White Collar Review

[kriadydragon]

*Happy sigh* Loved, loved, loved this ep :D Are you surprised ;)

Back storyyyyyyy!

OMG Neal has daddy issues! And legit daddy issues! His dad died when he was little and was a dirty cop. And it screwed with Neal's head and self esteem. Oh, Neal *hugs him* Poor boy really is broken. And he was raised by his mom, I totally called that one! :D Unless there was a step dad in the mix. In which case, it must not have gone over well or Neal would have said something, right?

And virtual cookies to all those who called it that Neal's dad was probably in law enforcement. I loved that there was more to it. See, this is why I didn't want to touch Neal's back story, because the possibilities were endless. Though I pondered the idea of Neal's dad being a cop briefly, I totally did not see the dirty cop thing coming. This is what I love about this show - it's unpredictable :D

Neal needs to change his shirt more often :D And make fake diamonds more often ;) Yum!

Mozzie giddy over the machine. He's so adorable.

Awww, Peter helps Neal steal something legally :D I love that we're seeing them work together more. We're seeing Neal becoming more of a good guy, and Peter daring to not only think outside the box but step outside it as well.

Heeeee! Did Neal's mom wear hats. Oh, Peter :D

Hmmmm. Think I'll watch this ep again. And probably again :D

Comments

[tringasolitaria.livejournal.com]

This really was a good episode. :)

I was confused about something though, about Neal's parents. The conversation between him and Mozzie made it sound like the whole "Dad was a cop" story wasn't true. I need to go back and watch that again, but what it sounded like to me was that Neal actually doesn't know who his birth parents are. How did you understand that?

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

My initial impression was that Neal was either lying about his dad or holding something back. But since Neal never actually lies to Peter, and from the way Neal had worded his response to Mozzie, I figured that Neal was simply holding something back - namely that his dad wasn't just a cop but a dirty cop (for a moment I had wondered if Neal's dad had been FBI, except that part in Forging Bonds where Neal says he's always wanted to meet an FBI agent had quickly voided that thought).

That would be something difficult for Neal to admit to, especially seeing how much it has affected Neal (my heart broke so bad for him).

[tringasolitaria.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I forgot about the not lying to Peter part. Now I'm really confused - so what was all that about searching for birth parents? I really need to watch that scene again I guess.

[doctor-fangeek.livejournal.com]

Wandered into this conversation from a friend's friends list - I like trolling for different people's episode reactions.

I think the birth parents thing was just about the fact that *Mozzie* was in the foster care system. I think the conversation with Peter brought up issues for Neal regarding his parents, and it made him think about Mozzie's parents and whether Mozzie is curious about them. Or at least that's my guess. I agree that the conversation made it seem like Neal was not being entirely forthcoming with Peter, but I think, as kriadydragon says, that is was more that there was more to the story. Hope that made some sense.

[swanpride.livejournal.com]

Seen anything unusual or especially interesting? (Love reading reactions, too).

[wildcat88.livejournal.com]

That's exactly the way I interpreted it as well. Neal threw me for a minute with the birth parents comment but it wasn't until the end when he mentioned his mom telling him what he wanted to hear that I realized he'd been telling Peter the truth the whole time - his dad was a cop and died when Neal was young. He just wasn't the kind of good guy that Peter is.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Ditto to what was said. Neal got to thinking about parents and asked Mozzie about his. It threw me a little as well, but apparently it's something Neal has discussed with Mozzie before. I do think there's more to the story than what we were given, but overall I think the dirty cop thing is true (unless Neal's past is so bad he can't even tell Peter the truth about it *shrugs*)

[irish-twilight3.livejournal.com]

My understanding was that when Neal told Peter "everything" his mom told him, he did exactly that. I think that he doesn't even know his dad's real name, and that's what he meant when he asked if Mozzie has looked into his birth parents, and Mozzie said Peter could be useful -- because Neal doesn't actually know who his dad was or the whole story. He only knows three pieces of information:
According to his mom: 1) he died when Neal was young, 2) he was a cop,
And years later, after he grew up wanting to be a cop and got really good with guns, someone somewhere told him that 3) his father was a dirty cop - I'm assuming whoever it was provided enough information or was trusted enough that Neal believed them (mother on deathbed maybe??), but didn't give enough information that Neal knows who his father actually was.
That's how I interpreted it anyways.

And also, I absolutely LOVED this episode. I love seeing Neal and Peter working together. A lot of people talk about how Neal admires Peter's straight-laced life and wishes he could have it, and this reveal about him being afraid of being a bad person like his father just adds a whole new level.
As far as the online chatter about Neal corrupting Peter now, I see it as Neal having a very strong sense of morals, something he sees in Peter as well, but Peter is sometimes restricted by the law, something Neal doesn't agree with. It's like they're meeting halfway, and I love it :)

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Oh, excellent theory :D I do think there is more to it but maybe along the lines of Neal wanting details about his father. As I've said to others - mostly as an example - maybe his father was murdered and Neal wants to know why. I just get the feeling this isn't the end of that particular plot point (at least I hope not, as there's a lot of great episode potential there).

Neal and Peter are totally rubbing off on each other and I love it :D As you say, they're meeting half way. I think Neal wants to live a straight-laced life but doesn't know how to. At least not yet. And I think Peter realizes this, as well as realizes that, sometimes, Neal's methods do have merit, and as long as it doesn't cross the line of completely illegal Peter can eventually bring himself to just go along with it for the sake of justice.

Something I observed after viewing the episode a second time and that I found interesting was that, in a way, Neal really isn't like his father. Neal's father was good guy turned criminal. While Neal is a criminal turned good guy. Neal's methods may not be legal but, if you think about it, pretty much everything he does he does for someone else.

