White Collar: 6x01
Listen, I will not trust this season as a whole to be good until the last episode airs, but this episode was everything I wanted.
Oh my goodness, look at everything we got! Character caring for each other, and trusting each other, and being smart! Of course, then I start to worry, because a prime reason to show Neal and Peter trusting each other so much this episode is to make it more effective when the inevitable conflict comes.
But no more negativity! I loved this episode.
I was so glad that the beginning of the episode went the way I hoped it would. Mozzie immediately knew that Neal wouldn't run without him, and Peter believed him. (Peter interrogating Mozzie-with Mozzie having no idea what Peter was talking about--was very funny.)
Don't get me wrong, I adore all these characters, but Neal is my very favorite, and oh god, this was Neal competency porn at its finest. Neal thinking on his feet, adapting, and coming out on top.
Right from the start, Neal played it so smart and made it quite clear how brilliant of a con man he is. As soon as Booth takes his hood off, Neal works to establish a degree of control. He doesn't ask what Booth wants or who he is. Instead, he acts as though Booth has done him a favor. Neal's handcuffed to a chair at the edge of an elevator shaft, but he recognizes that Booth is the nervous one, and he plays to that. But he never reveals his full hand. See the fact that he stays handcuffed until Booth uncuffs him. We know how good Neal is at getting out of handcuffs. But he sees no reason to give Booth that information. Also, note that he makes sure Booth has to convince him to be the one who breaks into Woodford's office. Of course, that's exactly what he wants. Convincing your mark to convince you is one of the oldest con tricks in the book.
I suspect that Neal doesn't think much of Booth's "score of a lifetime" plan. Neal has tried that!
I love that you can see the moment Neal switches his plan from just escaping to playing a much longer game. Which makes me wonder when he worked out the whole idea to get the FBI to exchange his freedom for the Pink Panthers. Did it come to him as soon as he heard Woodford's name? Or was he more taking advantage of the moment, and deciding to see where the whole thing led, with the full plan coming to him later? I think evidence actually points to the former. Very quick thinking.
Also, I'm always glad when fictional characters make logical conclusions. So we don't have to have a long scene where Neal figure's out Booth's identity. As soon as Booth says, "her," Neal makes the logical assumption that he's talking about Rachel, and then deduces that Booth was the guy in the helicopter.
And everyone else was smart too! It was great to watch Peter take the place of Fat Charlie and give Neal the opportunity to pass a message. Indeed that whole message passing and exchange taking place right under Booth's nose. I know what the premise of the show is, but I just like it so much better when Neal and Peter are working together.
I liked that this episode gave everyone a chance to be right. Mozzie didn't get his way about a lot of stuff, and it turned out that Peter's idea to just get Fat Charlie to scram worked really well. However, Mozzie was able to keep Woodford occupied by pretending to be a cyclist who had hit Woodford's car.
Not only were the characters smart, but they cared for each other so much. Mozzie being frantic with worry for Neal, until he realizes that Neal has a plan, at which point he relaxes and even resents the FBI for messing with the plan. (Mozzie doesn't know what it is, but he's sure it's good.) And of course, Peter being so worried, but still trusting Neal, even when it's pointed out that Neal has reason to screw the FBI. "For now we trust Neal." And then line he gives, "Why does it always have to be heights?" Yeah, Neal takes death defying jumps a lot. Poor Peter, it must give him so much worry. Plus, Neal being so certain that Peter would find him.
And Mozzie and Peter! They've made their way to a strange almost friendship, but now they're eating dinner together! I may die of cute. Peter says, "Mozzie, you need to trust me," and Mozzie does.
Hell, even Rachel got in on the "caring about people" action. I find Peter's side of the conversation with her really interesting, because I think he's walking a line between genuinely connecting with her and manipulating her. But he's Peter, so he manipulates her by being completely honest, telling her how much he cares about Elizabeth and Neal. And Bridget Reagan's acting was excellent in that scene. She was acting with facial twitches!
And Rachel does love Neal, so she does help. Not that that should be confused with her actually being a decent person. See that smile she gives Mozzie. Peter pegs her right when he notes she has no sense of right and wrong. She saves Neal because he matters to her.
