and I think she may go back and have a better look.
This is definitely a show that has multiple layers of viewing enjoyment.
At first I was just enjoying it superficially, fluffy fun, a bit refreshing with the smart straight-man and the smart cool wife. When the mid-season finale hit, I realized that this show needed to be paid attention to, and then the rewatches brought me to the love story of Neal and Peter.
I still can't understand how they failed so hard with Cruz, to the point where they were actually excluding her from eps. Someone said at TWoP that it's odd since she was awesome on a show chock-full of awesome, and another pointed out that she was the only one written to be antagonistic on the team dealing directly with Neal, and that the hostility was a glaring sore thumb. But that still could have been worked around, with her warming up to Neal incrementaly while still remaining immune.
I'm not sure if I want her to fade away permanently, with or without a mention of her departure off-screen, or if I want her to become relevant and exposed as a mole, because then I'm afraid I'd be mad that she'd left just when she got interesting. Not that I can remember if she is officially off the show or if this is an assumption based on her absenteeism and Diane's wonderful reappearance for the finale. Seriously, within a minute of her being back onscreen on the park bench, there was warmth, personality, a sense of intelligence and competence and an enjoyment of watching her. With Cruz, if she wasn't fading into the background, it was hostile and smug and full of friction, and not even relevant friction.
Jeff Eastin, in his tweets, had asked people to come up with a WC drinking game, in an underhanded way to see what was repetitive and predictable. Which makes me hopeful that he's smart enough to recognize what doesn't work and disband with it. BTW, "KATE!" was the one of the top three "Drink!" prompts.