1080p screencaptures of the finale episode of White Collar, “Au Revoir”, have been added to the gallery. As usual, those images are generously provided by Kanarek.
1080p screencaptures of the finale episode of White Collar, “Au Revoir”, have been added to the gallery. As usual, those images are generously provided by Kanarek.
Thanks again for the pics. So..I’m a little late, but I just got a chance to see 6×05 (Whack-a-Mole). Still haven’t seen 6×04 or 6×06. The 3 biggest questions I’ve seen about the finale are “Did Mozzie know what Neal was planning?”, “Why didn’t Neal take Moz to Paris with him?”, and “Why did Neal wait a year to let Peter know he was alive?” Some folks think Neal was cold-hearted and uncaring…that he let his friends mourn for a year unnecessarily, and arranged for Peter to be the one to kill Keller.
From what I just saw, I got the opposite impression. I felt that Neal was thinking only of his friends, and wasn’t getting any sense of enjoyment out of planning his disappearance. When he told Moz “I have my reasons” for withholding info from him, and when Peter asked who he had in mind to replace the Panther that Woodford killed, Neal seemed very somber..and somewhat sad.
That tells me that Neal didn’t really leave just to start being a criminal again. I feel that he went to Paris partially “to taste freedom”, but MOSTLY to protect his best friends’ lives. He wasn’t happy having to plan this…
He also told Moz “Please be patient for just a little while longer.” I don’t think he would’ve meant a whole year, lol. I don’t know if he would’ve let Moz know that he was faking his death, but I have a feeling that he told him shortly afterwards.
And I think the only reason Neal asked Peter to replace the Panther that Woodford killed was to say his goodbyes in person…to let Peter know what he meant to him …before he had to leave.
I’m already crying. Dang.
Mozzie didn’t know.
The finale is open enough that you can see what you want. Neal probably did it to protect his friends and family. It still remains that he let them mourn his death for a year. He could (should) have told them.
But Neal is Neal, and there’s still things he has to learn. That in a family there’s no secret. That trust is a two way street. That he should rely on his family. They would have let him go. But he should have told them.
The whole “faking death to protect them” is Neal’s logic. He’s always acted this way. It’s his own “tunnel vision”. Like the deal with Hagen. It works, but he doesn’t think of other perspectives. He doesn’t ask for help, nor what other people think.
Personally I still think he should have told them. After everything Mozzie and Peter have done, he owed them that.
Aragarna- Hi. (1) At what point do you think Mozzie did know? (2) I’m so thankful that the finale is open to interpretation. Definitely. (3) I agree with you that Neal should’ve told them. As much as I love the guy, I can’t give him a pass on that. I firmly believe that he has a good heart, and usually has the best intentions. But like El said once, “he does the wrong things for the right reasons.” (4) It’s interesting delving into his psyche, isn’t it? ha. He thinks so differently than anyone I know, for sure. You’re right~ he doesn’t ask for advice or help (very often); he just does what he thinks is best, period. I’m sure part of that is because he’s had to rely on himself to survive, & yes…his concept of trust is pretty messed up.
Sigh. The more I talk, the more I’m going to miss this show.
(1) Well, it’s not perfectly clear, but probably a couple hours before Peter. 😉
OK, thanks! Hm…if that’s the case, then Neal sure did take his sweet time telling him. lol.
Many questions were intentionally left open-ended, but my interpretation is this:
1. At what point did Mozzie know? That’s hard to say, but he definitely didn’t know when he saw Neal’s “dead” body in the morgue. In order for the audience to believe Neal was dead, Mozzie had to believe Neal was dead. My speculation is that Neal needed Mozzie to believe it too, for different reasons but protecting him until the Pink Panthers were securely imprisoned is one of those reasons. Plus, he still needed an “outside man” for when the time was right to reveal the con. Neal wanted Mozzie to be his liason with Peter. Neal would not have been able to leave all that evidence behind in the storage unit without help; whether that help came from Mozzie or someone else is unclear, but I’m almost certain Mozzie delivered the bottle of Bordeau, via Neal’s request, to the Burkes. He was simply too anxious to leave once Peter arrived, package in hand. Then Mozzie says, somewhat cryptically, “See you around, Suit.” He knew, at that point.
2. Neal didn’t tell either Peter or Mozzie for so long because he wanted to ensure their safety. A big deal was made during this story arc that the Panthers were capable of brutal retaliation if crossed, and that point was driven home in the final episode, in the Neal/Mozzie/Keller scene at Neal’s apartment, and in the Neal/Elizabeth scene at the Burkes. Peter telling Mozzie that the Panthers had been imprisoned for life wasn’t idle conversation–he was sharing important information with Mozzie (and with the audience), a pivotal moment on which the story turned.
3. Yes, Neal is impulsive and during the course of the series he often acted without considering the long-term consequences. But this time was different. Rachel’s warning to him about doing what good he could before his past caught up with him; Keller’s warning to Neal about unrealistically thinking his freedom would come without cost…these were truths that Neal needed to hear. While it would be naive to think Neal wasn’t considering the benefits to himself if he faked his death, I maintain his primary motivation was protecting his family, at any cost. And remember, although Neal was able to gain his freedom, the cost to himself was great as well.
On that last point, Neal had faked his death several times prior to his initial arrest, but, except for Ellen, we don’t know whether he’d left anyone behind before. I doubt it. It’s interesting to consider how Neal is dealing with his own separation anxiety, leaving people whom he considered family for the first time.
A group of us were discussing Neal’s decision on another site, and someone shared some insight I hadn’t really considered–that is, when an individual is trying to erase past mistakes, especially mistakes as big as some of Neal’s, a clean break is essential to starting fresh. Neal needs to live life on his own terms, answering to no one but himself, so that he, and he alone, can make choices, be they good or bad, right or wrong, without anyone running interference or covering for him. Peter did that constantly. Neal’s work for the FBI underscored the value of him maintaining, to some extent, his criminal mind. That’s why he and Peter made such an effective team. Peter gave Neal a moral compass, taught him that he (Neal) could make a positive difference, but he also encouraged Neal, as he put it in season 3 (I think), to “scratch and edge”. It was a mixed message.
Another question I have is, to what extent was Keller complicit in Neal’s fake death scenario? Rachel set up her own death–did Keller do the same? We saw, in Peter’s flashback, that the chamber in the gun Keller pointed at him was empty. Surely, Keller would’ve noticed that. Or, was Keller just an unwitting accomplice, so desperate for his own freedom that he played into Neal’s plan without realizing it.
So, what is Neal doing in Paris? The newspaper found by Peter in the storage unit implied Neal’s return to art theft (the headline revealed the Louvre was upgrading its security system) but I don’t think it’s that simple. Neal’s work for the FBI had impact, even if Neal is incapable of completely jumping the moral spectrum, and I can easily envision Neal working as an informant for the Parisian police, or even for the French equivalent of the FBI. But Neal once said that running cons is like an addiction, that one needs to hit rock bottom before he can change…and he never hit rock bottom. And just because you start doing good things doesn’t mean you stop doing bad things.
The story continues….