#white collar liveblogging

[voidofthearchive]

white collar is all about trust.

[eclecticelectriceccentric]

no but like literally neal caffrey is soooo autism i know this. special interest: human socialization (also the art/forgery stuff that's a later post). he does not socialize normally; he socializes like somebody who figured out alllll the rules and tricks

[dangerously-human]

It's so funny going back to the first season and seeing Peter only just beginning to waffle on his principles. He'll be like nooo, Neal, don't do the thing, that's against the rules! And it's a whole day or two till the wink-wink-nudge-nudge comes into play. Whereas in later seasons, he's outright scheming along with Neal, willing to interpret CI privileges however works best in the moment. It's fairly well-paced character development. It's also hysterical going back to the beginning and seeing how instantly ride-or-die these two were for each other. I mean, in a way, that predates the pilot, doesn't it? By the time we meet them, they're already working from a place of mutual respect, and it doesn't take much to forge that into camaraderie. The funniest part is Peter's habit of coming to Neal for personal advice, and how it takes longer and longer each time before he questions the instinct. They're totally friends even without much trust, which is a charming dynamic. (And later, it really never quite becomes trust - that's always the thorn in the side, especially for Neal - but it's a friendship built on faith, in who each of them is despite what they do, and that's a fascinating dynamic too.)

[melandrops]

five seconds after peter kills a man for neal he's accusing him of theft they are such a dysfunctional couple

[lacunasbalustrade]

I think these shots did a particularly good job for introducing the characters

[regina-cordium]

peter burke deserves to say “fuck”

[daisyachain]

The Oz-Vetinari well runs so deep. Vicious older woman mentor/enemy (Fish || Margolotta and to a lesser extent Lady Meserole). Raised by single older female relative. Bizarre tension with local idealistic policeman (complicated by Gordon and Vimes moving in opposite directions). Bullied at school. Crime licensing. Lawful evil stability over all. Personal egalitarian belief that everyone else should be equal and subordinate to them. Collaboration with oligarchs through intimidation. The Prince. Constantly subject to assassination plots. So obviously manipulative that it obscures the actual manipulation. The art of camouflage. Obsessed with beloved ugly dog. Sexually ambiguous and heavily asexual-coded by writers who do not know what that word means. Funny bird metaphors (Penguin/predatory flamingo). Embodies both civic progress through a revolutionary past and the heavy hand of the establishment in the present. Spare the lives of enemies for their own personal use. Most importantly: My Mom says Penguin reminds her of Vetinari (:

[marchingxiezhi]

Wait isn’t he kind of… right? Why are you booing him he’s right.

However I don’t think the genshin world is as demanding of years of relationships/experience to get into less strenuous white collar careers as the real world so it’s actually maximizing resources to spend your youth as a guard and dancer and then do something else after your body has actually given out. For that matter even the real world itself isn’t all about getting on the destined track early - it helps but it’s not IMPOSSIBLE to change careers and if you talk to a bunch of middle aged people you’ll find a lot of them have done it. (It’s not just that everything was cheaper for boomers to fuck around with either although that’s true a good number of millennials also switch careers or go service to corporate) I mean a good number have been on only one track too but it’s a decent split, not unlike how the media leads u to believe everyone past a certain age is like fucking all the time but a lot of people just don’t bother for their own reasons and that’s not always part of some deep secret it’s just like idk time constraints or how life goes and that life doesn’t even feel empty I should probably not include this rant in a genshin impact liveblog there are unflattering implications but idc it’s true and kind of important for young adults who are anxious about their lack of experience to hear even though none of them will becaus e I think 4 people tops read this blog and they’re all as established in life as me or possibly older? Anyway this wasn’t about romance it was about jobs. I wish I knew at 22 what career trajectories actually looked like yknow. My dad has a masters in something he never used and a long career in something he never studied because computers got introduced to workplaces in the 90s. Life is miraculous.

Anyway does genshin impact universe have pensions

[nothingunrealistic]

review roundup: billions 7x03 “winston dick energy”

place your bets on how far i’ll get into this post before my commentary shifts into all-caps!

