White Collar 4x15 Belated Thoughts!
*bites nails* The season finale is in just a few hours! Before it airs and I go into a tailspin of 'noooo, how could they leave us with that cliffhanger, how will I wait 6 months til season 5?!', I thought I should mention something about last week's episode.
Because YAY, I loved it :) I'm pretty sure I had a huge smile on my face from start to finish.
Anyway! FINALE! I'm just going to go back to biting my nails now.
Because YAY, I loved it :) I'm pretty sure I had a huge smile on my face from start to finish.
- The opening scene was all kinds of adorable. Mozzie wearing an ice cream man hat and charging ridiculous amounts for ice cream, Neal wangling a free treat for Peter, Peter accepting it even though it's bribery, and then oh yay look, they're being honest with each other! \o/ The boys are back together! \o/
- Then we meet Hughes' replacement, Amanda Callaway, played by Emily Procter, who I always adored in The West Wing. Her character is somewhat less charming in White Collar but I'm guessing we're not meant to fall in love with her! Everyone tells Peter that he should have got the job, which would be madness seeing as it would give him and Neal free reign to run insane investigations and break all the laws. However, I would like to see him maybe take on the role temporarily, perhaps when Callaway has gone, because it might make him more conscious of following the rules for a bit and then we'd have some lovely season 1 style tension between him and Neal. Anyway. That's not what's happening right now. I don't instantly dislike Callaway - she's ambitious and by-the-book, but that doesn't necessarily mean evil. Of course it turns out she is evil, but we don't know that yet.
- Neal and Peter's visit to the gallery is super cute. Neal's all cocky, Peter's both indulgent and eye-roll-y, and there's an entire conversation about chicken sexing. LOVE.
- The villain of the week is super creepy. I don't like men who throw student's creations to the floor and let them shatter whilst the student cries. Surprisingly. But he is a sculptor, and so we of course soon get to see Neal sculpt, and that means there's a tank top involved. And the ARMS that are revealed by that tank top. So I enjoy the storyline. I also enjoy how happy Peter is to spend 15 thousand dollars on marble for Neal without question.
- Neal sculpts really quickly. Imagine being able to perfectly recreate a 6 million dollar sculpture overnight. Whilst looking incredibly hot. The man is a marvel. <3
- James turns up, and in the space of about two minutes manages to a) be sarcastic, b) call Neal kid, as if he has the right to do so, and c) insult Mozzie who has generously lent him his safehouse. You are not endearing yourself to me James. I'm also sure I see his eyes light up with 'ooh, think of the money we could get' when he sees Neal's work. HMM.
- Next time we see James, Neal tells him how well his forgery went down. And then I just about DIE. Because James says 'Attaboy' and squeezes his shoulder and Neal just looks like his heart is putting itself back together again, and this would be wonderful and beautiful if I didn't expect it all to soon come crashing down. I have issues of my own in this arena, and this killed me. And after James takes his hand away, Neal looks so much like he wants to hope that this could be real, but he's scared. If James hurts him, Peter better take ALL THE CARE of him.
- Ugh, then James has the conversation about how Neal should be making original art, the conversation we've all been waiting four years for Peter to have with Neal. Dislike.
- Back at the office, I jump around and squee at the adorable scene where Peter tells Neal not to take detours on their mission, and Neal offers a pinky swear. AWW boys!! I love firm!ordering!Peter laying down the law and Neal being cute whilst obviously planning how to circumvent the rules. Also he has nice hands.
- The mission is tense and I love how everyone plays their parts - Mozz being awesomely eccentric and smart with his oily shoes, Peter protecting Neal in the van, and James showing he's definitely a good enough actor to pull off any con (which we've suspected all along).
- The villain of the week tries to kill Neal with a hammer, and I think Peter could at least ruffle his hair after this, but it doesn't happen. He's been attacked, Peter! Pet him a little.
- Finally we get to the scene from the promo (which I ended up giving in and watching a couple of days before the ep) with the argument between Neal and James, and the LINE! 'Peter's been more of a father to me than you ever were!' Now, I get that some people didn't like this, but I adored it (even if James isn't exactly a high yard stick for fatherliness that Peter has to beat!) I've always loved the father/son vibes between Peter and Neal and I love when Neal looks to him for guidance or comfort - and yes, I ship them romantically sometimes now, but for a considerable amount of time when I first started watching, I only saw them as familial. I don't even think the line precludes slash anyway, because there's nothing to say that there can't be a protective or nurturing quality to a romantic relationship. So. YAY. Neal loves Peter!
- I also found it interesting that Neal and James are arguing about how James shouldn't go and get the box alone. In a way James is right - he could keep Neal and Peter clean by doing the whole thing himself, and so it's not an unreasonable offer. The fact that Neal absolutely insists that both he and Peter go too, even though that puts them in danger, tells me that Neal does not trust James at ALL. If he did trust him, then it would be fine - preferable even - for James to get the box alone. Good Neal! Smart Neal!
- And we end on Callaway being in league with Pratt. This was to be expected really - if Pratt has the power to get rid of Hughes, then it automatically follows that he would use that power to put someone of his choosing in Hughes' place.
Anyway! FINALE! I'm just going to go back to biting my nails now.