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White Collar
Brilliant Husband and I continue to watch WC seasons 1 and 2 simultaneously. (We are confused.) I will treat each episode separately but briefly (I hope). Please jump in with comments! Half the fun of watching a show is talking about it! Please don't be dissuaded by the number I've seen since I last posted; just read about your favorites!
"Flip of the Coin"
Poor Peter! His wife practically throws him out of the house while her friend moves in for comfort when her husband is jailed. I have loads of sympathy for Peter in this one. He's a little too straightforward and, well, insensitive to deal with not hurting Dana's feelings while asking questions. "I have good news and bad news.... Well, the bad news is, he's still in jail."* Oh, Peter!
"The Portrait"
I loved this episode, from meeting Julianna right up to the end.
Julianna: "I hit him in the face. He said if I did that again, he'd kill me."
"So what did you do?"
"I hit him again."
(The boys exchange a look of respect.)
Neal really didn't think through paying for drinks for the bad guy's girlfriend with his credit card. He was also pretty evil to drag Peter to their hotel room with him and the two women. Again, I have lots of sympathy for Peter (and I laughed at him and felt guilty for it).
I love that Neal faked the painting for a good reason. I enjoyed Mozzie critiquing Neal's work. I loved the scene with the curator: "I am relieved to have the Haustenberg back where it belongs." It's back where it belongs, all right! Peter looked like he might explode, but he couldn't do anything.
And... I might possibly have written a little episode tag for this one, if my betas think it worthy of posting.
"All In"
I was not so fond of this episode. I had to look up Tiles of Fire afterwards and make sure there really wasn't such a series of movies, though I did enjoy Mozzie mouthing the dialogue along with the scene and Neal's appalled looks at Mozzie—and June.
I really thought Neal should have trusted Peter more and told him about the Interpol agent, and I thought he was pretty freaking naïve to she was telling him the truth.
I did, however, cheer for Neal losing his watch to the bad guy and Peter's reaction to that.
Scenes in the van are generally a pleasure. I like seeing the agents, and sometimes Neal, hang out and tease each other. I love this whole cast.
"Free Fall"
Peter to Neal as he looks at the diamond hanging low on the model's neck: "So, real or fake?"
Lauren, in a catty aside to Jones: "He is talking about the diamond, right?" Points for Cruz!
I was Disappointed in Peter for not believing Neal when he says he didn't do it. I understand his reasons, but I do think he ought to have at least been a little suspicious of the whole situation.
I adore Mozzie as Neal's lawyer. "Law degree from the University of Phoenix, online." Little hand pump: "Go Cardinals." (The real mascot, by the way, is the Phoenix, which the writers knew but didn't think sounded very good.) Major points to Mozzie for requesting every file they had on Neal—and then priorizing the ones Fowler shredded and dumped over the truckload he got. That's smart writing.
Neal buying a bakery, naming it "The Greatest Cake," and jumping from the judge's chambers in itself would have made the episode worthwhile. Watching Peter seeing the bakery, making the connection, and then seeing the leap (and Neal's shrug) made it priceless. That Peter was then in no hurry to call anyone or follow Neal made me forgive Peter for not believing Neal.
"You made my wife an accomplice!"
Neal's right: Caffrey and Burke as a criminal team would be unstoppable. ("But it would be Burke and Caffrey.") What no one mentions is that Caffrey and both Burkes together could conquer the world (and I'd sit here and let them).
"Hard Sell"
Neal should have realized sooner what El told him: "Peter's the best thing that ever happened to you," not the man who kidnapped Kate (though I don't think anyone did). At least he apologizes for his mistake, though we never heard Peter apologize for believing Neal had stolen the diamond. (I suppose champagne is an acceptable substitute for an apology, even if it is in paper cups. "You'll drink it, and you'll enjoy it.") Neal should have known better. Still, I could really feel for him. He can't think clearly when Kate's involved, and Mozzie's paranoia only sank him deeper. When he was given reasons to believe Peter, he did (and he apologized!). Then there's Neal's reaction to Peter's explanation that it's a ten-year pin: "Will I get one?" "No!"
This may be my favorite episode of the show so far, so I'll forgive the bloophole: they surely had enough information for a search warrant for the vault. With a warrant, they could have avoided nearly dying.