New York Times: ‘Billions’ Season 7, Episode 3 Recap: Confidence Games

Which would be fine if Chuck were operating in a vacuum. Instead, he has an office full of lawyers champing at the bit for the opportunity to unleash their full skills on unsuspecting white-collar criminals everywhere — the kinds of cases that turned their freshly reinstated boss into a beloved man of the people. His reticence in choosing his opening salvo frustrates everyone: his right-hand man, Ira; his father, Charles Sr. (Jeffrey DeMunn); his button man, Karl; and the Southern District’s bold up-and-comer Amanda Torre (Hannah Hodson).

or, as i described it to milo in the heat of liveblogging: all of those characters (and wendy!) call chuck a wuss.

Then along comes Winston (Will Roland). A twerpy quant who’s been a core part of the Taylor Mason team for some time, largely in spite of himself, Winston quits the firm and immediately — like, within eight hours — goes into business for himself.

can’t say i expected anything better than this. correction: a core part of the taylor mason team for some time, largely in spite of taylor forgetting he’s alive, let alone that he and his work are valuable, until he quits and starts trying to make money that won’t go to them.

Acting on advice from Wendy (you can see why Dr. Mayer is concerned, no?), Wags storms into Winston’s apartment, where an attempted come-to-Jesus meeting with Taylor and Philip is already underway, and all but attacks the guy.

thanks for pointing out wendy’s role in that, at least.

Unless he comes back to Prince Cap, software in tow, as a sort of indentured servant, Wags will see to it personally that Winston’s reputation and finances are left about as intact as ancient Carthage.

“comes back to prince cap” is interesting phrasing, considering the odds are against us ever seeing him in the prince cap office again.

Watching a good episode of “Billions,” which this undoubtedly is,

not in my house it isn’t!

is like watching someone expertly play a puzzle game — solving a Rubik’s cube, say, or beating a level of “Tetris.” You gaze in admiration as skilled hands slide pieces and panels from one place to the next until everything lines up exactly where it should. Chuck’s friends and enemies inadvertently guide him to the correct course of action. Wendy’s petulance puts her on the path toward a major breakthrough. Winston’s defection provides Wags with the fresh kill he requires.

“the people around chuck help him make the right choice. wendy’s character flaws help her make the right choice. winston is thrown to wags for him to tear apart like a side of beef. these are all comparable and equally indicative of good writing.”

Notably absent from this episode, barring a pointed glance or pained look here and there: Taylor, Wendy and Wags’s quest to stop their boss’s rise to power.

you could have ended that sentence at “taylor” and it would still be accurate.

Perhaps, chastened by Axe’s rejection last week, they’ve taken his “if you can’t beat him, join him” advice to heart, at least temporarily.

if you can’t beat him, beat the guy he wants to sue with hammers!

Before Wags takes charge of the operation, there’s some concern in the Prince Cap inner circle about destroying Winston publicly. Mike is running for president, after all, and America is a very pro-labor environment these days.

really makes you wonder why the last commentary anyone offers on winston is “spread this tale [of his humiliation] far and wide to anyone who will listen.” ?????

Vulture: Billions Recap: Hamster Wheel

It’s pretty hard to beat “Winston Dick Energy,”

haha hard to beat dick energy

Case in point, the best storyline of “Winston Dick Energy” is Wags’s orchestrated humiliation of Winston, his highly inappropriate brand name, and his risk-management software.

😒😒😒😒😒

Classic Billions sabotage and I loved every minute of it, but I don’t see how or if this plot device will affect Mike Prince’s presidential campaign.

on the one hand, it could set up a revenge plot for winston that negatively affects prince and his campaign. on the other hand, it could just be the result of the writers wanting to kick winston around for more than thirty seconds before writing him out and/or give wags someone to destroy, with no payoff intended ever.

On that note, the Wendy storyline this week is relatively straightforward: Ben Kim lets it slip that everyone at Prince Capital is cheating on Dr. Wendy Rhoades with Holland Taylor’s Dr. Eleanor Mayer — and that Mayer is the bee’s knees.

everyone except winston, of course!

