White Collar enters the Bizarro world

A few months ago I read a book by Ridley Pearson called Killer Summer. The plot centered around an attempt to sell counterfeit wine — namely, three bottles rumored to have been a gift given by Thomas Jefferson to John Adams. I’m no wine person, so as long as the bottle looks right on the outside you could probably give me anything to drink and I’d believe you about the wine’s origins. But that’s me.

In the book, the big reveal that I remember had to do with the bottle. Something about the way glass is blown today versus two hundred years ago, with the swirls going out instead of in, or something along those lines. Cesium may have been mentioned, but I remember the glass the most. But who’d have imagined that dropping an atomic bomb would wreak havoc on wine counterfeiters? White Collar’s “How to” lessons rival Burn Notice’s!

I’m not sure how I felt about meeting Neal’s “rival,” or as Peter put it “Bizarro Neal.” Matthew Keller (Ross McCall) definitely is the blue collar (get it?) version of Neal, but do we want to think of Neal like that? Did we need to imagine that someone as uncouth as Keller could do what Neal does so well? I mean, he could be awesome, but I kind of felt let down that Neal would imagine himself in direct competition with that guy. In my mind, Neal’s much more the speed of that art thief he salivated over meeting way back in the beginning of season one. Nitpicky, but I guess I just have such high hopes for Neal.

Seriously though, it was interesting to see Neal feel the pressure of another con, someone whose artistry he clearly respected. And the highbrow-ness of counterfeiting a bottle of wine that Marie Antoinette gave to Benjamin Franklin was very much in keeping with who Neal is. It’s at the complete opposite end of the spectrum from the challenge Danny and the Ocean’s Twelve gang accepted from “Night Fox” (not that that wasn’t in keeping with who they were). I enjoyed it, especially because we got to see how Neal’s mind works (and we got lots of Mozzie).

It was fun to see Kate Levering as Keller’s broker Grace Quinn … Kevin Hill was an awesome show (I know she’s done other things since, but that’s what I know her from), and the very least that entire cast deserves is acting jobs.

I’m glad that Alex (Gloria Votsis) looks set to return. As I said before, I think she could be great for Neal, and really do wonders for his character as far as his love life is concerned. I realize that she would be returning in order to help Neal find the music box, which he hopes will bring him one step closer to Kate, but I hope that, whether or not Kate was just using Neal all along, Alex is here to stay. Certainly her spending time with Neal searching for the music box will help that cause. And maybe a romance with Neal is what Mozzie meant by sweetening the deal.

Some notes and thoughts:

• I know it’s not unheard of, but Peter’s wealthy, wine collecting ensemble was destroyed by his button-down collar. I know rich people do it (see Bill Gates), but with Neal and Peter standing next to one another at the gallery, which one of them looked like they could afford to buy wine for the sake of collecting?
• White Collar isn’t the first show to make this mistake, but people can hear … maybe notice that there’s a security guard at the bottom of the staircase you’re climbing and don’t have a discussion that would raise suspicion. It’s like on countless shows when someone thinks, “Oh, I closed the door, so even if I yell no one on the other side will hear me.” Really?
• Mozzie and Neal made an 18th Century bottle of wine in Neal’s apartment. Seriously?
• The name of the auction house, Weatherbys, did not seem to be White Collar’s speed. The show doesn’t seem like the type to go for cutesy, sound-alike names. Just a thought.

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Feb 24, 2010 @ 11:39 EST5EDT