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the urgency transcends the awkwardness
It is possible that the lateness of the hour as irreparably scrambled my brain, but -- wow, this episode was excellent in all ways.
+ Let's get this out of the way first: Neal/Sara. I ... am surprised by how extremely okay with this I am? I suspect it is because I may have my OT3, but I am also happy to see Neal make out with basically every regular. (Except Jones, because the mind boggles. Of course now I am Rule 34ing it and clearly the answer is sex in the van.) I also just really like Sara! I liked her to begin with because she was someone who deeply distrusted Neal but got treated fairly by the show anyway; I like her because she can keep up with Neal, and has genuine motivations like seeking closure and liking adventure, and also, I'll be honest, because she made a Tracy-and-Hepburn joke to Mozzie. So ... idk, if the endgame pairing is Neal/Sara I'll be a bit disappointed, because I really want Neal/life with the FBI to be the take-home message, but I don't think I mind Neal/Sara along the way! It means he's getting past the Kate damage, and there's only good there.
+ Also, say it with me: EL AND DIANA AND SARA AND JUNE. They were all in this episode! They were all lovely and proactive! I still desperately want scenes where any of them interact in any significant way, but hey, Diana and El had a conversation about where the master circuit breaker was and then went and fixed things! Sigh, kind of clutching at straws, but still. I do really appreciate having these ladies on a show where, at this point, I can't even guess what they're going to do with Kate. I do still really, really hope she isn't dead, although at this point for there to be any significant emotional moment, she also has to be working with Adler. Neal's moved on in enough demonstrable ways that if she's just magically alive his reaction should be mostly, "I'm so glad you're alive after all! I want some answers, but after that, I hope we can both move on with our lives, separately." Sure, there'd be some waffling, but no real tension. Whereas if she's evil, that makes her kind of interesting, gives her some goddamn agency, and will probably be enough of a shock to break Neal at least a little.
+ Speaking of women, back to the episode at hand: what the heck is the deal with Alex now? I mean, yes, I follow the Doylist deal with Alex -- she was brought in as a potential love interest, that didn't work too well, she became a backstory-laden friend-with-some-benefits to carry along the music box plot, they decided it would be interesting to shoehorn her into the Adler story arc and thereby explain how she met Neal, and now she has to do with the dead German radio operator. I guess ... in-story, her grandfather told her the ~secret of the music box~ and that's why she was always so eager to go after it? I don't know why they had her give up and leave the country, then. And it's also unclear how much she and Adler know/knew about each other. I'm entirely sure that the writers are making up each twist as they go, and that's fine because that's not really the reason I watch and I find the twists entertaining, but ... man, it's hard to keep track of this stuff, because it makes sense mostly when you squint.I'm so glad I never tried watching Lost.
+ To be honest I didn't follow the main plot of the episode either. Why would inducing rolling blackouts give these specific people a lot of money? Eh, who cares. Hi, Toby Ziegler! My, how evil you've become.
+ And, of course, the real reason that it doesn't matter whether I followed the episode plot: Peter. and Neal. switching places. PETER AND NEAL SWITCHING PLACES. What White Collar just did was basically give me a goddamn bodyswap episode. Only even cooler because instead of being trapped in each other's bodies they were voluntarily doing one another's mannerisms! I rolled my eyes a bit at the initial "I'm only out of prison because of Agent Burke, who can put me back ANY TIME HE WANTS" and the "Mr. Caffrey is a VALUABLE ASSET" stuff, but I guess they had to get it out of their systems. And then oh my god AND THEN, I don't even really know where to start. Neal and El mutually aren't sure whether they're supposed to kiss one another! I loved Neal making Peter fetch him coffee in a way I can't even really articulate, because their relationship and the power dynamics have become so complicated without ever getting less tasty and delightful. I fucking adored El coaching Peter into Neal's mannerisms, and I just about died when he started Neal!flirting with her, I just akldfskjg CLUTCHING MY FACE. I loved Peter's sleights of hand, and Neal coaching him on how to be careful, and how quickly they stopped being parodies of each other and really slipped into it. Them switching stances at the end! Be still my heart.
+ That look Neal gets of -- god, I don't even know, such intense longing, when he's back to being Neal, and Peter's back to being Peter and kisses El hello. I don't know how to interpret that look besides an "I want what they have" that is also very specifically "I want them." That is very likely why I didn't mind the Sara kissing in the next scene. Those things can coexist, and man, this episode gave me that look.