And I have to suspect that someone is pulling the strings behind Mayer … (Axe? Prince?)

what??? why would you assume either of them is pulling her strings at this point? (especially axe — there’s no way he bothered to plant a therapist for taylor to consult and then recommend to their coworkers more than six months ago. he was busy war profiteering and not giving a fuck about the united states.)

The next morning, Wags hijacks Winston’s big pitch meeting right before the COOs show up. In front of Kate Sacker, Taylor, and Philip, Wags stages a twisted version of This Is Your Life (an old TV show enjoyed by members of the Greatest Generation), though Winston only has himself to blame for his pathetic internet search history — and his hacktivism.

oh my god! literal victim blaming! i should have put *that* on my season 7 bingo card!

And it’s not like MPC’s deal is that shabby: If Winston cooperates, he can come back and run the software himself.

first of all, he’s not going to come back to mpc in any meaningful sense. second of all, winston’s whole goal was to not have to work for mpc (or anyone else) ever again. being dragged back onto the hamster wheel — even if he isn’t physically in the cage — against his will is, in fact, a shabby deal!

What does work is a late-night intervention at Grant’s Tomb with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. (Ah, Billions — they do this because they can.) 

rarely has billions been more aptly and concisely described.

I do like how Billions deliberately avoids any mention of the name “Trump”: Senior’s story only needed the words “Bedminster golf club,” and “his first wife,” to get the point across.

ironically, i didn’t understand that joke at all until first reading this portion of this recap. my bad for not remembering the significance of bedminster golf club, clearly.

Fan Fun with Damian Lewis (Damianista): Billions on Showtime, Season 7 Episode 3: Winston Dick Energy

The first Axe-less episode in the final season has three storylines that are light-hearted compared to those in the first two.

oh, yeah, for sure. so glad we could take our minds off the looming threat of a fascist presidential candidate by watching half a dozen people (some of whom are ostensibly opposed to said presidential candidate) work together to stalk, assault, and blackmail their autistic former coworker because their ringleader desperately wants to RETVRN to the good old days when he could treat anyone he wanted like that. how lighthearted!

Even Rian, who seems to be the only one that will be missing Winston, finds it weird that she will miss her colleague, but then he was the only one that looked at her the same way after they were forced to move to the main floor which Rian calls “Princident.” Haha.

Talking about Rian, I wonder whether Prince put her name on the list he submitted to Bradford in the last episode…  but he is now in his office, I find him not attending Winston’s party a bit rude, talking to Bradford about his SuperPAC FEC disclosure that he will share with Chuck.

that is NOT what “princident” refers to, and you should realize that given that you referred to rian’s tryst with prince — the actual meaning of “princident” — in your very next thought.

It turns out WDE is an AI-based risk management software that can give a considerable bump to returns – exactly what Bradford asked Prince to do in their first meeting.

gee whiz! sounds like winston and his work are pretty valuable and prince et al should have tried harder to keep him around!

Wags follows Taylor and Philip, without asking for permission, to Winston’s apartment and adds  his “scaring him out of hiding” to carrots (“head of risk management”) and sticks (“a potential lawsuit”) Taylor and Philip use to have Winston surrender the code.

sure used the carrots & sticks analogy myself to describe everyone’s approach to winston this episode. pretty shortsighted of taylor to not realize that offering him another job at mpc would be a pathetic carrot. if he wanted to run his software for you, he’d have stayed and showed it to you, not left and sold it on his own.

I said it before and I will say it again. I do not get why Kate is still on Prince’s side. Is it really the future prospects she has when Prince is in the White House?

that, and the money, and the greater freedom she has when not under chuck’s thumb. she always saw her work at the sdny (and later, the nyag) as a launching pad for her future ambitions, not a calling in itself. that work was holding her back instead, so she left.

I do not buy it since Kate has always been very cautious in every step she has taken. So I cannot wrap my head around her staying with him even after she has found out about his untaxed billions in crypto! Could it be that she is a double agent of sorts?!?!

i highly doubt that she is a double agent at this juncture. (and she stayed with chuck for a long time even knowing he’d engaged in illegal conduct.)

