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Some thoughts on last night's White Collar finale
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
PETER NEAL JAMES NO NO NO NO AAAAAAAAAA PETER!!!!!
I went into this one with a sort of "meh" attitude towards it, but I was riding high on a wave of emotion by the time I hit the end. I loved it. Actually, I think it might be their strongest finale yet (though it's got some stiff competition from "Judgement Day"). Of all the various midseason/end-of-season cliffhangers, I think the season three one was my favorite so far, because it opened up such a vast array of story possibilities. But as an episode, this one was just fabulous. And one reason I feel that way is because White Collar doesn't wring intense emotion from me very often. It's not one of those high-low, roller-coaster shows; when I think of intense, powerful emotional scenes that have really stuck with me, WC tends not to top the list. But this episode? This one BROUGHT THE EMOTION, OMG. Not just the scenes at the end, either, but also a lot of the character stuff throughout. Neal's "proposal" to Sara was lovely. I think Neal & Sara hit a lot of the same buttons, for me, as Duncan and Amanda in Highlander: a grand love story that doesn't play out like one, and doesn't preclude the possibility of sleeping with other people along the way (or even ending up with people other than each other). But it is still a grand love story all the same. It's something really unusual on TV and it works for me so very well.
And the scene with Peter and Neal in the living room ... it was basically pitch-perfect, subtle and sweet with a logical conversational lead-in.
Still. The ending. GUH.
I think the last episode that really hit my emotions as hard as this one did was "Checkmate", and for similar reasons: because they were willing to push the stakes, to go for the lowest lows and the highest highs. What a ride.
Rewatching made me realize that the frame job on Peter is even better than I'd realized on the first viewing. The twists that they had to go through in order to get him where he is at the end of the scene (bending over a dead body, holding the murder weapon, which he's already fired once) flowed very naturally and never seemed contrived to me. They even had a plausible reason for James to be wearing gloves so that Peter's prints are the only ones on the murder weapon. OH PETER. ;_; And Neal's face in the final scenes with James ...! I loved how he went from angry and upset with James on his own behalf, to terrified for Peter and beseeching James to do something about it. The actors and the writers just brought it. So great! That episode BROKE me, but in the best possible way.
I now hate James thoroughly, but I love what they did with him as a character -- he's not an evil mastermind, he's just weak and selfish. Nothing that he did was intentional, including killing Pratt and framing Peter. It was just a string of weak, bad choices in which he put his own welfare ahead of everyone else. I know I've said this before, but I love how James makes an excellent dark mirror of Neal in just the same way that Kramer is a dark mirror of Peter -- not even the same character under different circumstances, but the same character gone bad, with everything that makes them strong and good submerged in their weaknesses. I think that neither James nor Kramer is a person that Neal or Peter could plausibly become (no matter how far down either of them went, they're simply not capable of going that far down), but they are pretty accurate worst-case scenario reflections of Neal and Peter's flaws as people. And that makes the relationships so interesting to me.
I know that I had my ups and downs this season, but now that I'm looking at it as a whole, I actually think that in terms of cohesive character plot, this might be the best season they've had. The long-arc plot was, as ever, best not thought about too closely. But the characters' emotional arcs are very tight, very wrenching, and explored new broader, deeper emotional territory. Peter's slide into the gray zone (via his loyalty to Neal) slid him right into quicksand; Neal's search for who he is got a whole lot deeper and darker; Peter and Neal's relationship suffered some serious shaking up and came out stronger. Sara and Elizabeth both got interesting little multi-episode emotional mini-arcs of their own, particularly Elizabeth, who got to step out of the "good wife" role and come to terms with the bad as well as the good of having Neal in Peter's life.