I love Neal giving Peter the hard sell to land the job, and Peter mouthing to Jones, "He's good!" Neal demonstrates in this episode that he really isn't quite sane. He takes one risk after another, mouthing off to the even less sane guys running the scam, including while they're holding guns.
Neal: "I want 5%." (Peter boggles.)
Bad Guy with Gun: "This one has cojones! 2%."
"3%."
Bad Guy accepts. Peter continues to boggle.
Then, of course, we get the wonderful scene where Neal trusts Peter to get him out of an airless vault and gives him the air. His trust is rewarded, of course.
The scene with Peter and Kate impressed me even further with Tim DeKay. He played that scene perfectly, and I loved his little speech about Neal being good and how he wanted Kate to stop twisting his friend's heart around. Yes, I am a sucker for team and friendship.
"Bad Judgment"
Have I mentioned how much I love Mozzie? I just howled when Elizabeth opened the door to meet him for the first time and he greeted her with, "Mrs. Suit, I presume?" I love El happily showing Moz Peter's old surveillance photos of her and telling him the story. I love that they're 'El' and 'Moz' to each other by the time he leaves, and poor Peter again sees his wife enjoying the company of criminals (even if Mozzie apparently never has been arrested). Moz answering Peter's questions about the Russian night-vision scope with "The question is, why don't you have one?" was perfect. I expected Mozzie to have some really good story to delay the courier, but he had something better: a plausible one.
Noah Emmerich must be doing a really good job as Fowler, because my stomach clenches the moment I see him on screen.
Elizabeth rocks. She married a man who is deeply good and loyal and honest, but she can still enjoy the company of men who are lacking at least one of those three qualities (but have others to help make up for it). Borrowing Neal was pretty funny. (Of course Peter stuck the entire cracker with paté into his mouth at once while Neal only nibbled and tried to savor his—before he realized the paté was terrible. Then Neal only had a little bit in his mouth, and Peter had a mouthful. Life isn't fair, as this show illustrates time after time.) She left the room when Hughes asked her to do so, but she made sure she heard every word, and she didn't hesitate to call in a favor when her husband needed it. (Peter ought to have notified Hughes right away about his talk with the judge and made a formal request for a wire, but I'm willing to believe that with Fowler around, Peter didn't get the chance.) Then she just trusted Neal and Moz to do their thing, and they did.
Again, I thought the writing was really smart, and the characters were smart: Neal didn't have time to find anything incriminating, so he faked out the judge into doing something incriminating. Peter couldn't get Fowler, but he could get the judge, and he had Hughes close enough to make sure Fowler stayed in line when it went down. (How many people here think Hughes suspects what Peter did? Thought so. Hughes is smart, too.)
Back to Season 2:
"Copycat Caffrey"
I haven't even seen fourteen episodes yet, but two have involved university faculty committing crimes! As a faculty member myself, I feel special! I wonder what crime I should commit? (Feel free to propose some in comments.)
Neal should really have shown better sense and more trust of Peter and told him about Alex. (Okay, this was the first time I've seen her, and I know there's some backstory here that I'll see when I see the rest of s1.) I did enjoy him showing off to the college students. Peter totally rocked at the end, pointing out that he's the one with the FBI and Neal has the ankle tracker. I bet he had a lot of takers for those FBI job applications he left behind!
"By the Book"
Neal, have you learned nothing? Once again, Neal failed to tell Peter something and got in what could have been serious trouble if Peter hadn't already started intervening. This wasn't the best written episode. Willie Garson pulled it off, though. He makes me care very much about Mozzie, and I could believe he was upset enough to do stupid things such as talking the boyfriend out of doing the sting himself, and pulling the perfect exchange with a complication that he didn't anticipate.
"Unfinished Business"
Augh! Neal, you have lost your freaking mind! Or you never had a mind! It drives me nuts how much trouble Neal gets himself into that he could foresee and prevent. He also needs to (say it with me!) learn to trust Peter. Couldn't he ask Peter to get the plane recording for him?
When Neal slicked his hair back to play Black, I suddenly realized that he looked like Paul Gross, and I'd never realized it before. Wow. The whole sequence where he was out of contact with the van and didn't know it for certain, and had to play a hitman, really kept me on the edge of my seat. He's lucky Sara didn't shoot! She might yet have done it if Peter hadn't called (and Peter calling to ask her not to shoot Neal was fun).
