Saturday, July 17, 2010

White Collar 2.01: Withdrawal

white collar cast

As I’ve probably already mentioned, White Collar is a current passion.  The way a typical police procedural is wrapped up in a lighter package—laughter, love, growing friendship—it’s a real winning combination.  Consequently, July 13th has been marked on my calendar for a long time now, anticipating both the season two premiere and the DVD release of season one. (Quite the day for the Collars.)  Sadly, big day or no, I still had to work Tuesday night, so it was about 2:30am before I got to watch the premiere, and now I’ve just finished watching it for the second time.

After a successful debut season, there’s always the fear that it will be difficult to keep a show going—a moment or twenty of wondering if part of what made it so good was simply the newness.  What if it isn’t as much fun when we get used to it? (That’s what I feel as a viewer; imagine the folks actually creating the thing!)  But, after watching “Withdrawal”, I’m pleased to report that White Collar seems to be in no jeopardy of giving in to a sophomore slump.  Peter, Neal and the gang are in fine form, and it’s great to see them in action again.

We pick up almost immediately after the big bang finale of season one, but we don’t dwell there long.  Cue the set up to reinstate the partnership and then fast-forward two months.  There’s some logic there; nobody really wants to watch hour after hour of Neal broken and sobbing, though after spending the first season relentlessly pursuing the love of his life, you could expect the guy to be grieving after seeing her blown to bits.  So, it’s a smart move to leave some of that to the imagination.  On the other hand, I think we might’ve been short-changed just a little bit.  Kate has always been a mystery to us; for the most part, we know her only by the impact she has on Neal.  So while seeing the plane explode last year was surprising, it’s not much more than that to us.  It’s hard for the viewer to grieve, or even be glad she’s gone, because we never really knew her.  We need to have Neal’s reaction in order for that chapter to be fully closed for us.  (Of course, there is always rampant speculation that Kate is not really dead, and I will admit that I am almost fully in the camp that believes we’ll see her again.  So maybe we’re not supposed to have a lot of closure.)

But, while a lot of the grief is glossed over, concern for Neal’s well being does give us a lovely little subplot, with Peter and Mozzie conspiring to keep him on track.  Those scenes in the park are worth the price of admission. (Remember that in about a year, when you’re trying to decide if you should shell out the cost for S2 DVDs.)  Moz is in full paranoia mode about being seen with a suit, and Peter goes along with most of it in good humor, all for the greater good of helping their mutual friend. 

Anyway, as I said, we don’t dwell long in the immediate aftermath of the trauma, but are soon back to some amusing banter and busting bad guys.  This week’s bad guy is a bank robber known as The Architect, and Tim Matheson does an excellent job of turning him in to a real arrogant bastard, to quote our favorite con man.  He pulled off a clever enough heist, too, but truthfully, Neal’s was better.  But, of course, this is New York, so you know they have to catch the guy, no matter how slippery he’d been until then.  The feds probably ought to think about checking on the security managers in Dallas, Chicago, and Boston. 

Most of the familiar faces are back in season two, including Marsha Thomason as Diana.  She showed up in the season one finale, and was a welcome return; I was thrilled with the announcement that she would be returning as a regular this year.  Of course, two lady suits is probably one too many in this little ensemble, so Diana’s return means the departure of Lauren Cruz.  No offense to Natalie Morales, but I consider that a good trade.

So, after that one staffing change, we’re back to where we started, with just a few tweaks:  Peter’s with the Bureau, but on shaky ground after everything with Fowler and Mentor.  But Elizabeth is still his lovely wife and confidante, and he can still count on Neal to have his back when the chips are down.  Neal’s back in FBI custody, with a new and improved anklet, but he’s ever so slightly more at ease with it all.  He’s also got a new quest.  Last year it was Kate and the Man with the Ring, which turned into the music box.  This year, it starts with the music box in order to find who killed Kate. Of course, we’re ahead of Neal on this one, and already know who has the box; now we just need to know why.  Really, it’s a wonderful continuing arc to underlie the weekly capers, and I’m looking forward to watching it unfold. 

So, meet me in the park if you ever want to talk about the continuing exploits of Caffrey and Burke (or is it Burke and Caffrey?).  I’ll be the one with the newspaper; just don’t forget to ask about the mockingbird.

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