White Collar (spoilers for entire season, and summer finale)
Wow, it's been quite a while since I last posted anything, hasn't it? I think tonight's White Collar is enough to make me break radio silence. I loved it a lot.
Quite frankly, I think this season of White Collar has been completely outstanding. I've loved the tango Peter and Neal have been doing all season, and it's complicated, and there are layers to every scene, every bit of dialogue, every choice either of them has made.
First, there has been the subtext, which is creeping toward not being all that sub anymore, which is just...well, it's interesting. Mozzie came right out and said to Neal this season, "This thing with Peter...enjoy it while it lasts." This of course can be interpreted three or four different ways - personally, I like the obvious literal way, but there's also the textual way the show intended it, in terms of his working partnership and friendship with Peter. Every time Neal is talking about having a life there, and why he can't leave, the show makes it clear that what he can't leave is Peter. I mean, yes, I'm quite sure he has feelings for Sara (I really love her, and I loved them together, btw), but that is not what's holding him.
Neal was sitting on Peter and El's bed, in their bedroom, talking to Peter on the phone. That was...I barely knew what to do with that. When you look at the fact that having that intimate conversation with Peter in that moment was a pivot point for Neal - he decided to lie to Mozzie to buy time for himself to make his choice, whether to stay with Peter or go back to what he was before - the show really has woven an intricate web around their relationship. Then the show went and hung a lantern on it by bringing in an outside third party to remark on it, and have Peter go all embarrassed about the picture of the Neal and Peter that was taken in the kitchen because it speaks to how far into Peter's life Neal has moved. (The prom picture. *g*) And having El say that Neal has loosened Peter up. In a good way. *cough*
Peter is 1000% more bossy this year, as well - go, stay, sit, don't move, stay out of this, don't, do - which is interesting on other levels. I know there's a whole (large) subset of fandom that thinks Peter and Neal are the world's most obvious dom/sub pair, but I think their dynamics are more complicated than this. I just found it kind of fascinating to watch how it has morphed, week after week, into a thing where Neal is actively obeying on the surface (where his lies live now), but both passively and actively resisting behind Peter's back. And in that resistance, the heart of his conflict: to go with what he wants, which is also what Peter wants, or to push back against it and be who Mozzie thinks he is (and what Neal is proving he is, every time he lies to Peter). SO COMPLEX.
I've also seen posts from people who hate the fact that the show is pushing Neal to be more like a criminal. Hey, newsflash: he is one. I don't see this known fact or behavior as destroying anything between him and Peter. Peter knows Neal better than anyone alive, except Mozzie. Peter wants him to be reformed. Despite this, let's face it: Neal is not reformed. Neal, however, is trying. He has placed huge amounts of trust in Peter, and Peter's reciprocal, unending desire to trust Neal (however tenuous it may be at times) is what keeps Neal tethered and keeps him conflicted. It's what makes Neal tell a junior con man to trust Peter, that Peter will help him, or he will eventually track him down. It's what makes Neal hesitate and stop trusting his instincts and lie to Peter in service to not getting caught not so he can run, but so he can stay.
And then there was the rest of tonight's episode, with the walking conversation which made me dizzy with all its double meanings and layers, and Peter being smart and Neal being smart, too, and taking crazy chances, and Mozzie SO HURT and walking away from Neal because there's nothing else he can do. I mean, hey, Mozzie gets Neal, too, and when Neal lied to Mozzie, that was the biggest red flag to Mozzie that could ever be thrown. Con men have to trust each other - honor among thieves - and for Neal to choose Peter over Mozzie is just, wow. Mozzie knew that was the end. POOR MOZZIE. But Neal! Choosing to stay! I was flailing, but of course, I knew that would all go to shit. As it did.
The last scene of tonight's episode was stunning - in the way it was shot, in the way it was filmed - Peter, walking through his house in a tunnel, not really seeing, not hearing, not connecting the dots, until he heard Neal's voice. That's what snapped him back. And then there was no anger, no 'you're to blame', nothing - just 'he took my wife". Because Neal knows what this means.
*falls over dead*
That look that passed between them - Neal was so apologizing, because OMG, he knows this is all his fault, for working with an asshole like Keller in the first place, and for hiding things from Peter that put first Peter, and now El, in great danger. And Neal would do anything for either of them.
