Quick post on this week's White Collar

[sholio]

Warning: not a happy reaction.

I actually wrote a long, venting post regarding my general unhappiness with the episode, but then I deleted it; I think I just needed to get it out of my system. My main issue with this episode was the same problem that I had with the first half of season four (Neal conning Peter and risking Peter's career) and I just have to get over it, I guess. Clearly it's never going to stop happening, any more than they're ever going to stop keeping secrets from each other.

And Peter seems to be basically okay with it (heck, he was helping!), which makes it very silly for me not to be. I was rolling my eyes earlier this season at the fandom getting torqued about Elizabeth lying to Neal when the characters themselves don't actually seem to mind, and here I am doing the exact same thing -- there is no point in me getting upset on one character's behalf when the character isn't even upset. (Also, Peter was just conning Neal last episode, so ... yeah. Settle down, self, it's okay!)

Even aside from that, though, I found this episode sort of generally blah. I feel that the past few episodes have made better use of the cast; this episode didn't do much with anyone other than Peter and Neal, and yet didn't really manage to deliver up much good interaction between the two of them, either.

Also, the fight between Neal and James at the end didn't feel, to me, as if it followed naturally from the rest of the episode at all. It's not the fight itself I have a problem with; it's that it felt so contrived, as if they wanted to get that "Peter is more of a father to me ..." line in there, but didn't set it up adequately with the rest of the scene. It's just kind of shoehorned in.

I hope the finale has more to offer than this episode, is all I gotta say.

Speaking of the finale, I have a (completely unspoiled) guess about the cliffhanger this season: I think it's going to be Peter being offered the division-director job (which would move him out of the field and away from being Neal's handler). Things seem to be pointing in that direction -- the discussion this week about Peter being passed over for the job, plus the fact that Calloway is almost certainly going to be taken down next week by Peter and Neal, which has the potential to undo the black mark against Peter from his recent insubordination and make him a likely candidate for the now-open position.

Also, James is clearly up to something. I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out that he's not actually James Bennett at all. Even if that's not the case, he's definitely running some nefarious side angle regarding the box.

I have no actual spoilers for next week's episode (I've seen no promos or pictures) and I would like to keep it that way - thank you so much!

Comments

[winter_elf]

while I like whitecollar.... I'm finding that the show runners are stuck in the same mold. Seems they can't get out the 'lies & secrets' and then 'it's all fine' till next lie. *sigh*

[sholio]

I wonder, thinking about it, if one reason why I liked the last few episodes is because they shook up the formula a bit; they focused on other characters or split up the cast in unusual ways. This one was just the formula with very little that was fun or sparkling or different.

It depresses me a bit, because I've been so happy and excited the last couple of weeks, and this one - the episode leading into the finale - just left me feeling very blah and not really interested in the finale at all. Like you say, it's just going to be more stuff we've seen before. Bleh.

[leonie_alastair]

I found myself bitching at the TV when Neal blithely went off and did exactly what Agent Calloway and Peter had both told him not to do. It just seemed so callous. But my favorite emotional moment in the show was Elizabeth's line about the directorship "but it would have been nice to be asked" and Peter's wry look in response.

[sholio]

YES! That's what bothered me so much, too, and I think it ended up coloring my opinion of the rest of the episode in a negative way -- I mean, it'd be different if Peter had quietly given him tacit approval to go, but Peter was serious about "no meaning no", and he tried to find a way to get Neal to promise not to, and Neal just kept hunting for loopholes.

On the other hand, it was pretty clear that Peter knew Neal was going to do it, and went ahead with it anyway, even to the point of quietly covering for him behind the scenes. He wasn't angry about it. So I felt better about it once I'd had a chance to think it over. It's silly for me to be upset on a character's behalf when THEY'RE not upset!

(An LJ commenter did point out that it would have made WAY more sense for Neal to hand off the device to Mozzie or James and stay at the studio, though -- far less chance of discovery!)

I liked that scene with Peter and Elizabeth, too. It was one of the things that made me think they might be leading up to a promotion for Peter in the finale.

[sahiya]

Yeah, I, too, had a bad reaction to Neal's actions in this ep, I think because Peter was SO EXPLICIT about not wanting him to do it and so reasonable (and so clear!) as to why he didn't want him to do it. Neal can be so incredibly, childishly selfish, and I liked James even less than usual for egging him on.