Entertainment Weekly: Billions recap: Chuck and Prince's old rivalry re-emerges

[…]

you guessed it: no mention of taylor at all! normally i’d be mad, but in this case it seems quite appropriate.

The whole plot is wonderful, from Winston's epically tedious and uncaring "going away" party, to the scene where Wags lets loose on him at his apartment, planting a bug that eventually allows Wags and the team to track who Winston plans on pitching and ruin his chances.

wonderful! who wouldn’t be having tons of fun watching everyone’s collective boot stamp on one guy’s face forever!

Still, this is the best episode of the season so far because it does have quite a few entertaining scenes, and a lot of focus on character motivations.

sean and kyle have both expressed this opinion. we may as well be living in different worlds.

Fan Fun with Damian Lewis (Gingersnap): The Unbeatable, Unstoppable, Unparalleled MVPs from Billions Season 7 Episode 3 ‘Winston Dick Energy’

Gingersnap

Overall Episode MVP: Dr. Eleanor Mayer. What a rich character. Small but mighty! It’s that very allure why you don’t see her coming.

Wendy accuses her of rustling up her cattle (patients) but Dr. Mayer counters they weren’t noticeably branded until she dug deeper and found their burns. Ouch!

i took note of that line as well! the exact phrasing:

WENDY: You rustle someone’s cattle, they’re gonna come looking. Was it the welcoming literary patter that helped you snare my patients? DR. MAYER: I didn’t see your brand on them. At first. After talking to them, the burns became more visible.

get her ass, eleanor!

The Scandoval Award – And the winner is….Rian…for giving us a new portmanteau by combining Prince + incident into “Princident” to describe their *ahem* tryst.

at least someone at ffwdl realized what that referred to.

Food for Thought:

Hey Ben Kim, you can’t drink alcohol and take Wellbutrin. Next time lay off the Heineken at farewell parties. Tuk’s on Adderall and Ben’s on Wellbutrin. Is Dr. Eleanor Mayer an over-medicater???

i sure looked up whether or not it’s safe to mix wellbutrin and alcohol myself after this episode. (answer: it’s not advisable, since wellbutrin can reduce your alcohol tolerance, and both of them make seizures more likely. but you might be able to have small amounts of alcohol without it being a problem.) but you’re not supposed to mix mdma and alcohol, either, and somehow prince and rian managed just fine doing that in 6x10. (also, ben hadn’t taken his wellbutrin that day, which was why he approached wendy about it.)

without Getting Into the ethics of psychiatry and psychiatric medication, because i’m not qualified to talk about that: i don’t think “this psychiatrist has at least two patients who are each taking at least one medication” is really grounds to go “is this psychiatrist an over-medicator???” (also, we don’t even know if tuk’s adderall was prescribed or not.)

Lady Trader

[…]

The Most Loyal: When every other Prince Capper has cheated on Wendy with Mayer, Wags makes sure Wendy knows she will always be his “Dr. Mojo”. This is why you want Wags in the trenches with you!

well, wags is probably also the only prince capper that wendy would never screw over for her own benefit, so that’s no surprise.

The “Tell Me You Wrote Your Pitch Presentation with AI, Without Telling Me You Wrote Your Pitch Presentation with AI” Award: Winston. As someone who has read and had to write pitches, that description slide was as Auric Goldfinger once said “words you may have overheard which cannot possibly have any significance to you or your organization”. It said nothing at all. You disappoint me Mr. Winston!

here’s the full text of his pitch, for anyone who wants to judge it by this standard. as for my take on it, well…

The Tired Old Trope Award: “hold the rich and powerful criminality accountable”,  trading and earning is an “addiction”, blah, blah, blahdy blah. We get it, the writers hate wealthy people, but I don’t see them doing what they do for free!

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. oh, lady trader. you’re never going to figure out who that sign is for, are you?

The “Do Your Research” Award”: Wendy would not have been able to give Ben Kim his prescription for Wellbutrin with a prescription pad – beginning on March 16, 2017 all prescriptions in NYS must be electronic.  Also, Philip states that Winston’s risk management software is using ASI for risk mitigation. However ASI doesn’t exist yet. If I’m going to give credit when the writers get it right, well I got to call them when they flub too.

fair enough.

