White Collar 2x16 Thoughts

[iaria]

Under the Radar

I really enjoyed this episode. It was fun to watch and I was pretty pleased that for once we actually got a Bechdel passing episode.

• I was kind of hoping that when Neal wondered what the girls were talking about and Peter said shoes and Neal was sure it was about them the camera would have gone to El and Sara talking about their work or a shared favourite play/book/show or something similar. It’s not all about boys and shoes/clothes.

• I’m now hoping that El and Sara become really good friends. I had wanted it with El and Diana but Diana is Peter’s friend far more. El needs a visible friend in the cast (okay, there is Mozzie) and the two of them becoming good friends would tie Sara more to the show/plot and make El more prominent as well. Plus if the show continues with the Neal/Sara relationship having a Sara/El relationship to mirror the Neal/Peter one would just make sense.

• This episode was so ridiculously slashy for Neal/Peter(/El). The guys exchange on the roof of the sub - “Peter if I die” / “I know” – made me go ‘really? they went there?’ Then there was the very slashy/OT3y exchange between El and Sara:

“We’re married. For better or worse.” – El
“And now he’s got Neal.” – Sara
“For better or worse. (laughs) But for the record it’s actually better.” – El

• Married couple El and Peter were adorable.

• It was wonderful to see Alex again. I just like her.

• The Sara/Mozzie/Diana/Jones scene in the van was great.

• So the obvious choice for having stolen the treasure and left Neal the breadcrumbs is Alex. It makes sense and I do like it. But I think the show could get away with having a really great twist here and making it Kate. In fact at the end there I was waiting for someone to come out of the shadows and I was expecting Alex but hoping for Kate. Sure the whole plane explosion would have to be hand waved (how the hell would she have gotten off?) but everything else would make sense. I can see her being suspicious after her call/of Peter and getting her off and I can see her going into hiding for a year.

It would completely undue the fridging of her and her stealing the art would be an awesome return. Plus it would also make sense for Kate to approach Neal finally – Adler is dead and the danger he represented is gone, and that mystical final hull is theirs. She visited him in prison every week for almost four years so I buy her loving him. The more I consider this the more I want it to be Kate. It will probably be Alex, and I’m fine with that too because Alex is great, but Kate would be amazing. Oh! Oh! Maybe Kate and Alex could be working together? Sure, they hate each other and Alex is far more loyal to Neal but maybe in some alternate universe that could be what happened.