#notably in private Neal completely drops his affronted attitude once he knows Mozzie used his art

[firebirdsdaughter]

… Peter protection engines revving…

… I gotta defend Peter at the end of s2 and the start of s3.

Bc of the painting scrap. Peter doesn’t just suddenly completely one eighty to accuse Neal. He sees, very clearly, a piece of a painting he saw in Neal’s room, fall among the remains. He’s already emotional from worrying about Neal, and now he’s suddenly hit in the face w/ evidence that Neal had something to do w/ what just happened. He just killed a man to protect Neal, he’s been spending the first two seasons desperately trying to help Neal do better. For Peter, this is a massive and painful betrayal. The idea that through all this, Neal was conning him for his own benefit. Already wound up from what happened, this sets him off. Peter’s a stoic sort. When he gets angry, or scared, or jus plain emotional, he gets gruff. Stiff. Tim DeKay is an amazing actor, and he expresses a great deal w/ just his eyes, and when he accuses Neal, he’s not just angry, he’s hurt, too. There’s betrayal and disbelief. This is not Peter suddenly dropping his parental affection for Neal, this is Peter having very reasonable reason to think that Neal has completely disregarded and betrayed those feelings. Even after everything they just went through. So he loses control to the degree that Peter loses control (case in point, his reactions w/ Fowler). But he doesn’t go ‘icy,’ he locks himself down. It’s his emotions struggling against his training and experience. We’re looking at a driven, stubborn, determined man with years of training and experience to keep his emotions in check. We see plenty of evidence of how Peter gets when he’s emotional, how much fear and pain and anger and worry blend together. This isn’t rational, regular Peter. This is Peter losing control of his emotions, a rare sight, and it’s bc of his feelings towards Neal. Yes, Neal didn’t know anything and so to him the accusations come out of nowhere and he’s understandably hurt by that, but that doesn’t negate the fact that Peter has a good reason to think this. For Pete’s sake (no puns intended), Neal himself says that after learning Peter had evidence. They are both within their rights to be angry and upset, and I will not budge from that.

Which brings me to the opening interrogation in s3. Again, I gotta defend Peter. He’s not being cold, he’s not trying to torment Neal. Peter is just as hurt by his apparent discovery as Neal is by the accusations. Peter is locking up and being aggressive and stubborn bc he needs to know. This isn’t some plot or plan, this is Peter running on the adrenaline of anger and panic and betrayal. Peter probably doesn’t even know how long they’ve been there. He’s got no long term plan. You can tell Jones is a little unsure what they’re trying to do here, the way Peter keeps interrupting him. Peter’s coping w/ his emotions the only way he can in the face of what he feels like is, again, a massive, personal betrayal. I also don’t think he’s trying to force Neal to confess, he can just tell Neal isn’t telling the whole truth (which by that point, he isn’t), and he has evidence if a painting scrap he literally saw in Neal’s home, knew was Neal’s work, before the explosion. He can’t bring it forward bc he doesn’t want even Jones or Diana to know yet. And again, this isn’t usual Peter. This is the Peter who punched Fowler, who shot Adler. This is Peter losing his cool to the degree he ever loses it, over the people he loves. Yes, in this case, it’s bc he thinks Neal has completely betrayed their entire relationship, but it’s the same principle. Plus, again, he’s got a reason to be so suspicious, to be this emotional. And Neal doesn’t hold it against him, as soon as he finds out it actually was Mozzie.