The season was rough going in places, but in my opinion I think that's actually what makes it so good when taken as a whole: it wasn't just a series of happy, fluffy, happy-ending episodes, but was willing to take the characters to some fairly bleak places before ultimately hitting up-notes again. It wasn't a string of rewatch-them-forever episodes like, say, season two was for me, but I think that in terms of overall writing and character development, it was the best the show has ever been. (Having said that, I'm not sure how many of the episodes I'm going to be able to rewatch for a while; this season didn't deliver a lot of new favorite eps, but it broke new ground with the kickass emotional stuff, and there were a lot of individual scenes that were simply gorgeous.)
And now we have to wait for season five, OH NOES. Which I understand will be a longer-than-usual wait this time, too ... until fall?! WARGH!
ETA: Something else that just occurred to me is how James's decision at the end is a reverse-mirror of Neal's decision to confess in "Checkmate". Neal opts to give up his freedom to keep Peter and Elizabeth safe (even though he gets a last-minute reprieve). James has an opportunity to give up his freedom to save Peter, but chooses not to. Once again, it's all about choices, and the way that they make us who we are (or reflect who we are already).
Note: I'm still flying high on my emotional "FLAIL! EEEEEE!" reaction right now, and I think I'd rather not pick the episode's and the season's flaws apart at this moment in time. (Maybe later?) I understand that your reaction might be more equivocal than mine, but please keep the comments more focused on the squee than the unsquee, and don't be surprised if it's mainly the squee I respond to - thank you!
PETER NEAL JAMES NO NO NO NO AAAAAAAAAA PETER!!!!!
I went into this one with a sort of "meh" attitude towards it, but I was riding high on a wave of emotion by the time I hit the end. I loved it. Actually, I think it might be their strongest finale yet (though it's got some stiff competition from "Judgement Day"). Of all the various midseason/end-of-season cliffhangers, I think the season three one was my favorite so far, because it opened up such a vast array of story possibilities. But as an episode, this one was just fabulous. And one reason I feel that way is because White Collar doesn't wring intense emotion from me very often. It's not one of those high-low, roller-coaster shows; when I think of intense, powerful emotional scenes that have really stuck with me, WC tends not to top the list. But this episode? This one BROUGHT THE EMOTION, OMG. Not just the scenes at the end, either, but also a lot of the character stuff throughout. Neal's "proposal" to Sara was lovely. I think Neal & Sara hit a lot of the same buttons, for me, as Duncan and Amanda in Highlander: a grand love story that doesn't play out like one, and doesn't preclude the possibility of sleeping with other people along the way (or even ending up with people other than each other). But it is still a grand love story all the same. It's something really unusual on TV and it works for me so very well.
And the scene with Peter and Neal in the living room ... it was basically pitch-perfect, subtle and sweet with a logical conversational lead-in.
Still. The ending. GUH.
I think the last episode that really hit my emotions as hard as this one did was "Checkmate", and for similar reasons: because they were willing to push the stakes, to go for the lowest lows and the highest highs. What a ride.
Rewatching made me realize that the frame job on Peter is even better than I'd realized on the first viewing. The twists that they had to go through in order to get him where he is at the end of the scene (bending over a dead body, holding the murder weapon, which he's already fired once) flowed very naturally and never seemed contrived to me. They even had a plausible reason for James to be wearing gloves so that Peter's prints are the only ones on the murder weapon. OH PETER. ;_; And Neal's face in the final scenes with James ...! I loved how he went from angry and upset with James on his own behalf, to terrified for Peter and beseeching James to do something about it. The actors and the writers just brought it. So great! That episode BROKE me, but in the best possible way.
I now hate James thoroughly, but I love what they did with him as a character -- he's not an evil mastermind, he's just weak and selfish. Nothing that he did was intentional, including killing Pratt and framing Peter. It was just a string of weak, bad choices in which he put his own welfare ahead of everyone else. I know I've said this before, but I love how James makes an excellent dark mirror of Neal in just the same way that Kramer is a dark mirror of Peter -- not even the same character under different circumstances, but the same character gone bad, with everything that makes them strong and good submerged in their weaknesses. I think that neither James nor Kramer is a person that Neal or Peter could plausibly become (no matter how far down either of them went, they're simply not capable of going that far down), but they are pretty accurate worst-case scenario reflections of Neal and Peter's flaws as people. And that makes the relationships so interesting to me.
