(no subject)

[cblj_backup]

So, it's Tuesday night, I should be asleep, time for Sam's Three Things About White Collar!

Spoilers for 3.10: Fire Your Special Effects Department

1. LOL HOURGLASS. I think that one might be a little conspicuous on my desk, though. I really would like to talk about Mozzie here, and how he's being a giant asshole and has since he blew up Neal's art, and maybe about Neal's decision to stay and how Moz was a dick about that too, but I'm really tired of arguing about it with people and I'm not sure if you guys realise this but I get WAY MORE ARGUMENT than most people do when they post meta, so whatever. LOL HOURGLASS.

2. Neal's base-jump off the penthouse was HILARIOUSLY AWFUL. I was so psyched for it to be fantastic because that slide into the elevator was SO HOT, and I have never really had a problem with the fake-explosions on the show, but my god that base-jump was dreadful. Also, at first I thought they had photoshopped the Degas, because it was very "colored pencil filter", but looking at the original in more detail, maybe Degas had Photoshop.

3. The nice thing about having fairly significant spoilers beforehand for, at this point, most of the season, is that I saw the kidnapping coming. The whole episode was hugely high tension, and I knew Neal's con on the blonde agent couldn't last (btw I am so sad the airport scene was not her conning him for Peter, you don't even know) but at least the kidnapping didn't catch me off-guard because holy shit no. Although I will say everything from Peter's expression when Keller quoted Elizabeth at him up through to the end of the episode was absolutely fantastic.

3a. So that's it for White Collar until January. As much as I love that some American shows are now following a more BBC-based structure, with what essentially amounts to a short season followed by a "hiatus" gap -- and as much as I like that apparently they're better at scheduling things properly than the Beeb, wtf Sherlock in 2012 -- the wait is admittedly frustrating.

And now I have to start writing Exquisite, not that I have a god damned clue how...

Comments

[illian.livejournal.com]

I agree that Mozzie has been a giant asshole. I also think I see why he is because the Neal of two years ago, heck, maybe even a year ago, would likely have been all over this Big One (with maybe a few twinges for giving up Peter & El NYC). Mozzie has either missed out or been in denial about the way Neal's priorities have been changing. Not that excuses him for his behavior.

I'm glad I went into this un-spoilered. Although I spent most of the show going "Is Neal/Peter actually still supposed to be subtextual? Because ALL the conversations seem to be tiptoeing around it as fact." With that in mind, I thought the fact that Peter didn't snap back until Neal showed up was a nice touch (and the icing on the cake). But HOO BOY, Peter's doggedness and Neal's guilt? Keller has no idea what kind of powder keg he's lit, does he?

[tree00faery.livejournal.com]

*scrolling quickly to avoid spoilers*

I've managed to not actually watch like, any of this season so far. Um. I guess I should do that? I didn't really like the first episode. Does it get better again?

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Um...I'm not sure I can really give you a qualitative analysis? It kind of depends on how you define "better" and what you're looking for within the show. I'd watch another episode, I guess, and if you still aren't interested, don't watch more. :)

[sahiya.livejournal.com]

I hated the season premiere and liked the rest of the season well enough. I feel like the show has shifted in tone somewhat, but I'm still onboard.

[dreamwaffles.livejournal.com]

Regarding 3, holy shit I did *not* see that coming. And White Collar is *NOT* supposed to hit me like a FUCKING DOCTOR WHO FINALE.

[euruaina.livejournal.com]

AGREED.

I was watching with my Mum and we were both OMGWTF WHy DID YOU DO THAT TO US?!?!?

[kit-maxel.livejournal.com]

After the Keller threatening Mozzie bit I was going crazy, "Oh my god you guys, frame Keller! Why aren't you framing Keller?! Ugh!" Anyone else?

Peter at the end was heartbreaking. Bravo, Tim DeKay, bravo.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

DeKay knocked it out of the park. That moment when he hangs up the phone, just, dead-eyed, fantastic.

[ak-alterego.livejournal.com]

i haven't seen the episode and don't find this creepy i was looking for your tags list, but this is your 5,700th entry, i just like roundish numbers like that.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

LOL! Jesus Christ, 5700 entries. That's a lot of bullshit I've posted on the internet.