WHY NO NEW SHOW UNTIL JANUARY? WHYYYYY. *rends garments*
Quite frankly, I think this season of White Collar has been completely outstanding. I've loved the tango Peter and Neal have been doing all season, and it's complicated, and there are layers to every scene, every bit of dialogue, every choice either of them has made.
First, there has been the subtext, which is creeping toward not being all that sub anymore, which is just...well, it's interesting. Mozzie came right out and said to Neal this season, "This thing with Peter...enjoy it while it lasts." This of course can be interpreted three or four different ways - personally, I like the obvious literal way, but there's also the textual way the show intended it, in terms of his working partnership and friendship with Peter. Every time Neal is talking about having a life there, and why he can't leave, the show makes it clear that what he can't leave is Peter. I mean, yes, I'm quite sure he has feelings for Sara (I really love her, and I loved them together, btw), but that is not what's holding him.
Neal was sitting on Peter and El's bed, in their bedroom, talking to Peter on the phone. That was...I barely knew what to do with that. When you look at the fact that having that intimate conversation with Peter in that moment was a pivot point for Neal - he decided to lie to Mozzie to buy time for himself to make his choice, whether to stay with Peter or go back to what he was before - the show really has woven an intricate web around their relationship. Then the show went and hung a lantern on it by bringing in an outside third party to remark on it, and have Peter go all embarrassed about the picture of the Neal and Peter that was taken in the kitchen because it speaks to how far into Peter's life Neal has moved. (The prom picture. *g*) And having El say that Neal has loosened Peter up. In a good way. *cough*
Peter is 1000% more bossy this year, as well - go, stay, sit, don't move, stay out of this, don't, do - which is interesting on other levels. I know there's a whole (large) subset of fandom that thinks Peter and Neal are the world's most obvious dom/sub pair, but I think their dynamics are more complicated than this. I just found it kind of fascinating to watch how it has morphed, week after week, into a thing where Neal is actively obeying on the surface (where his lies live now), but both passively and actively resisting behind Peter's back. And in that resistance, the heart of his conflict: to go with what he wants, which is also what Peter wants, or to push back against it and be who Mozzie thinks he is (and what Neal is proving he is, every time he lies to Peter). SO COMPLEX.
I've also seen posts from people who hate the fact that the show is pushing Neal to be more like a criminal. Hey, newsflash: he is one. I don't see this known fact or behavior as destroying anything between him and Peter. Peter knows Neal better than anyone alive, except Mozzie. Peter wants him to be reformed. Despite this, let's face it: Neal is not reformed. Neal, however, is trying. He has placed huge amounts of trust in Peter, and Peter's reciprocal, unending desire to trust Neal (however tenuous it may be at times) is what keeps Neal tethered and keeps him conflicted. It's what makes Neal tell a junior con man to trust Peter, that Peter will help him, or he will eventually track him down. It's what makes Neal hesitate and stop trusting his instincts and lie to Peter in service to not getting caught not so he can run, but so he can stay.
And then there was the rest of tonight's episode, with the walking conversation which made me dizzy with all its double meanings and layers, and Peter being smart and Neal being smart, too, and taking crazy chances, and Mozzie SO HURT and walking away from Neal because there's nothing else he can do. I mean, hey, Mozzie gets Neal, too, and when Neal lied to Mozzie, that was the biggest red flag to Mozzie that could ever be thrown. Con men have to trust each other - honor among thieves - and for Neal to choose Peter over Mozzie is just, wow. Mozzie knew that was the end. POOR MOZZIE. But Neal! Choosing to stay! I was flailing, but of course, I knew that would all go to shit. As it did.
The last scene of tonight's episode was stunning - in the way it was shot, in the way it was filmed - Peter, walking through his house in a tunnel, not really seeing, not hearing, not connecting the dots, until he heard Neal's voice. That's what snapped him back. And then there was no anger, no 'you're to blame', nothing - just 'he took my wife". Because Neal knows what this means.
*falls over dead*
That look that passed between them - Neal was so apologizing, because OMG, he knows this is all his fault, for working with an asshole like Keller in the first place, and for hiding things from Peter that put first Peter, and now El, in great danger. And Neal would do anything for either of them.
WHY NO NEW SHOW UNTIL JANUARY? WHYYYYY. *rends garments*