Friday, July 23, 2010

White Collar - Withdrawal, S02E01

What an aptly named episode. Withdrawal - it refers to both the bank heist case which Neal (Matthew Bomer) and Peter (Tim DeKay) were working and the pain Neal is suffering over the loss of Kate. Although audience numbers weren't super for this premiere, the quality was up there and the banter was worthy of the pilot episode.

Kate's death and the complications of the last few episodes of season 1 were not forgotten or neglected in this premiere, although matters were resolved so that the normal episodic development of Neal and Peter solving a case every week could be resumed. I loved that in the first few moments of the sequence starting 2 months later, one couldn't be sure if Neal had decided to work with the FBI once more or if he was busy robbing a bank for his own financial gain. It was a great fake out.

I also adored Mozzie (Willie Garson) and Peter's illicit meetings where they discussed how Neal was doing in the wake of Kate's death. Mozzie's hilarious spy techniques and Peter's inability to deal with them gave us the first real connection between these two, and they work as well together as both do with Neal.

I was pleased to have Diana (Marsha Thomason) back. She has a far better connection to Peter than Lauren did, and she's smart. That she is the one who now has the music box only makes me like her all the more because she is playing somebody, my heroes or the bad guys - I can't be sure, but she is playing someone and that just makes her even cooler.

Finally, Bomer's portrayal of Neal, still shaken by Kate's death but recovering and moving forward without losing too much of his charm, makes Neal just as attractive as he was last season. Plus, no more Kate means that he has the chance to find love with someone we are actually interested in him hooking up with.

Where all this will go, I cannot say, but I want to know why Diana has the music box, and who killed Kate, and how much danger Neal is still in. Don't you?

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