Goodbye White Collar

I am happier now with the "White Collar" conclusion than I was initially.

Although Neal had an "ironclad" deal guaranteeing his freedom upon the successful capture of the Pink Panther theft ring, the Bureau had shown a pattern of not being completely trustworthy. If you consider that to be the main reason that Neal faked his death and disappeared, it's logical, but not satisfying. It felt disrespectful to the relationships that the show was built on. Not only will he not see Peter and Mozzie anymore, but they are left with intense grief, even if Peter ends up realizing what happened a year later.

I have come to accept it more as a way of sparing them. While the Panthers should no longer be a threat once captured, it is possible to pull strings from prison, and it had been stated earlier that if you cross them, they will go after the people you love. If Neal is sacrificing for their safety, and not just as a fail-safe for his own freedom, then the love is still there.

There had been a theme - somewhat throughout the series, but especially toward the end - that Neal's actions sometimes led to people getting hurt, and he could not fix it. Sometimes those were innocent people, and sometimes not, but it was a sobering thing for him, and it may have made flight seem more necessary.

That goes along with one thing that they didn't explore more, and I wish they had. It came up in episode 5.4, Controlling Interest.

A psychiatrist who specializes in former inmates is brainwashing them to commit crimes where she gets the spoils. Neal goes undercover, and it is disturbing for him. In their conversation she tells Neal that he's a sociopath. It is exacerbated by the tension between Neal and Peter over Neal's most recent deception, which again was undertaken with good intentions, but there was a pattern there.

It is true that Neal was a habitual offender, and you could legitimately question whether reform is a real option for him. If nothing else, it seems like the challenge and the thrill are important enough to him that any future plans for staying on the right side of the law would have to find ways to allow for that (one reason why working for the FBI worked so well for Neal).

However, as much as Neal loves those aspects of crime (he might also make a good member of the A-Team), he's not a sociopath because he has a conscience. He cares about other people. Their feelings are real to him. Their pain matters to him.

Neal is larcenous and he has an ego, but he will put that aside to help others. If he believed that stealing art from rich people truly hurt them, that might actually cause him to reform. (That would probably be hard to manage though.)

I would have liked to have seen more attention paid here. The tension between Neal and Peter calmed down anyway, and Neal seemed to be in an okay place emotionally at the end of the series, so nothing was horrible. If they had explored it though, if they had talked about his goodness, would he have been able to trust more? Would he have been able to choose a different life? Would he have been able to keep the old life instead of jettisoning it?

And if you are going that route, then probably the last season arc has to go differently, but there are always possibilities. I was often amazed at how seemingly insurmountable difficulties were met.

Ultimately, I enjoyed the show. It was a good cast. I remember watching the Monkeys In Space episode of "My Name Is Earl" and seeing Tim DeKay in it. I had seen the episode before, but never recognized that scruffy, not at all bright felon as Peter. That was fun to see. I think the cast and the show had a good sense of fun in general. I also had not initially recognized Marsha Thomason from The Haunted Mansion; that's not quite as impressive, but that's not her fault.

So here's wishing good luck to all of them. Matt Bomer. Tim DeKay. Willie Garson. Marsha Thomason. Sharif Atkins. Tiffani Thiessen. For Diahann Carroll, James Rebhorn, and Gloria Votsis too. I hope good roles are coming your way.

And good job Jeff Eastin. I may quibble with you on minor points, but I still kept coming back and watching your show, and not everyone can make me do that.

And they got six seasons. If the goal was six seasons and a movie, then I guess Neal will show up again.