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Peter Burke meta
Just recently I posted a fairly extensive Peter Burke meta post to Tumblr, in response to someone else's post. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
aragarna suggested I should repost it here, which is a good idea. :D (I had actually kinda meant to do that while I was writing it, but then got distracted and forgot.)
The original post by markcampbells is Why Peter Burke’s Endgame Was Never Going to be Section Chief (extensive season five spoilers). You should definitely read it -- lots of good insight into Peter's decision-making process and how he likely felt about the ASAC job! I was particularly intrigued by this:
I had never really thought about the suddenness of the timing and the fact that it hit him at a time when he really wasn't in a position to make an informed, considered decision. (I also think, and thought at the time, that a craving for stability is a big part of why he took the job; it must have seemed to him that it would be a less risky position than being a field agent, and I think El said later in the season that she'd expected it would be more 9-to-5 without the late nights and physical risks. Peter must have thought so too.)
Anyway, I went on to say:
I admit that I haven't seen this particular reaction -- around my corners of fandom it hasn't been "Peter should have taken the DC job", but rather "Why are the writers having Peter be such an idiot that he took an entire season to figure out that he doesn't want a desk job" (paraphrasing).
But … I think that's kind of answered here too, because it was really sprung on him out of nowhere, at a time in his life when he wasn't exactly in a position to make fully informed decisions -- and once he was in, I think Peter is a person who wouldn't walk away unless he'd been pushed to the point where it was impossible for him not to.
The thing about Peter is that I think a lot of the fandom takes his general self-deprecating and uncomplaining nature at face value. And in some ways I can see why, because Peter does complain, he complains a lot … about things like the coffee or the traffic. But he very rarely complains about the big stuff, even when it's really hurting him. And when he's given a task to do, even if he hates it, his inclination is to buckle down and do it to the best of his ability.
The way he reacted to being assigned to The Cave in season four is probably the best example of that in the whole series. He obviously hated it, but he also tried as hard as he could to do everything he was assigned to do, not just because getting his White Collar job back was contingent on doing well, but also because it was what he'd been assigned to do. I mean, that was made abundantly clear at the end of 4x03, because Peter could have taken the "win" on the jewelry case and probably gotten back into White Collar -- but he had a particular job to do, and he'd promised to be there at 9 a.m., so he was going to do it even if it meant he couldn't get back to the job he really wanted. Because that's the kind of guy he is.
And I think that's true of the ASAC job as well. It's pretty clear throughout the season (for all the reasons laid out here) that he doesn't enjoy it as well as being a field agent, and gets back in the field every time he can. But just quitting the job ISN'T HIM. It never has been him.
There's also a pattern throughout the series of Peter dealing with hurt and disappointment by smiling and pushing away the hurt. I'm not going to say he's pretending, exactly, because Peter is a genuinely cheerful and happy person most of the time; he's not smiling over a massive pit of angst and despair. But … well, take the episode in which he talks about losing his baseball career (3x15). It's obvious how profoundly painful and terrifying it must have been for him to lose the life he wanted and have to reinvent himself -- attested in part because it took three seasons for him to tell Neal about it (and he wouldn't even have brought it up in that case if El hadn't), while it's pretty clear that he otherwise talks to Neal about his past all the time. But he just kind of smiles past the painful parts and then puts the best possible spin on it, that it led to a better life and a life he's very happy with. Which again is entirely true, but heavily downplays all of the pain and uncertainty that must have surrounded that time in his life. (We get another glimpse of that time period, and Peter's state of mind at the time, in the season five episode with Jill, in which he talks about having been very insecure about his ability to become an FBI agent and not thinking he'd make it through Quantico.)
There's another example of Peter doing something similar -- downplaying and laughing off his own pain -- in "One Last Stakeout". It obviously hurt him a lot that Neal kicked him off the stakeout and didn't want to spend time with him. (Which isn't to say I think Neal was being a terrible jerk -- he had reasons, and he also felt rejected by Peter at that point, although like I've mentioned elsewhere, I think at this point in the season Peter hadn't rejected Neal at all; he still wanted to be friends, and was still going out of his way to spend time with him, and couldn't really understand why Neal was giving him the cold shoulder.) Anyway, he's clearly hurt and upset, but when El asks him how it went, he just brushes it off with "Stings a bit" and then goes ahead and tries to join in with the social gathering with her friends. And he gently brushes off Neal's later apology as well, telling Neal he was right.
