(no subject)

[cblj_backup]

OH YES

TIME TO CATCH UP TO THREESOMES A GO GO WHITE COLLAR.

***

4.03 Diminishing Returns Did I Watch An Episode Of The Mentalist By Mistake?

1. Poor Peter, consigned to the evidence warehouse, where one assumes he can't do too much harm. Oh Hughes. You are a good mentor. Peter's new boss, not so much. Cockblocking our backstory. D:

2. "Ring shopping's not really my thing." Neal and Diana. I want them to be BFFs.

3. Peter, manipulating the gem buyer, must have felt like A WIZARD. You can see it in his face. "It's magic!"

3a. You know, I didn't come up with the theory that Neal grew up in witness protection, but I did adopt and support it once it was out there. So I'm not sure if I get an Oh Snap Vindicated for that or not.

4.04 Parting Shots EYES-ENHOWER

4. I kind of love Ellen. Like a lot. I really wish she was going to be a regular. I sense she is destined for death, howev -- GOD DAMMIT. I KNEW IT.

5. Gosh they're sure setting up Peter, with his time-limit leash and overbearing boss, to be in Neal's posit -- GOD DAMMIT I CALLED THAT TOO.

6. More and more now I look up what writer did what episode, because between the puns and the rat-tat-tat dialogue I thought this was probably an Eastin episode. Called that wrong, but it was written by Alexandra McNally, who is a veteran of the past few seasons and coauthored Forging Bonds, among others. She appears to be exceptional at writing compelling one-off episodes while still sneaking in a boatload of arc progression.

3a. "Cheekbones." "Don't ever call me that again." AHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA.

4.05 Honor Among Thieves Mysterious Sam is Mysterious!

7. TRUST SAM. Yes you should trust me. I usually know how the season is going to go. I'm really quite good at it. (I know Jeff Eastin has no idea who I am but I can't shake the memory of how Chris Carter used to put fans' names into his X-Files scripts in the early seasons. I'm going to take it personally whether he means me to or not.)

8. Oh Peter. You DO have a phone app for tracking Neal. See, this is what I mean. Did I call that? YEAH I DID.

9. They went back to the fake museum from season one! Internal fake consistency. Oh, my heart. (Also, the trash can is a nice homage to the original Ocean's Eleven.)

3a. And then Diana came to Neal. Because Neal knows about being in love with your coworker! (Also OH NO DIANA AND CHRISTIE.)

3b. (shut up, I'm allowed) Neal, sweet kid. When push came to shove with the Pascal mobile, you did the right thing, babyfed. I'm proud of you.

And now if you'll excuse me I must dart mysteriously behind a mausoelum.

TRUST SAM!

Comments

[solsticezero.livejournal.com]

I just caught up on the new season and read Exquisite for the first time from beginning to end. Also a bunch of your other White Collar fics. I am basically drowning in White Collar at this point. So your Three Times Three Things couldn't have come at a better time! You totally did call that tracking app thing, that was my first thought! I'm really excited about this season. Neal's honest (we really hope) need for Peter trust him over his need to have answers is so great and interesting for him. Obviously the Neal of the first, second or third season would never give up that much. Our baby's grown! And it's kind of heartbreaking that Peter doubts it, and will probably doubt everything good that Neal does for the rest of his natural life. That's what sucks about being an ex-con, I suppose.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Aw, I'm glad you're enjoying all the stories :) And yeah -- it's nice that Peter and Neal seem to be building a deeper trust that's not built on side-eyeing each other every so often :D

[metallumai.livejournal.com]

I think Peter was right! In that Neal is no dummy. He had to know that Peter would catch her, with the thumb drive still on her. And he had to know that Peter would take advantage of having it. And MOST LIKELY, share. And, knowing all that, Peter would have no reason not to wonder about Neal's motives in turning her in. It's the game they play. it's still trust: I can trust you to be the straight-arrow, and you can trust me to know all the tricks....

[tjs-whatnot.livejournal.com]

I LOVED that Neal's "Girl with Locket" was just there hanging on the wall. <3333

Edited for auto correct fail!!

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

NEPAL! :D

[sabra-n.livejournal.com]

They went back to the fake museum from season one!

Haha, that was the Whitney, no? I didn't remember they used it in the first season.

[aelfgyfu_mead]

I was pretty sure the museum in "The Portrait" was called the Channing, and this summary bears me out. Unless the Channing loaned out the piece, it was a continuity error! (The museum was presumably named after series writer Channing Powell.

