White Collar: Double Trouble

Neal Caffrey is a suave, intensely handsome and debonair man who usually doesn’t have any problem winning women over. However, this week, two women, one from his past and a dangerous villainess, seem immune to his charm and complicate matters in his life.

The episode opens with Neal tracking down an “old friend,” Alex, who is busy pick pocketing an unsuspecting man. Neal asks Alex if she knows anything about the music box, which she says she doesn’t.

Enter Peter—who is checking in on the stake out of stock trader Christopher Gray. However, it quickly becomes a murder investigation when Gray is shot at his house while with a beautiful blonde, Pierce Spelman. Peter has Agent Cruz take an upset Pierce to the hospital to be checked out, and then calls Neal in for backup. Neal is not a fan of dead bodies but Peter convinces him to help. Together, they determine that Pierce, who they learn snuck out of the hospital, was really the one who shot Gray.

At the FBI office, Peter picks out a hotel to stay in since his house is being rewired and turns down Neal’s offer to bunk with him at June’s. Agent Jones reports that they found the gun Pierce used plus a list of codes.

Back at June’s, Neal uses Scrabble pieces to try to break the code when Alex shows up. Alex, disappointed that Neal is working with the FBI, asks him why he is suddenly interested in the music box. Meanwhile, Peter, who after seeing the run-down motel has decided to take Neal up on his offer of being roomies, interrupts them. Peter tells Alex he is an FBI agent, she spells FED with the Scrabble pieces and storms out. The next morning, Neal and Peter have a major breakthrough with the code and discover it is a hit list!

At the office, Peter secretly asks Jones to run the prints on the Scrabble piece Alex touched. Research on the hit list shows that no one else from the list was killed and they speculate that Pierce must want something the victims have. Neal and Peter decide to pay a visit to the last man on the list, Daniel Picah, a trust fund baby, in hopes of determining a connection between the men on the list.

Dan immediately takes a liking to both Neal and Peter; he begins to wear a hat just like Neal’s and calls Neal, “the ambassador of awesome.” The scenes with the three of them are hilarious!

Back at Gray’s house, with Dan, they find the common thread between everyone on the list—a rare and valuable jade elephant. The elephant is part of a set of five, which was stolen from Japan. Now, the Japanese government would like the elephants returned. To avoid an international incident, Peter and Neal must track down Pierce and the elephants.

On a side note, Peter gets the results of the prints on the Scrabble piece—Alexandra Hunter, a high-end fence who specializes in Eastern European items and has powerful friends.

Agent Cruz notices a message from Pierce on one of Dan’s dating websites and they decide to set up a date but send Neal instead of Dan. The “date” goes according to plan and Neal gets Pierce to talk about the elephants, which she has three of, until Alex interrupts. She reveals that Neal is working with the FBI and knows they ran her prints. Pierce flees with Neal pursuing but she pretends he is attacking her and some guys on the street physically stop him from following her. Peter arrives just in time to save Neal from getting beat up.

Neal and Peter argue about Alex showing up, Peter running her prints and how Pierce got away. An angry Neal doesn’t understand why Peter can’t trust him. Neal walks back to June’s and Pierce is waiting for him with a gun drawn. She demands that he take her to the two other elephants (Gray’s and Dan’s) and wants him to cut his anklet. Pierce is distracted for a minute when June knocks on the door. This gives Neal time to cut his anklet and then quickly touches the cut ends together.

The FBI is alerted to Neal cutting his anklet and are afraid he’s running. June identifies Pierce as the woman at the house and tells Peter, “we both know he didn’t run.” Peter watches the tracking from Neal’s anklet and realizes that Neal sent him a Morse code message about his whereabouts—Peter’s house.

At the Burkes’ house, the power is still off, Pierce is busy searching for the elephants while Neal is secretly turning the switches of electronics on. Peter shows up with other agents—the plan is to storm the house and turn the power on. The plan is successful, the lights, radio and TV all turn on as the FBI enters the house and surprise Pierce, giving them the opportunity to apprehend her.

The resolution—the jade elephants are returned to the Japanese, Peter admits he couldn’t have done it without Caffrey and Neal finds Peter a nice hotel to stay in. The episode ends with another rendezvous between Alex and Neal. She admits she knows where the music box is but as long as Neal works with the FBI, she’ll never tell him.

It was weird to not have Mozzie or Elizabeth in the episode at all…I missed them! As always, I continue to enjoy the witty dialogue in each episode!

How many times does Neal have to prove himself? I understand he is a smooth conman but relax Peter! He hasn’t run once, continues to be an asset to the FBI with cases and cherishes his friendship with Peter (and Elizabeth).

Next new episode of White Collar in two weeks (2/23)!

Season 1, Episode 11: Home Invasion (originally aired February 2, 2010)

For more on White Collar, click here.

Tuesdays at 10/9c on USA Network

Photographs courtesy of USA.