dynamic that they have always done. They adore each other, but they also thrive on a genuinely competitive sort of interaction, which is something that I think the people around them tend not to understand.
In short, it's not that secrets are being kept; it's the way they're being kept, and the reasons behind it, and perhaps even more than that, the way both of them are reacting to it. I do really love those rare occasions in the show when they're completely open with each other, but those are rare, and their default state seems to be something more like this, a sort of never-ending cycle of lying to each other, hurting each other, and making up, with a lot of competitive problem-solving in the meantime.
Also, this is perhaps the first episode in the entire series in which El is less than a supportive paragon of virtue. She is hurt, and petty, and human, and she does something stupid and perhaps cruel, which she genuinely believes is protecting Peter, but only hurts both him and Neal. I am not sure if El is going to take heat from fandom for trying to push Neal away from Peter, but for my own part, I really liked it -- I do like that, generally speaking, El is portrayed as a very positive and supportive person on the show, but I have occasionally been frustrated that she is always the voice of reason and never gets to be hurt and frustrated and imperfect. El being petty and angry is actually a nice change, in my opinion!
Oh, and also, this episode confirmed a long-standing bit of headcanon of mine -- namely, that Neal would not be hovering over Peter in the hospital if Peter were hurt/comatose/whatever. I'm not critizing fics in which Neal basically drops everything and hangs around the hospital or pitches in to help after Peter is hurt (heck, I know I've written them, I'm not one to talk, and I do have a soppy soft spot for that sort of h/c) but my headcanon has generally been that canon!Neal isn't going to do that sort of thing (for example, I don't think he visited Peter in the hospital in Company Man; I generally got the impression that the next time he saw Peter was in the next scene with them back at work), and I've always kinda wondered how it would play out if we ever got a canon situation that would give us some idea one way or the other. So, yay, headcanon! (Not that I have any doubt that Neal was worried, mind you -- I think that was pretty obvious -- but Peter being hospitalized and Neal being out there doing his Neal thing rather than being openly concerned fits perfectly with how I see them. Neal visiting him once he woke up and bringing presents was very sweet, though, and something that probably wouldn't have happened in, say, season one or two!)
So, basically, yeah, I am all of the squee for this episode. Interestingly, I'm at a point where I'm less interested in reading tags or whatnot than in finding out how canon is going to develop.
(Oh, and the scene near the end with Hughes and Neal -- awwww! ♥)
And I will use it to post about White Collar. No spoilers for next week, please.
Whiiiiiiite Collar! Well, I loved this episode for all the reasons one might expect. *g* It took me awhile to warm up to last week's episode (I enjoyed it on first viewing, but wasn't really "yay!" about it 'til later) but this time, I pretty much loved everything about this episode and still do. ♥ ♥ ♥
Mozzie and Jones! "Neal!" "Peter." "Moz." "Jones!" *bwaha*
... and Mozzie offering to donate his spleen to Peter. [[[[[Mozzie]]]]] So adorable. Yet so odd.
And then there's the lying, which ... well, I guess I was fairly up-front in the first part of the season that I was unhappy with some of the things Neal did that were, on the surface, similar to what he did here. But what he did in this episode, I don't have a single problem with, and I've been thinking about why that is.
... Though really, Neal, you DO have to stop letting other people make your decisions for you! It's always been an aspect of his character that is really interesting to me -- Neal wants to get along with people, and hates hurting people he cares about, and wants people around him to get along. So, basically, he tells people what they want to hear, whether or not it's true, and looks to other people to make important decisions for him. (Another area where this expresses itself is when he's around two people he cares about who are fighting, usually Peter and Mozzie -- I often get the impression that the conflict bothers him, and he keeps trying to intervene in small ways to make them get along with each other. And, of course, the treasure in season three -- he does feel the lure of the Big Score, certainly, but more than that, he doesn't want to fight with Mozzie and have Mozzie mad at him.) Neal doesn't like conflict; he doesn't like people he cares about being mad at him or at each other. In this episode, he goes along with El's idea not because it's a good idea -- it's a terrible idea! oh El, El, you idiot -- but because El told him to. Obviously he at least partly agrees with her or he wouldn't have done it (Neal isn't a pushover, and I don't think it's fair to put blame for the situation on any one person -- Neal or El or, for that matter, Peter -- they're all culpable here), but I really do think that, whether he realizes it or not, the "El wants me to" factor is a bigger issue for him than whether it's right, wrong, or the best thing for Peter. Which is something that's been consistent about his character since basically day one.