TheTailThatWagsTheDog

[…]

Biggest Absence – Dave?  No Dave?  Is she out of the picture now that Chuck has his own authority back? I still don’t buy Chuck getting the SDNY position back so easily. Who was occupying that spot before, and what happened to them? Too convenient for me.

i wondered about that as well. her absence in this episode and sacker’s in 7x02, despite both of them being series regulars, is a little concerning. as for chuck’s sdny spot, his quick return frankly was overly convenient, but billions is like that sometimes. and it’s possible that it was occupied by an acting / interim us attorney who wouldn’t have been around indefinitely anyway.

And now my update on the analogies/cultural references …

Worst Analogy Moment – Kate Sacker bringing up Phil Mickelson to Prince. This is exactly the kind of nonsensical reference that they have introduced ad nauseum over the past couple of seasons. It’s there because they want it there, not because it makes any sense. It feels totally out of character for someone like Sacker to bring up a person like Mickelson, and Prince’s response is so obvious.  Their writing can be so clever – they have proven this time and time again – and yet they too often fall back on these tired clichés. I wish they would stop.

Most Encouraging Analogy Moment – I did not hear one analogy out of Dr. Mayer.  Maybe she’s too old to do them? I don’t know – but it was wonderfully refreshing.  I hope she stays clean.

the references have always been there because the writers want them there. they’re entertaining themselves first and foremost.

the first line out of dr. mayer’s mouth was a quote from a room of one’s own, by virginia woolf, and wendy pointed this out twice within the next thirty seconds. did you not notice, or does this not count because it wasn’t in the form of an analogy?

Ending on a Good Note – I love the “three-dimensional game of chess” Chuck is now playing with Prince. That is the fun stuff. I do not know how this is all going to play out, but I am definitely invested – and that is what I want in my shows – keep me aching for more. So more of this intrigue, just less culture please!

highly entertained by someone asking for a tv show to have “less culture please!”

Fan Fun with Damian Lewis (Lady Trader): “From the Trader’s Desk”: Crisis of Confidence?

I was asked why MPC is claiming ownership of Winston’s software. If he developed it how does MPC have the rights to it? Well, the type of risk management software Winston is trying to sell would most certainly take months (if not years) to develop, code, back test, and debug. Which means there is no way he could have developed it overnight. If what Taylor says is correct, (that Winston used data to test his software using MPC trader transactions) then that also would make it property of MPC. By using data and equipment owned by MPC, legally Winston doesn’t own it. Could a court possibly rule that he co-owns it? Yes. Also, most funds would have a clause written in his contract that he would not be able to market any type of software for a stated period (usually 6-9 months). His best course of action would have been to offer it to MPC first to either buy him out or lease the program. If they passed, he then could have tried to get permission from MPC to market it to other firms. Just another example of unnecessary greed killing a golden goose.

lengthy, yes, but this is a helpful clarification on the (il)legality of winston selling his risk management software on his own. until the last sentence, which i’m guessing is referring to winston’s greed rather than mpc’s greed. can you perhaps think of any other reasons why winston would have wanted to sell his software on his own rather than via mpc? perhaps something he said outright, such as “i’m done working for other people”? take your time! i’m here all week!

It was good to see Wags, Wendy and Chuck get their belief in themselves back, all in different ways.

can’t say i agree!

Winston agrees let MPC license a watered-down version of the software to other firms, and Winston is a Prince Capper again, as Taylor will let him run it.

again, winston is not A Prince Capper Again in any meaningful sense, and it wouldn’t automatically be a good thing if he were!

Out of the three characters who are having confidence issues this week, Wendy would be the last person I would think would have any issues. It was very surprising to me to see her going on this journey, and she has always been the glue that held everything and everyone together.

skill issue.

I could understand why maybe Taylor would see someone else (Wendy did burn her pretty good with Taylor’s Dad back in S4E7) but the rest of the gang is shocking. They all see her as just a performance coach who only cares about results, and not a therapist they can talk to about anything. Wendy is wounded by their words.

have you seen the way wendy’s treated ben and tuk and rian in the past? it’s not at all surprising that they’d go to another therapist. and sacker and philip haven’t known wendy long enough to have any reason to trust her, especially after reading the draft of her book. the only one i’m at all surprised by is dollar bill.