[mythologian.livejournal.com]

I'm kinda torn with the ending, I have a feeling unless Neal owns up somehow and comes clean to Peter, that I'm not going to be satisfied with the show at all after this, and I'll probably end up hating him.

I will admit though, my first thought when the episode ended was - "I cannot wait to see what Sam does with this for the Exquisite rewrite"

[sabra-n.livejournal.com]

Yeah. It's like, Neil, if you want to stay in NY and hold on to the things you like about that life, now's the time to put your priceless cache of art where your mouth is.

[mythologian.livejournal.com]

On another note I have to agree that the base jump was incredibly lame. Seriously -- no one was gonna notice a man parachuting off a building in NY? phhpt, I call shananagins on that one.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I thought he was going to cable-fall, like on Leverage. I bet he and Parker have Jump Off High Buildings races.

[samjohnsson.livejournal.com]

2. That 'chute was nowhere near large enough for that low an open - not for Neal to land that softly. I'd've bought a glide-suit more than a chute jump.

3. I loved the video effect they did at that last scene. That said, assuming Moz makes the art disappeat (cause you know he's not taking Neal's calls at the moment), how's Neal - and Peter - supposed to get the art back? And does Keller even know that Neal and Moz broke up? I mean. I don't even. I'm so confused at this point how this is going to end without having to change the credits.

[nakki.livejournal.com]

ditto #2. Don't writers do research? Their's plenty of basejumping resources out their :)

[devohoneybee.livejournal.com]

I was so sure they were going to "let" Keller have it and get framed for it.

also, Tim Dekay. *hearts*

[metallumai.livejournal.com]

I thought it was perfect! The jump-- writers having fun. Him throwing his hat off...making that extremely faked jump...NYC NOT NOTICING, as they are famous for... picking up the hat which was RIGHT THERE, brushing down and strolling back in to be pretend-locked-up! All in the vein of the best "Our Man in Istanbul" silliness. And only there to get folks off-guard for the drama that followed. And I dunno why everyone's surprised when Neal and Mozzie act like criminals-- they ARE criminals, right? I especially liked them quoting to each other about "if you want a happy ending," nice and ambiguous. Neal lies and Peter catches him at it, usually. That's what makes them both enjoy their situation.

About Elizabeth, though, here's my prediction: Mozzie finds out before he leaves town, helps free her in his efforts to take down Keller, loses the treasure in the process, and all are back to Square One early in next season. Unless Mozzie's actor wants to leave the series.

and oh yeah, hourglass LOL indeed!! :D

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

The jump itself was ok -- the handoff at the bottom WAS genius -- but the special effects were SO AWFUL. Good lord. :D

Neal and Mozzie are criminals, but they're from a very specific class and archetype of criminal with usually very strict laws within the genre -- no killing, no stealing from those who can't recover from it, no double-crossing your partner, no guns. Seeing Mozzie preach no-escalation one episode and then put a hit on someone two or three weeks later is...disconcerting. Also, just as a person, Mozzie's been kind of a dick. The time to ask "Do you want in" is two days after you steal the art, not ten weeks after. Preferably it's before you set someone's entire collection of art on fire, but I can see plausible deniability at work there.

[mitchy.livejournal.com]

As much as I love that some American shows are now following a more BBC-based structure, with what essentially amounts to a short season followed by a "hiatus" gap

The BBC never used to do this, I was blaming the US networks for starting this trend. Certainly until recent Who, the BBC ran a series without interruptions which is easier for them to do because our series tend to have less episodes. It's still the norm for this to happen in the UK, whereas the vast majority of cable shows in the US now seem to do the split season thing, which I hate.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

But that's my point, the BBC still ran short seasons -- the US does this Hiatus thing now, but they do it for long-season shows, so it ends up being more like two seasons with the usual break between.

White Collar, while it has outwardly had "two" seasons before this one, has really actually had four seasons with measured breaks, and those seasons are more comparable in size to BBC shows than American network ones. It was the same with the first year of Heroes -- they ran what amounted to a short season, had a hiatus, and then ran a second short season. But because in American television seasons are generally 18-24 episodes, they had to call it all one season.

