Warning: spoilers for Caffrey Conversation stories.
If you were aware that the show’s writers had a road trip in mind, did you imagine how it might go? I envisioned:
· Neal complaining about Peter’s driving.
· Neal playing with the radio and any other controls he could reach.
· Arguments about what to listen to on the radio: sports or music.
· Debates about when and where to stop for meals.
· Neal convincing Peter to let him drive.
· Time for long conversations where they might resolve some lingering issues.
· Stories about prior road trips each had taken, giving us more insight into their pasts.
Of course I set much of the first story in St. Louis, moving both characters into a scenario where they were without their usual resources and had to depend on each other, but they had arrived on separate flights. However, we did hit the first item from my list above in Choirboy Caffrey, with Neal complaining about Peter's driving.
The first real road trip of my series takes place in By the Book. In fact, Peter and Neal made the trek up to Connecticut twice in that story. Instead of being 6 or 7 seasons into a TV show with characters who know each other well, these road trips took place only a few weeks after Peter hired Neal. There are some fun moments, such as Neal and Henry singing, or the men’s collective fear about explaining themselves to Neal’s aunt Noelle. There are also tense moments, particularly when Neal has a flashback to his childhood. In both cases, the return trip to NYC starts from a hospital. Perhaps a reflection of the fact that my own road trip memories were a mixed bag of fun and misery?
The next time I sent them on a road trip, it was in Caffrey Flashback. There’s a car full of people worried about Neal and taking him to the Burke family cabin to deal with his flashbacks. It’s a chance for Peter and El to show their partnership as they work together to manage everyone. I particularly enjoyed El ordering everyone to keep their cell phones off until after lunch on the way home. On the trip up to the cabin I managed to cover another item from my list, as Neal recalls a childhood road trip from Washington, D.C. to St. Louis.
Recently I sent them on a road trip again, this time in the Spring Break vignette with a return to the cabin. Silbrith has also sent our characters on road trips, first to the cabin for Halloween in The Woman in Blue, and then to visit Peter’s parents for Thanksgiving in The Queen’s Jewels. I love the way Silbrith tied our stories together. As I have the characters returning home at the end of By the Book, Peter promises to teach Neal how to drive in winter weather; on the trip to Albany in The Queen’s Jewels, Peter keeps that promise. So that covered another of my imaginings of what we might have seen in a White Collar road trip: Neal gets to drive.
While I have tended to fill the car with characters, more recently Silbrith has sent Peter and Neal on road trips alone, coming closer than I ever did to the idea the show’s writers had floated. She sends them to New Jersey in Whispers in the Night (hitting on another item from my list: arguments about what to listen to), and in her latest story (Witches’ Sabbath) they’re on the road again to Connecticut.
I’d planned to write my next vignette a few weeks from now to post over the Christmas holidays, but recently an insistent plot bunny hopped up to me. Next thing I knew, I had a rough draft of a vignette set immediately after Silbrith’s latest story. And guess what? It starts with the road trip back from Connecticut. One more chance for our lead characters to have a conversation and to reveal interesting things… It will be posted in late November. I hope you enjoy it!
Neal complains about Peter's driving in Choirboy Caffrey
Road trip back from Connecticut: Peter, Neal and Jones
The next time I sent them on a road trip, it was in Caffrey Flashback. There’s a car full of people worried about Neal and taking him to the Burke family cabin to deal with his flashbacks. It’s a chance for Peter and El to show their partnership as they work together to manage everyone. I particularly enjoyed El ordering everyone to keep their cell phones off until after lunch on the way home. On the trip up to the cabin I managed to cover another item from my list, as Neal recalls a childhood road trip from Washington, D.C. to St. Louis.
Recently I sent them on a road trip again, this time in the Spring Break vignette with a return to the cabin. Silbrith has also sent our characters on road trips, first to the cabin for Halloween in The Woman in Blue, and then to visit Peter’s parents for Thanksgiving in The Queen’s Jewels. I love the way Silbrith tied our stories together. As I have the characters returning home at the end of By the Book, Peter promises to teach Neal how to drive in winter weather; on the trip to Albany in The Queen’s Jewels, Peter keeps that promise. So that covered another of my imaginings of what we might have seen in a White Collar road trip: Neal gets to drive.
While I have tended to fill the car with characters, more recently Silbrith has sent Peter and Neal on road trips alone, coming closer than I ever did to the idea the show’s writers had floated. She sends them to New Jersey in Whispers in the Night (hitting on another item from my list: arguments about what to listen to), and in her latest story (Witches’ Sabbath) they’re on the road again to Connecticut.
I’d planned to write my next vignette a few weeks from now to post over the Christmas holidays, but recently an insistent plot bunny hopped up to me. Next thing I knew, I had a rough draft of a vignette set immediately after Silbrith’s latest story. And guess what? It starts with the road trip back from Connecticut. One more chance for our lead characters to have a conversation and to reveal interesting things… It will be posted in late November. I hope you enjoy it!
Neal complains about Peter's driving in Choirboy Caffrey
Road trip back from Connecticut: Peter, Neal and Jones
Peter and Neal bickering in the car. Always a classic:
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