White Collar at 33,000 feet
Jan. 26th, 2011 03:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tj_teejayThis is a first. I never thought I'd be watching White Collar at 33,000 feet. So here I am, on a plane to San Diego (well, Atlanta first), with my laptop in front of me, having just watched Forging Bonds, typing this up to post later.
Eight hours later: Hello from the Delta Sky Lounge in Atlanta Hartsfield. Now on with our regular program.
First of all, I have to say, it wasn't terribly smart to start watching right after the announcement was made that it's now safe to use electronic devices. Because about 10 minutes into the episode, they started serving lunch. Or whatever you get on a plane at 11 AM. I was like, "Go away, can't you see I'm watching something important?!" But, well, since I figured the opportunity for food ingesting was either now or never, I opted for now. Thus the laptop went on the floor and my beloved show was interrupted by carrot soup, beef filet with potato wedges and asparagus and ice cream for dessert.
Well fed, I squeezed myself into the bathroom before going back to Peter in a 'stache, Neal in jeans and Mozzie in a bad wig. (Thankfully, intentionally so. The bad wig, I mean.) I still wish I could have watched it at home, because, let's face it, even with in-ear headphones on, being on a plane is distracting.
I'm not sure if I would have enjoyed the episode more if I'd watched it at home. Which is not to say I didn't enjoy the episode, but I have a feeling I didn't enjoy it as much as I should have. Or maybe it's due to the fact that I had really high expectations for it. Somehow I feel the episode didn't do them justice. And I can't even really say why.
But let's not focus on the parts that I didn't like. There was much about it that I loved, starting with the fact that we learned so much back story. How Neal met Mozzie (not what I would have expected), how Neal met Kate, how Neal and Kate got together, and most importantly, how Neal started to get into the forging business and became a conman. And who Vincent Adler is and why he created Neal Caffrey—or rather Nicholas Halden. (And I think this should also put the speculation to an end of whether Neal Caffrey is his real name or another alias.)
As for Kate... This episode brought on a great deal of ambiguity towards her on my part. For a while, I actually believed that she was in love with Neal. That she had genuine affection for him, cared about him. But as soon as we learned she didn't want to go to Copenhagen with him, the coin turned. Firstly, why would she not go with him? Was she jealous of Alex, testing Neal to see if he would come back to her? Or did she just not really care about Neal at all and used him? (Why, then, did she not go to Chicago with that other dude?)
And after Neal was back, she hid from him? Why? Come on, you don't do that if you're in love with someone. Someone you left another man for you were committed to moving to another city with. What was her game, her agenda? And am I the only one who's got the feeling she played a part in setting Neal up when Peter arrested him? (On a side note: Alexandra Daddario looked very beautiful in this episode. Those blue eyes are a real killer. I can surely understand why Neal fell for her.)
Actually, come to think of it, I think part of me didn't expect for the back story to be what they showed us. Which is maybe why I'm a little disappointed. Especially how Neal met Mozzie, I think I had—Oooooh, cookies! They're serving warm cookies! Yumm! *takes a bite* (Sorry. Where was I? Oh yeah, Mozzie and Neal.) I think I had expected a more meaningful back story there. I don't know, I guess I've been reading too much fan fiction that dealt with that topic. (Which I obviously liked better than Jeff Eastin's scenario.) But I'm still glad we now know the canon version. Certainly something that'll come in handy for fan fiction.
I'm not sure what to think of the whole "I don't know if I'm a suit guy" thing. It's just that these days, the suits are what define Neal as Neal. It's hard to imagine he used to be a jeans and t-shirt kinda guy seven years ago. Though I must say I very much enjoy ogling The Bomer in more casual clothes. And the scene where he wears the suit when he goes to the dinner and clearly feels uncomfortable in it? Planted a smile on my lips. Actually, there were a number of scenes that gave me a good chuckle.
I have much, much love for the scenes in Neal's apartment. I mean, the green shirt? I could stare at Neal in that shirt for days. Also, the cheap red wine Peter brought made me grin. That is so clueless Peter—adorably so. I also loved them tapping a little bit into Neal's vanity when I he got real curious about how Peter got his case. Of course Neal would want to hear that everyone at the FBI was fighting over it. And I love that Peter played right into his hands without even blinking.
Though I think I spotted a continuity error in one of the apartment scenes. Peter goes to see Neal, and he's wearing his suit and tie. Then, later during the night, he takes off the jacket and loses the tie. And in one scene later on, he wears the tie again. And then in the next, he doesn't. Probably some swapping around of scenes in post-pro that were supposed to be chronologically different originally. I'm not usually a nitpicker when it comes to this stuff, and I usually never notice until the umpteenth rewatch, but I noticed this straight away.
I think it will be fun to watch this episode again when I get home, on my nice, big TV without any distraction. And now I'm curious to see what next week will bring because I know nothing about that episode (beyond seeing the stills over on mattbomerfan.com). And I'd kinda like to keep it that way.