Splitting such a short season, like with Doctor Who, I agree doesn't make much sense. But my point is more that in the US we're now getting TV shows with the same structural emphasis as non-split-season BBC shows, and I really like that.

[minkrose]

I came thisclose to posting a comment last week about my prediction regarding the kidnapping (trying to keep this relatively spoiler free, since it's such a big one). But then I was busy and I forgot.

I did at least say it out loud to my husband at the end of last week's episode, BEFORE I read your bit about the ending being "prescient" (which just confirmed to me that I was Totally Right). During the finale scene, I said "Oh, so X is going to be taken next. Got it." I thought that was going to be the end of that scene, actually, and that this finale was going to be rescuing said kidnapped person.

Needless to say, I was glad I had already guessed, because otherwise I would have been SERIOUSLY DISTRAUGHT.


Also, WTF 2012??? I have NOT been paying attention (to anything, apparently) and I was so looking forward to having Sherlock again soon. This is very sad.

[ravurian]

I didn't see the kidnapping coming at all, which with hindsight was foolish of me. Part of me now wants to believe:

a) That El was actually whisked off with Moz, only seconds ahead of Keller; or that

b) Keller works for El (which, yes, implausible and/or impossible, but would be verrrrry interesting). I would love El as a criminal mastermind when she's supposedly off catering. Le Sigh.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

LOL, El the super criminal. That would totally explain her trips to San Francisco. She was casing MOMA!

[elainasaunt.livejournal.com]

Just finished watching it. Isn't anybody going to mention how completely awesome Willie Garson was in this? Especially in the leave-taking scene. The kidnapping was pretty strongly telegraphed, so it didn't surprise me (though I hadn't seen any spoilers), and yeah DeKay played it beautifully - but I thought Willie was just superb.

Gotta agree with a couple of comments above, that a) the slash, at least in its emotional aspects, is totally canon now, and b) Mozzie's surely going to redeem himself by helping rescue Elizabeth. Why else have all that Moz/El bonding going on this whole season.

[angelcarrot.livejournal.com]

1. Yes. Mozz is being a tool. Yes, I miss Mozz of old. No, I refuse to analyze the shit out of it to figure out why a character I love is being a jerkwad.

2. I cringed so much from basic fear of heights that I didn't notice it being bad. I did however get the distinct feeling of dollar signs from the remainder of their budget pouring out of that jump.

3. No warning for me and GAH OMG WHA? However, I'm sure Ell can handle it psychologically and probably Neal can't because holy shit he was just responsible for this (except really, Mozzie was, and maybe chance for Mozz to man up but holy tool basket, batman).

Why so long, TV?

[chewipaka.livejournal.com]

My initial reaction with the cell phone ringing on the dashboard was that Peter was a fool for picking it up in the car because, omg, car bombs, what? (This... is because I was raised in the foreign service. Car bombs are... passe?)

So the whole El thing just blew me right out of the water and I was all like "noooo Elllllllll whyyyyy".

I was astounded at Peter's control in not launching himself at Neal and strangling Neal. Because I would have believed that about Peter. But the end of this... oh man, this was just so much more dramatic.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Well, I think Peter on some level knows he's going to need Neal, and of course he is, after all, still Neal's custodial agent; assault is abuse, it's pretty serious, and Peter's not actually a very violent man.

But I think it's mostly that Peter, better than anyone, knows how arbitrary and manipulative Keller is -- he knows that Keller sets this shit up so that Neal will take the blame, and that Neal is not at fault for the actions of a psychopath like Keller.

[queenofspades89.livejournal.com]

When this episode was over, I literally sat on my couch screaming: "I HAVE TO WAIT SIX MONTHS! SIX MONTHS! WHY IS THIS SHOW SO GOOD? IT HAS NO RIGHT TO BE THIS GOOD! TV USED TO BE CRAP! WHAT IS MY LIFE?!!?!?!"

I didn't see the kidnapping coming until the scene with Peter and El on the phone. All of a sudden, I was all, "OH NO I HAVE A SCARY BAD FEELING"

When did Mozzie get so materialistic? Almost as much as his sudden dickishness, his sudden desire to live like a king on his own private island for the rest of his days seems out of character.

