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Yes, I know, I said no more reviews but... can you blame me?
OMG I want to hug this episode! And I think it's safe to say it had everything we all wanted - distraught Peter, shaking and on edge but still in control and reasonable. Neal telling Peter he stayed. Homing pigeons! Mozzie coming back for El. Peter, Mozzie and Neal having to work with Keller to save El. El being so awesomely in control and sneaky and getting herself out. Neal whump, Neal kidnapped, Neal and Keller face off, Peter and Keller face off. Bloodied Neal! Peter and Neal with owies still on their faces! Keller takes the blame/credit for the treasure.
Neal possibly getting off the anklet sooner was quite the surprise, especially considering all the certainty that the best case scenario would be Neal staying on the anklet longer. I also felt Keller taking credit for the treasure to save his own neck, and thus saving said neck, was quite the twist as well. I know there was much discussion of Keller being blamed for taking the treasure, thus getting Neal off the hook, but this was definitely a surprise. So Keller will be back to be the bad guy another day.
And the previews - for all those who complain about WC not being good at fall out, we have fall out! The treasure debacle has not been wrapped up all nice and tidy in a single episode.
But most importantly, the friendship is still intact and Neal did not have to go back in jail or sacrifice himself to Keller. But I liked that, in a way, Neal did - or technically, Neal was willing to sacrifice himself in order to put Keller away. That, too, I thought was unexpected and interesting. So we have the sacrifice to further prove to Peter that Neal is becoming a changed man, but subtle.
Personally, I think this is the show's best wrap up of a particular arc thus far. It was very unexpected, I thought, and it worked.
If I had to make a complaint, and it is a very small one, it would be the story Keller told about Neal being found with/near some princess buck naked. It's just... such a cliche, I guess. The kind of back story I always had a feeling might crop up but was hoping never would because, again, painfully cliche. On the other hand, I think they managed to leave it open to interpretation. Still, I think "remember that time that princess caught you stealing her jewelry and she tried to kill you?" - for example - just to be interesting ;)
OMG I want to hug this episode! And I think it's safe to say it had everything we all wanted - distraught Peter, shaking and on edge but still in control and reasonable. Neal telling Peter he stayed. Homing pigeons! Mozzie coming back for El. Peter, Mozzie and Neal having to work with Keller to save El. El being so awesomely in control and sneaky and getting herself out. Neal whump, Neal kidnapped, Neal and Keller face off, Peter and Keller face off. Bloodied Neal! Peter and Neal with owies still on their faces! Keller takes the blame/credit for the treasure.
Neal possibly getting off the anklet sooner was quite the surprise, especially considering all the certainty that the best case scenario would be Neal staying on the anklet longer. I also felt Keller taking credit for the treasure to save his own neck, and thus saving said neck, was quite the twist as well. I know there was much discussion of Keller being blamed for taking the treasure, thus getting Neal off the hook, but this was definitely a surprise. So Keller will be back to be the bad guy another day.
And the previews - for all those who complain about WC not being good at fall out, we have fall out! The treasure debacle has not been wrapped up all nice and tidy in a single episode.
But most importantly, the friendship is still intact and Neal did not have to go back in jail or sacrifice himself to Keller. But I liked that, in a way, Neal did - or technically, Neal was willing to sacrifice himself in order to put Keller away. That, too, I thought was unexpected and interesting. So we have the sacrifice to further prove to Peter that Neal is becoming a changed man, but subtle.
Personally, I think this is the show's best wrap up of a particular arc thus far. It was very unexpected, I thought, and it worked.
If I had to make a complaint, and it is a very small one, it would be the story Keller told about Neal being found with/near some princess buck naked. It's just... such a cliche, I guess. The kind of back story I always had a feeling might crop up but was hoping never would because, again, painfully cliche. On the other hand, I think they managed to leave it open to interpretation. Still, I think "remember that time that princess caught you stealing her jewelry and she tried to kill you?" - for example - just to be interesting ;)
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Date: 2012-01-19 12:47 am (UTC)From:he's flirty, yes, but when it comes right down to it, he's very much a falling-in-love kind of guy, not a one-night-stand kind of guy.