They played a really dangerous game with this case. Why the heck didn't Peter just phone Sara? Were no FBI agents or police closer to her place than Peter & Co. were?
"In the Red"
I thought from the start that the mantel panel was a stupid, obvious place for Neal to put the envelope. He should at the very least have taken the flash drive from the envelope, hidden it, and destroyed the envelope. Neal just wasn't ready to deal with the recording. He needs professional help (of several kinds). He should have had Peter on board for this whole thing.
The opening scene nearly stopped my heart. I'm with Peter: "Why didn't you just tell us there was a kid in the car?" His hints weren't enough. I know Neal meant well by trying to dissuade the woman from closing the deal, but if she'd taken his advice and gone to someone else, then what would have happened? (Mozzie, from a much earlier episode: "You have no sense of consequences!") Of course the whole thing pulled on my heartstrings. It pulled on Sara's, too, or Neal would have gone to prison (yet again). Then, of course, she must have been moved by his devotion to his dead girlfriend. I did say to Brilliant Husband that that kind of loyalty is very attractive. I'd add: except when it's stupid.
Didn't Diana and Jones make an excellent couple? ("From the Hamptons," as Peter said!) Diana again managed to pull out a gun faster than I could see.
I couldn't figure out why "Nick Halden" was involved in the final reckoning with the lawyer until they dragged him out of sight. I love Peter playing director to Neal faking injury out of the lawyer's sight.
* No one seems to be entering the quotations on IMDb, so all quotations are courtesy of my own lousy memory. Please feel free to correct them.
I had a dream the other night that was White Collar in a steampunk AU. I was Neal, oddly enough, though I definitely identify more with Peter (more than I do even with Elizabeth, I think). We were walking through a big hall with tables full of stuff, and I kept looking around while Peter kept dragging me onward, and then someone showed up to shoot us with a really lame water-squirter made of brass. Very strange. I'm not going to write it, so if you want this plot bunny, it's free to a good home. (I'm not that fond of steampunk, and I have no idea where I'd go with this.)
Brilliant Husband and I continue to watch WC seasons 1 and 2 simultaneously. (We are confused.) I will treat each episode separately but briefly (I hope). Please jump in with comments! Half the fun of watching a show is talking about it! Please don't be dissuaded by the number I've seen since I last posted; just read about your favorites!
"Flip of the Coin"
Poor Peter! His wife practically throws him out of the house while her friend moves in for comfort when her husband is jailed. I have loads of sympathy for Peter in this one. He's a little too straightforward and, well, insensitive to deal with not hurting Dana's feelings while asking questions. "I have good news and bad news.... Well, the bad news is, he's still in jail."* Oh, Peter!
"The Portrait"
I loved this episode, from meeting Julianna right up to the end.
Julianna: "I hit him in the face. He said if I did that again, he'd kill me."
"So what did you do?"
"I hit him again."
(The boys exchange a look of respect.)
Neal really didn't think through paying for drinks for the bad guy's girlfriend with his credit card. He was also pretty evil to drag Peter to their hotel room with him and the two women. Again, I have lots of sympathy for Peter (and I laughed at him and felt guilty for it).
I love that Neal faked the painting for a good reason. I enjoyed Mozzie critiquing Neal's work. I loved the scene with the curator: "I am relieved to have the Haustenberg back where it belongs." It's back where it belongs, all right! Peter looked like he might explode, but he couldn't do anything.
And... I might possibly have written a little episode tag for this one, if my betas think it worthy of posting.
"All In"
I was not so fond of this episode. I had to look up Tiles of Fire afterwards and make sure there really wasn't such a series of movies, though I did enjoy Mozzie mouthing the dialogue along with the scene and Neal's appalled looks at Mozzie—and June.
I really thought Neal should have trusted Peter more and told him about the Interpol agent, and I thought he was pretty freaking naïve to she was telling him the truth.
I did, however, cheer for Neal losing his watch to the bad guy and Peter's reaction to that.
Scenes in the van are generally a pleasure. I like seeing the agents, and sometimes Neal, hang out and tease each other. I love this whole cast.
