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It almost feels like they're trying to do a reset or something. Send Peter off to D.C., and either come up with some justification for him to bring Neal along to keep an eye on him because he doesn't trust him with anybody else, or leave him with Jones, with an essentially reset dynamic.
Neither quite feels right, though, so I don't know where they're going.
On the other hand, I don't think they're necessarily backing up the character development. In the past, Peter's put up with Neal's **** because, where actual case-work was involved, it was exclusively a matter of using unauthorized and/or illegal procedures to procure valid evidence (that they always kind of hand-wave away matters like admissability on, but that's a suspension of disbelief element of the show). This time around, Neal's destroying evidence they already have and fabricating evidence, which is mostly a new play in the Neal Caffery helps Justice ball game.
And it's clearly one that Peter is less than comfortable with, especially with the added wrinkle that it's himself under the microscope, which creates a clear conflict of interest and conspiracy case if Caffery gets caught, making him look MORE guilty. Sure, Burke knows he's innocent, but he'd rather trust the system than violate it -- and make no mistake, in the past he's been justifying Neal's shenanigans as taking shortcuts to obtaining real evidence that can be presented (again, admissability notwithstanding because it torpedoes the premise of the show) in court for a fair trial with legit evidence. That's not the same as framing a guilty man, especially when you're not doing so as a dispassionate third party -- you're framing a guilty man to get your friend off. I'm sure you don't have to think hard to realize why this is the sort of precedent Peter is really hesitant to set for Neal.
Now, as for Neal, it's a bit of a reset, but they handle it with the psychologist episode so it's forgivable and not arbitrarily conjured out of thin air. Am I happy they did it? No, not really. I liked where Neal was. But where Neal was wasn't a workable long-term position unless you try to set up a rather implausible scenario where he ends up as an actual FBI agent or something. Taking that step backwards gives enough room between Peter and Neal to dance again.
But that's all secondary to the entire point of this season. Neal got blindsided and out-played by a con he never saw coming in a season-long long game. And it was written believably and naturally, with no telegraphing, and this episode, things just click into place and all make sense in that new light. I spent at least ten minutes thinking back over the season and coming up with things that the villain did to perfectly play to Neal's weaknesses and blind spots. That's a great accomplishment, and has made this my favorite season so far.
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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades
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