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White Collar – No offense, but I never would have bought Neal as a father

An old enemy of Neal's kidnaps the daughter of the CEO of the company whose bond Neal was convicted of trying to forge. But when the kidnapper's real intentions become clear, can Peter save the girl and Neal?

- Season 1, Episode 13 - "Front Man"

I’ve never been much of a fan of Diane Neal, best known by me as ADA Casey Novak on Law & Order: SVU. But as Agent Rice — or as Mozzie called her, “The Pant Suit” — on last night’s episode of White Collar? Let’s just say I wish Neal was a violent, vindictive person.

What possible leg did Rice have to stand on when she traded Caffrey for the kidnapped girl? There isn’t a single plausible reason I can come up with that would explain why she wasn’t immediately punished for trading the life of a civilian — an FBI asset! — for anything, even the life of another civilian. And who was she to agree to that in the first place? And how did the NY office not get wind of that? She must have superiors, no?

That was almost as confusing as why Wilkes (Charles Malik Whitfield) needed Neal for his caper in the first place. Unless he decided that Caffrey was as good as dead if he got to the end of the game, and thought that was a tasty form of revenge … even then I don’t get it. Does that mean Neal’s better than he is, and so Wilkes needed Neal’s expertise? The whole thing just didn’t make any sense.

Neither does this music box thing (you can see I scratched my head a lot this week). Not Neal’s going after it, although I do question his persistent hunt for Kate. And it’s fine by me if it means that we get more Alex (Gloria Votsis). No, my issue is one that I’ve mentioned before. Namely, I thought that Peter was onboard with Neal chasing it down. When they were sitting outside the boiler room scammer’s house, didn’t he agree to help Neal with finding the music box and locating Kate? I could be crazy, but I’m pretty sure he at least implicitly agreed to that game plan. So what gives now?

And what’s with all of these enemies of Neal suddenly making appearances? I think the FBI’s doing a poor job of securing their asset if they let word get around that Caffrey’s out and working with the Feds. In fact, that fact probably paints an even larger target on his back. It seems like something that might at least have been considered before sending out the fliers, because Caffrey having a bounty on his head might possibly get in the way of his doing a good job for the FBI. Just maybe.

Anyway, all that aside, I actually did enjoy last night’s episode, although I prefer the more organic white collar crimes to the ones perpetrated in an effort to get to Neal (last week’s wine forgery aside). And I’m sad to even be typing that next week White Collar is airing its season one finale. I don’t know what exactly to expect, but I am expecting good things. Next season too. Mozzie has been terrific since getting his screen time increased, and far from seeming implausible, Elizabeth’s budding relationships with Neal and Mozzie have made me enjoy her character so much more. And then, of course, there’s Neal and Peter….

It’ll be a bittersweet end to the first season. It sucks to have to wait for more, but what we’ve been given thus far has really been fantastic. I can’t wait to see what else this show has in store for us.

Photo Credit: USA Network

4 Responses to “White Collar – No offense, but I never would have bought Neal as a father”

March 4, 2010 at 1:32 PM

Did you catch the homage to “Catch me if you can”? When Neal entered the airport, there was a pilot walking by with a stewardess on each arm. My first thought was to wonder why that was, since that does not happen nowadays, and then I realized the reference.

March 4, 2010 at 2:07 PM

I missed that, although I was wondering why they bothered to show us Neal picking up the flight attendant’s neckerchief. Thanks for pointing it out!

March 4, 2010 at 8:39 PM

I like seeing D. Carroll’s character at the start of each ep, even if they’re paying out the nose. However, excluding this episode, I always felt a smidge uncomfortable with Neal’s overt flirting, despite the chemistry (which I also loved). I think WC has settled on a formula/character balance with Mozzie, Neal, etc. Although I love Jones to the nth degree (& I hope they make Sharif Atkins a permanent character and not just a ‘guest star’), the show needs the balance of a recurring female FBI character as well, which if Masha doesn’t return, Neal could fill. On a side note, I definitely like seeing criminals equal to Neal’s caliber in different areas of the crime/laundering/WC world.

March 5, 2010 at 11:14 AM

To your last point, I do too. But I’m still waiting for one who appears to be his equal….

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