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| Peter (Tim DeKay) and Neal (Matt Bomer) |
Although it's not one of my favorite episodes, there's something about that look that passes between Peter and Neal toward the end of Home Invasion. They might be in the midst of a, ah, domestic quarrel--but Neal knew that Peter would still have his back.
8 comments:
Neal's hair! Umm!
This is the episode where I lost all resepct for Peter's character. There was a home invaded, Neal's.
@JRM- It's so funny that when we look at the same WC scenes, we see so drastically different things in them.
On another note, here are the links of 2 new White Collar S4 promos-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKGRkAcKAxw&feature=youtu.be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koWS7JuvNSs&feature=youtu.be
That relationship is such a delicate balance, and it's easy for Peter to seem the bad guy, but I get so much joy out of watching them negotiate that friendship. I have to like both of them or there is no point to the show for me. The tension between them is the story in many ways -- the cases they work seem almost irrelevant. What matters is watching the two of them try to get this right and to see the sparkle and excitement and connection in their eyes when they look across the room at one another and know things are okay -- for now at least.
I agree some tension is necessary, but I think Eastin has ramped it up to uncomfortable levels. He himself said that the audience has to want to spend time with these guys, or the audience gets worn down by the tension. Some TV critic complained that they were too friendly, and I think Eastin has let that affect how he sets the tone. The bottle scene (Pilot) was so poignant and affected us so deeply because they were being human and respectful and open with each other. I wish Eastin would let that aspect of their characters surface more often.
Oh, I agree . . . I didn't like all that cat-and-mouse stuff they were doing, but that's not the kind of tension I was talking about. To me the tension I want from this show is the tension of two very different men yearning to be closer, to strengthen their connection, and yet, being men, having to deal with overcoming all those old ideas about what men can and cannot be to one another, the natural sense of rivalry and competition, and the difficulty and needed to work their way beyond the wall that is their "deal", the unevenness that it imposes on them (and which they both agreed to), Peter's responsibility to his duty as an agent, Neal's natural inclination to hate being tethered, to play by his own rules.
I had the feeling that in Season3 Peter underwent a kind of poorly written transformation where he came to understand the earlier mistakes he was making with Neal and to appreciate what Neal went through in choosing to stay. I didn't like season 3 very much but I think if you can get past a lot of the silliness and the "gotcha" sort of games that were going on (and that seemed totally unnatural to me) there was a thread of growth in Peter and in Neal that brought them to that final episode -- a subtler kind of tension that they had to negotiate, the result being that both of them grew up a little and in their struggle, through all that tension, they reached a better understanding of one another. Closer, but as in any relationship, there is always more to do, more to work through, more secrets to reveal -- and to do that they must both be even more vulnerable to one another, something they resist, but ultimately long for.
I am continually amazed and delighted by the writing and analytical talent evident in those writing these "thinky thoughts" (well, except for that term... ;D ) I agree with the last poster about some of the unnatural "gotcha" episodes in S3,for example, in "Countdown" where Peter is gleefully trying to catch Neal via the Degas, not, as one would expect, reluctantly doing his duty and hoping he will be proven wrong about his friend.
I hope the actual WC writers think as deeply and carefully about these relationships as some of the writers on this site!
Peter ended season 2 angry with Neal, accusing him of stealing the treasure, of playing him all along.
Season 3 ended with Peter telling the commutation board that Neal should be set free. I wish we'd had more of a sense of that transformation -- it really wasn't until that first episode with Kramer that we seemed to start dealing with it in a purposeful way. I hated the Season 3 trouble between Neal and Peter -- as I said earlier, it never felt natural to me -- too contrived. Their relationship had been stronger than that before -- or so I thought. And the writing of the "rift" was uneven and caused Peter to become more the villain, the bad guy, a development that almost caused me to stop watching. I just hope that the trust that we saw at the end of S3 will continue to grow. Neal, having a taste to freedom, may have rediscovered his love of a not quite so settled life and we may see more of S1 Neal, which would be a relief. Now, if Peter will only understand and resume his S1 attitude -- all that excitement and joy he found in working with Neal, their sense of fun and pleasure in learning from each other and deepening their friendship -- if only we could get back there -- that would be heavenly.
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