Has anyone else noticed that White Collar midseason and full season finales have some pretty strict rules they have to follow? Midseason finales must always have 1) an epic stunt ("The Greatest Cake" fall, the swing on the curtain, the base jump) and 2) a terrible, horrible cliffhanger of DOOM (Peter with Kate and wearing The Ring, Mozzie getting shot, and now this). Full season finales must always include terrible CGI explosions. I'm looking forward to what they'll blow up at the end of Season 3.

But seriously, Peter's mentor talking at him about his ~*~emotional vulnerability~*~ when he'll have to put Neal back in prison. I was surprised he didn't recommend a week's worth of ice cream and sad movies in pajamas.

And because I say (or scream) it to myself after every episode: WHITE COLLAR MAKES ME FEEL ALL THE FEELINGS

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Yeah, at this point if he doesn't blow something up at the end of S3, we will all be a little let down. :D

I can kind of understand that for Mozzie things might be more urgent than for Neal -- he's older, and his skill set is more limited than Neal in some ways. So I can see why Mozzie's thinking "retirement". But I'm just handwaving all of it as "People go crazy when a billion dollars is involved."

[eyra.livejournal.com]

I really would like to talk about Mozzie here, and how he's being a giant asshole...but I'm really tired of arguing about it with people

I would love to hear any and all rants along this line. I first found your commentary a couple weeks ago, and I think it was you who said that Mozzie is acting like a controlling ex-boyfriend, and just - yes. He's being manipulative in a way that only someone who knows you really really well can be, and he's not considering either Neal's wants or well-being.

His parting shot, the whole "you're kidding yourself if you think this is who you are," drove me crazy, because 1) Even if it's not who Neal is, Neal is allowed to grow and change and figure out for himself if there's room in a post-tracker life for both Peter and some kind of legal variation on the con, and 2) whether or not this is "who Neal is" is kind of immaterial. Because even if Neal chooses an illegal variation on the con, even if Neal chooses that last big score, even if he decides (and HE gets to decide, damn it) that he loves his friendship with Peter but he loves being the old Neal Caffrey more - for the love of God, Mozzie, let him finish out his sentence first. Let him get the tracker off, let him have a clean legal record. It's just better for him that way.

Although I will say everything from Peter's expression when Keller quoted Elizabeth at him up through to the end of the episode was absolutely fantastic.

And yeah. That. I wasn't spoiled, so I was absolutely horrified through this, but even with my mind screaming NO NO NO I had this weird appreciation not just for Tim DeKay's acting, but for how the whole segment was done. The way the film was cut made time move in different speeds, in fits and starts, with blank bits, and the way the sound was muted was really interesting, and then Neal's face in proper focus, and then we see Peter again. It was just really well done.

[arsenicjade.livejournal.com]

Wait. Ppl disagree that Moz has, in general, been kind of a dick all season? Huh. You learn something new every day.

THIS WAS SO NOT FUCKING OKAY. I HATE EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING.

[kallaneboi.livejournal.com]

1. Mozzie is an ass.

2. Neal is an idiot.

3. Poor, poor Peter. Poor El. Tim DeKay is fucking amazing. I was actually tearing up for him, he looked so broken.

3a. I've only seen about three episodes of this current season, two at the beginning and this one, and I don't feel like I've missed anything. I hope Neal gets a big, big reality check soon, because one day he's going to realize that his cons have repercussions for people other than himself, and I have a feeling that day is coming very, very soon.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Yeah, in terms of the loot arc, you really haven't missed anything :D

[chandri.livejournal.com]

I only just yesterday got up the courage to watch this (I have been having a harder and harder time opening the file, as I just know it's going to piss me off upset me), and OH MY GOD.

More and more with every passing moment I really want to smack Mozzie upside the head, and this makes me sad.

(*cannot wait for more Exquisite, btw*)

[ravenofdreams.livejournal.com]

JUST WATCHED EPISODE. REQUIRE EXQUISITE TO MAKE IT ALL BETTER. D: Pleeeeeaaaase?

[stardiver.livejournal.com]

Finally getting around to watching 'White Collar' and have been reading your three things as I go along (love them!). I did find that Peter having framed his and Neal's 'prom photo' and keeps it around the house quite lol-arious. Silly boyfriends. The trust issues (rightly so) make my heart ache, so I'm off to watch the second half this season!