White Collar: Dressed to Kill

No sophomore slump here, episode 2 of White Collar is keeping the action rolling and the suspense high. This time, it’s Fashion Week in the Big Apple and while Neal (and the rest of New York) is brimming with excitement, Peter greets it with as much enthusiasm as getting the swine flu.

The dynamic duo soon find out that amidst the fashion mayhem, woven into one of the runway dresses is highly advanced security technology for the European Union’s new currency. The dress was smuggled into the country and one unlucky designer’s son was kidnapped in the process, which seems a small price to pay considering that another player in the scheme ends up dead on a hotel room floor. In order to get closer to the culprit, Neal convinced Peter to throw a party in a chic space and fill it with beautiful people to lure their criminal in, only he ends up slipping through the cracks and kidnapping a model in the process. The case ends with Burke going to meet the culprit in Central Park in an elaborate sting operation that the FBI doesn’t let Neal take part in – aww, poor Neal. I know he’s a con man but he’s just so lovable and eager to help out! Of course the feds get their man in the end, and Elizabeth’s husband comes home safely to her.

Speaking of Elizabeth, we learn a little more about her job as an NYC event planner and her exquisite taste in gifts. She buys her man a fancy watch thinking that he had admired one in the Bureau’s seized property warehouse, but later recants and gives Burke back his old watch. This proves that she A- understands her husband and his laid back style and B- she wants him to be on his game while at work – clearly having a husband with a dangerous job doesn’t always sit well.

Neal, on the other hand, doesn’t have a woman to answer to at the moment, as Kate is still missing in action. He asks Mozzie to help him get his security anklet off so that he can go and find her, and Mozzie admits he’s still working on it. Neal says he needs to watch the prison tape from Kate’s last visit to see if she left him any clues, and Mozzie urges him to just ask Peter for it – after all, he is on the right side of the law now, isn’t he? Maybe, maybe not. The prison tape reveals Kate spelling out the word “bottle” in Morse code, which Neal takes as a clue to who or what may be the reason behind her disappearance. PS, does anyone even know Morse code or actually use it anymore? Just asking.

The fact that Neal is ignoring his law enforcement restrictions and making moves to find Kate proves that he may still be a slippery deviant after all, but at this point only time (and opportunity) will tell.

For another take on this episode, check out Glamour & the Ghost by Allison Toner.

Season 1, Episode 2: Threads (originally aired October 30, 2009)

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Fridays at 10/9c on USA Network

Photographs courtesy of USA and Electric Artists