Sunday, February 10, 2013

White Collar Three-Cap

Here's quick recap of the three episodes of White Collar's winter season.

We open just after the shocking (not really shocking) reveal that Sam is ACTUALLY Neal's father, James. He explains that he got caught skimming money from a drug bust, and his corrupt CO blackmailed him into working for the Flynn crime family. Anyway, he finally got sick of lying to his partner, Ellen, and decided to come clean. Before he could do that, however, higher-up corrupt cops threatened his family and forced him to confess to a cop killing that he didn't commit.


But he did it for his family!


What's a poor con-artist to do? Revenge, obviously. The Flynn scion, Dennis Jr. (hahahaha, really?!?), is trying to revive the family by getting back into bootlegging. And since alcohol is not illegal anymore, he has to make it illegal by counterfeiting top shelf whiskey. Enter Neal, posing as a whiskey counterfeiter - he infiltrates the gang and finds the gun that the elder Flynn used to frame his father. Which they kept for... nostalgia? Right... Anyway, Neal tells James/Sam to take a hike while he and Peter sort this whole thing out.

There's only room for one father figure in this series...

AND THEN Dennis Jr. (pfft) gets shivved during a prisoner transfer arranged by one Senator Terrance Pratt (okay, are you KIDDING me with these names?). Looks like old Terry was one of the corrupt cops that framed James, and now he's trying to tie up loose ends. The team finds out that he's invovled in some quid pro quo with a building contractor - the builder donates to his campaign and he helps him get lucrative contracts. Neal goes in as an architect and they get enough evidence to try to flip the builder Pratt... without success. And the team's chief, Hughes, gets canned for trying to go after the Senator. Meanwhile, the builder decides to take out Peter by cutting the brakes on his car! Peter's wife Elizabeth tells Neal to leave Peter and his career out of this James/Sam/revenge business. Finally, a "good" reason for Neal to lie to Peter.

Hm, I think I'll guilt trip my FBI-agent husband's
best frenemy into lying to him. This'll go well.

When Neal gets the key from Ellen's personal effects, he discovers the key to the evidence box she spoke of in her If You're Watching This I'm Dead video (classic). Peter assigns Jones to help Mozzie with the key - yeah, that's gonna work out well. Mozzie gives Jones the slip, but not before he gets a copy of the key. So it's Mozzie and Neal versus Jones and Peter in the race to the evidence box! First step - the key isn't a key, it's a guide - the teeth of the key form a city scape.

This show is whimsical as shit

I think this one's mostly filler... last week's episode had Neal and Diana infiltrating the Cotton Club, a retro jazz joint run by a pair of brothers, one of whom is dealing in fake taxi cab registrations. The team relied heavily on Elizabeth and Neal's landlady June in this scheme. Which... isn't that, I don't know, against every protocol in the FBI handbook? Neal and Mozzie find the cityscape that matches the key - the vantage point is a place Neal used to visit while on the run from Peter - and the teeth of the key cover everything EXCEPT the Empire State Building. Of course Peter and Jones are right behind them using the tracking software in Neal's anklet.

C'mon, Neal, how did you not see this coming?

Who will find the evidence box first? And will Peter forgive Neal for lying to him (yet again)? How about Elizabeth, for asking him to lie? Also, whatever happened to Diana's girlfriend, Christie - why can't she be endangered inappropriately, like the rest of the civilians?

She's a even doctor, that could totally be useful.

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