[swanpride.livejournal.com]

What a great theory! I mean, I'm convinced that the only truth about it was the dirty cop part, because everything else was "what his mother told him", but the idea that Neal doesn't even know who his father is, is exciting...I totally believe that the whole father story will be a theme of the next season, when the music box story is (hopefully) wrapped up.

[swanpride.livejournal.com]

Is it bad that I loved this episode more than the two previous one? Somehow the supposedly flashy ones were more exciting before I saw them than while watching them. But this one really had everything I want to see. A nice case, Neal using one of his alias (and what a great one), the banter of the characters (I really could have strangled Peter when he burned Neal's alias...doesn't he know that he may point the wrong people in Neal's direction when he keeps doing things like that?), Neal going (more or less) behind Peter's back and the big reveal.

Well, naturally Neal has Daddy issues. I mean, there had to be a reason that Peter is most of the time more some sort of mentor than a friend. I'm not surprised about the "dirty cop" part. When it became known that the occupation of Neal's father would be revealed in this episode and the cop possibility was discussed I totally thought that if Neal's father was some kind of cop he had done something bad.

But in the end, I'm actually not sure that the story is true. Strangely Neal lied actually a lot in this episode...i.e. he totally planned to steal rubies in Burma. Each time he was telling Peter something about his father, he had his typical "I lie to my teeth" habits. And when Moz said "He could be useful" (I don't think he meant Peter with "he") it totally sounded like Neal's father is still alive. I wouldn't be surprise if it turns out that Neal was lying to get Peter off his case and that the only part really true about it is that his father was some sort of criminal. (Either that or the writers wanted to leave a loophole for us poor fanfiction-writers).

[swanpride.livejournal.com]

I'm still thinking about the "Daddy-story"...and I more and more get the feeling that Neal more or less told Peter (in a very roundabout way) that the story about the cop-hero was what his mother told him when he grew up, but not the truth at all...which means, that more or less everything about the story may have been a lie, and the only really true part about what Neal told this episode was that his father was dirty (but not necessarily a cop).

Either way, I have the feeling the story is not over yet...do the writers try to set up another mystery for the time when the music-box story has run its course?

On a side note, it will be interesting to see what the writers will do when the four years are over....

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Neal really pushes the "alleged" card but personally I don't think that's him so much lying to Peter as simply protecting himself. Of course he's going to deny various crimes - he has to. But when it comes to the personal aspects of his life that is when he's either vague with Peter or, eventually, straight with him. We've seen plenty of vague, elusive Neal with Peter, but not really all out, one-hundred percent lying to him. Plus even when he is denying his alleged crimes, he's still being fairly honest since he's actually talking to Peter about them.

I do think the cop story is true, but I think Neal left a few things out. After all, he told Peter what his mother told him - not lying, just passing on what someone had said to him. Neal is good at being honest without actually telling the truth, if that makes sense, so I'm thinking that, maybe, Neal's dad isn't dead. Either that or something nefarious happened to his dad (like he was murdered). I do think Mozzie was talking about Peter when he mentioned "he" and that maybe Neal is either looking for his dad or trying to find out what happened to him. In which case Peter would be useful. I totally agree that this story isn't over.

And if Neal's dad is alive, I could totally see him having caved completely to a life of crime.

I had no idea they were going to make Neal's father a cop. I've pretty much been avoiding spoilers.

[swanpride.livejournal.com]

The Spoiler was just that Neal's father would be mentioned, nothing more. The cop theory was just flying around in the net.

Now, after having had time to digest the episode, I think that the truth is that Neal's mother told him that his father was a cop hero who died when he was two, and that Neal was playing police officer because of that. But this story was a lie (so Neal's dad may be still alive or died much later...maybe he was in prison?) which Neal discovered later on. So the only real truth we got to hear about his father was that he was a dirty cop, and that Neal used to admire him before he knew that.

But I still think that we didn't see the end of this. the "He could be usefull" sounds really omnious to me...

[katikat.livejournal.com]

Friend's friends hopping here, hi! *waves*

I don't think that Neal ~planned~ to steal rubies in Burma. He might have shown ~interest~ and he might have done some ~research~ but until he had a plan, he was not ~planning~ to steal rubies in Burma XP

Also, I think that Neal's dad is alive too. And that he is in prison. And that Neal found out while he was in prison himself. Which would have sucked big time for him.

[swanpride.livejournal.com]

*waves back*

Oh, he definetly did a lot of research....;-)

I'm not sure...perhaps Neal doesn't even know who his father really was. I find Neal fascination with "meeting a Fed" quite interesting in this context. But I don't try to think too much about it...first the music box, than the daddy issues. (I just hope that the writers haven't destroy all my story ideas when the season is over).

[swanpride.livejournal.com]

Oh, and can someone explain to me what's so exciting in tripping a linguist?

[radioshack84.livejournal.com]

This was a pretty awesome episode. I still haven't seen enough of this show to comment much on the characters' personalities and whatnot, but I was loving the humor in this one. Peter's comment about the hats, and especially Mozzie's "smoking jacket". That one had me cracking up for a good long while. =D

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

This one was hilarious :D I loved it when Neal called Peter Mr. Satchmo. And then Diana, angry at being made a model, called Peter Mr. Satchmo too.

[wildcat88.livejournal.com]

I knew that shriek of joy I heard when Neal started talking about his dad came from you! :D

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Heh, this ep totally made up for the lack of info in Forging Bonds :D Not only do we get back story, but back story that I did not see coming and that really, really works. I really hope they go somewhere with this as they seemed to hint at it.