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elrhiarhodanI'm working on a story (yes, a long one) that is set throughout the course of Season Three, and I've rewatched most of the episodes, even the ones I've sort of hated (Taking Account and Scott Free, I'm looking at YOU). I've just sat through the third rewatch of Countdown in as many days (which breaks my heart as much as I love it), and something occured to me when I got to almost the very end.
Keller tells Peter he wants to make a deal, he wants the treasure and Neal has it.
The expression on Peter's face when he first hears that Neal has the treasure, the slow release of his breath, like Keller has just confirmed everything he has hoped for (and I am deliberately using the word "hope" here).
So my question is this, do you think that Peter would have considered working with Keller to "catch" Neal if Keller hadn't kidnapped Elizabeth? Sadly, it seems that way to me.
Do you concur or disagree, and why?
And a gratuitous bit of beefcake...
Keller tells Peter he wants to make a deal, he wants the treasure and Neal has it.
The expression on Peter's face when he first hears that Neal has the treasure, the slow release of his breath, like Keller has just confirmed everything he has hoped for (and I am deliberately using the word "hope" here).
So my question is this, do you think that Peter would have considered working with Keller to "catch" Neal if Keller hadn't kidnapped Elizabeth? Sadly, it seems that way to me.
Do you concur or disagree, and why?
And a gratuitous bit of beefcake...
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Date: 2011-11-01 05:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-01 05:28 pm (UTC)And BTW, the story I'm working on...you gave me the prompt for it. Does your prodigious brain recall what it is?
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Date: 2011-11-01 05:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-01 05:39 pm (UTC)It was one for my A/U bingo card.
(And I don't remember the one about strangling Neal in the Florida panhandle).
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Date: 2011-11-01 05:51 pm (UTC)Moz the surfer legend, or Neal the Selkie?
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Date: 2011-11-01 05:54 pm (UTC)It was Neal’s turn to sigh. “Because you’re flying coach? Because southern California is a cultural wasteland? Because now that I can leave, I really don’t want to?” Neal’s smile took the sting out of his complaints. SoCal wasn’t really a cultural wasteland – there was cutting edge architecture, the neo-impressionist movement, and plenty of small galleries to explore and maybe discover something fabulous. But Peter didn’t really need to know that. (Over the Mountains and Under the Sky)
And the story I'm working on is Neal the Selkie, and it's gone epic.
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Date: 2011-11-01 05:58 pm (UTC)Oooh! I can't wait to see!
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Date: 2011-11-01 06:01 pm (UTC)When I started, I though...5k, tops. It's approaching 20k now and I haven't even hit the meat of the story.
I hate writing canon-compliant transformatory A/Us.
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Date: 2011-11-01 06:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-01 05:34 pm (UTC)Peter's conversation with Elizabeth reveals Peter's thinking about the treasure. He's been avoiding the more official channels because he still wants to protect Neal. If Peter really had it in for Neal, would he have been so secretive about it? No.
He releases that breath of air because it confirms to Peter that he isn't just being paranoid, and that the anger he's been carrying all season is somewhat justified. He's been vindicated.
Before Keller told Peter that he'd taken Elizabeth, I think Peter was wondering how he could pin the stolen treasure on Keller and still keep Neal out of prison.
The one thing I try to remind people of is that Peter's anger is truly justified, as are his suspicions of Neal. If Neal hadn't used Peter in the past so often, or conned him, or gone behind his back, Peter would never have been so angry and certain that Neal had stolen that treasure.
As it stands, Peter has put his career and heart on the line a ton of times, and each time he does so, Neal manages to stomp on it, and trample on it to boot.
A reasonable person, after the first couple of times, would have said "Screw it, and screw him", but Peter has done everything in his power to try to keep Neal out of trouble.
That said, I believe that Peter would put Neal back in prison if it came down to that. It's who Peter is, and I love him for it, even if it's painful to think about.
But to answer the rest of your question: No, I don't think Peter would ever work with Keller. Ever. Keller had him kidnapped and was going to have him killed. Neal has hurt Peter a lot, and often, but Peter likes him. He has nothing but contempt for Keller.
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Date: 2011-11-01 05:38 pm (UTC)Thank you! I needed someone to talk me down from this terrible train of thought.
Looking at it from this perpective, I can agree. In fact, when you go back to Peter's conversation with Elizabeth, for the first time he expresses real worry about Neal and what will happen to him. It's not the barely simmering anger that we've seen for most of the season, but genuine concern.
Okay. Okay.
Steps back from the ledge.
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Date: 2011-11-01 05:58 pm (UTC)Peter loves Neal. That's why his anger is so great when he thinks Neal has screwed him over. The anger is easier to deal with than the pain. :-(
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Date: 2011-11-01 05:40 pm (UTC)This is what my gut is telling me, too. I don't think Peter would ever work with Keller. But I am 100% sure that if it came down to it, Peter would once again hunt down, capture, and jail Neal. And he would be right to do so.
