(no subject)

[cblj_backup]

Good morning! Early morning! I am eating toast. You want some? It's got apple butter!

I don't imagine I'll be able to do this with any regularity, but as I've managed to hit up White Collar early this week it's time for...

Sam's Three Things About White Collar, 2.03: Peter Seems To Enjoy Being Evil

1. Aww, look at Neal grin when he finds out someone's copycatting him. Look at his grin! And then later when he finds out he's being studied! He loves to be loved. (Incidentally, while the majority of the "team meeting" scenes still take place in Peter's office, it's nice to see them all gathering around Neal's desk for the first meeting in the opening sequence, because Neal's good at building community.)

2. Mozzie got a lot of heavy use in this episode, and it's not that I don't love that, but I think they need to be careful not to make Moz the solution to every problem the writers run into. It worked well here but it's going to get tired if it's used too often. On the other hand, Mozzie is always charming in that crazy-uncle kind of way, and the moment in the classroom when Mafia Don Peter is trying not to LOL at Moz over the radio made me crack up laughing.

3. The damsel-in-distress thing worked well with Kate, because what we see is not so much her in distress as someone playing on Neal's conception of himself and how he relates to women. Neal talks a lot about saving and protecting Kate, which sometimes gets in the way of actually listening to Kate. So I bought that setup with Kate because it was more about Neal lying to himself than her power or lack thereof. I have a harder time with Neal rescuing Alex, because Alex has formerly come across as someone who doesn't need a lot of saving. I liked them working together throughout the episode, but the kiss at the end for Peter especially, and to some extent the kiss for Neal, rang a little false to me. Although Neal during that kiss was heartbreaking; he looked sad and very lonely, like he craved it but wouldn't or couldn't take it. I wonder how much of that is him grieving Kate, how much is him not wanting to suck another person into the insanity of his life, and how much is his fidelity to the Bureau.

3a. The art dorkery in this show never fails to make me happy. Never fails. So much art dorkery! As an art dork, I enjoy it.

Comments

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

IDK. I would think given the people who want the box, she'd have a look inside and nick anything of any value. Why else take it and then give it back? I don't buy that she wanted it for purely aesthetic, value, or covetous purposes. I might buy that she took it just to see if she could, but given she had the key...

I just think it's too much of a coincidence, writing-wise, that she had several hours alone with the box and then gave it back to Neal with a smile. I can't imagine she didn't at least peek inside the hatch. And if she knew what was in there and didn't take it, why not tell Neal? She obviously has issues with his relationship with Kate, but I don't think she wanted Kate dead.

[katikat.livejournal.com]

Why did she bring it back? Because she's head over heels in love with Neal and for once in her life she actually did something selfless - and selfish, as she said, she didn't want the baddies to go after her too.

I think that she didn't realize that it's a key. It's obvious to us that it's a key because we know it now. I think that she didn't even pull it out of her bag, the statue, I mean, when she had the box. And she has had it for so long that she stopped... seeing it, it didn't even occur to her that it might be something else but a pretty piece of the box.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Dude, how can you not realise that cherub is a key? It's pretty fucking keyshaped. :D It's got a tag on the end and everything....

[katikat.livejournal.com]

It is similar to a key but if you don't know that it should open something... If you ever assembled something from IKEA or something similar, they have these screw-like things that you insert into a hole and twist and the piece at the end is there so that the thing doesn't fall out when you turn the whole thing upside down. And Neal never told Alex that there should be something inside the box. She was after the box itself.

It's always easy to make these leaps when you have more information that the characters.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I really don't think anyone of Alex's level of intelligence wouldn't know that's a key. It's shaped, yknow, like a key. :D I don't think this is particularly something you wouldn't notice if you didn't already know, especially since they concealed that part of the cherub from us when they originally showed it.

[katikat.livejournal.com]

I don't know, I prefer not to poke unnecessary holes in the story. If I tried, I would have to say that Neal was dumb that he didn't suspect that the locker would have a hole in it, that Peter was dumb that he didn't figure out that Neal was personally invested when he came up with that coin guy and said he didn't like him, that Diana was dumb that she didn't notice the hole in the box earlier, that the professor was dumb because he didn't know that Neal had a deal with the FBI, that Mozzie was dumb that he let Neal catch him with Alex... It would go on and on. I prefer viewing it with a grain of salt. It's a lot more fun that way *shrugs*

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I don't know -- I think in this case it's more entertaining to theorise about whether she opened the box, what she found there if so, why she didn't tell Neal, and why she's given him the key now, when she knows he doesn't have it (and may know it's "in the wind").