But Mayer doesn’t think they do the same thing. And this is where Mayer loses me. She basically says that Wendy’s just a dealer keeping her addicted patients “on the hamster wheel”. What complete and utter bullshit. It can’t be that these people like what they do? It can’t be that they enjoy the feeling of being alive doing what they are good at?

THAT IS THE POINT. THAT’S THE QUESTION BEING ASKED. wendy and dr. mayer have different opinions about the reasons that the prince cappers do what they do! are you always this affronted when someone suggests that maybe working at a hedge fund isn’t the greatest job in the world? hell, have you registered any of the misery that these characters have experienced as a direct or indirect result of the work they do?

This doctor wants Wendy to free her patients, but I ask from what? You can want to improve yourself (and go see Mayer) but at the same time enjoy what you do and want to be the best at it (and see Wendy). I don’t see it as an either/or situation.

i put years of hard work into getting my capitalism degree at capitalism college & now everyones like “oh capitalisms bad”,“its ineffective” fuck off

I’m just afraid this “doctor” is going to mess with Wendy’s head. And a sharp and focused Wendy is what’s needed for Axe later in the season.

what’s needed *for axe*??? do you think she exists just to serve him??? in this of all seasons???

[youjustfeelthemforever]

New pinned post time!! 🏔️🌄🏔️

This is longer than most intros I've done, so I'll leave it under a readmore for all our sakes

You can call me Ann or Bee (although I'm open to other nicknames as well)! I used to be @/chaotic-bumblebee-agenda, but had to switch it up because of a stalker classmate. Funzies :).

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I'm a Catholic (@little-lost-daughter is my Chrumblr) high school student who loves all things fantastical and yellow 💛. I like Legos, Webtoons, and fictional firefighters, detectives, and FBI agents.

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Alright, I'll add to this later if I think of anything else to include 👍

*Two-fingered salute* Ann out

[castle-dominion]

c4x15 pandora

Liveblog

oh I feel like this is a little bit plot heavy but not really

THIS one is the who killed markiplier episode with a billion causes of death! Ye! tho tbh I remember this one & it is kind of intellectually stimulating & I am not on my meds yet this morning, I just took my meds I forgot last night & I want to give it some time in between to prevent nausea

MR: Oh, you’re making me your fabulous pasta Carbonara. Ohh, you shouldn’t have.

RC: I didn't

Castle is so allowed to be concerned for his baby's internship

(I've seen gifs tho ik what it is)

Your better half lol martha

MR: Ah, ah, ah, ah. My lips are sealed.

RC: Then you won’t be using them to eat my…pasta Carbonara.

MR: (sigh)All right. Well, let me say this. This internship has my personal Seal of Approval.

RC: That doesn’t make me feel any better.

hellacious? that a word? Is it the 80s?

LP: No I.D., but lots of causes of death.

RC: You mean, other than gravity?

LP: Oh, yeah. See that bullet wound?

[Lanie shines a light on the corpse.]

KB: So, he was shot before he fell?

LP: And stabbed.

KB: Shot and stabbed?

LP: And choked, and has a pencil jammed in the side of his neck.

RC: ouwa!? Gives new meaning to the term “overkill.”

JE+AC: *don't make eye contact don't make eye contact don't make eye contact*

RC, leaving, absent-mindedly: Hey alexis

AC, approaching Dr Parish: Hey *don't look suspicious don't look suspicious*

RC:

RC: ALEXIS????

jdshafkjshdfjk great interaction

RC: It’s—I just—I don’t know if you should be exposed to crime scenes and dead bodies.

AC: Oh, I’m already used to it. It’s equal parts gross and cool.

LP: I heard that and I couldn’t agree with you more.

You really don't bleed that fast. & if you're wearing clothes it wouldn't happen like that. I've even done autosurgery & it would be hard to get a trail of blood that bloody.