Last but not least: Lomer, I spotted you! :o) Walking up the stairs and into the conference room. (Though I don't think I would if you hadn't told me before since we never see your face.)
Eight hours later: Hello from the Delta Sky Lounge in Atlanta Hartsfield. Now on with our regular program.
First of all, I have to say, it wasn't terribly smart to start watching right after the announcement was made that it's now safe to use electronic devices. Because about 10 minutes into the episode, they started serving lunch. Or whatever you get on a plane at 11 AM. I was like, "Go away, can't you see I'm watching something important?!" But, well, since I figured the opportunity for food ingesting was either now or never, I opted for now. Thus the laptop went on the floor and my beloved show was interrupted by carrot soup, beef filet with potato wedges and asparagus and ice cream for dessert.
Well fed, I squeezed myself into the bathroom before going back to Peter in a 'stache, Neal in jeans and Mozzie in a bad wig. (Thankfully, intentionally so. The bad wig, I mean.) I still wish I could have watched it at home, because, let's face it, even with in-ear headphones on, being on a plane is distracting.
I'm not sure if I would have enjoyed the episode more if I'd watched it at home. Which is not to say I didn't enjoy the episode, but I have a feeling I didn't enjoy it as much as I should have. Or maybe it's due to the fact that I had really high expectations for it. Somehow I feel the episode didn't do them justice. And I can't even really say why.
But let's not focus on the parts that I didn't like. There was much about it that I loved, starting with the fact that we learned so much back story. How Neal met Mozzie (not what I would have expected), how Neal met Kate, how Neal and Kate got together, and most importantly, how Neal started to get into the forging business and became a conman. And who Vincent Adler is and why he created Neal Caffrey—or rather Nicholas Halden. (And I think this should also put the speculation to an end of whether Neal Caffrey is his real name or another alias.)
As for Kate... This episode brought on a great deal of ambiguity towards her on my part. For a while, I actually believed that she was in love with Neal. That she had genuine affection for him, cared about him. But as soon as we learned she didn't want to go to Copenhagen with him, the coin turned. Firstly, why would she not go with him? Was she jealous of Alex, testing Neal to see if he would come back to her? Or did she just not really care about Neal at all and used him? (Why, then, did she not go to Chicago with that other dude?)
And after Neal was back, she hid from him? Why? Come on, you don't do that if you're in love with someone. Someone you left another man for you were committed to moving to another city with. What was her game, her agenda? And am I the only one who's got the feeling she played a part in setting Neal up when Peter arrested him? (On a side note: Alexandra Daddario looked very beautiful in this episode. Those blue eyes are a real killer. I can surely understand why Neal fell for her.)
Actually, come to think of it, I think part of me didn't expect for the back story to be what they showed us. Which is maybe why I'm a little disappointed. Especially how Neal met Mozzie, I think I had—Oooooh, cookies! They're serving warm cookies! Yumm! *takes a bite* (Sorry. Where was I? Oh yeah, Mozzie and Neal.) I think I had expected a more meaningful back story there. I don't know, I guess I've been reading too much fan fiction that dealt with that topic. (Which I obviously liked better than Jeff Eastin's scenario.) But I'm still glad we now know the canon version. Certainly something that'll come in handy for fan fiction.
I'm not sure what to think of the whole "I don't know if I'm a suit guy" thing. It's just that these days, the suits are what define Neal as Neal. It's hard to imagine he used to be a jeans and t-shirt kinda guy seven years ago. Though I must say I very much enjoy ogling The Bomer in more casual clothes. And the scene where he wears the suit when he goes to the dinner and clearly feels uncomfortable in it? Planted a smile on my lips. Actually, there were a number of scenes that gave me a good chuckle.
I have much, much love for the scenes in Neal's apartment. I mean, the green shirt? I could stare at Neal in that shirt for days. Also, the cheap red wine Peter brought made me grin. That is so clueless Peter—adorably so. I also loved them tapping a little bit into Neal's vanity when I he got real curious about how Peter got his case. Of course Neal would want to hear that everyone at the FBI was fighting over it. And I love that Peter played right into his hands without even blinking.
Though I think I spotted a continuity error in one of the apartment scenes. Peter goes to see Neal, and he's wearing his suit and tie. Then, later during the night, he takes off the jacket and loses the tie. And in one scene later on, he wears the tie again. And then in the next, he doesn't. Probably some swapping around of scenes in post-pro that were supposed to be chronologically different originally. I'm not usually a nitpicker when it comes to this stuff, and I usually never notice until the umpteenth rewatch, but I noticed this straight away.
I think it will be fun to watch this episode again when I get home, on my nice, big TV without any distraction. And now I'm curious to see what next week will bring because I know nothing about that episode (beyond seeing the stills over on mattbomerfan.com). And I'd kinda like to keep it that way.
Last but not least: Lomer, I spotted you! :o) Walking up the stairs and into the conference room. (Though I don't think I would if you hadn't told me before since we never see your face.)