I wish we'd had a bit more time with Callaway before all this went down. I actually quite liked her, and I'd have enjoyed seeing more of her, maybe a bit more cat-and-mouse with Peter and Neal, before the actual finale. That'd have made things a lot more satisfying.

Jones wasn't in this episode at all, was he? Maybe the lack of supporting cast had something to do with my own reaction, which was, "Yeah, okay." Though, wow, I hated this week's bad guy. Like, a lot. From the moment he smashed that poor girl's sculpture (actually, maybe from the moment he creepily touched her). Sexually predacious and a bad teacher - YUCK.

[sholio]

That makes me feel a little better about my own reaction to Neal's actions. I do sometimes worry that I can be overprotective of Peter and unfair to Neal, and I don't want to be one of Those Fans. And I also felt better about it once I started analyzing Peter's reaction -- he recognized that Neal simply wasn't going to be stopped and went forward with the sting anyway, even helping Neal avoid getting caught, so clearly he wasn't feeling terribly put-upon. Neal's gonna be Neal, and he's pretty much resigned to it at this point. *g*

James's encouragement of Neal's indiscretions is definitely an interesting contrast with Peter's attempts to rein him in. Even if James is 100% aboveboard (which, at this point, I doubt; he's definitely playing some kind of angle), he's VERY slippery in the ethical department. And I also found his sudden "hey, buddy, rah-rah" encouragement of Neal rather ... suspect? Or at least a bit disturbing. I don't think it's a coincidence that the episode in which Neal observed that people who are nice to you usually want something (... oh, Neal) is also the episode in which James was blatantly sucking up to him.

I wish they'd drawn out Calloway's arc over more episodes, too. They could easily have done it -- why not introduce her a couple of episodes ago? (And who's been running White Collar all this time, anyway?)

[merisunshine36]

Also, the fight between Neal and James at the end didn't feel, to me, as if it followed naturally from the rest of the episode at all.

Agh, this! About ten minutes before the episode over I convinced myself that I must have watched the wrong promo or made up the confrontation in my head because I couldn't think of any way they could elegantly include that. All the same, I gasped a bit at your speculation that James isn't who he says it is. I think it would be an interesting narrative twist (and also solve the problem of what to do with him going forward), but I'd feel really bad for Neal.

In an ideal world, I'd like Pratt to go down in the season finale, but Callaway to stick around to cause more trouble in the first half of Season 5. The WC team is always so tight knit, and I thought it was interesting to see what they do when their biggest enemy is from within.Looking even further ahead, Peter being promoted and Neal getting off the tracker would be a nice way to conclude the series.

One other small thing that I enjoyed was the short appearance by the Asian agent! WC does better than most in terms of ethnic diversity on the show, but I've noticed that Asians usually only appear in roles that highlight their "otherness" (gambling Chinese gangster, Burmese embassy staff, Japanese pawn shop dude).

[sholio]

All the same, I gasped a bit at your speculation that James isn't who he says it is. I think it would be an interesting narrative twist (and also solve the problem of what to do with him going forward), but I'd feel really bad for Neal.

I don't think there's anywhere that this can go which WON'T be terribly sad for Neal! Well, unless James turns out to be entirely on the up-and-up, doesn't die, and he and Neal patch things over and form a good relationship. But you know, even if that happens (which I doubt), James would still be a force dragging Neal away from the path Peter's trying to set him on, so that tension would be severely cranked up.

I don't know if I'm leaning too strongly towards James not really being James, but I do think it's a possibility, knowing how well connected their enemies are!

Looking even further ahead, Peter being promoted and Neal getting off the tracker would be a nice way to conclude the series.

I'm hoping for something along those lines. :D I really hope this show wraps up on a nice, satisfying note when it does finally go out. I am 99% sure that, assuming they have enough advance notice of cancellation to provide a proper series finale, the finale episode is going to involve Neal getting off the anklet and some sort of resolution with Peter.

One other small thing that I enjoyed was the short appearance by the Asian agent! WC does better than most in terms of ethnic diversity on the show, but I've noticed that Asians usually only appear in roles that highlight their "otherness" (gambling Chinese gangster, Burmese embassy staff, Japanese pawn shop dude).

Yes, I noticed the same! :) I think American TV in general has a problem casting Asian actors in casual minor roles (as opposed to being defined by their ethnicity and, as you said, their otherness), and in this episode, I was pleasantly surprised to notice both Watson (... hee) and the renting agent in the Empire State Building. If only it wasn't so rare as to be surprising ...