"Free Fall"
Peter to Neal as he looks at the diamond hanging low on the model's neck: "So, real or fake?"
Lauren, in a catty aside to Jones: "He is talking about the diamond, right?" Points for Cruz!
I was Disappointed in Peter for not believing Neal when he says he didn't do it. I understand his reasons, but I do think he ought to have at least been a little suspicious of the whole situation.
I adore Mozzie as Neal's lawyer. "Law degree from the University of Phoenix, online." Little hand pump: "Go Cardinals." (The real mascot, by the way, is the Phoenix, which the writers knew but didn't think sounded very good.) Major points to Mozzie for requesting every file they had on Neal—and then priorizing the ones Fowler shredded and dumped over the truckload he got. That's smart writing.
Neal buying a bakery, naming it "The Greatest Cake," and jumping from the judge's chambers in itself would have made the episode worthwhile. Watching Peter seeing the bakery, making the connection, and then seeing the leap (and Neal's shrug) made it priceless. That Peter was then in no hurry to call anyone or follow Neal made me forgive Peter for not believing Neal.
"You made my wife an accomplice!"
Neal's right: Caffrey and Burke as a criminal team would be unstoppable. ("But it would be Burke and Caffrey.") What no one mentions is that Caffrey and both Burkes together could conquer the world (and I'd sit here and let them).
"Hard Sell"
Neal should have realized sooner what El told him: "Peter's the best thing that ever happened to you," not the man who kidnapped Kate (though I don't think anyone did). At least he apologizes for his mistake, though we never heard Peter apologize for believing Neal had stolen the diamond. (I suppose champagne is an acceptable substitute for an apology, even if it is in paper cups. "You'll drink it, and you'll enjoy it.") Neal should have known better. Still, I could really feel for him. He can't think clearly when Kate's involved, and Mozzie's paranoia only sank him deeper. When he was given reasons to believe Peter, he did (and he apologized!). Then there's Neal's reaction to Peter's explanation that it's a ten-year pin: "Will I get one?" "No!"
This may be my favorite episode of the show so far, so I'll forgive the bloophole: they surely had enough information for a search warrant for the vault. With a warrant, they could have avoided nearly dying.
I love Neal giving Peter the hard sell to land the job, and Peter mouthing to Jones, "He's good!" Neal demonstrates in this episode that he really isn't quite sane. He takes one risk after another, mouthing off to the even less sane guys running the scam, including while they're holding guns.
Neal: "I want 5%." (Peter boggles.)
Bad Guy with Gun: "This one has cojones! 2%."
"3%."
Bad Guy accepts. Peter continues to boggle.
Then, of course, we get the wonderful scene where Neal trusts Peter to get him out of an airless vault and gives him the air. His trust is rewarded, of course.
The scene with Peter and Kate impressed me even further with Tim DeKay. He played that scene perfectly, and I loved his little speech about Neal being good and how he wanted Kate to stop twisting his friend's heart around. Yes, I am a sucker for team and friendship.
"Bad Judgment"
Have I mentioned how much I love Mozzie? I just howled when Elizabeth opened the door to meet him for the first time and he greeted her with, "Mrs. Suit, I presume?" I love El happily showing Moz Peter's old surveillance photos of her and telling him the story. I love that they're 'El' and 'Moz' to each other by the time he leaves, and poor Peter again sees his wife enjoying the company of criminals (even if Mozzie apparently never has been arrested). Moz answering Peter's questions about the Russian night-vision scope with "The question is, why don't you have one?" was perfect. I expected Mozzie to have some really good story to delay the courier, but he had something better: a plausible one.
Noah Emmerich must be doing a really good job as Fowler, because my stomach clenches the moment I see him on screen.
Elizabeth rocks. She married a man who is deeply good and loyal and honest, but she can still enjoy the company of men who are lacking at least one of those three qualities (but have others to help make up for it). Borrowing Neal was pretty funny. (Of course Peter stuck the entire cracker with paté into his mouth at once while Neal only nibbled and tried to savor his—before he realized the paté was terrible. Then Neal only had a little bit in his mouth, and Peter had a mouthful. Life isn't fair, as this show illustrates time after time.) She left the room when Hughes asked her to do so, but she made sure she heard every word, and she didn't hesitate to call in a favor when her husband needed it. (Peter ought to have notified Hughes right away about his talk with the judge and made a formal request for a wire, but I'm willing to believe that with Fowler around, Peter didn't get the chance.) Then she just trusted Neal and Moz to do their thing, and they did.
