Well, I meant change his identity because of the Panthers still being in play as a threat. But you're right that they don't necessarily have to be. You can in fact make a good argument that, since Neal's now sending messages to his loved ones that he's okay, he doesn't believe they're a threat anymore.

And yeah, it could totally be worse. Heck, I think Peter would pull basically ANY string available to him to get Neal back to New York legally, if Neal wanted to come. It definitely could be worse. I've watched shows with finales that were WAY more depressing.

I'm just frustrated because I really wanted an ending for this show that I liked and felt good about. And I don't like this ending. It's not the worst thing ever, but some series finales have lifted me up on a cloud of happy feelings, and this one just hurt. And I didn't want to have that overshadow my feelings about the rest of the show ...

But it could have been much worse, and there is lots and lots of possible fic to write about it!