As much as I love Neal, Season 3 made me very, very annoyed with him.
Also? Beefcake. *distracts self with yummy thoughts of Peter*
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Date: 2011-11-01 05:43 pm (UTC)I had to change it when I found myself doing that while driving.
And I think I will have to agree with you about Peter ... I guess I had just wanted him (very OOC) to call Keller a liar.
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Date: 2011-11-01 05:59 pm (UTC)Edit to add: I need a fic where El sees Peter in his casual clothes, is turned on, and decides that it's a good time to have sex. \o/
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Date: 2011-11-01 06:02 pm (UTC)And I've now been touched THREE times by that living god.
THREE TIMES.
And I restrained myself each time from kissing the mole. I've been THAT close.
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Date: 2011-11-01 06:10 pm (UTC)Also, I'm jealous and I hate you. Only not really. But you TOUCHED HIM OMG YOU TOUCHED HIM.
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Date: 2011-11-01 06:12 pm (UTC)Maybe I'll do it as a feature for MMOM next year. Everyone jacking/jilling off to the thought of Peter's mole.
Or maybe a picspam.
Hmmm, brain is whirring in all sorts of pornishy directions.
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Date: 2011-11-01 06:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-01 05:51 pm (UTC)And that picture of Tim DeKay is very distracting, isn't it? Look at his arms! -drools a little-
Ummmmm, what were we talking about again?
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Date: 2011-12-18 06:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-01 05:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-01 05:41 pm (UTC)Peter is, first an foremost, a lawman.
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Date: 2011-11-01 05:44 pm (UTC)I also feel that Peter already has all the tools needed to "catch" Neal, it's his own reluctance to go after Neal that's stalling the case.
Now maybe I can see him bluffing Kellar in order to trap him if he thought Neal was going to be targeted by the man. Kellar's vicious and he may have been willing to play along with him in order to get the treasure into FBI custody and keep Neal from being killed over it.
*shrugs* Just my two cents .
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Date: 2011-11-01 05:46 pm (UTC)Yes, yes...very good point. I feel slightly silly for not seeing that.
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Date: 2011-11-01 06:24 pm (UTC)The interesting thing to me is what will he do with Neal once he's caught him doing something like this?? I mean to me, Peter likes the chase but he doesn't want to give Neal up so will he exact some type of agreement/promises/whatever as the price of Neal's continued short leash?
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Date: 2011-11-01 06:36 pm (UTC)I think Neal's radius will be rather drastically reduced and he'll get a few years added on to his sentence. Hopefully nothing more than that.
(Keeps fingers, toes AND legs crossed).
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Date: 2011-11-01 06:25 pm (UTC)So I feel like that moment is getting confirmation, but it's not the confirmation he hoped for. It's just the one he knew was right. But I think because he wanted Neal to be innocent, it would take him a second to hear that the answer he wants isn't the one he's getting. That's how I read that response from Peter.
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Date: 2011-11-01 06:34 pm (UTC)I don't know if I 100% agree that Peter (as portrayed) has wanted Neal to be innocent. He says to Diana in "As You Were" that he'd be relieved if the treatsure wasn't out there, but until that last onversation with El, I don't recall Peter ever really expressing concern for Neal if he did steal it.
There's been anger, frustration and not a whole lot of love between them this season. I'm constantly reminded of geopolitical manuevering during the Cold War. Which makes writing an OT3 set in S3 VERY difficult.
But logically - the man who has called Neal his friend and his partner would want him to be innocent.
And he is - at least of the initial theft. Everything that's happened afterwards has been on him, though.
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Date: 2011-11-01 08:11 pm (UTC)I think Peter's motivated to find a way to save Neal from his "mistake," and his reaction to Keller's statement is both confirmation of his suspicions and the nomination of a potential target: If he can work it so that Keller steals the treasure from Neal, he can go after Keller!
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Date: 2011-11-01 11:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-04 09:08 am (UTC)And that's BEFORE he went and kidnapped El!
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Date: 2011-11-01 09:11 pm (UTC)I think the release of breath was a release of tension, "I was right!"
But Peter does not need Keller to catch Neal and I don't think he'd ever consider it. Dealing with Keller is like dealing with the devil, all promises and no substance and Peter has already been on the receiving end of that because if Peter had not escaped, Keller would have killed him despite having the ring.
Also, Peter believed Kramer when he said that Neal wants to be there. I think that's been Peter's motivation. If Neal wants to be there, if he wants to stay then he wants to build a life, not live "the life." It's half the battle won, to keep Neal out of prison.
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Date: 2011-11-01 11:31 pm (UTC)Maybe watching in over and over, and then writing a difficult story was informing my opinion.
I have never been so pleased to be told I'm wrong!
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Date: 2011-11-01 11:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-01 11:58 pm (UTC)I am right now debating a rather brutal scene of Mozzie whump, because frankly, he deserves some serious pain. I don't know if I actually have either the stomach to go through with the writing or to publish it.
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Date: 2011-11-02 01:03 am (UTC)