Predictions and Predilections, White Collar Style
I've been watching askance this last season of White Collar because, after last season, I do not trust that the writers who were working on the show actually understood what it was that people liked about the show. I got my fill of Peter being a jerk during the fifth season of last year, and it's put distance between me and the characters I still adore. I'm not saying I've fallen out of love--I'm saying it's more like, "I love him but he cheated on me so now what?"
But.
But, I am cautiously hopeful now. We're halfway into the last season and I'm going to be honest--my journal, why not? I'm not a fan of the antihero. The only mavericks I tuly like and respect are the ones who know the laws and the code, and can quote it chapter and verse while they're breaking it--but I don't really like "bad guys." I think I've had my fill of bad guys in the real world, so I don't have much interest in watching arrested development with a badge, or unrepentance worn like a badge of honor.
I like nice guys. I like Boy Scouts. I adore Peter Burke and the standards of fairness and honesty and integrity that he always modeled (except last season). I had no trouble believing that, seeing that--seeing what a real man is like--was all Neal needed to know where he wanted to go, to be what he wanted to be.
Neal's always been good at getting what he wanted, but he's been less good at wanting what he got. Contentment as a con man was a thing that would forever be beyond Neal's reach, but when he began to play against Peter--his intellect, his wit, his fairness, his wholenes--then Neal realized, maybe for the first time, that the path he was on wasn't going to get him what he wanted. Neal thought he wanted the carefreeness (ha!) of childhood--the lack of adult responsibilities, but what he discovered, time and again, is that what he reallyi wants is to be grown up. And seeing Peter do it only made it seem not just possible, but necessary. Neal wants to finally grow up and he needs Peter to do that. Peter, for his part, wants more of a payoff from his job than just one more artifact returned, one more crook behind bars. What Peter wants is to know that he makes a difference, that what he does matters. Neal is a living, breathing testament to the fact that he does
I'm already in too deep for most everybody, so I'll stop even though I haven't yet waxed rhapsodic about El and how amazing she is--to warrant the love and faith of one man and to nurture the love and faith of the other in a competely appropraite way. She is so strong and centered and knows her own strength and I love her for that (but I don't have time here).
Okay, enough philosophy--.
Here's what I think we will get, and not just because I hope we will get it. I think Peter will quit the FBI. I think Neal will not only go free, but might even be legally pardoned (or some such). I think they will start a business together that pulls on the best of their talents and allows them to save the day, whup bad guys and take names and still be home for dinner. I think this will mean that Peter is there--home and available--for El and the baby, and that Neal (and certainly Mozzie) will find themselves pushing their knees under the Burke's kitchen table on a regular basis. "Uncle Neal" and "Uncle Mozzie" are going to corrupt that wonderful Burke child in every way possible--all in the pursuit of justice.
We're halfway into this last season, and I have begun to hope that order has been restored to the universe. That the right order of things has now been reset. While Keller has been a nasty, icky surprise--festering and backbiting--I believe he will meet his inevitable end before it's all over, leaving our heros in peace to be warriors on the side of good. That's what i think will happen, more or less. It's the happy ending I want.
A happy ending's what I always want.
But.
But, I am cautiously hopeful now. We're halfway into the last season and I'm going to be honest--my journal, why not? I'm not a fan of the antihero. The only mavericks I tuly like and respect are the ones who know the laws and the code, and can quote it chapter and verse while they're breaking it--but I don't really like "bad guys." I think I've had my fill of bad guys in the real world, so I don't have much interest in watching arrested development with a badge, or unrepentance worn like a badge of honor.
I like nice guys. I like Boy Scouts. I adore Peter Burke and the standards of fairness and honesty and integrity that he always modeled (except last season). I had no trouble believing that, seeing that--seeing what a real man is like--was all Neal needed to know where he wanted to go, to be what he wanted to be.
Neal's always been good at getting what he wanted, but he's been less good at wanting what he got. Contentment as a con man was a thing that would forever be beyond Neal's reach, but when he began to play against Peter--his intellect, his wit, his fairness, his wholenes--then Neal realized, maybe for the first time, that the path he was on wasn't going to get him what he wanted. Neal thought he wanted the carefreeness (ha!) of childhood--the lack of adult responsibilities, but what he discovered, time and again, is that what he reallyi wants is to be grown up. And seeing Peter do it only made it seem not just possible, but necessary. Neal wants to finally grow up and he needs Peter to do that. Peter, for his part, wants more of a payoff from his job than just one more artifact returned, one more crook behind bars. What Peter wants is to know that he makes a difference, that what he does matters. Neal is a living, breathing testament to the fact that he does
I'm already in too deep for most everybody, so I'll stop even though I haven't yet waxed rhapsodic about El and how amazing she is--to warrant the love and faith of one man and to nurture the love and faith of the other in a competely appropraite way. She is so strong and centered and knows her own strength and I love her for that (but I don't have time here).
Okay, enough philosophy--.
Here's what I think we will get, and not just because I hope we will get it. I think Peter will quit the FBI. I think Neal will not only go free, but might even be legally pardoned (or some such). I think they will start a business together that pulls on the best of their talents and allows them to save the day, whup bad guys and take names and still be home for dinner. I think this will mean that Peter is there--home and available--for El and the baby, and that Neal (and certainly Mozzie) will find themselves pushing their knees under the Burke's kitchen table on a regular basis. "Uncle Neal" and "Uncle Mozzie" are going to corrupt that wonderful Burke child in every way possible--all in the pursuit of justice.
We're halfway into this last season, and I have begun to hope that order has been restored to the universe. That the right order of things has now been reset. While Keller has been a nasty, icky surprise--festering and backbiting--I believe he will meet his inevitable end before it's all over, leaving our heros in peace to be warriors on the side of good. That's what i think will happen, more or less. It's the happy ending I want.
A happy ending's what I always want.