White Collar – Neal’s coolest escape yet

White Collar knows how to slap together a fine scene, and Neal breaking into the arms dealer’s apartment was some of the best work the show’s ever done.

First of all, I loved Mozzie’s disguise … because Jamie Harris’ arms dealer would have known Mozzie otherwise and needed to be fooled. And fooled by a fake mustache at that! That was great, and there was something about Mozzie selling a bazooka that got to me.

Then Neal’s part, from breaking out of the closet in the lobby, to the near loss of his hat — if it wouldn’t have given him away I’d have said it would have been better off lost — to swapping the Degas with the forgery, to the escape. I couldn’t tell the exact angle of the porch, and I was wondering how Peter didn’t catch a glimpse of Neal during all the time he was stalling out there, but how about Neal taking a dive and riding a parachute to the ground? Just awesome! I hope no one caught Neal’s ride on tape, because knowing Peter he could probably put two and two together pretty easily.

Going back to the beginning for a moment, I loved the reappearance of Mozzie’s crazy secret meetings with the weird passwords. I was sufficiently stunned when Neal said he wasn’t sure he wanted to leave. I know, I know, he’s built a life for himself, but think about it: he’s on release from prison, serving out his sentence — with an ankle monitor — by consulting for the FBI division that caught him in the first place. He has no family, the love of his life is gone, and he lives on the fourth floor of someone else’s house. Does he even get paid? I’m not saying he’s not living a charmed life, but what’s next?

Let’s say Neal completes his sentence and decides to stay on at the FBI (as a consultant, since they’d probably never let him be an agent). Let’s also say that June decides to sell her house and retire to an island. Where does that leave Neal? In a ground floor apartment like Jonesy’s? I just can’t imagine that his friendship with Peter would outweigh what he wants for himself in life. Is Neal prepared to be normal?

I’m not really sure what Peter’s mentor, Agent Kramer (Beau Bridges), added to the story beyond leaving Peter exactly where he was before, suspecting Neal but not being able to prove anything. Kramer paid Neal a nice compliment when, in reference to the counterfeit Degas, he said that “It’s the best I’ve ever seen,” but that of course got Peter to look at Neal again. I’m a huge proponent of Neal’s many talents, but let’s be honest here: no one else in the underworld can do the job he can on a painting? That’s good news for Peter, then, because it must mean that his job’s suddenly a cinch … but it hasn’t been, has it?

Anyway, I did love when Melissa Matthews (Anna Chlumsky) popped back up, and Neal sold her that ridiculous story in the time it took the elevator to travel from the lobby to the FBI’s floor. The cover definitely had a short lifespan, but it bought Neal the time he needed. Nice move.

Did Peter make a good undercover arms dealer? Not particularly, but the MP5 in a briefcase looks awesome. And “The lady is also his muscle” line from Diana? Nice!

I audibly groaned when Keller (Ross McCall) interrupted him, but I loved watching Mozzie rehearse some lines as he shopped for clothing … off of a rack on the sidewalk. Obviously he’s not leaving for good, the same way he wasn’t killed when he got shot the other time, but it was still sad to see Mozzie feel betrayed by Neal. I think he’s right that Neal’s pretending to be someone he’s not … obviously Neal would never leave, since that would be the end of the show, but I feel bad that Mozzie seems to be playing second fiddle to Peter.

Another audible groan from me when Peter discovered that Elizabeth had been taken. Really? So is he going to get mad at Neal because “none of this would have happened if you hadn’t stolen that treasure?” Let me know when that story ends … definitely the wrong note to keep me hanging on from now until the second half premiere. Is it even possible that something would happen to Elizabeth?

What did you think of the mid-season finale?

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Aug 10, 2011 @ 15:28 EST5EDT