White Collar – The final minute blew me away

To be honest, I wasn’t so plugged into last night’s episode of White Collar. Peter and Diana chasing Fowler, and Neal and Mozzie chasing down the additional mystery newly unlocked in the music box, were not my cup of tea.

Didn’t Peter say something about getting back to work in that opening scene with him, Neal, and Mozzie? As in regular white collar cases not directly associated with Neal’s criminal past? I could have sworn he did, and I was expecting the episode to be split between the box and a case-of-the-week. But no such luck.

Don’t get me wrong, no matter what everyone’s doing I enjoy watching them all. Mozzie got good screen time — how about seeing him in his baseball cap standing next to Neal in one of his mini hat things? Talk about compare and contrast — as did Neal and Peter, but what brought everyone out scene after scene just wasn’t doing it for me. And where was Jonesy?

I think Alex has been utilized completely wrong by the writers. She could have been a sometimes third to Neal and Mozzie; she could have been Neal’s significant other, replacing this entire Kate story line (talk about  surprising — what if mid-last season Neal had dropped his pursuit of Kate for love of another?); she could have become a nemesis that tried to enhance her criminal career by trading on the legend of Neal Caffrey … she could have been a lot of things. Instead, she’s the music box lady. Awesome.

I’ve never liked the tug-of-war between Peter and Neal that pops up whenever Neal wants to take matters into his own hands and Peter wants him to back off. The image it fashions is that of an owner pulling back on a dog’s leash. Not that I put all of the blame on the owner; the dog is the one mindlessly sticking its head where it doesn’t belong. Neal’s great at many things, but pragmatism isn’t one of them.

Neal swinging from the banister into the window using the big red banner was very cool. I was disappointed in him, however, for choosing to bring a gun to the party. It’s very unlike him, and while it was meant to express to us just how passionate he is about bringing down the people behind Kate’s “death,” it rang phony to me. And the action in the room once he crashed through the window? Totally anticlimactic.

As was the follow-up questioning of Fowler. Okay, so he was blackmailed after taking revenge (as Peter sees it, it’s not justice) on the person who murdered his wife … all so he could get his hands on the famed music box. The entire elaborate plan was about the music box. Sure. But the kicker was when he was questioned about the call that Alex made to him from the plane. “Oh, that wasn’t my phone.” Case closed? Apparently. That seems to have been enough to stop the investigation of Fowler cold. He said it wasn’t his phone. Whoops.

Are you serious? That’s it? All roads lead to Fowler (of course that could be a setup, but still), and the most creative thing the writers could come up with after bringing us to this point for roughly 15 episodes is, “Do you think I’d be that stupid?” That sucked.

I really wasn’t feeling that. I think the whole idea of a mid-season finale has somewhat damaged these shows, because the first half of the season now has to lead up to a kick-off for the second half’s arc. Instead of mid- to late-season being the pinnacle of the curve, mid-season is a plateau from which the second half catapults. The results can be great … but they can also be rather questionable.

Then Mozzie got shot and all bets were off.

I tell myself that Mozzie has got to be okay because he’s a major player on the show, his part has been dramatically expanded for good reason, I haven’t heard about Willie Garson leaving, and Mozzie’s awesome so he can’t die. But Mozzie got shot and his life hangs in the balance for the next four months.

Up to that moment the only thing I’d enjoyed was Neal’s tracker around Benjamin Seigelbaum’s neck … how awesome a name is that?

Now? If Mozzie’s not okay … so help them all.

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Sep 08, 2010 @ 09:00 EST5EDT