White Collar summer finale
Aug. 10th, 2011 12:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ivyfic- I see now why they don't usually do big budget stunts. Because they don't have a big budget. And that looked like ass. Having Neal jump out of a second story window onto an awning they could do. BASE jumping? Not so much.
- I will believe that Neal can do a lot of things. Like perfectly forge a Degas in a night. (Cause it's not like oil paintings have several layers that have to dry before you can continue painting or anything.) I would believe that he could jump off a building on a wire a la Dark Angel. But I don't believe he could BASE jump off a 43 story building. I just don't. Isn't that kind of short for BASE jumping? Wiki says jumps can be done from as little as 200 feet, but that's with a string from your parachute to the platform to help it deploy. From 500 feet, you'd have 5.6 seconds in freefall before you hit the ground. If you deploy a chute, that's 10 to 15 seconds to try to orient yourself right and land without hitting a building/streetlamp/signpost/pedestrian. BASE jumping has a 1 in 60 fatality rate. I just. I don't think that's possible. For Neal. Who we haven't seen training for shit like that. (I know! I know! The show breaks reality! But I can't let it go!)
- So he jumped off a building in Manhattan in the middle of the day. I guaruntee you at least 100 people saw him and tweeted about it and someone probably caught it on their cell phone and put it on youtube. In other words--Peter'd probably find out about that stunt.
- This show is not so good at the moral implications of their treasure. You know, the Nazi treasure that no one feels compelled to return to the families. Even though Neal returned a painting to a woman in a season one episode. I think he'd be inclined to want to repatriate that stuff. Also, last week's episode made me sadface with the reference to the looting of the Egyptian museum. I don't want allusions to real world events that genuinely upset me in my fluff! Knock it out!
- Do neither Neal nor Mozzie have any issue with the fact that the painting they sold was going to be used by an arms dealer to pay for illegal weapons? No? Cause I think they would.
- Can Mozzie teleport shit? Cause I don't know how he's moving the treasure if not by magic. I don't know how he moved it in the first place, by himself, overnight, but maybe he had a truck and some Red Bull. But if he's trying to get it out of the country, first, he has to recrate everything. And second, I think most freight companies might raise an eyebrow at the swastikas.
All that being said, I enjoyed the episode. I really liked that Neal is being driven further and further into his con, and there was a moment, when he was about to jump, when he clearly thought WHAT THE FUCK AM I DOING. This doesn't seem like it's fun for him anymore, since he's just trying to keep things from falling apart.
I like the fact that Peter felt the need to bring in an outsider to go after Neal. Cause Peter clearly knows he tends towards leniency. And he really believes Neal has the treasure, but he really, really doesn't want to. The scene with Beau Bridges I thought was very nicely done.
I am glad that Moz has his own will. I have not been the biggest Moz fan, since at least in early days, he existed to magically get Neal's crazy plans done. (Like in the first Keller episode, when MOZ DID ALL THE FORGING.) It would be very easy for him to be an appendage to Neal, even with some backstory. But here he's clearly lost patience, and there are some things he clearly cares about more than doing what Neal wants him to do. I think it's rather telling that Moz stole the treasure 100% on his own but his first instinct was to tell Neal. Not cause he needed the help, but because he wanted to share this with his friend. Which would seem to go against his thieving instincts.
Oh, Neal. There are "things" you don't want to leave yet? You're not ready to say goodbye to "New York"? Yes, I know you love the city. But I think you're still in denial. Like an addict--still clinging to the idea that if he really wanted to, he could always run.
Although I am unhappy with the kidnapping of Elizabeth from a cliche woman in jeopardy stand point (please let her kick ass pleeeeease let her kick ass), I like what this does to the story. Because it makes it absolutely clear to Neal how not harmless his clinging to the fantasy of the treasure is. And to Peter. My guess? He folds and tells Peter where the treasure is two seconds into the next episode. And I think, given Moz's friendship with Elizabeth, there's no doubt what his choice would be.
White Collar's been good so far with emotional fallout, so I'm looking forward to another half season of Neal and Peter having to rebuild trust once everything's out in the open. I think Peter will forgive Neal, since he made the right choice in the end (and didn't steal the treasure in the first place), but this is going to be a hard lesson for Neal about the cost of trying to keep all his options open.