And the scene between Rachel and Neal was unexpectedly touching. Rachel isn't Rebecca, and she never will be, no matter what she's claimed, but even though Neal knows that, he can't help seeing Rebecca. And Rachel knows that too, knows that Neal is never seeing her, he's never going to want the person she really is. The disconnect between them is impassable, and while it hurts Rachel more than Neal, it hurts him too. (But of course, while that makes it emotionally affecting, it's also why the relationship is so disastrously unhealthy for Neal. He can't separate who Rachel really is from who he thought she was. She killed Siegel and nearly killed Mozzie, but Neal can't just tell her to go screw herself. It's fucked up. Believable, though.)
But then Rachel manages to go out in a tragic way! That may have been technically an escape attempt, but I think it was more suicide by cop.
I'm guessing that Rachel's statement about living on borrowed time is going to be a theme for the season. And indeed, Neal is clearly pondering this. Mozzie has no problem with it, but Neal has always wanted a better way. Neal's struggle throughout the entire series has been that he likes being a criminal but doesn't like where the criminal life leads. He's still trying to reconcile it.
And then there's the plot. I don't know what the writers may have intended to do with a full season , but they did an excellent job wrapping up the kidnapping in one episode. They also introduced our meta plot for the season, which I'm reserving judgement on. The overarching plots are never the best part of the show, but they vary in quality. Tighter and low key has always worked better than sprawling conspiracies, so we'll see where this goes. I'm kind of raising an eyebrow at the group of thieves calling themselves the Pink Panthers. Granted, it wasn't the criminals in those movies who were incompetent (I don't think they ever were? Man it's been a long time since I watched a Pink Panther movie), but I can't help but think of an elite group of law enforcement officers calling themselves the Naked Guns.
I did love Neal's meeting with Woodford. Nerves of steel man. Not to mention riding a zip line on his belt. You could tell even Neal really didn't want to do that. (By the way, if fandom doesn't included that bit with Neal removing his belt in some very out of context icons and videos, I will be sorely let down.)
Mozzie having to play Neal's role with the FBI was fun, even if he was kind of resistant. But after what happened last season, I didn't mind him getting a a few digs in, since he wasn't really aiming them at Peter, Diana, or Jones themselves. Remarking about Neal helping brainstorm: "Look where that's gotten him." I can't help but appreciate Mozzie's anger on Neal's behalf.
Also, the writers found a way to put Neal back on the anklet without me railing at the unfairness of it all. Neal has a plan to get off the anklet without running. (It also works as what TV tropes calls a Xanatos gambit, because it works for him either way. If the FBI still betrays him, well, he now has an in with the world's greatest thieves.)
And then the final line: "Who says that's all I'm after?" WHAT ARE YOU AFTER, NEAL? TELL ME, TELL ME.
I wasn't really impressed by El's pregnancy. I've always liked to imagine her and Peter as happily and intentionally childless, but so goes headcanon. It's not terribly surprising in the final season: a standard note of hope. But it does occur to me that it may have more been a way to give Elizabeth a very compelling reason to come back to New York. Because, Elizabeth's amazing, but handling a pregnancy when you're starting in a brand new city, in a brand new, high pressure job, with you entire support network in another state is a whole lot to ask. Which makes it weird that they made such a big deal of her leaving for DC, only to come back immediately, but I wonder if this isn't a result of the truncated season. Perhaps they had something much longer planned involving El in DC.
Random bits:
Mozzie and the mannequin. Uh, Moz, is the FBI meant to believe that you have agalmatophilia, or that you're in love with Neal and are projecting your desires that badly? Either way, hilarious.
Jones and Mozzie making their wager. Oh, Jones.
Mozzie getting handcuffed for touching things, then picking the cuffs.
Most things Mozzie.
What is apparently a safe-cracking phone app that Neal has. There's an app for that indeed!
I like it whenever Diana gets to shoot someone. Diana din't shoot, oops. But she was still awesome.