I know that I had my ups and downs this season, but now that I'm looking at it as a whole, I actually think that in terms of cohesive character plot, this might be the best season they've had. The long-arc plot was, as ever, best not thought about too closely. But the characters' emotional arcs are very tight, very wrenching, and explored new broader, deeper emotional territory. Peter's slide into the gray zone (via his loyalty to Neal) slid him right into quicksand; Neal's search for who he is got a whole lot deeper and darker; Peter and Neal's relationship suffered some serious shaking up and came out stronger. Sara and Elizabeth both got interesting little multi-episode emotional mini-arcs of their own, particularly Elizabeth, who got to step out of the "good wife" role and come to terms with the bad as well as the good of having Neal in Peter's life.
The season was rough going in places, but in my opinion I think that's actually what makes it so good when taken as a whole: it wasn't just a series of happy, fluffy, happy-ending episodes, but was willing to take the characters to some fairly bleak places before ultimately hitting up-notes again. It wasn't a string of rewatch-them-forever episodes like, say, season two was for me, but I think that in terms of overall writing and character development, it was the best the show has ever been. (Having said that, I'm not sure how many of the episodes I'm going to be able to rewatch for a while; this season didn't deliver a lot of new favorite eps, but it broke new ground with the kickass emotional stuff, and there were a lot of individual scenes that were simply gorgeous.)
And now we have to wait for season five, OH NOES. Which I understand will be a longer-than-usual wait this time, too ... until fall?! WARGH!
ETA: Something else that just occurred to me is how James's decision at the end is a reverse-mirror of Neal's decision to confess in "Checkmate". Neal opts to give up his freedom to keep Peter and Elizabeth safe (even though he gets a last-minute reprieve). James has an opportunity to give up his freedom to save Peter, but chooses not to. Once again, it's all about choices, and the way that they make us who we are (or reflect who we are already).
Note: I'm still flying high on my emotional "FLAIL! EEEEEE!" reaction right now, and I think I'd rather not pick the episode's and the season's flaws apart at this moment in time. (Maybe later?) I understand that your reaction might be more equivocal than mine, but please keep the comments more focused on the squee than the unsquee, and don't be surprised if it's mainly the squee I respond to - thank you!
no subject
I'm looking forward to getting the DVDs and seeing how the season feels when watched in quick succession. I'm also looking forward to getting the DVDs for the sake of writing fic. I really hope they don't delay the DVD release to align with the start of S5.
no subject
And yes, the parallel to Checkmate is really fascinating! Actually, in general, it's very interesting to see how James is like ... Neal without the compassionate, loyal, brave, lovable side, much as Kramer is basically that for Peter.
Poor everyone.
no subject
Very interesting analysis - I am very much looking forward to season five, and I hope that they give Elizabeth the opportunity to work through her concerns about Neal and how his problems effect Peter.
no subject
no subject
I was also super pleased at how the My Two Dads battle played out, especially after the way they brought up the issue last season. Forcing Neal between the two of them was pretty much exactly what I wanted, and Matt Bomer killed it in the dramatic sad faces department.
And the moment with Mozzie and the swap! He was just an all-around super friend this episode.
One thing I found super hilarious was how much Callaway and Watson's hair blew when they were leading Peter out of the building. It was like they were leading Peter down a runway instead of to a patrol car.
no subject
hahaha, I know. XD It took some of the dramatic tension from that scene ... I'd been totally on board with it (emotionally) right up to the end, but that part was more silly than tense.
Otherwise, though ... GAH. EVERYONE. :( I really did love how things ultimately played out between Neal and James, especially since it was (somewhat unusually, for White Collar) fairly low-key. James isn't really evil, he's just weak and selfish. Neal wanting his dad to be a better person, and James walking away from that .... AUGH. It got me right in the heart.