- I will believe that Neal can do a lot of things. Like perfectly forge a Degas in a night. (Cause it's not like oil paintings have several layers that have to dry before you can continue painting or anything.) I would believe that he could jump off a building on a wire a la Dark Angel. But I don't believe he could BASE jump off a 43 story building. I just don't. Isn't that kind of short for BASE jumping? Wiki says jumps can be done from as little as 200 feet, but that's with a string from your parachute to the platform to help it deploy. From 500 feet, you'd have 5.6 seconds in freefall before you hit the ground. If you deploy a chute, that's 10 to 15 seconds to try to orient yourself right and land without hitting a building/streetlamp/signpost/pedestrian. BASE jumping has a 1 in 60 fatality rate. I just. I don't think that's possible. For Neal. Who we haven't seen training for shit like that. (I know! I know! The show breaks reality! But I can't let it go!)
- So he jumped off a building in Manhattan in the middle of the day. I guaruntee you at least 100 people saw him and tweeted about it and someone probably caught it on their cell phone and put it on youtube. In other words--Peter'd probably find out about that stunt.
- This show is not so good at the moral implications of their treasure. You know, the Nazi treasure that no one feels compelled to return to the families. Even though Neal returned a painting to a woman in a season one episode. I think he'd be inclined to want to repatriate that stuff. Also, last week's episode made me sadface with the reference to the looting of the Egyptian museum. I don't want allusions to real world events that genuinely upset me in my fluff! Knock it out!
- Do neither Neal nor Mozzie have any issue with the fact that the painting they sold was going to be used by an arms dealer to pay for illegal weapons? No? Cause I think they would.
- Can Mozzie teleport shit? Cause I don't know how he's moving the treasure if not by magic. I don't know how he moved it in the first place, by himself, overnight, but maybe he had a truck and some Red Bull. But if he's trying to get it out of the country, first, he has to recrate everything. And second, I think most freight companies might raise an eyebrow at the swastikas.
All that being said, I enjoyed the episode. I really liked that Neal is being driven further and further into his con, and there was a moment, when he was about to jump, when he clearly thought WHAT THE FUCK AM I DOING. This doesn't seem like it's fun for him anymore, since he's just trying to keep things from falling apart.
I like the fact that Peter felt the need to bring in an outsider to go after Neal. Cause Peter clearly knows he tends towards leniency. And he really believes Neal has the treasure, but he really, really doesn't want to. The scene with Beau Bridges I thought was very nicely done.
I am glad that Moz has his own will. I have not been the biggest Moz fan, since at least in early days, he existed to magically get Neal's crazy plans done. (Like in the first Keller episode, when MOZ DID ALL THE FORGING.) It would be very easy for him to be an appendage to Neal, even with some backstory. But here he's clearly lost patience, and there are some things he clearly cares about more than doing what Neal wants him to do. I think it's rather telling that Moz stole the treasure 100% on his own but his first instinct was to tell Neal. Not cause he needed the help, but because he wanted to share this with his friend. Which would seem to go against his thieving instincts.
Oh, Neal. There are "things" you don't want to leave yet? You're not ready to say goodbye to "New York"? Yes, I know you love the city. But I think you're still in denial. Like an addict--still clinging to the idea that if he really wanted to, he could always run.
Although I am unhappy with the kidnapping of Elizabeth from a cliche woman in jeopardy stand point (please let her kick ass pleeeeease let her kick ass), I like what this does to the story. Because it makes it absolutely clear to Neal how not harmless his clinging to the fantasy of the treasure is. And to Peter. My guess? He folds and tells Peter where the treasure is two seconds into the next episode. And I think, given Moz's friendship with Elizabeth, there's no doubt what his choice would be.
White Collar's been good so far with emotional fallout, so I'm looking forward to another half season of Neal and Peter having to rebuild trust once everything's out in the open. I think Peter will forgive Neal, since he made the right choice in the end (and didn't steal the treasure in the first place), but this is going to be a hard lesson for Neal about the cost of trying to keep all his options open.
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Date: 2011-08-10 05:52 pm (UTC)Yeah and I'm also pretty sure Neal and Mozzie don't think too hard about the broader moral implications. This is something I think is deliberate from the show writers. Neal and Mozzie have values and a code of ethics of sorts but they're con artists and criminals and to do their thing they compartmentalize--because they do each have a moral compass they choose to sometimes ignore. Mozzie is not above having someone killed. Neal avoids all violence. Neal is listening to his moral code more and more and more confused about what he wants.
I think they care it's an arms dealer or Nazi loot, but can't *care* care if that makes sense. I think WC has managed to keep them likeable regardless.
I would kind of love to watch Mozzie get all scary at Kellar because of El. If we think Mozzie hated Kellar before...