White Collar - Season 4 Episode 2 - Recap - Most Wanted

When White Collar was set to premiere last week, it had two important questions it needed to answer in my mind. First, what was to become of Neal and Peter’s bond after Neal ran? At its core, White Collar has always been about the relationship between those two men, and the show’s success will forever be tied to how well it handles that theme. For three seasons, that relationship was defined as a friendship, but one in which Peter held the ultimate power. Even though Neal enjoyed his partnership with Peter, it was never a choice for him. In other words, asking Neal to commit fully to something compulsory ultimately meant he never could. By proxy, it is for that same reason that staying New York could not work for Neal, because it was something forced upon him. After running, however, Neal finally had the option to freely choose Peter, which he did. Now their relationship is truly a partnership, one in which both men have agreed to be in through their actions. That is a fundamental shift in the show’s narrative, and one that was truly needed for the success of the show growing forward.

That naturally leads into the next question, namely, where do we go from here? I think that it is quite clear that the show cannot go back to Neal trying to run while Peter makes him stay, because that plot has ran its course. That is why we saw the introduction of a couple new plot points tonight. How does the gang get Peter back to the white-collar division? Who is Neal’s father and what is his story? What will happen with Mozzie and Neal? I suspect the show will struggle a touch to find its footing for the next few episodes, because it has essentially rebooted the entire series.

Of course I hope everything works out in the end, but even if it does not, I will still admire the bravery of White Collar for doing what it is doing here. Many television programs start out with a good premise, and proceed to beat it into the ground by giving watered down versions of the same idea every season. Honestly, I feared that this show would go that route, and eventually become a shell of its former self. White Collar is changing things up here in a significant way, however, and that takes a lot of guts.

Who knows where this season will go, because the board has really been wiped clean. If I were to make any guesses, it would be that we will see a lot of character-based subplots coming up. When you are forced to look for a new over-arching theme to your series, you tend to fall back on examining your characters in more detail to buy time and figure out what works. Luckily, White Collar has done a good job of fleshing out its characters of the past few seasons, so we should be in for some good episodes. Either way, I am most certainly down for the ride.

Quick Hits:

It is good to see Peter will face some type of punishment for his actions in regards to Neal. If they had let him get off totally free, it would have been a little hard not to call shenanigans. Especially because the way Neal got back into the FBI is still a little shaky. I expected however the show pulled that off was going to be tad eye-roll inducing, but I was pleasantly surprised to feel like it worked for the most part. Whatever, I would have really taken anything to have the boys back together on a permanent basis.

Do we think we will Sarah again this season? I always loved her with Neal, but I would not be surprised if she has been burned enough to stay away. Hopefully she will be back, or I will be a little sad. As a side note, Maya was fine, but she pretty much got a big “meh” from me.

How great does Matthew Bomer look? It really just needs to be said.

Whenever Peter gets to act cool, like tonight’s bar scenes where he was pouring the drinks, I cannot help but laugh. He is just so that guy, and it is hilarious.

Looks like Diana and Jones get back into the story in a real way next week, which I am excited for. I like both of them, and they always add a nice dynamic. Now if we could only get June back into the mix as well.

So is the Kramer plot pretty much done? That seems a little open-ended really. I mean, would a man so obsessed with catching Neal last season, which was only about two months ago in that timeline, just give up now that Neal is back within his grasp?

I liked the heist-plan-of-the-week, and thought the boys did well to change it up on the fly. Sometimes it gets a little too convoluted, but I felt like everything worked out well here.

Next week should be a blast, so see everyone then!