doctor_fangeek | Forging Bonds, Part Deux

So I've been reading a bunch of episode reactions and thinking about them, and I've collected a few more thoughts/observations:

1. One comment I really liked pointed out how Peter ultimately ended up getting Neal for something he did early on. They weren't able to pin any of his later crimes on him, presumably because he was so good.

1a. That said, I agree with several people who have said that they would have liked it if the epsiode showed us more of Neal's criminal career/more clearly showed us how impressive that career was. Everything before this tells us it was impressive. Heck, Interpol was after him. And by the end of the flashback Peter's whole team is on the case, complete with the big board of Neal. We get references to the Rafael and carrier pigeons (important for the whatever they were called Manuscripts). But what's actually in the episode is...underwhelming?

1b. ETA I've since seen some more comments on this, and one good point that came up was that even with Peter offering Neal immunity, there's a lot he probably wouldn't just tell Peter. Since this is Neal's story to tell, it wouldn't be surprising if he left a lot out.

2. I'm wondering how much of the "problem," if one sees the above as a problem with the episode, is that technically the main point of the story Neal is telling is his history and interactions with Adler. That gives the opportunity to show him meeting Mozzie and Kate, since they were both connected to Adler, but what Neal was up to before Adler, and/or the rest of Neal's "career" aren't really relevant to the task at hand.

3. Another comment from the person who talked about #1 above pointed out that it now seems that Neal has immunity for the Rafael. Interesting.

4. Just because one can never say it too much, Puppy!Satchmo, ftw!!!

5. A few people have made note that Neal really did kind of let Peter arrest him. And that he more or less went to prison for the opportunity to see Kate again. What got me, personally, about that part was the sadness of the moment. When Kate says she believes Neal and that she loves him too, and they kiss (kudos to whoever did the music for that scene), and then she asks how he knew where to find her, and he has the "ahah," moment right before the FBI bursts in...just as they find each other, both physically and emotionally, they are torn apart. On a second viewing of the episode, I totally felt for them in that moment.

6. Peter and the sucker. Nuff said.