Exactly. And in this instance it wasn't just the writers putting a dent in what we've seen of Neal and what it's added up to concerning his character. As I said, it's such a cliche - handsome conman seduces princess/duchess/rich man's wife (in fact, I'd been watching an A Team episode where, hey, Face did just that!) and it left me thinking "really, show? Really?" Like when every male character's back story includes him having lost his virginity at sixteen when he and *insert prom queen's name here* snuck off to some wooded area or abandoned whatever and they got naked. You just reach your saturation point with some cliches. But with this one, it's so saturated it's painful.
But, yeah, I think there's definitely room for interpretation, and I think Keller would be the type to sum Neal up as a cliche and exaggerate Neal's actions just to annoy him. So I think as long as the show doesn't do something with this tidbit later - that is, confirm it that Neal did sleep with some princess - then it's easy enough to dismiss as Keller being Keller and there being a lot more to the story (and I totally want to write something where Neal ends up on the ledge naked because of something mundane or ridiculous - like maybe he'd spilled something on himself, went to clean up, a rather drunk princess attempted to get frisky with him and it's either onto the ledge to get away or get caught and beheaded... or something. Oh, so much fic fodder to play with! I've missed you, show!;))
no subject
Date: 2012-01-19 12:52 am (UTC)From:I want this story! :D Write eeeeeeet, you know you want to ...
My writing urge is back in a major way! I'd been in a bit of a writing slump for the show lately ... I finished up some fics that I had already started, but I didn't really have the urge to write anything new. Now I have ideas all over the place -- it's wonderful!
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Date: 2012-01-19 05:57 pm (UTC)From:I've never really understood the complaint that WC doesn't deal with aftermath. It's true that they don't always do it in as much depth as I'd like to see; they're not a show like, say, Fringe, where the ongoing plots are the major ones. But they seem to do quite a lot of it -- they dealt with Kate's death and Neal's reaction to it all throughout season two, early season three was all about Neal making his decision, and it looks like the impact of the last couple of episodes will continue to be felt for awhile yet. It's way better than a lot of week-to-week episodic shows (remember how we used to cling to every scrap of emotional aftermath that we could get in SGA? *g*).
I guess part of it is that I really don't go for the grand emotional gestures that a lot of the fandom seems to like -- I prefer a more restrained emotional tone, where you get little character moments in between the beats of an action plot. And I like the balance that WC has struck. Not that there aren't things I'd love to see, but I wouldn't want the soap-opera, character-interaction parts to overwhelm the show. (That's what we have fanfic for. *g*)
no subject
Date: 2012-01-19 08:06 pm (UTC)From:Yes! My feelings exactly. As far as aftermath goes I feel WC does a wonderful job of following up. People say there was no real aftermath to Neal losing Kate but... but... but! Season two! The whole first half of that season was dedicated to aftermath! It even starts off with Neal having the shakes and flashing back and ends with him almost shooting someone. How is that not aftermath!
But I definitely think you're right. That for a lot of people it's about specifics. They wanted aftermath A full of immediate angst and fallout and major emotions, but the show gave them aftermath B, therefore, to them, the aftermath was fail. But, yes, WC isn't a show that's going to be heavy handed in certain things (like whump, for example, and I'm okay with that. WC is not a whump heavy show, I know this, accept this, and am happy to take whatever whump it does give). And I like that as well. I like that it's a show that, as you said, has managed to create a balance between the fun and the drama without being too much of one or the other. As much as I enjoy angst, too much of it stresses me out, and there are shows I have a hard time watching because I don't have the patience for the ongoing conflicts and drama, especially when those conflicts and drama get in the way of what I came to like about the show. I'm not saying WC is perfect, but it's one of the few shows I can watch all the way through without wanting to skip to the end so I can stop stressing over how the show is going to resolve things.