White Collar 6x06
Well, that wasn't any less heartrending to watch the second time. I have so many pages of notes, and yet I don't how long I'll be able to make this. My show is gone.
The callbacks in this episode were really good, not just references, but the feel of things having come full circle, such as June and Neal reminiscing. Also, given my strong feelings about the June and Neal friendship, I was so happy to get an "I love you" from them. And, "You have been my saving grace. You really have. Thank you for everything." THERE'D BETTER BE REUNION FICS FOR THEM TOO.
Neal and Mozzie, bringing it home to their first meeting. Watching the beginning of the episode, when Mozzie is so excited to finally be in on the plan, is heartbreaking in retrospect. It was never really about recognition by the Panthers; Mozzie just wanted to know that Neal needed him. AND THEN HE LOST HIS BEST FRIEND OH MY GOD. Mozzie's breakdown in the morgue is where I really started to lose it. How ironic, that the one conspiracy theory Moz gives up for the sake of his sanity is the one that turns out to be true.
There's something about the fact that Mozzie's still running petty street cons even when he doesn't need to. I think he's still waiting for Neal to show up and put another $500 down. (And maybe that's how it happens.)
I love how strong the friendship between Peter and Mozzie has become. They really do have each other.
If Mozzie's breakdown was where I started to to lose it, then it was Peter who did me in. First the small way he says that Neal's free, and then when he finally breaks down and cries.
And now I'm crying again.
Keller's story ended as it should. It's not quite that I wished him dead, but his life was so consumed by violence that it could only end violently. The questions becomes, of course, did Neal set Keller up to die? Not just by pushing Keller into a corner with his "death," but ensuring Keller had a gun with no bullets. Sure, Keller could have surrendered quietly, but Neal must have known he wouldn't.
It's a bit cold, but it's also Neal finally removing a danger. Neal doesn't want Keller to threaten his family while he's not there to look out for them.
So, it's certainly not murder, since Keller made his own choices, but Neal equally certainly directed events.
Keller himself looked surprised to have finally "killed" Neal. I didn't expect grief, and I didn't really get it, but there wasn't any gloating either. Keller wanted so badly to beat Neal, but he didn't really seem to know what to do with his victory, not emotionally.
I think this whole time, what Keller's really wanted is to have Neal back, all the while knowing it's not going to happen. He wants Neal to admit that the two of them are the same, because Neal's the only person he feels any connection to. He holds on to their history, while Neal has always tried to forget it. (Since Keller's first appearance Neal has denied there was ever friendship between them, despite evidence to the contrary.) And when Neal lays it out in this episode, it's hard to blame him. Keller has been a monster stalking him, a specter over the people he loves.
But even then, there's something incredibly smooth about the way Neal and Keller work together. Seeing them cracking the safe as part of a team was, uh, kind of sexy.
And maybe there was a bit of grief from Keller, as Neal was slipping away and Keller called him "old friend." Just grief in Keller's way. Hell, he even looked a little said when he was confronting Peter. Manipulation? Oh, most likely. But Keller's never been a delicate manipulator. He's a sledge hammer where people like Neal and Elizabeth are scalpels. I don't think he has it in him to put on a lot of false emotional nuance.
How did this season give me so many feelings about Keller and Neal/Keller?
Speaking of Elizabeth and Neal, they only got a short scene, but it was perfect for them. Elizabeth first asking, then correcting herself and demanding that Neal keep Peter safe, and Neal swearing, "I will stop at nothing to keep him safe." INDEED.
As for well, the giant plot twist, it became crystal clear to me as soon as Neal shot the mannequin. There was simply no other way the plot was going to go. Which meant at least I never actually thought Neal was dead.
It's not the ending I wanted, but it works as well as it could. Are there other things Neal could have tried that would have been less traumatic for his family? Almost certainly. But I can believe that Neal would be this extreme. And the Panther's were shown to be extremely dangerous. Also, possibly influencing Neal's thinking is his distrust of the FBI. They wanted to keep Neal, and Neal slithered away. How confident is he going to be that the FBI will expend any real effort to keep someone like Mozzie safe? (I'm not saying the FBI would be that cold, I'm saying I can buy Neal fearing they would be.) Also,
sheenianni has a post in which they make the extremely useful point of pointing out just how many people have suffered and died because they were involved with Neal. Hell, Keller brings up Kate in this episode, telling Neal she was dead as soon as they met. So, maybe Neal kinda has a complex about people dying for knowing him.
Has Neal changed? Absolutely. (Whatever, Eastin.) But not everything changes. If Neal is still a con at heart, it's not because he wants to be a criminal, but because the con is how he solves his problems. And the bigger the problem, the bigger the con.
And it was Neal Caffrey's biggest con. Which in itself is not a bad way for the series to end. The show has been about Neal finding his family, but it's also been about him finding himself, and I think that's what he's done in the end shot. Because he's set everything up for everyone to come together. And he always intended for Peter to find him. He had that key to the storage locker on him, knowing it would be given to Peter.
In the end, Neal finally gets to go home. And so does everyone else.
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