[sabra-n.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I meant that actual place where they filmed.

[aelfgyfu_mead]

Oh, sorry! I was just a little disappointed that it wasn't the Channing. I suppose that curator would have been Very Unhappy to see Neal.

[elrhiarhodan]

My take is that Walter at the Channing was pretty keen to offload "Girl with Locket" and had the museum sell it to the Kessman.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Once it was pointed out to me that it wasn't the Channing, this was my thought too. :D

[aelfgyfu_mead]

Ooh, I really like that idea!

[evilstorm.livejournal.com]

McNally, eh? I'll have to keep an eye out for eps by her, I laughed like a demon for five minutes straight at Eyes-enhower and then again at Cheekbones. Epic win.

Have you seen the character vids from the Neal's Stash ARG? They are the cutest thing, also, they make the OT3 text like woah.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I think this might be her first solo script, but she's done a lot of coauthoring. It's nice to see the show settling in with its favourite writers -- there were some random one-offs the first two seasons that were less than stellar.

....I don't know what Neal's Stash ARG is.

[evilstorm.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's always great to see a show find its feet. The last chunk of eps has made me pretty damn happy so far.

Ahaha USA Network is running some ARG competition thing (http://nealsstash.usanetwork.com/main/index.php) for which the prize is a Ford Taurus. I couldn't care less about the car, but they have the cutest freaking little vids from Peter and Mozzie and they're just these amazing character moments (no spoilers for show, so they're safe). Favourites so far are this (http://nealsstash.usanetwork.com/videos/wk4_tip.php) and this (http://nealsstash.usanetwork.com/videos/wk5_tip.php), if only because Peter is too fucking adorable.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Ahaaaa :D Nice. Last time they ran a contest, there was some random Englishman playing an FBI agent standing in for Peter Burke :D

[gaaak.livejournal.com]

Did you notice how Neal and Peter (I almost typed Sam, wth me?) were mirroring each other in the van, during Diana's "date"? I had to pause to make sure, but it was pretty much a perfect mirror!
And Peter's "Bad News face" made me chortle. They're really pushing the OT3, aren't they!

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

LOL yes. And intriguingly, Peter was the one a step behind Neal whenever it happened.

[strange-selkie.livejournal.com]

I'm torn, because I'm sad they threw away a long-term committed lesbian relationship for a Hottie of the Week, but we'd never seen Diana interact with Christie and we DEFINITELY saw her interact with the hottie, so, progress? Of a sort? Go go cable tv?

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I kind of like that they're treating it like any other relationship, with ups and downs and breakups. But yeah, sad they got rid of the stable-normal sense of it.

Hopefully now we get to see Diana dating! Because her "bowled over by beautiful woman" face cracks me up.

[strange-selkie.livejournal.com]

I suppose I'm spoiled. Our ups and downs are fairly tranquil and level so far, knock on wood. (Oh. Except money sucks and it sucks to be poor... SURPRISE.)

Yes! And I loved Docent Diana's "Oh, she made me, all right."

[metallumai.livejournal.com]

I think we were kind of prepared for the breakup, with that episode a couple weeks ago when there was that tension around the 'looking at rings' conversation, and 'i don't want to talk about it' vibe. It makes Diana a more versatile character if she's unattached.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Yeah, definitely there were some rocky hints. Sad to see Christie go! But now Diana's a FREE AGENT :D

[aelfgyfu_mead]

We did see Christie with Diana in "Deadline" (see http://whitecollar.wikia.com/wiki/Deadline), and I thought the two of them made a good couple! I don't think we saw them making out, though, if that's what you meant about them interacting.

I was sad to see them split. I'm still kind of hoping they'll come back stronger after a temporary setback. I want Diana to be happy!

[strange-selkie.livejournal.com]

I did not know that! My wife is the true fan; I just show up to the TV, and must have missed that one. In that case, I'm glad she wasn't the Invisible Partner. Thank you for the info!

[aelfgyfu_mead]

If you can catch that episode, do; their scenes are really good (but will probably make you sad now that you know what happens).

[hllangel]

I totally took my Oh Snap, Vindicated on the WitSec thing.

I hereby bequeath you with Secondary Vindication (Is that a thing? It can be a thing.) for adopting and running with the theory.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

\o/ Secondary Vindication!

It was a GENIUS idea.