elrhiarhodan (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
elrhiarhodan) wrote2013-02-26 11:12 pm
elrhiarhodan) wrote2013-02-26 11:12 pm
Entry tags:
Post Ep Dish - S4.15 - The Original
Hard to believe, but just two episodes to go until this season's over. It started out with half-naked Neal in an exotic location, painting unreasonable forgeries and seducing the local cafe owner with his charm and wit.
We've come a long way from James Maine and Barry Sotoro on the beach in Cape Verde (or the very lovely Puerto Rico, as a stand-in). Peter's brought him home and managed to nearly lose his job (again). He survived time in The Cave, surviving on gourmet sandwiches in The Yard hand delivered by his once and future CI (best friend and idee fixe), only to regain his job and nearly lose Neal in the process.
This has been a season of too much false drama and tension between Neal and Peter and as it draws to a close, I hope - I think we all hope that despite Peter's assertion that there will always be secrets between him and Neal, there will at least be trust and faith.
I think we've seen that, to a certain extent. Peter, though clearly dismayed at Neal's bald-faced lie, decided NOT to fly off the handle, but to give Neal his head, let him take the lead. To trust him to do the right thing for the right reasons.
The last three episodes have been flawed - but their flaws are not, I believe, endemic to a maturing series. Too much time apart for Peter and Neal, not enough focus on Neal, not enough focus on the friendship that made us fall in love with White Collar in the first place. Apparently there are good reasons for this - we had Tim DeKay's limited participation in Brass Tacks as he prepped for directing Empire City and then spent a lot of his time behind the camera for that episode. And while Shoot the Moon returned the show to good form, Neal was strangely absent for much of the episode. That was not without reason - according to showrunner, Jeff Eastin, he needed to give Matt a few weeks with a diminished role. Matt was committed to the press tour for Magic Mike and flying back to Los Angeles every week, and he was burning out.
So yeah, it wasn't our imaginations. And I'm inclined to think more highly of these episodes knowing that. As much as I love Matt and love Neal - he's a human being and a seventy-hour work week plus non-stop publicity is a bad combination.
Anyway, you're probably asking yourselves - what's the deal with all these thinky thoughts before the cut? Well, I'm not feeling too good tonight, and I've decided that while I don't want to miss doing the dish - I'm going to leave my episode reactions for tomorrow. I still want to give you a place to park your thoughts and comments.
Okay?
The cast of White Collar
We've come a long way from James Maine and Barry Sotoro on the beach in Cape Verde (or the very lovely Puerto Rico, as a stand-in). Peter's brought him home and managed to nearly lose his job (again). He survived time in The Cave, surviving on gourmet sandwiches in The Yard hand delivered by his once and future CI (best friend and idee fixe), only to regain his job and nearly lose Neal in the process.
This has been a season of too much false drama and tension between Neal and Peter and as it draws to a close, I hope - I think we all hope that despite Peter's assertion that there will always be secrets between him and Neal, there will at least be trust and faith.
I think we've seen that, to a certain extent. Peter, though clearly dismayed at Neal's bald-faced lie, decided NOT to fly off the handle, but to give Neal his head, let him take the lead. To trust him to do the right thing for the right reasons.
The last three episodes have been flawed - but their flaws are not, I believe, endemic to a maturing series. Too much time apart for Peter and Neal, not enough focus on Neal, not enough focus on the friendship that made us fall in love with White Collar in the first place. Apparently there are good reasons for this - we had Tim DeKay's limited participation in Brass Tacks as he prepped for directing Empire City and then spent a lot of his time behind the camera for that episode. And while Shoot the Moon returned the show to good form, Neal was strangely absent for much of the episode. That was not without reason - according to showrunner, Jeff Eastin, he needed to give Matt a few weeks with a diminished role. Matt was committed to the press tour for Magic Mike and flying back to Los Angeles every week, and he was burning out.
So yeah, it wasn't our imaginations. And I'm inclined to think more highly of these episodes knowing that. As much as I love Matt and love Neal - he's a human being and a seventy-hour work week plus non-stop publicity is a bad combination.
Anyway, you're probably asking yourselves - what's the deal with all these thinky thoughts before the cut? Well, I'm not feeling too good tonight, and I've decided that while I don't want to miss doing the dish - I'm going to leave my episode reactions for tomorrow. I still want to give you a place to park your thoughts and comments.
Okay?
The cast of White Collar