Not a bad way to spend an hour, am I right? The season two premiere of White Collar was where it was at tonight, and I’m feeling real good about the season as a whole.
The one thing that this show has struggled to do, at least in my opinion, is maintain the story that brought Peter and Neal together. I argued last year (and reiterated in my preview) that if Peter didn’t trust Neal completely — and season one would have us believe that that trust was less dependable than LeBron James — he would have never risked putting a criminal like Caffrey back on the street.
Now we’re to believe that somehow, after just getting his gun and badge back from the FBI brass, Peter had the authority to get Neal out of prison again for yet another deal. Obviously that’s what the entire premise of the show depends on — Neal’s freedom — but calling that a stretch is an understatement.
And I do have another itch to scratch, which goes to the issue of trust as well. But this time it has to do with the FBI brass. We saw last season how short of a leash they were willing to extend Peter on his Neal experiment. Now, it’s all well and good to be wary in this situation, but I don’t understand why the brasses trust for Peter wouldn’t extend to trusting his trust of Neal. You see what I’m saying? That’s why I think it was ridiculous that Peter and Neal weren’t allowed to be wrong while hunting down the bank robber. Sure, now Peter’s on thin ice, but even last season Peter’s status at the FBI wasn’t considered when evaluating the Neal Caffrey project.
However, assuming that we can reconcile ourselves with whatever machinations have brought Peter and Neal together and are keeping them together (which I can!), this show is amazingly enjoyable.
I love that Diana (Marsha Thomason) is back. I’m a bit curious about how an FBI agent gets away with an upper-arm tattoo that’s visible when she takes her jacket off, but if someone feels as if we need visual cues to tell us that Diana has a rebellious streak, then so be it.
How awesome did Mozzie look in a bowtie when he was pretending to be Neal’s lawyer? Or how awesome was he in general when using the voice-changer on the phone with Peter before their clandestine meeting? We are seeing the evolution of a character never meant to be more than Neal’s underworld source, folks, and it is great.
I was a bit surprised, at first, that Peter’s team was working on beefing up bank security, but I suppose that bank heists are federal territory, and who better to work them than the FBI’s white collar division. The Ocean’s Eleven music when Neal entered the vault was cheesy, but it was awesome to see him back at work so quickly. Caffrey is inspired, even if I would have liked to see him work his way in without the new employee paperwork.
I wasn’t convinced that “The Architect,” played by Tim Matheson, would have sought out banks to rob in order to give himself a thrill. Think about it … as much as it sounds like The Thomas Crown Affair, it’s totally not the same. But John Hoynes should never be unemployed. Here he played the antagonist brilliantly, and I only wish that there was some way for him to haunt Neal again in the future.
And can Diana really be the one behind the disappearance of the music box? Or is that just another twist in the story? We shall see, but I sincerely hope she’s not dirty.
Some other thoughts:
“Admit it Peter. We’d make a pretty decent team.” – Neal
“Bank robbers.” – Peter, laughing
“I see you smiling. Come on, the infamous Caffrey and Burke? We’d be legends.” – Neal
“Yeah, I could see the wanted posters now … but it’d be Burke and Caffrey.” – Peter
“I saw a mockingbird in the park…. Then you say what color’s the mockingbird!” – Mozzie
“I’m doing the newspaper thing; I’m not doing the stupid bird thing.” – Peter
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Jul 13, 2010 @ 22:30 EST5EDT
did you notice que weir looking scene with Thiessen??? that looked like they werent in the same shoot together…
Loved the episode, and i’m glad that these series is back!
*POST AUTHOR*
I previewed the episode and wrote my review based on that viewing. I noticed the background, but assumed it was a placeholder, as the cuts are oftentimes not 100% finished when they’re sent out for review. Turns out that was the finished product … I think it was just a bad CGI (or other fake) backdrop.
In the scene where Neal breaks into the vault, the version I saw had the real Ocean’s Eleven music. I was so disappointed that they changed it for the premiere!
I agree on the tattoo. I think they are trying to remind us that she is gay.
Loved this episode.
It’s 5am and I’m cranky from insomnia, so I’ll just put quibbles for now. The lunch scene did look very badly green screened–why not put them in a restaurant? Doesn’t look like the production team has a tough time finding locations. And the actress playing Whitney creeped me the heck out. Not her character–the actress herself.