I often get the impression that the fandom takes all of this at total face value: if Peter says he's fine, he's fine; if Peter says something is his fault, it's his fault; if Peter doesn't break down and have a crying fit in the office, then he must be totally okay with what's going on. But that essentially involves ignoring large swaths of canon in which Peter is obviously not okay with something, but does it anyway; in which he takes responsibility for things that really aren't his fault; in which he worries about other people's pain while downplaying his own.
(The above, incidentally, is something that someone else -- I think maybe![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
veleda_k -- pointed out during season five: that fandom often blames Peter for things because he blames himself. But it shouldn't be taken entirely at face value; just because Peter feels guilty for something that happened on his watch doesn't mean that he literally caused it.)
Hopefully it doesn't come across that I'm trying to make Peter look like a martyr. He's a flawed person and he makes plenty of mistakes throughout the series, and he does all of the above of his own free will, not because anyone is forcing him. He clearly grew up with a general ethic that acting happy and content is the best route to actually being happy and content (which goes along really well with every other impression we've gotten of Peter's childhood, which seems to have been a pretty typical one for a blue-collar kid in his particular place and time -- a "boys don't cry", real-men-do-X kind of childhood). And like I said above, generally speaking Peter is content and happy most of the time. It's just that when he's not, he doesn't act all that different, but it doesn't mean he isn't feeling those things.
... Thoughts?
aragarna suggested I should repost it here, which is a good idea. :D (I had actually kinda meant to do that while I was writing it, but then got distracted and forgot.)The original post by markcampbells is Why Peter Burke’s Endgame Was Never Going to be Section Chief (extensive season five spoilers). You should definitely read it -- lots of good insight into Peter's decision-making process and how he likely felt about the ASAC job! I was particularly intrigued by this:
Peter was offered ASAC without even being told beforehand he was in consideration, and with no option to turn it or the pending promotion to Section Chief down. This is a job he specifically said in 4x15 he didn’t want, but he wasn’t really given a choice in it in 5x01. The Section Chief offer was legitimately thrust upon him with that DC brochure in the folder. It was impressed upon him it would be career suicide to say no. I have to fault the writers on one thing—the complete lack of an explanation of what happened to Calloway or if Hughes was ever reoffered the job after his ousting was just stupid—but on the other hand, Peter being the ASAC immediately following Hughes’ ousting and Calloway’s abusing the position made sense. He hates corruption more than anything and probably just wanted to fix what was broken.
I had never really thought about the suddenness of the timing and the fact that it hit him at a time when he really wasn't in a position to make an informed, considered decision. (I also think, and thought at the time, that a craving for stability is a big part of why he took the job; it must have seemed to him that it would be a less risky position than being a field agent, and I think El said later in the season that she'd expected it would be more 9-to-5 without the late nights and physical risks. Peter must have thought so too.)
Anyway, I went on to say:
I admit that I haven't seen this particular reaction -- around my corners of fandom it hasn't been "Peter should have taken the DC job", but rather "Why are the writers having Peter be such an idiot that he took an entire season to figure out that he doesn't want a desk job" (paraphrasing).
But … I think that's kind of answered here too, because it was really sprung on him out of nowhere, at a time in his life when he wasn't exactly in a position to make fully informed decisions -- and once he was in, I think Peter is a person who wouldn't walk away unless he'd been pushed to the point where it was impossible for him not to.
The thing about Peter is that I think a lot of the fandom takes his general self-deprecating and uncomplaining nature at face value. And in some ways I can see why, because Peter does complain, he complains a lot … about things like the coffee or the traffic. But he very rarely complains about the big stuff, even when it's really hurting him. And when he's given a task to do, even if he hates it, his inclination is to buckle down and do it to the best of his ability.
