#mat bomer

[solariconsblog]

Companheiros de viagem

[fandomoni]

Recasting Luke Hemsworth as Geralt is hilarious to me cause they're replacing a man with several look alikes with someone who isn't one of the look alikes.

Don't get how ya mess up this much.

[kwebtv]

Traveler - ABC  -  May 10, 2007  -  July 18, 2007

Drama (8 episodes)

Running time:  60 minutes

Stars:

Aaron Stanford as Will Traveler

Matt Bomer as Jay Burchell

Logan Marshall-Green as Tyler Fog

Pascale Hutton as Kim Doherty

Anthony Ruivivar as Special Agent Guillermo Borjes

Viola Davis as Special Agent Jan Marlow

Steven Culp as Special Agent Fred Chambers

Neal McDonough as Jack Freed

Sonja Bennett as Maya

William Sadler as Carlton Fog

Billy Mayo as The Porter

[mildlyconcerning]

Neal Caffrey being arrested for crimes he didn’t commit

[durenjtmusings]

White Collar Ending Discussion/Meta

@quiescentcastiel​  finished watching White Collar on Netflix and wanted to discuss their *feelings* about the ending. To chat about these feelings, I needed to go re-watch the Season 5 finale and all of Season 6 (poor me – all that time spent staring at/listening to Matt Bomer)

WARNING: if you haven’t watched the series finale, or Season 6, or the show at all, the following conversation would give away so very much (the series is built on cons and surprise twists after all). SO - if you read on below the cut, on your own head be it.

After finishing White Collar/watching the series finale, @quiescentcastiel​ shared these thoughts/concerns:

I didn’t have very high hopes for the finale so that last episode was better than I’d expected, but I still couldn’t imagine Neal leaving it all behind, y'know?

It seemed like a huge part of his narrative had been about finding a home and a family, and whether a con was always criminal or if he could change. So I was nervous for the finale because after that psychiatrist ep Neal went all ‘I’m gonna steal things because they’re there and I can and that’s just who I am’ and it just made me wonder if they were going to take back all his character development. (although, in the end, that plot point didn’t seem to go anywhere other than having that 2mil hanging over his head?)

Absolutely the entire series has focused on the balance between the issues of belonging and self-identity for Neal – wrapped up in the issue of his freedom. Does he stay a con-man, belonging to that ‘family’ of people – such as Kate and Mozzie – or does he change? Does he go straight and truly become a part of Peter and Elle’s world/life? And if he goes straight, who is he? What will he do? And really, he feels that he only has the *choice* of going straight if the anklet is off. Prying it off forces him to continue the con and the run…and Neal is so very tired of running.

In fact, as the series winds down, several people essentially ask him “once you are free of the FBI, what then?”  Matt keeps insisting that he’s ‘out’ – he’s ‘done’ – no longer wanting the conman life. He says this to Mozzie in the season 5 finale, citing the threat of prison (mostly because Peter will always be looking for him – a fact Peter emphasizes). When his deal falls through, he allows Mozzie to set up an exit strategy – betrayed, he wants an out from an FBI ‘home’ that continues to break its promises. We never know if he will act on Mozzie’s plans, because he is kidnapped and entangled in yet another mess…because of who he is, because of his illegal skills. Essentially, we are shown through this (and the season 6 storyline) that Neal can never go straight as Neal – he is too valuable, to other criminals and/or the FBI. Neal – always a dozen steps ahead, realizes this and begins to plan.

As evidence of this we see in S601, tellingly entitled Borrowed Time, Rebecca, now doomed to life in prison, says to him (bold italic text = my emphasis):

Rebecca: People like us, we live on borrowed time. We either end up behind bars or dead. Neal: There’s always another way. Rebecca: No. There isn’t. It catches up to you eventually. This is as close as we can get to a happy ending, I think. Being able to do some good before the end.

After which she attempts escape condemning herself to death by Federal Marshal. At the end of this episode, Neal and Mozzie have this conversation:

Mozzie: She made a choice. For her, it was better to risk almost certain death than go back to jail. Some birds can’t be caged. I doubt I’d be that brave if the time came. Neal: Was that bravery? There’s always another way. I’ve lived my life on the idea. Mozzie: That’s what we tell ourselves. The greatest lies a conman tells are to himself. But if we are being honest, she’s right. We’re on borrowed time. Our sins catch up to us all eventually. Neal: Maybe not. I offered Peter a deal. The Pink Panthers for my freedom. Mozzie: While you were kidnapped, I walked in your shoes. I sat in the FBI, felt the camaraderie. It’s compelling. It’s also an illusion.We are who we are, as are they. They promised you freedom before, what makes you think this time they’ll deliver? Neal: Who says that’s all I’m after?

Then, in S6.03 Uncontrolled Variables, there is a conversation with Keller that I think is the key to understanding how/why Neal ended things the way he did:

Keller: Collateral damage is a con man’s by-product, Caffrey. See, guys like us, we hurt people around us. Neal: I’m not a guy like you. Keller: You keep telling yourself that, sweetheart. So what? You got it all figured out, huh? We take down the Panthers, we get our freedom. Then what? Live happily ever after? - Yeah. Neal: Something like that. Keller: Something like that? Yeah, you’re living in a fairy tale, Caffrey. No matter what happens, me and you, we’re hunted men. We take down Woodford and his crew, it’s never over. Even in prison, they’ll come looking for us. And their reach, my friend, it is far and it is wide. And the Panthers, Neal, they don’t stop looking for rats until they’re dead. Until then, guess who they go after. People closest to you. And they’d make it hurt, Caffrey. They’d make it hurt so bad that you’d wish that they’d found you. So, you enjoy this freedom you’re working so hard to get. 'Cause when you’re footloose and fancy-free, those people that you love so much, are on death row.

So we put these ideas together with the good-hearted Neal we know:

we live on borrowed time. We either end up behind bars or dead.

There’s always another way.

…as close as we can get to a happy ending…being able to do some good before the end.

…when you’re footloose and fancy-free, those people that you love so much, are on death row.

Look at his face in that last jpg. I believe that Neal realized right then that he didn’t get either ‘family’ option - because he was too valuable an “asset” alive. He HAD to die in order to a) keep those he cared about (including Peter’s unborn child) alive/safe and b) actually be free to make choices and find himself. He had to leave *everyone* behind in order to have any of what he wanted. He found his “other way” – not prison, not death – but he had to let go of all those he loved in order to do it. And Neal, our “just wanting to belong” Neal, was willing to make that sacrifice – to “do some good” in the end.

Which is all very touching and heartwarming, but oh so very sad for everyone involved, really - including US.  Which is why I recommend to those unsatisfied by White Collar’s ending - to those wanting closure - read these two wonderful fanfics over on fanfic.net by jeanie2914

Apres Moi: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11386478/1/Apr%C3%A8s-moi

And then read Bonjour Encore (ONLY after you’ve read Apres Moi): https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11604349/1/Bonjour-Encore

After reading these, both @quiescentcastiel and I felt oh, so much better. The power of fanfiction in action.

[mildlyconcerning]

[scifitalk]

PODCAST: Bill Oliver Interesting film about a man who has two distinct personalities sharing the same body but does not have a split personality disorder but a divided psyche.

[allthetruthme]

Laugh every time I watch it :D