Again, I thought the writing was really smart, and the characters were smart: Neal didn't have time to find anything incriminating, so he faked out the judge into doing something incriminating. Peter couldn't get Fowler, but he could get the judge, and he had Hughes close enough to make sure Fowler stayed in line when it went down. (How many people here think Hughes suspects what Peter did? Thought so. Hughes is smart, too.)
Back to Season 2:
"Copycat Caffrey"
I haven't even seen fourteen episodes yet, but two have involved university faculty committing crimes! As a faculty member myself, I feel special! I wonder what crime I should commit? (Feel free to propose some in comments.)
Neal should really have shown better sense and more trust of Peter and told him about Alex. (Okay, this was the first time I've seen her, and I know there's some backstory here that I'll see when I see the rest of s1.) I did enjoy him showing off to the college students. Peter totally rocked at the end, pointing out that he's the one with the FBI and Neal has the ankle tracker. I bet he had a lot of takers for those FBI job applications he left behind!
"By the Book"
Neal, have you learned nothing? Once again, Neal failed to tell Peter something and got in what could have been serious trouble if Peter hadn't already started intervening. This wasn't the best written episode. Willie Garson pulled it off, though. He makes me care very much about Mozzie, and I could believe he was upset enough to do stupid things such as talking the boyfriend out of doing the sting himself, and pulling the perfect exchange with a complication that he didn't anticipate.
"Unfinished Business"
Augh! Neal, you have lost your freaking mind! Or you never had a mind! It drives me nuts how much trouble Neal gets himself into that he could foresee and prevent. He also needs to (say it with me!) learn to trust Peter. Couldn't he ask Peter to get the plane recording for him?
When Neal slicked his hair back to play Black, I suddenly realized that he looked like Paul Gross, and I'd never realized it before. Wow. The whole sequence where he was out of contact with the van and didn't know it for certain, and had to play a hitman, really kept me on the edge of my seat. He's lucky Sara didn't shoot! She might yet have done it if Peter hadn't called (and Peter calling to ask her not to shoot Neal was fun).
They played a really dangerous game with this case. Why the heck didn't Peter just phone Sara? Were no FBI agents or police closer to her place than Peter & Co. were?
"In the Red"
I thought from the start that the mantel panel was a stupid, obvious place for Neal to put the envelope. He should at the very least have taken the flash drive from the envelope, hidden it, and destroyed the envelope. Neal just wasn't ready to deal with the recording. He needs professional help (of several kinds). He should have had Peter on board for this whole thing.
The opening scene nearly stopped my heart. I'm with Peter: "Why didn't you just tell us there was a kid in the car?" His hints weren't enough. I know Neal meant well by trying to dissuade the woman from closing the deal, but if she'd taken his advice and gone to someone else, then what would have happened? (Mozzie, from a much earlier episode: "You have no sense of consequences!") Of course the whole thing pulled on my heartstrings. It pulled on Sara's, too, or Neal would have gone to prison (yet again). Then, of course, she must have been moved by his devotion to his dead girlfriend. I did say to Brilliant Husband that that kind of loyalty is very attractive. I'd add: except when it's stupid.
Didn't Diana and Jones make an excellent couple? ("From the Hamptons," as Peter said!) Diana again managed to pull out a gun faster than I could see.
I couldn't figure out why "Nick Halden" was involved in the final reckoning with the lawyer until they dragged him out of sight. I love Peter playing director to Neal faking injury out of the lawyer's sight.
* No one seems to be entering the quotations on IMDb, so all quotations are courtesy of my own lousy memory. Please feel free to correct them.
I had a dream the other night that was White Collar in a steampunk AU. I was Neal, oddly enough, though I definitely identify more with Peter (more than I do even with Elizabeth, I think). We were walking through a big hall with tables full of stuff, and I kept looking around while Peter kept dragging me onward, and then someone showed up to shoot us with a really lame water-squirter made of brass. Very strange. I'm not going to write it, so if you want this plot bunny, it's free to a good home. (I'm not that fond of steampunk, and I have no idea where I'd go with this.)
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