The way he reacted to being assigned to The Cave in season four is probably the best example of that in the whole series. He obviously hated it, but he also tried as hard as he could to do everything he was assigned to do, not just because getting his White Collar job back was contingent on doing well, but also because it was what he'd been assigned to do. I mean, that was made abundantly clear at the end of 4x03, because Peter could have taken the "win" on the jewelry case and probably gotten back into White Collar -- but he had a particular job to do, and he'd promised to be there at 9 a.m., so he was going to do it even if it meant he couldn't get back to the job he really wanted. Because that's the kind of guy he is.
And I think that's true of the ASAC job as well. It's pretty clear throughout the season (for all the reasons laid out here) that he doesn't enjoy it as well as being a field agent, and gets back in the field every time he can. But just quitting the job ISN'T HIM. It never has been him.
There's also a pattern throughout the series of Peter dealing with hurt and disappointment by smiling and pushing away the hurt. I'm not going to say he's pretending, exactly, because Peter is a genuinely cheerful and happy person most of the time; he's not smiling over a massive pit of angst and despair. But … well, take the episode in which he talks about losing his baseball career (3x15). It's obvious how profoundly painful and terrifying it must have been for him to lose the life he wanted and have to reinvent himself -- attested in part because it took three seasons for him to tell Neal about it (and he wouldn't even have brought it up in that case if El hadn't), while it's pretty clear that he otherwise talks to Neal about his past all the time. But he just kind of smiles past the painful parts and then puts the best possible spin on it, that it led to a better life and a life he's very happy with. Which again is entirely true, but heavily downplays all of the pain and uncertainty that must have surrounded that time in his life. (We get another glimpse of that time period, and Peter's state of mind at the time, in the season five episode with Jill, in which he talks about having been very insecure about his ability to become an FBI agent and not thinking he'd make it through Quantico.)
There's another example of Peter doing something similar -- downplaying and laughing off his own pain -- in "One Last Stakeout". It obviously hurt him a lot that Neal kicked him off the stakeout and didn't want to spend time with him. (Which isn't to say I think Neal was being a terrible jerk -- he had reasons, and he also felt rejected by Peter at that point, although like I've mentioned elsewhere, I think at this point in the season Peter hadn't rejected Neal at all; he still wanted to be friends, and was still going out of his way to spend time with him, and couldn't really understand why Neal was giving him the cold shoulder.) Anyway, he's clearly hurt and upset, but when El asks him how it went, he just brushes it off with "Stings a bit" and then goes ahead and tries to join in with the social gathering with her friends. And he gently brushes off Neal's later apology as well, telling Neal he was right.
I often get the impression that the fandom takes all of this at total face value: if Peter says he's fine, he's fine; if Peter says something is his fault, it's his fault; if Peter doesn't break down and have a crying fit in the office, then he must be totally okay with what's going on. But that essentially involves ignoring large swaths of canon in which Peter is obviously not okay with something, but does it anyway; in which he takes responsibility for things that really aren't his fault; in which he worries about other people's pain while downplaying his own.
(The above, incidentally, is something that someone else -- I think maybe
veleda_k -- pointed out during season five: that fandom often blames Peter for things because he blames himself. But it shouldn't be taken entirely at face value; just because Peter feels guilty for something that happened on his watch doesn't mean that he literally caused it.)Hopefully it doesn't come across that I'm trying to make Peter look like a martyr. He's a flawed person and he makes plenty of mistakes throughout the series, and he does all of the above of his own free will, not because anyone is forcing him. He clearly grew up with a general ethic that acting happy and content is the best route to actually being happy and content (which goes along really well with every other impression we've gotten of Peter's childhood, which seems to have been a pretty typical one for a blue-collar kid in his particular place and time -- a "boys don't cry", real-men-do-X kind of childhood). And like I said above, generally speaking Peter is content and happy most of the time. It's just that when he's not, he doesn't act all that different, but it doesn't mean he isn't feeling those things.
... Thoughts?
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