Rabid Squee – Honor Among Thieves

The real highlight of the episode: Marsha Thomason as Diana

Sorry to have missed last week, Collars, but I was on vacation in a Foreign Land, and even though I’d downloaded the ep, I just was too jet lagged to concentrate properly. So here’s the Squee for Honor Among Thieves, one week late – I’ll post the one for Identity Crisis tomorrow.

 On with the Squee!

The FACE! Poor, poor grieving Neal. Matt Bomer gives such terrific sad!face, I want to just hug him for days. And days. I am also v. squeeful, for it gave our many talented WC vidders some more sad!Neal footage to use – huzzah!



Dear Matt Bomer: Free hugs, apply within. XOXO, RC67.

 

Rebecca Mader! She’s so snarky and terrific, and makes Abigail a fun baddie for all intents and purposes. She’s also sexy and assertive with Diana, who seems to need someone like that right now. And hurray for the mini Lost reunion as well!



Rebecca Mader as Abigail - a great baddie.

 

Diana! Aww, so it looks like the fairy tale romance with Christy is over, which makes me v. sad, and not just because I was looking forward to the bachelorette party Neal had promised to throw. Howevs, I was very happy to see not only a bit of character development for Diana, but the opportunity for Marsha Thomason’s talent to be showcased. Diana’s frustration with Christy, the thrill even flirting a little bit with Abigail gave her, and the deep, soul-bending regret at the ending of her relationship were honest and well-played and I must bow to Marsha’s talent in conveying it all. It was kind of breath-taking – I hope we see more opportunities for the secondary characters to bring this kind of quality work to their performances in the rest of the season.



I just loved this shot - it has no bearing on this article.

 

Non-Squee of the Week: Haven’t we been here before?

Neal, Neal, Neal. I thought you were going to do this Peter’s way for now? I guess “now” lasted all of 12 hours. Bringing Peter in from the start, when Neal was first approached by Abigail would have gotten him the result he was after, I think. But this non-squee isn’t about the characters’ behavior, it’s about the writers’.

Wasn’t this plot device just the music box all over again? I know that Jeff Eastin has said the show isn’t fun unless Neal and Peter are at odds (a contention I disagree with, but I’m not the show’s creator), but after all these men clearly mean to each other, and the lengths they’re willing to go to support each other, it felt false and very out of character for Neal to have pulled this gig and not clued Peter in, particularly since he was going to rat Abigail out anyway. Neal had at least two opportunities to talk to Peter about it – when he was first approached (and I appreciate his reluctance there – the promise to get what he needed to find Sam was a strong one, and would have made me pause as well); and when Abigail blackmailed him – hasn’t Peter earned his trust enough for him to have confided this to him?

And for Peter to suspect Neal of pulling a long con on him? I suppose there’s precedent for his jumping to such conclusions in the past (ahem, blown up treasure, ahem), but I would have thought he’d learned his lesson about that from the tragic chain of events his false accusation of Neal kicked off last time (and for the record, I do not believe Neal was conning Peter this time at all). So, to me this sloppiness on the writers’ part is a slap in the face to the growth and trust the characters have earned from each other, and certainly to the faith we as fans have put in them. A big miss, show. Shippy shame.



Elizabeth and Peter take a jump and there conclusion lie.

Second Non-Squee of the Week: Neal mourns (practically) alone?

Again I address the writers as well as I think the production on this: I appreciate that hauling out the entire cast for the opening sequence might have cost some bucks, and perhaps there was a dramatic decision made to highlight how alone Neal must feel in all of this, but I find it difficult to believe that June and Elizabeth, at the very least, wouldn’t have insisted on supporting Neal in his hour of need at Ellen’s funeral. Shippy, shippy shame!

 

Quote of the week:

Peter: “Why not tonight?”

Neal: “If this is about you and Elizabeth, I don’t want to get involved.”

Oh but Neal, we want you to. We do.

 

Well, OK, so this was more Non-Squee than Squee, which I suppose sums up the episode for me. It’s sure to be pivotal in the story arc for the season, but I was v. disappointed in the writers this time out. What say ye, Collars?