Watch-ery: Suits, White Collar, and Birds

[ariadnes_string]

Suits 1x06

I had all these UST plot bunnies for this show, but after this episode I’m forced to admit that the U and the T have gone missing, and what we’re left with is quite a lot of straight-up S. Only not so straight.

Things we have learned this season (that have nothing to do with the plot):

Harvey is just itching to mix things up, isn’t he? He was so ready to get into a fistfight after the car accident last week, and again with the trading floor manager guy. For a guy who makes his living with words, he is surprisingly willing to go mano-a-mano. Just saying.

Mike is equally willing to take one for the team in the form of mind-altering substances. There have only been six episodes so far, and already he’s gotten high at Louis’s request, and drunk at Harvey’s (well, I don’t think Harvey wanted him to actually get drunk, but you know what I mean).

The fic practically writes itself, doesn’t it?

Also, I hate to be the kind of person who brings this up (except that I am exactly the kind of person who brings this up, as you all know), but do we think Harvey is Jewish? I mean, if Arlen Specter is Jewish, wouldn’t Harvey Spector be? Or does the ‘o’ make a difference? I severely doubt that Harvey’s religion or lack thereof will ever be a plot point, but someone made an interesting comment the other day about the way we always assume characters are Christian by default.* An assumption that doesn't really work with New York lawyers. (I also know as many Jewish Rosses as gentile ones, but we’ll leave that for another time).

*but if it were to be a plot point, it would be kind of cool to see a kind of Crimes and Misdemeanors fic, where someone from the side of Harvey’s family that’s less friendly with the law showed up and asked him to do them a little favor :)

Contributing to my ability to see the enormous neon ‘S’ in Suits, linaerys’s deliciously hot fic, Toys: Harvey gives Mike a take-home assignment. (NC-17). She writes the dynamic between them perfectly!

I also like this vid by linnyrivera

White Collar 3xI don’t know anymore


Gosh. You really stop thinking about what a light touch White Collar usually has until it throws out a gut-puncher of a scene like the one at the end of this episode. What a time to unveil a set for the Burkes' bedroom, huh? I was so upset by the idea of Neal breaking into their house. And then Neal sitting on their bed, talking (lying) to Peter on the phone? It was heart-breaking in ways I can’t quite articulate. Peter and Neal are a couple (whether you slash them or not) who love each other so much and yet continually do unforgivable things to each other.

Also, Jones is awesome. That is all.


And the other thing I have been watching is this quirky little camera on a kind of birdfeeder in the Amazon rainforest. Watch it rain! Watch tropical birds eat bananas!

Comments

[yourlibrarian]

I'm several episodes behind on Suits but it hasn't grabbed me much yet, I'm not sure why. It's definitely a show focused on professional drama but I guess I just don't find the leads that compelling. I suppose the difference between Suits and WC is that Peter and Neal have much more of a mutual admiration society relationship. And despite Peter's official hold over Neal they're really on pretty equal footing. Ultimately, I think Peter knows he can't make Neal stay and Neal also knows it will be very difficult to hide from Peter forever.

[ariadnes_string]

Yeah, I think Suits is like White Collar redux or mini-White Collar. I like it a lot more than I ever expected to (and it doesn't hurt that the women in the show are great), but the difference for me is that Neal and Peter, each in their own way, are instantly appealing--and also people you can root for, kind of, even when they are at cross purposes--you just want some happiness for them, as Peter says in the last episode. It has taken Suits a while to make the Gabriel Macht character anything more than a witty douchebag--that part is getting better, though.

But yes, I agree--the awesome, and unique, thing about WC is how much all the characters not only admire, but unabashedly love each other--the emotional openness is so great after the endless repressed emotion you get in other shows.

[yourlibrarian]

That's true. Most shows thrive when they have a cast full of characters with conflicted loyalties but those often have more tension in them than WC. The show does a curious balancing act of people on opposite sides who still like one another, or are at least willing to work together.