Who exactly is holding White Collar’s Kate?

Is anyone else starting to wonder whether Kate, the love of Neal Caffrey’s life, might be trying to pull the proverbial wool over Neal’s eyes all by herself? I mean, let’s be realistic here: the guy’s put her through hell, he got sentenced to four years in prison at a time when most couples would be thinking of marriage, and he lied to her about where he hid his stash. Doesn’t that scream scorned lover?

It seems like just a bit too elaborate of a plot for her simply to be trying to send messages to him on behalf of the guy with the ring who appears to be holding her captive. And she needs the location of all of the loot so he can get one item that Neal held onto? Wake up, Caffrey! Methinks you might be getting played.

I was a bit disappointed with this week’s episode of White Collar. Not that it was bad, or anything like that, but I definitely felt unsatisfied by the end. Sure, Neal’s altruistic, and a great person … why not? But the case-of-the-week wasn’t so intriguing, nor was it complicated. Although I did like how Caffrey went about screwing the museum curator who’d screwed that lady out of her inheritance. But one sweet move does not a good episode make.

I think it was also the aesthetics of the episode itself. Most of the entire first few minutes — from Caffrey and Burke on the roof to the scene of the robbery — looked like they were shot horribly. And every subsequent scene in the car with Neal and Peter, at least while it was moving, had the same subpar feel to it. You’d think a successful show wouldn’t move backwards budget-wise. Even if these first five episodes were all shot in one batch, they should at least be the same as one another, unless of course the producers ran out of money by episode five. In any event, something was majorly off.

I also don’t expect Burke to be 100% onboard with Neal, considering their history together, but taking into account the recent capers they’ve teamed up on, I do expect Burke to have a bit more confidence in Caffrey even if he is a confidence man. It’s a theme that is clearly going to wind its way through the entire series, but one that I can definitely do without.

Nevertheless, I did find myself, as usual, enjoying the chemistry that the two leads have together. The interplay, the easy bantering, and the shared thought-processes all work together to make this a very enjoyable team to watch in action. And nothing is perfect every time out of the gate; that I accept. But I’ve come to expect more from USA Network shows, the possible source for a lot of my frustration throughout season two of In Plain Sight. I guess I’d never felt that Burn Notice or Psych struggled to find their respective voices after establishing them in their inaugural seasons, so I therefore expect excellence from their siblings in every episode.

Which isn’t a bad thing either, nor do I believe it’s holding a show up to unreasonable expectations. It’s just calling a spade a spade: great show, great network, great characters … that should produce never-ending great episodes. All I’m interested in is enjoying these series.

So, no pressure White Collar. Just keep that in mind for next week.

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Nov 22, 2009 @ 11:00 EST5EDT