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Peter Burke: giant romantic doof
I just reblogged a thing on Tumblr (SPOILER ALERT: contains a spoiler for 6x03 - pretty minor if you've seen 6x01, very spoilery otherwise). This launched me down a chain of rambling White Collar musings which eventually ended in the thought that when the Burkes arrange some kind of relationship-related getaway/date night/etc. on the show, it's often Peter's idea.
And then I thought, wow, it's kind of always Peter's idea, isn't it?
In fanfic, people usually have Elizabeth being the one who's socially clued in -- the one who invites people over, the one who comes up with romantic getaways, etc, while Peter is just kind of a stereotypical guy about the whole thing, and expresses his feelings for his loved ones mainly by trying to protect them. Which is by no means wholly without basis in the show, especially the part where Peter and Neal couldn't be more terrible at communicating with each other if they tried. But looking back over previous seasons and Peter's behavior when it comes to taking care of people he cares about, he's actually kind of a huge sentimental soft touch (and not exclusively with Elizabeth, either).
I mean, look at the evidence:
- Peter spends most of 1x01 trying to come up with an extra-special gift for his and El's anniversary, and the trip + the entire doofy-romantic rooftop proposal was his idea (albeit with Neal's suggestion having sent him on the right track).
- He springs a romantic dinner on El in 1x10 as an apology for flirting on a case.
- Peter is the one who suggests their "date night" in 2x07 (and goes home early to do the cooking); then when things don't go as planned, he tries to fix it later.
- Renewing his and El's vows in 3x05 was his idea, based on nothing more than an offhand comment El made.
- He spends most of 3x14 trying to come up with something special to do for her birthday (and eventually does).
- Getting away from the city for a romantic getaway in 4x14 is his idea, by way of making it up to her for the stress she's been under because of his investigation of Pratt.
- He takes her ice skating in 5x0something for similar reasons to the romantic dinner in 1x10, to reassure her about the state of their relationship.
What's kind of striking about this is that I can't actually think of an instance when Elizabeth has been the instigator of something like that (although if anyone else can come up with something ...?). Not that I'm saying Elizabeth is less invested in the marriage than Peter is, by any means. It's just that most (all?) of the instances on the show of the two of them doing something couply are usually Peter's idea, often responding to fairly subtle emotional cues indicating what she needs/wants.
And it's not just with Elizabeth; there's also things like:
- Peter inviting/ordering Neal and Sara home for dinner in 2x16 (and similarly, bringing Neal to dinner in season five to talk about the Rebecca situation)
- Giving Neal coffee as an apology in 4x10 and 5x01
- Remembering the date he arrested Neal as their "anniversary"
- Noticing that Neal is struggling after Kate's death, and going to Mozzie to talk about it
- And 2x07, mentioned above as a Peter + Elizabeth episode, also has Peter very subtly thanking the people who helped him by doing nice things for them - returning Mozzie's broken rake and asking Bancroft to take Neal to the gallery exhibit. (I am pretty much 100% sure Peter asked him, though we don't hear it, but we see that little exchange between them with Peter gesturing to indicate Neal's anklet.)
... and of course nearly every episode includes scenes between them that tend to waffle back and forth across the line between "protecting" and "stalking"; I'm mostly ignoring that. XD It's more the subtle emotional stuff that I'm thinking of -- the times when Peter notices or infers that something's up and then takes steps to fix/help/do something nice for somebody. Which he actually does A LOT.
But in fanfic, this role tends to be given over to Elizabeth -- and it's not completely unfair, Elizabeth does do a lot of things like that too, and in her case it's more overt (making muffin baskets for people and so forth), so it's more obviously a part of her characterization. And Peter himself also downplays that aspect of his character, especially with Elizabeth; he seems to spend a lot of time fretting about not being romantic enough, or not being able to give her nice things. But if you actually look at what he does rather than what he says, it's a different picture ...
And then I thought, wow, it's kind of always Peter's idea, isn't it?
In fanfic, people usually have Elizabeth being the one who's socially clued in -- the one who invites people over, the one who comes up with romantic getaways, etc, while Peter is just kind of a stereotypical guy about the whole thing, and expresses his feelings for his loved ones mainly by trying to protect them. Which is by no means wholly without basis in the show, especially the part where Peter and Neal couldn't be more terrible at communicating with each other if they tried. But looking back over previous seasons and Peter's behavior when it comes to taking care of people he cares about, he's actually kind of a huge sentimental soft touch (and not exclusively with Elizabeth, either).
I mean, look at the evidence:
- Peter spends most of 1x01 trying to come up with an extra-special gift for his and El's anniversary, and the trip + the entire doofy-romantic rooftop proposal was his idea (albeit with Neal's suggestion having sent him on the right track).
- He springs a romantic dinner on El in 1x10 as an apology for flirting on a case.
- Peter is the one who suggests their "date night" in 2x07 (and goes home early to do the cooking); then when things don't go as planned, he tries to fix it later.
- Renewing his and El's vows in 3x05 was his idea, based on nothing more than an offhand comment El made.
- He spends most of 3x14 trying to come up with something special to do for her birthday (and eventually does).
- Getting away from the city for a romantic getaway in 4x14 is his idea, by way of making it up to her for the stress she's been under because of his investigation of Pratt.
- He takes her ice skating in 5x0something for similar reasons to the romantic dinner in 1x10, to reassure her about the state of their relationship.
What's kind of striking about this is that I can't actually think of an instance when Elizabeth has been the instigator of something like that (although if anyone else can come up with something ...?). Not that I'm saying Elizabeth is less invested in the marriage than Peter is, by any means. It's just that most (all?) of the instances on the show of the two of them doing something couply are usually Peter's idea, often responding to fairly subtle emotional cues indicating what she needs/wants.
And it's not just with Elizabeth; there's also things like:
- Peter inviting/ordering Neal and Sara home for dinner in 2x16 (and similarly, bringing Neal to dinner in season five to talk about the Rebecca situation)
- Giving Neal coffee as an apology in 4x10 and 5x01
- Remembering the date he arrested Neal as their "anniversary"
- Noticing that Neal is struggling after Kate's death, and going to Mozzie to talk about it
- And 2x07, mentioned above as a Peter + Elizabeth episode, also has Peter very subtly thanking the people who helped him by doing nice things for them - returning Mozzie's broken rake and asking Bancroft to take Neal to the gallery exhibit. (I am pretty much 100% sure Peter asked him, though we don't hear it, but we see that little exchange between them with Peter gesturing to indicate Neal's anklet.)
... and of course nearly every episode includes scenes between them that tend to waffle back and forth across the line between "protecting" and "stalking"; I'm mostly ignoring that. XD It's more the subtle emotional stuff that I'm thinking of -- the times when Peter notices or infers that something's up and then takes steps to fix/help/do something nice for somebody. Which he actually does A LOT.
But in fanfic, this role tends to be given over to Elizabeth -- and it's not completely unfair, Elizabeth does do a lot of things like that too, and in her case it's more overt (making muffin baskets for people and so forth), so it's more obviously a part of her characterization. And Peter himself also downplays that aspect of his character, especially with Elizabeth; he seems to spend a lot of time fretting about not being romantic enough, or not being able to give her nice things. But if you actually look at what he does rather than what he says, it's a different picture ...