Keep Hoping Machine Running (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thefourthvine) wrote2012-02-17 05:55 pm
thefourthvine) wrote2012-02-17 05:55 pm
Days of Love 4
Okay, so, technically this is two recs. But it isn't four! Sorry, these vids just match up in my mind, and I'm not going to be able to talk about one without talking about the other, so let's just pretend that this is a single rec.
Also: SPOILERS. Up to 3 x 10. In the vids, and also in my recommendation, although my text may be less informative than you think, given that I haven't actually seen any of White Collar beyond season one.
What New York Used to Be, bygiandujakiss. White Collar.
And
Rolling in the Deep, by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
wistful_fever. White Collar.
So here we have the rise and the fall, or at least that's how I see it. What New York Used to Be is this sharp (seriously, watch this just for the editing, even if you've never seen the show, because you will be amazed at all the gorgeous cuts and perfect matches in this one, to the degree that you may have to go back again because you'll clap so hard you'll miss stuff), slick narrative. Neal is changing! Law enforcement is changing him! In the beginning, it's his enemy. In the end, it's his - you know, whatever - life partner, as represented by Peter. I love this vid for the energy of it, how it builds and builds and builds to show Neal changing, becoming someone new. By the end of the vid, I'm always sort of breathlessly in love with the show, Neal, Peter, and New York, all at once. And I suspect it's mutual. I have, after all, seen some episodes of the show, and I definitely think the writers at least used to have Neal/Peter/New York scribbled on their binders, right next to Elizabeth/Peter/Neal. I suspect hearts were drawn and initials written.
And then those same writers were apparently crossed in love. Because in Rolling in the Deep, it all goes to shit. I have no idea what happened in canon between these two vids, but whatever it was, I want it never to happen to me, or to any of my relationships. The thing is, even in Rolling in the Deep, I get the feeling that the love is still there; it's like Neal loves Peter, sure, but in the end he couldn't make the change What New York Used to Be suggested he had. He's trying to have his law enforcement and his crime, too, and he's fucking Peter over in the process. While still loving him. Oh, Neal, NO. That's my basic entire reaction to Rolling in the Deep: Oh, Neal, NO. Just - don't. But he does, he does.
So I tend to think of these vids in sequence, and, um, spend a lot of time making sad noises through the second one. I can't help it. I just like people to be happy, okay? And I also like them not to be making decisions that actively undermine their happiness. I don't understand why fictional characters DO that. (Dramatic tension blah blah blah. Whatever. In my secret heart, everyone is happy all the time forever the end.)
Someone please tell me there's a third vid coming that makes it all better. It could be called, like, "I Still Have the Capacity to Make the Occasional Choice That Doesn't Completely Fuck over Everyone Who Loves Me." That would be a good song choice. Is there a song like that?
But, you know, until that one comes out, and I am entirely sure it is coming, I will just keep re-watching these two. And so should you.
Also: SPOILERS. Up to 3 x 10. In the vids, and also in my recommendation, although my text may be less informative than you think, given that I haven't actually seen any of White Collar beyond season one.
What New York Used to Be, by
giandujakiss. White Collar.And
Rolling in the Deep, by
wistful_fever. White Collar. So here we have the rise and the fall, or at least that's how I see it. What New York Used to Be is this sharp (seriously, watch this just for the editing, even if you've never seen the show, because you will be amazed at all the gorgeous cuts and perfect matches in this one, to the degree that you may have to go back again because you'll clap so hard you'll miss stuff), slick narrative. Neal is changing! Law enforcement is changing him! In the beginning, it's his enemy. In the end, it's his - you know, whatever - life partner, as represented by Peter. I love this vid for the energy of it, how it builds and builds and builds to show Neal changing, becoming someone new. By the end of the vid, I'm always sort of breathlessly in love with the show, Neal, Peter, and New York, all at once. And I suspect it's mutual. I have, after all, seen some episodes of the show, and I definitely think the writers at least used to have Neal/Peter/New York scribbled on their binders, right next to Elizabeth/Peter/Neal. I suspect hearts were drawn and initials written.
And then those same writers were apparently crossed in love. Because in Rolling in the Deep, it all goes to shit. I have no idea what happened in canon between these two vids, but whatever it was, I want it never to happen to me, or to any of my relationships. The thing is, even in Rolling in the Deep, I get the feeling that the love is still there; it's like Neal loves Peter, sure, but in the end he couldn't make the change What New York Used to Be suggested he had. He's trying to have his law enforcement and his crime, too, and he's fucking Peter over in the process. While still loving him. Oh, Neal, NO. That's my basic entire reaction to Rolling in the Deep: Oh, Neal, NO. Just - don't. But he does, he does.
So I tend to think of these vids in sequence, and, um, spend a lot of time making sad noises through the second one. I can't help it. I just like people to be happy, okay? And I also like them not to be making decisions that actively undermine their happiness. I don't understand why fictional characters DO that. (Dramatic tension blah blah blah. Whatever. In my secret heart, everyone is happy all the time forever the end.)
Someone please tell me there's a third vid coming that makes it all better. It could be called, like, "I Still Have the Capacity to Make the Occasional Choice That Doesn't Completely Fuck over Everyone Who Loves Me." That would be a good song choice. Is there a song like that?
But, you know, until that one comes out, and I am entirely sure it is coming, I will just keep re-watching these two. And so should you.
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Season 3. Season 3 happened. And it was awesome, if you like watching characters trying to outwit characters who are trying to outwit the first character, which I really really do. (It's kind of a narrative kink of mine, and the only thing I'd like better would be if I knew of more such stories which had two women doing this, instead of two men or a man and a woman. So far I have Great Queen Seondeok.)
The other awesome thing about it is, you know how lots of fiction draws great dramatic mileage from little misunderstandings becoming epic misunderstandings? In White Collar, even in season 3, they actually talk to each other and promptly resolve their little misunderstandings. You think the writers are setting up for a misunderstanding and bam! resolved in time for new plot to happen.
Which may involve keeping other secrets. But at least it's not an "if they'd just talk to each other" idiot plot: it's clear that, though Neal is trying, it's going to take more than talking to fix him.
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...Please tell me you've read the Thief of Eddis series, by Megan Whalen Turner.
In White Collar, even in season 3, they actually talk to each other and promptly resolve their little misunderstandings. You think the writers are setting up for a misunderstanding and bam! resolved in time for new plot to happen.
Awesome. But - but does it get BETTER? I like things to be better! *wibbles*
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Awesome. But - but does it get BETTER? I like things to be better! *wibbles*
Currently it's better. Neal's still claiming to Mozzie that he wants to have his law enforcement and beat it too, but it's clear from his actions that mostly he just wants to have it. Peter tries to pretend he hasn't quite forgiven him yet, presumably because forgiving him so quickly sends a terrible message to an impressionable mind, but really he totally has. --That said, there seems to be new trouble on the horizon, so I definitely foresee more ups and downs. But if you average it out, there is a general upwards trajectory both in Neal's lawfulness and in Neal and Peter's relationship.
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