Tsunami, Ch. 1: Turnabout is Not Fair Play
Author: Jet44
Genres: Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Whump, Humor, Friendship, Gen
Relationships: Peter and Neal bromance, canon pairings
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: PTSD, drowning, physical assault, prisoner abuse, a sprinkle of swearing. I'm not going the stereotypical "beaten and raped in prison" route. What happened to Peter and Neal was ( Read more... )
Peter's an amazing person - deeply honest, brave, strong, self-sacrifizing and capable of deep empathy. However, he's also flawed - he tends to be self-righteous, sometimes his beliefs are too stiff and his belief in justice is - well, I wouldn't say blind, but it prevents him from being realistic.
We know from canon that Peter believes locking up Neal was the right thing to do, and I can't ever see him changing his mind about that, no matter how much he loves Neal. During the whole mess with Kate, he didn't even acknowledge the possibility that Kate might really be in danger - he was sure that she was playing Neal and although we can't be completely certain about her either way, fact is that she ended up dead. All Peter's lectures about how Neal should be rational and not mess up because of her suddenly sounded hypocrytical when we saw how he lost it when El got kidnapped. And I could go on and on.
As for Peter-Neal, their relationship always had cracks. Peter can't truly trust Neal and Neal can't trust Peter - with their lives, sure, with other things... not so much´.
Ironically, Peter is willing to bend the rules for others (mostly Neal), but not for himself - his morals won't allow him to make the same concession for himself that he would make for other people. Also, he has to be the one calling the shots, the one who decides when exactly the law can be bent - maybe he honestly believes that his judgment is the best, maybe he just likes to be in control. Honestly, people say how hard, Neal, Mozzie or even Sara can be to read, but for me, the hardest one has always been Peter. I can never quite tell where his sense of justice will lead him.
It's also ironic that Peter's greatest flaws can be his best features and vice versa.
As for Season 5... it was one horrible mess, and both Peter and Neal were at fault. One day, I mean to go watch Season 5 "from Peter's POV" - that is, watch it while keeping in mind that Peter doesn't know about Hagen or all the sacrifices Neal has made for him. He's arrested for murder - not only his life has taken a horrible turn, but you have to ask yourself - would someone believe the "old" Peter Burke (before he took on Neal) to be a corrupt agent capable of murder? He's freed, then he sees Neal commit a crime for no apparent reason - and iNeal is hiding stuff and pulling away - and Siegel's dead... Though I hated Peter hurting Neal during the season, you have to put his actions in perspective
As for Peter suddenly being "normal" again - Neal had been deeply hurt and deceived by Rachel, so at that point Peter can feel compassion for him (on some karmic level, "jutice has been served") and they can go back to normal. Meanwhile, Neal has always been quick in forgiveness, unless you hurt someone he cares for. Not that I think that their "normal" (before Neal's kidnapping) was healthy - they have a ton of stuff to eal with and unless they do, they're goign to crash and burn again and again - as they already did numerous times in the past.
Reply
I am sort of one of those fans who idolize Peter. I've never been blind to his faults, but I can certainly look at his actions with empathy.
I agree with you that there always have been huge conflicts and trust issues between them; it's always been part of the dynamic and a primary driver of the show. I think the difference is that most of the time, it didn't hit too deep for either of them. The worst as far as true anger was concerned was probably in Gloves Off/Vested Interest - but it still took all of one episode to patch things up. They sort of cheated their way out of what could have been a huge one with Kate's death.
In S5, Neal did things that Peter couldn't forgive or cope with emotionally or ethically, and Peter did the same to him. Okay, WC business as usual. The problem I had with it was that A. They really, genuinely hurt each other, and B. Neal was acting out of caring for Peter, whereas Peter was acting out of pure anger and self-protection.
Neal, as per usual, did all the wrong things for all the right reasons. Peter usually does all the mean things for all the right reasons, but in S5 he was just plain hurting and hating someone who behaved exactly in character (Peter knows who Neal is, and decided a long time ago to care about him regardless) out of a desire to help a friend.
Thinking he did the right thing locking Neal up? That he was helping him? He was probably right about that. Neal was racketing around the world playing high-stakes games with nasty people. He could have very easily wound up in an awful foreign prison, kidnapped with no FBI at his back, or simply murdered. Or kept racking up so many charges that he really would go away for life. Yes, Neal hated it, and yes, we as viewers sympathize and don't want him going back. But getting caught by Peter when he did may have saved his life.
I can see how devastating it was for him to A. be arrested, and B. have Neal get him out in a corrupt way that will probably mean he has the potential of being rearrested for murder hanging over his head for life. He's completely comfortable making major life decisions for Neal, but he's controlling enough to completely flip out over Neal having done the same to him.
He idolizes the FBI and rigid concepts of law and justice. Neal has helped loosen him up a lot over the years, (Cape Verde, anyone) and turn him into a person who can be a caring human being first and a law enforcer second....part of the time. Seeing that much corruption in law enforcement and being forced into being somewhat corrupt himself, seeing how easily he could lose everything he cares about, and having wound up in the whole situation because of Neal's father (and thus, because of Neal) obviously rattled him deeply, and I think that's where we as viewers are expected to accept his behavior.
It's human. But this is also WC, fluffy fiction where an FBI agent and his con-artist prisoner are partners and best friends who constantly try to outwit each other. It's not a dark drama about two dysfunctional people hurting each other.
Reply
Leave a comment