YAY. :DDD
+ Let's get this out of the way first: Neal/Sara. I ... am surprised by how extremely okay with this I am? I suspect it is because I may have my OT3, but I am also happy to see Neal make out with basically every regular. (Except Jones, because the mind boggles. Of course now I am Rule 34ing it and clearly the answer is sex in the van.) I also just really like Sara! I liked her to begin with because she was someone who deeply distrusted Neal but got treated fairly by the show anyway; I like her because she can keep up with Neal, and has genuine motivations like seeking closure and liking adventure, and also, I'll be honest, because she made a Tracy-and-Hepburn joke to Mozzie. So ... idk, if the endgame pairing is Neal/Sara I'll be a bit disappointed, because I really want Neal/life with the FBI to be the take-home message, but I don't think I mind Neal/Sara along the way! It means he's getting past the Kate damage, and there's only good there.
+ Also, say it with me: EL AND DIANA AND SARA AND JUNE. They were all in this episode! They were all lovely and proactive! I still desperately want scenes where any of them interact in any significant way, but hey, Diana and El had a conversation about where the master circuit breaker was and then went and fixed things! Sigh, kind of clutching at straws, but still. I do really appreciate having these ladies on a show where, at this point, I can't even guess what they're going to do with Kate. I do still really, really hope she isn't dead, although at this point for there to be any significant emotional moment, she also has to be working with Adler. Neal's moved on in enough demonstrable ways that if she's just magically alive his reaction should be mostly, "I'm so glad you're alive after all! I want some answers, but after that, I hope we can both move on with our lives, separately." Sure, there'd be some waffling, but no real tension. Whereas if she's evil, that makes her kind of interesting, gives her some goddamn agency, and will probably be enough of a shock to break Neal at least a little.
+ Speaking of women, back to the episode at hand: what the heck is the deal with Alex now? I mean, yes, I follow the Doylist deal with Alex -- she was brought in as a potential love interest, that didn't work too well, she became a backstory-laden friend-with-some-benefits to carry along the music box plot, they decided it would be interesting to shoehorn her into the Adler story arc and thereby explain how she met Neal, and now she has to do with the dead German radio operator. I guess ... in-story, her grandfather told her the ~secret of the music box~ and that's why she was always so eager to go after it? I don't know why they had her give up and leave the country, then. And it's also unclear how much she and Adler know/knew about each other. I'm entirely sure that the writers are making up each twist as they go, and that's fine because that's not really the reason I watch and I find the twists entertaining, but ... man, it's hard to keep track of this stuff, because it makes sense mostly when you squint.
+ To be honest I didn't follow the main plot of the episode either. Why would inducing rolling blackouts give these specific people a lot of money? Eh, who cares. Hi, Toby Ziegler! My, how evil you've become.
+ And, of course, the real reason that it doesn't matter whether I followed the episode plot: Peter. and Neal. switching places. PETER AND NEAL SWITCHING PLACES. What White Collar just did was basically give me a goddamn bodyswap episode. Only even cooler because instead of being trapped in each other's bodies they were voluntarily doing one another's mannerisms! I rolled my eyes a bit at the initial "I'm only out of prison because of Agent Burke, who can put me back ANY TIME HE WANTS" and the "Mr. Caffrey is a VALUABLE ASSET" stuff, but I guess they had to get it out of their systems. And then oh my god AND THEN, I don't even really know where to start. Neal and El mutually aren't sure whether they're supposed to kiss one another! I loved Neal making Peter fetch him coffee in a way I can't even really articulate, because their relationship and the power dynamics have become so complicated without ever getting less tasty and delightful. I fucking adored El coaching Peter into Neal's mannerisms, and I just about died when he started Neal!flirting with her, I just akldfskjg CLUTCHING MY FACE. I loved Peter's sleights of hand, and Neal coaching him on how to be careful, and how quickly they stopped being parodies of each other and really slipped into it. Them switching stances at the end! Be still my heart.
+ That look Neal gets of -- god, I don't even know, such intense longing, when he's back to being Neal, and Peter's back to being Peter and kisses El hello. I don't know how to interpret that look besides an "I want what they have" that is also very specifically "I want them." That is very likely why I didn't mind the Sara kissing in the next scene. Those things can coexist, and man, this episode gave me that look.
YAY. :DDD
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I agree whole-heartedly with these opinions, and I'm glad to find someone who feels this way about Sara. A lot of the other recaps/reactions that I've been seeing have either no opinion on Sara, or thing her character has somehow done a 180 from bad to worse.
What we really have here is a deepening of the character and her changing opinion of Neal (as he goes from adversary, to grudging partner, to someone she can identify with/adorably crush on).
And for sure she's serving as a way for Neal to work at getting over Kate, but she's also a great example of the legitimate ways Neal can use is white collar crime skills in the future (aka insurance investigator!)
I personally, can't wait to see more of Sara. :)
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Although in the alternate universe in which this episode was less awesome in every way, I think my favorite thing would be June teaching Peter how to do a lift.
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