This entry was originally posted at http://veleda-k.dreamwidth.org/410056.html. Please consider commenting there.
Oh my goodness, look at everything we got! Character caring for each other, and trusting each other, and being smart! Of course, then I start to worry, because a prime reason to show Neal and Peter trusting each other so much this episode is to make it more effective when the inevitable conflict comes.
But no more negativity! I loved this episode.
I was so glad that the beginning of the episode went the way I hoped it would. Mozzie immediately knew that Neal wouldn't run without him, and Peter believed him. (Peter interrogating Mozzie-with Mozzie having no idea what Peter was talking about--was very funny.)
Don't get me wrong, I adore all these characters, but Neal is my very favorite, and oh god, this was Neal competency porn at its finest. Neal thinking on his feet, adapting, and coming out on top.
Right from the start, Neal played it so smart and made it quite clear how brilliant of a con man he is. As soon as Booth takes his hood off, Neal works to establish a degree of control. He doesn't ask what Booth wants or who he is. Instead, he acts as though Booth has done him a favor. Neal's handcuffed to a chair at the edge of an elevator shaft, but he recognizes that Booth is the nervous one, and he plays to that. But he never reveals his full hand. See the fact that he stays handcuffed until Booth uncuffs him. We know how good Neal is at getting out of handcuffs. But he sees no reason to give Booth that information. Also, note that he makes sure Booth has to convince him to be the one who breaks into Woodford's office. Of course, that's exactly what he wants. Convincing your mark to convince you is one of the oldest con tricks in the book.
I suspect that Neal doesn't think much of Booth's "score of a lifetime" plan. Neal has tried that!
I love that you can see the moment Neal switches his plan from just escaping to playing a much longer game. Which makes me wonder when he worked out the whole idea to get the FBI to exchange his freedom for the Pink Panthers. Did it come to him as soon as he heard Woodford's name? Or was he more taking advantage of the moment, and deciding to see where the whole thing led, with the full plan coming to him later? I think evidence actually points to the former. Very quick thinking.
Also, I'm always glad when fictional characters make logical conclusions. So we don't have to have a long scene where Neal figure's out Booth's identity. As soon as Booth says, "her," Neal makes the logical assumption that he's talking about Rachel, and then deduces that Booth was the guy in the helicopter.
And everyone else was smart too! It was great to watch Peter take the place of Fat Charlie and give Neal the opportunity to pass a message. Indeed that whole message passing and exchange taking place right under Booth's nose. I know what the premise of the show is, but I just like it so much better when Neal and Peter are working together.
I liked that this episode gave everyone a chance to be right. Mozzie didn't get his way about a lot of stuff, and it turned out that Peter's idea to just get Fat Charlie to scram worked really well. However, Mozzie was able to keep Woodford occupied by pretending to be a cyclist who had hit Woodford's car.
Not only were the characters smart, but they cared for each other so much. Mozzie being frantic with worry for Neal, until he realizes that Neal has a plan, at which point he relaxes and even resents the FBI for messing with the plan. (Mozzie doesn't know what it is, but he's sure it's good.) And of course, Peter being so worried, but still trusting Neal, even when it's pointed out that Neal has reason to screw the FBI. "For now we trust Neal." And then line he gives, "Why does it always have to be heights?" Yeah, Neal takes death defying jumps a lot. Poor Peter, it must give him so much worry. Plus, Neal being so certain that Peter would find him.
And Mozzie and Peter! They've made their way to a strange almost friendship, but now they're eating dinner together! I may die of cute. Peter says, "Mozzie, you need to trust me," and Mozzie does.
Hell, even Rachel got in on the "caring about people" action. I find Peter's side of the conversation with her really interesting, because I think he's walking a line between genuinely connecting with her and manipulating her. But he's Peter, so he manipulates her by being completely honest, telling her how much he cares about Elizabeth and Neal. And Bridget Reagan's acting was excellent in that scene. She was acting with facial twitches!
And Rachel does love Neal, so she does help. Not that that should be confused with her actually being a decent person. See that smile she gives Mozzie. Peter pegs her right when he notes she has no sense of right and wrong. She saves Neal because he matters to her.
