White Collar: Fridays Just Got Hotter

Not since Michael Scofield in Prison Break has a convict made breaking out of jail look so darn sexy. But move over, Wentworth Miller, Matt Bomer is taking the spotlight in the USA Network’s new show White Collar, and let me just say that his good looks are criminal. The show centers around Neal Caffrey (played by Bomer of NBC’s Chuck, Tru Calling), a world class con man whose specialty happens to be white collar crime. Caffrey may be a criminal mastermind but he’s also a hopeless romantic, who breaks out of prison when the love of his life Kate breaks things off, and subsequently ends up forging an unlikely partnership with the FBI agent who has been pursuing him for years. Peter Burke (played by Tim DeKay, Tell Me You Love Me, Carnivàle) is the agent, and the two men strike up a mutually beneficial deal – Caffrey gets to stay out of the clink in exchange for using his expertise to help Burke nab Caffrey’s fellow elusive deviants.

Though Burke is initially not thrilled about his new partnership with a convicted felon, he soon realizes that Caffrey’s skills extend beyond forgery and fraud and can be useful to him in other areas – namely his romantically challenged relationship with his wife Elizabeth, played by Tiffani Thiessen (What About Brian, Fastlane). Rounding out the cast is Caffrey’s conspiracy-theory obsessed friend Mozzie (played by Willie Garson, Sex and the City, John From Cincinnati), whose ear is always to the street, which will no doubt prove helpful to Caffrey and Burke in future capers.

Fresh out of jail and released into the custody of Agent Burke, the ever-resourceful Caffrey finds a way to trade his dingy motel room for a swankier address, courtesy of a wealthy widow played by Diahann Carroll. All he has to do in exchange for his fancier room and board is take care of her place, walk her dogs and in his free time enjoy the use of her late husband’s Rat Pack-inspired wardrobe. Not a bad gig for a man who knows how to enjoy the finer things in life.

The pilot episode finds Caffrey testing his ability to use his criminal charm on the right side of the law to foil a bond counterfeiting operation. Burke, his fellow agent Diana (played by Marsha Thomason of Lost) and Caffrey manage to identify their culprit, who Burke has nicknamed “The Dutchman” and had been pursuing nearly as long as Caffrey himself, only to hit a roadblock in apprehending him. Enter Caffrey’s outside-the-legal-box thinking and the clever use of his tracking ankle bracelet and soon the Dutchman is destined for a life behind bars. All in a day’s work, I suppose. Burke then decides to take a much needed mini-vacation from law enforcement and take his wife to the beach for their tenth anniversary, an idea inspired by Caffrey’s romantic guidance. Before leaving he tells Caffrey that the FBI has agreed to keep him on as a consultant (thus keeping him out of a prison jumpsuit), and not to run off looking for Kate while he’s gone. Caffrey agrees, and though we want to believe Caffrey is a reformed man now, we’re still left wondering how far he’ll go in the name of locating his love.

Though many critical references have been made to It Takes A Thief and how the concept behind White Collar is not entirely fresh, the action is still entertaining to watch – hey, a solid show is a solid show, recycled or not. Among the many things that I am personally pretty jazzed up about are Willie Garson’s inclusion in the cast and the fact that the main character is total eye candy, to put it mildly. Additionally, the genuine bromance between DeKay and Bomer really comes to the surface during their scenes together – you can’t help but be aware of their characters’ chemistry – platonic, of course. Directed by Bronwen Hughes and written by Jeff Eastin and the team at Fox Television studios, it looks like they’re onto something and the network that brought us Burn Notice is suiting up for success once more.

For another take on this episode, check out The New Dynamic Duo by Allison Toner.

Season 1, Episode 1: Pilot (originally aired October 23, 2009)

For more on White Collar, click here.

Fridays at 10/9c on USA Network

Photographs courtesy of USA and Electric Artists