I am 100% with you in a) doing my best to ignore Eastin (he did another interview which was actually even worse, as it made out like the faked death was all about Neal getting away and ignored the whole aspect of protecting his loved ones), and b) being allergic to the whole "born bad" thing.
I am also right with you in thinking of (and wanting) the interpretation where Neal didn't go back to being a thief. But you make a really interesting - and valid - point about the potential "why" of Neal choosing to go back to a life of crime. And I could also see, as you allude to, Neal going back to being a thief and at some point coming to the conclusion that that isn't what he wanted after all. That was one of the possible futures I thought of as I was pondering the episode. Neal fakes his death to protect his "family," but also to get his freedom in a way that it can't be snatched back from him. And maybe he believes that the "right" or best choice is to do what he knows, what he has known for most of his life. But he might find that the lure of that life *isn't*, in the end, stronger than the lure of family. Or he meets another Amy and is reminded of what he *doesn't* want to be. Or...well, who knows?
Because, as much as Eastin seems to think otherwise, the ending was open to interpretation and to multiple different futures.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts - I think we had similar feelings about a lot of this, and you gave me some additional food for thought. :)
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I am also right with you in thinking of (and wanting) the interpretation where Neal didn't go back to being a thief. But you make a really interesting - and valid - point about the potential "why" of Neal choosing to go back to a life of crime. And I could also see, as you allude to, Neal going back to being a thief and at some point coming to the conclusion that that isn't what he wanted after all. That was one of the possible futures I thought of as I was pondering the episode. Neal fakes his death to protect his "family," but also to get his freedom in a way that it can't be snatched back from him. And maybe he believes that the "right" or best choice is to do what he knows, what he has known for most of his life. But he might find that the lure of that life *isn't*, in the end, stronger than the lure of family. Or he meets another Amy and is reminded of what he *doesn't* want to be. Or...well, who knows?
Because, as much as Eastin seems to think otherwise, the ending was open to interpretation and to multiple different futures.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts - I think we had similar feelings about a lot of this, and you gave me some additional food for thought. :)