And the scene between Rachel and Neal was unexpectedly touching. Rachel isn't Rebecca, and she never will be, no matter what she's claimed, but even though Neal knows that, he can't help seeing Rebecca. And Rachel knows that too, knows that Neal is never seeing her, he's never going to want the person she really is. The disconnect between them is impassable, and while it hurts Rachel more than Neal, it hurts him too. (But of course, while that makes it emotionally affecting, it's also why the relationship is so disastrously unhealthy for Neal. He can't separate who Rachel really is from who he thought she was. She killed Siegel and nearly killed Mozzie, but Neal can't just tell her to go screw herself. It's fucked up. Believable, though.)
But then Rachel manages to go out in a tragic way! That may have been technically an escape attempt, but I think it was more suicide by cop.
I'm guessing that Rachel's statement about living on borrowed time is going to be a theme for the season. And indeed, Neal is clearly pondering this. Mozzie has no problem with it, but Neal has always wanted a better way. Neal's struggle throughout the entire series has been that he likes being a criminal but doesn't like where the criminal life leads. He's still trying to reconcile it.
And then there's the plot. I don't know what the writers may have intended to do with a full season , but they did an excellent job wrapping up the kidnapping in one episode. They also introduced our meta plot for the season, which I'm reserving judgement on. The overarching plots are never the best part of the show, but they vary in quality. Tighter and low key has always worked better than sprawling conspiracies, so we'll see where this goes. I'm kind of raising an eyebrow at the group of thieves calling themselves the Pink Panthers. Granted, it wasn't the criminals in those movies who were incompetent (I don't think they ever were? Man it's been a long time since I watched a Pink Panther movie), but I can't help but think of an elite group of law enforcement officers calling themselves the Naked Guns.
I did love Neal's meeting with Woodford. Nerves of steel man. Not to mention riding a zip line on his belt. You could tell even Neal really didn't want to do that. (By the way, if fandom doesn't included that bit with Neal removing his belt in some very out of context icons and videos, I will be sorely let down.)
Mozzie having to play Neal's role with the FBI was fun, even if he was kind of resistant. But after what happened last season, I didn't mind him getting a a few digs in, since he wasn't really aiming them at Peter, Diana, or Jones themselves. Remarking about Neal helping brainstorm: "Look where that's gotten him." I can't help but appreciate Mozzie's anger on Neal's behalf.
Also, the writers found a way to put Neal back on the anklet without me railing at the unfairness of it all. Neal has a plan to get off the anklet without running. (It also works as what TV tropes calls a Xanatos gambit, because it works for him either way. If the FBI still betrays him, well, he now has an in with the world's greatest thieves.)
And then the final line: "Who says that's all I'm after?" WHAT ARE YOU AFTER, NEAL? TELL ME, TELL ME.
I wasn't really impressed by El's pregnancy. I've always liked to imagine her and Peter as happily and intentionally childless, but so goes headcanon. It's not terribly surprising in the final season: a standard note of hope. But it does occur to me that it may have more been a way to give Elizabeth a very compelling reason to come back to New York. Because, Elizabeth's amazing, but handling a pregnancy when you're starting in a brand new city, in a brand new, high pressure job, with you entire support network in another state is a whole lot to ask. Which makes it weird that they made such a big deal of her leaving for DC, only to come back immediately, but I wonder if this isn't a result of the truncated season. Perhaps they had something much longer planned involving El in DC.
Random bits:
Mozzie and the mannequin. Uh, Moz, is the FBI meant to believe that you have agalmatophilia, or that you're in love with Neal and are projecting your desires that badly? Either way, hilarious.
Jones and Mozzie making their wager. Oh, Jones.
Mozzie getting handcuffed for touching things, then picking the cuffs.
Most things Mozzie.
What is apparently a safe-cracking phone app that Neal has. There's an app for that indeed!
I like it whenever Diana gets to shoot someone. Diana din't shoot, oops. But she was still awesome.
This entry was originally posted at http://veleda-k.dreamwidth.org/410056.html. Please consider commenting there.