White Collar 5x03
I had a whole bunch of notes, but none of them seem important compared to that last scene. I... did not see that coming. I was really warming up to Seigel. Of course, that was undoubtedly intentional. Make you like him right before they kill him.
Like, look, here, here is one of my early notes: "Seigel and Neal might be pretty cute." Or the part where I noted that Peter brought deviled ham and Seigel brought tasty Pizza, so maybe Neal should keep an open mind. ;_;
Because I was really liking the direction the Neal and Seigel relationship was going. Choosing coffee trucks outside banks and museums is totally something Neal would do to gently mess with someone. And the way he used Seigel's suspicion against him was very clever. (One could say that Neal was "handling" Seigel.) And what made it all the more interesting was that they appeared to be genuinely bonding.
You know, this show has always had people not Neal feeling the consequences of Neal's actions. But I don't think the splash back has ever felt this harsh. First Rebecca losing her job, then Seigel losing his life. And yet Neal's doing the best he can here. Doing that job for Hagen was the only way to keep Peter out of prison (Hagen said that someone in his pocket was going after Peter), and now, if Neal goes down and it comes out that he stole gold in order to bribe Peter's way out of prison, Peter suffers too.
I did know, however, that Seigel wouldn't be long term. The show is too centered on Peter and Neal interacting and solving cases together. Oddly enough, what clinched it for me is that he can never meet Mozzie. He never could have been fully integrated into the show without that. But I thought he'd last til the end of the season.
Like, apparently I have really strong Seigel feelings. Yeah, I wasn't expecting it either.
The episode also gave me Peter feelings. Not surprisingly, Peter doesn't like all the paperwork that comes with his new job.
When Neal told Peter off, my first reaction was pretty much, NO, NEAL, STOP BEING MEAN TO PETER. There is just something about Tim Dekay's face, all right? I can't stand to see him look sad. It upsets me deeply. My second thought was that while Neal was obviously trying to get Peter out of the car, I think there was some genuine hurt in there. I mean, I don't judge Peter for assigning Neal a new handler. I think the decision made sense, and it was in no way meant to hurt Neal. But I can understand why Neal would feel a little rejected.
Neal also shows a little bit of bitterness at the beginning, when he remarks that Peter has come a long way, while he hasn't.
I think the amount of hurt and bitterness he showed in this episode worked for me. I think I would honestly find it unbelievable if he didn't feel something like this. But playing it too intensely or dramatically would have turned me off and left me feeling unsympathetic, because Neal got himself into this.
Peter meets Neal's remark by reminding Neal that he's valued and well regarded by the FBI, and I think Peter really does view that as a serious accomplishment. But while Neal likes what he does and the people he does it with, that's really not what he wants out of life.
My darlings are sad. That makes me sad.
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