He did not stand there for "a minute" he stood there for like two seconds while he opened the door, judging by how close the other droplets of blood are

KR: *talking abt the case* *watching the video* ,, Hey. Pretty cool about Alexis’ internship. *looks at castle* Or Not.

tbh I would totally keep the sandwich in my hand when it is in the air & I'd bring it with me

Ooh holy crap ryan's jacket is navy blue with black plaid-type stripes patterning it & it's pretty af, & then he's wearing a nice light blue shirt with no tie. I wish we got to see more of Luke Reichle's pants & shoes. That man is the bomb.

She's so calm talking abt her kidnapping & murder threat

Tina Massey: All he told me was that the man doesn’t exist.

Cut to LP: The man doesn’t exist as far as I can tell.

more broken bones than Evel Knievel. You’re not gonna believe his x-rays. I WANT TO SEE THE X-RAYS LETME SEE

Espt is looking nice today. Deep red maybe burdungy dress shirt & tie, grey jacket.

& Gage is gone!

Look up! Look up! People never look up!

Nice music

RC: Okay, hang on. Listen to me. I’m glad you weren’t there, because the kind of person who took John Doe’s body is the kind of person who wouldn’t think twice about hurting whoever got in the way.

That is the truth

VG: I assume he snuck out of the back exit.

KR:

JE:

KR: Actually, he went out through the front door

They call them blues, huh. Like how us chefs call them our whites.

btw I can't help but think that his name is phineas gage, the guy with the railroad pipe in his head or smth.

Whose desk is that??? Why is espt not doing this on his own computer? Why was he standing hunched over instead of sitting? Esp since he sits down now?

caskett outfits are also pretty btw.

Hold on the bullet is still in her head. She was shot in the back of the head & since there is no huge horrible exit wound or any exit wound at all, the bullet must still be in there. But where did all the blood come from? She is still bleeding out her nose but that would not have been enough blood

What is with ryan's shirt today? It seems pink but the collar (nice wide collar btw) is white.

Stay put to keep an eye on the body lol

Steaming cup of tea, sus.

& she lost her gun many times but always gets it back & it's ryan who is traumatized by 3xk having his gun

LP: Crazy. [...] The fact that Richard Castle, a man unburdened by regret and guilt, has a child that carried the weight of the world.

Well there was the time drug sellers stole their body

LP: Bodies just don't disappear

*enters a house with no body*

omg a NUMBER PAD for floors?? You have THAT MANY?

wait older bro said that the hospital he works at has number pads too nvm it can't be that much

*sexy lady walks up to castle*

Are we going to get to see Agent Gray?

So it's the detective beckett of the cia.

lmao treason is punishable by death? Screw that. U shouldn't be allowed to kill people & treason is a weird concept in the first place.

Thomas gage speaks 11 languages? I want that. He speaks english, german, french, spanish, portugese, greek, russian, arabic, cantonese, mandarin, urdu,

the cia: *does all the crap they did, a lot of which is a matter of public record*

The cia: *surprised pikachu when someone goes rogue*

Y'all sent ONE person to go pick up gage?

Becks has cell service down here?

Beckett you probably SHOULD have asked if u could answer seeing as you're in the cia & all

JE: She has a notation in her day planner, but all it says is....... *finds it & clicks on it even tho it is literally one word & I'm sure he could have remembered* “Pandora.”

Wow spies how sus.

What work have they done? Y'all are insane & stupid & lmao these spy stories are so weird & stupid.

Girl no you are not the cop here

RC: Ooh, wait. I’ve gotta see those direct-dial icons they put on our phones.

*beckett's has a CIA logo; castle's is a panic button*

ngl I feel bad for gates

Walks right thru espt lol

KR: So, seriously, what’s going on?

KB: Guys, I’m sorry. We really can’t talk about it.

JE: Come on. This is us.

*Beckett gives them a look*

*They turn to Castle bc they know they won't get it out of beckett & a musical bass plays*

RC: No. Hey, sorry, boys. Classified. Top secret. Our eyes only. Defcon 1. & if I did tell you, well, *looks them up & down* then I’d have to kill you.

JE, stepping forward a bit: Yeah? Good luck with that.