(And furthermore I should make it clear that I recognize this failing in Neal because it's something that's a failing in me. I know it when I see it. I think the show is portraying it very realistically.)
It also strikes me very much as the ingrained behavior of someone who grew up with parents who fought constantly -- so the child ends up playing peacemaker between them -- or a parent whose behavior was unpredictably abusive and, consequently, always had to be appeased, no matter what. Knowing what we know about Neal's background, the latter is a lot more likely than the former, unless his mother had boyfriends, but it is, to me, a fascinatingly consistent character trait for someone who had the sort of background that Neal is often given in fanon.
Even though the look on Peter's face when Neal lies to him is kind of heartbreaking, and I do feel for him, it still didn't bother me on Peter's behalf the way that I was bothered earlier in the season. Thinking about it, I think the problem I had in the earlier episodes (4x05 and, I think, 4x07 or 8) is that Neal was being dishonest with Peter in ways that could actively hurt his career or blow their investigations -- i.e. he was violating Peter's trust in ways that could take away things that are important to Peter, without seeming to give weight to the importance of those things in Peter's life. That was what bothered me, not the lying to him per se. (And yes, I know he had reasons, and I know that mileage varies on that whole issue; I know that a lot of people didn't have the same problem I did with those scenes! But it was something I struggled with and still kinda do. I'm only bringing it up because I'm trying to figure out why it bothered me there and not here.)
But this -- this is the sort of thing Peter and Neal have done since the beginning, and even though Peter is initially quite hurt, I think by the end of the episode he is genuinely enjoying the challenge and the race. He likes playing catch-me-if-you-can with Neal. This is the kind of mental game of one-upsmanship that I think he would not only forgive easily, but have fun with. And that's why it didn't bother me when they were keeping secrets all over the place in season three, either. It was a chase -- they were both running at breakneck speed, trying to stay ahead of the other one, but they were both also playing by the same rules. Earlier in season four, it felt like only one of them was playing the game. Neal was, but Peter wasn't, and it made it feel (to me) like Neal was taking advantage of him. And that hurt. But here, they're both on the same page again (Neal is lying to Peter; Peter is trying to figure out what he's up to, and keeping secrets of his own), and it's that fun push-pull, cat-and-mouse, trick-me-and-catch-my-tricks dynamic that they have always done. They adore each other, but they also thrive on a genuinely competitive sort of interaction, which is something that I think the people around them tend not to understand.
In short, it's not that secrets are being kept; it's the way they're being kept, and the reasons behind it, and perhaps even more than that, the way both of them are reacting to it. I do really love those rare occasions in the show when they're completely open with each other, but those are rare, and their default state seems to be something more like this, a sort of never-ending cycle of lying to each other, hurting each other, and making up, with a lot of competitive problem-solving in the meantime.
Also, this is perhaps the first episode in the entire series in which El is less than a supportive paragon of virtue. She is hurt, and petty, and human, and she does something stupid and perhaps cruel, which she genuinely believes is protecting Peter, but only hurts both him and Neal. I am not sure if El is going to take heat from fandom for trying to push Neal away from Peter, but for my own part, I really liked it -- I do like that, generally speaking, El is portrayed as a very positive and supportive person on the show, but I have occasionally been frustrated that she is always the voice of reason and never gets to be hurt and frustrated and imperfect. El being petty and angry is actually a nice change, in my opinion!
Oh, and also, this episode confirmed a long-standing bit of headcanon of mine -- namely, that Neal would not be hovering over Peter in the hospital if Peter were hurt/comatose/whatever. I'm not critizing fics in which Neal basically drops everything and hangs around the hospital or pitches in to help after Peter is hurt (heck, I know I've written them, I'm not one to talk, and I do have a soppy soft spot for that sort of h/c) but my headcanon has generally been that canon!Neal isn't going to do that sort of thing (for example, I don't think he visited Peter in the hospital in Company Man; I generally got the impression that the next time he saw Peter was in the next scene with them back at work), and I've always kinda wondered how it would play out if we ever got a canon situation that would give us some idea one way or the other. So, yay, headcanon! (Not that I have any doubt that Neal was worried, mind you -- I think that was pretty obvious -- but Peter being hospitalized and Neal being out there doing his Neal thing rather than being openly concerned fits perfectly with how I see them. Neal visiting him once he woke up and bringing presents was very sweet, though, and something that probably wouldn't have happened in, say, season one or two!)
So, basically, yeah, I am all of the squee for this episode. Interestingly, I'm at a point where I'm less interested in reading tags or whatnot than in finding out how canon is going to develop.
(Oh, and the scene near the end with Hughes and Neal -- awwww! ♥)