White Collar Finale
That was... unsatisfying. Maybe I'm just asking too much, but a finale should... finish things. Shouldn't it? Apart from the fact that the "Neal's sitting on a treasure that his friend stole and then involved him in a way that is something akin to a "friend" giving an alcoholic a drink" storyline did NOT get resolved, this episode didn't really have any of the "fun" moments that I crave from this show. It was SO tense, everything was so tense between Neal and Peter - it was like there was a curtain between them. A thick, black curtain. There was no joy here, and although Neal's and Mozzie's plans were clever, brilliant capers are not satisfying to me when they are self-serving, especially not for the reasons N & M are plotting them for.
I guess I have to toss the theory that Neal was trying to protect Mozzie. I can safely say that his main issue was "Stay? or Go?" I like that he actively voiced the decision to stay, but that was the only bone the finale threw me. :(
I'd been getting more annoyed with Mozzie as the season wore on. I think the way he's treated Neal is just rotten. I know that Mozzie is all about freedom, but he has to see that by encouraging Neal to skip out, it would hurt not only Neal (who WAS patiently serving his time in the pilot episode, until the Kate thing - he obviously could have escaped whenever he wanted to) but Peter AND Elizabeth, both of whom he befriended, both of whom have helped him time and again. It just seems cold and ruthless of Mozzie to have arranged this situation of the stolen treasure. This episode did nothing to redeem Mozzie for me, and I'm really sad about that.
And now, Peter is absolutely certain that Neal is responsible for both the stolen treasure and El's abduction, and... I don't know. Fresh from the first viewing, it's hard to put into words, but I wish that the writers had resolved the first plot somehow before throwing us into the twist. BTW, I saw Keller's kidnapping of El coming from a miiiiile away.
Show, why do you resort to the tired old "damsel in distress" trope? I can kind of see it - I sort of knew this might be an issue, given the closeness of Peter's and El's relationship, but I thought it was subverted when Peter was kidnapped - but, truly, El is my favorite character in this show, and I feel like she deserves more than to be shifted around as some tired old plot device. The kidnapped wife. The enraged, bereft husband who blames his best friend for the kidnapping.
So, anyway, those are my initial thoughts. I'll go back and watch the episode again in a couple of days and mull things over. What I want out of season finales is at least some resolution, and either elation or a harrowing of the soul and a planting of new expectation. At the end of this, I just feel deflated.
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