RC: Yeah, realistically, that’s not—

JE: I’m gonna go on record and say that this sucks.

KR: Sucks.

Mum def noticed the chess clock

castle adhd moments

woah that is pricey af! I'm glad I live in canada where we have space

Ew. It's like that tiktok trend where girls that are "not like other girls" show off by talking cars. Who cares? Cars are boring to me but cool to you good job have fun but I don't care. I like rocks & minerals & rocks are a dirty boy thing but do you care? no!

who laps whoM

Castle's right

Car phone?

Oh lol. *69?

Whoa ok that was fast & seemingly risky. I watched that at 1/16 speed & still idk what's going on it's so fast

Why phones on the ground tho... please don't break them ugh ok fine whatever. That's spy stuff for you

KB: (whisper) Castle. *Beckett turns on her flashlight. She finds Castle cringing.*

KB: Castle, what are you doing?

RC: Bracing myself to shield you from a hail of bullets. *goes back to cringing*

KB: Yeah, well, that’s very gallant of you, but you can stop bracing. I think he left.

RC: Oh. Man, my life was passing before my eyes. I think I lost track of time.

Punch out the tail light?

Aren't you supposed to tell people where you are going now?

KB: ... You pressed the panic button, didn’t you?

RC: Well, if there was ever a time to panic, I think this was it.

KB: Yeah, especially since it was Detective Ryan who found it.

Sophia Turner: By using all the coolest toys.

Just like Jesse or Jacquie or whoever the fbi lady was.

Edit:Jordan shaw

What if it was a call NOT to new jersey or OVER 60 seconds?

Math guy? Tracy was a math fellow too

lmao spy shit & USA shit

As a deaf person: no

Tracy played chess

Sus girly

*says their plan right in front of the cia elevator boy*

that would be a sad job you're a highly trained spy & your job is to stand in the elevator

surprised her hair is that nice

RC: I’m not in a--… How did you find out about that? No, wait. Let me guess. Beckett to Lanie to Alexis to you.

RC: Is nothing sacred?

MR: Not much.

What if it is not a chess play maybe it is people & locations

JE: I found one from ten years ago. Tracy and a bunch of her grad student friends went on a white-water rafting trip with a Dr. Blakely, their professor, although it wasn't a good time for him. He drowned during the trip.

*Esposito hands Beckett the accident report.*

KB: So he faked his death and Tracy was in on it.

JE: WHO faked his death-- BLAKELY??

[ugh the way his voice cracks a bit on "blakely" oof]

*Esposito grabs the report back.*

KB: Uheuah… I'm sorry. I can't tell you.

JE, shaking head: You know, a man can only take so much.

RC: She isn't my partner. You are.

That little smile he loves her

I don't want to ask a question.

*asks question*

sus

Vulnerability assessment...?

Big bro didn't realize this was POST 2008

y u asking abt the linchpin? He wouldn't trust u

dun dun dun & then he dies & then the car goes omg bro open a window before u go under

aaaand they're under. If you are in a car, you must open the window BEFORE you get under the water.

Ok that is the end of the disc. I just watched the blue butterfly & I saw the commentary recently too so I won't be transcribing that today. The deleted scene is good tho. Alexis is talking abt all her internships & says she's going to apply to them all & whichever ones she does NOT get into, well, good. It eliminates them for her. Good idea.

Welp that was fun. I might go back & film some clips to post obsessively now.

[eclecticelectriceccentric]

why is NOBODY capable of being normal about neal caffrey. he's everybody's blorbo

[dangerously-human]

Peter?!?!??!??

So was that why Mozzie had to be kept out of the loop? If Mozzie knew, El would know? And especially with the baby, El would never agree to Peter going undercover with the Pink Panthers. Or is there another whammy coming I haven't foreseen?

Two minutes into this finale and I'm hyperventilating already!

[melandrops]

okay elizabeth jsut referred to peter as her husband i'm obsessed they're really a throuple huh

[breannacasey]

A summary of White Collar:

Neal: "We take our time, we do it right"

Things go to shit and they have to make a plan quickly.

[fluorescentbrains]

why are they bullying tom about his suits this is so uncalled for 😭