White Collar: Blast from the Past

People seem to be coming out of the woodwork from Neal’s past. Last week, Neal faced off with former rival Matthew Keller. This week—Alex is back, we meet the CEO of the company whose bonds Neal was convicted of forging plus another dangerous enemy, Ryan Wilkes.

Neal is researching the music box when Alex pays him a visit. She reminds him that as long as he works with the FBI, she will not tell him where the music box is. Neal offers to steal the music box and give it to her when he is done with it. Alex’s response—“lose the blinking jewelry and you’ll get what you need.”

Later that morning, Neal shows up late to the FBI office, where Agent Kimberly Rice, who Peter is not too fond of, is waiting to talk to him. She wants Neal’s help in a kidnapping case involving the daughter of the CEO of Atlantic Partners—Neal was arrested for bond forgery of this company. Rice’s suspect—Ryan Wilkes, a menacing criminal from Neal’s past who tried to kill Neal the last time they were face to face. Peter’s boss, Hughes, tells Neal that he reports to Agent Rice for this case, which doesn’t thrill Peter.

Neal and Rice visit the father of the kidnapped girl. Caffrey learns that working with Agent Rice will not be easy or like being partners with Peter. Even though he helps her find some key evidence, she bluntly tells him that he is “a tool in her belt” and banishes him to wait in the car.

Peter is concerned about Neal and goes to check on him. Neal tells Peter, “I’m touched. You can’t handle being away from me.” All joking aside, the partners look happy to see each other and decide to do a little investigating of their own. In an alley, they find a coat check stub and Neal recognizes it from an underground club, one of Wilkes’ hangouts.

Later that night and outside the club, Rice surprisingly tells Neal to cut his anklet so he can go inside. Peter is at the FBI office and is talking to the father who blabs that Wilkes called and asked for a meeting with Caffrey in exchange for his daughter, Lindsay. Peter immediately calls Neal and tells him he is the ransom just as Neal is tasered and abducted by Wilkes!

Peter is furious that Agent Rice set Neal up and confronts her when she returns to FBI headquarters. Hughes overhears and puts Peter in charge of finding Neal and the kidnapped girl.

Neal comes to with Wilkes standing over him, who greets him by punching him. We also learn that Neal took $500,000 from Wilkes. Then, Wilkes tells Neal that he will kill the girl and then him unless he acts as his “front man” on the job he is pulling. Neal’s first assignment—get the travel itinerary for Thomas Loze in two minutes or a sniper will take out the receptionist Neal must talk to. Although stressed, Neal manages to get the information and a message to Mozzie. The message to Mozzie interrupts his game of Parcheesi and mimosas with June, which is a great scene!

Neal is then brought to see Lindsay. At the same time, the FBI is looking at a ransom DVD of Lindsay for clues to where she is—they decide she is on the waterfront. Meanwhile, Mozzie goes to the Burkes’ house to tell Elizabeth and Peter about the message he received from Neal. Another classic scene takes place between Mozzie and Elizabeth:

E-You know Moz, you never told me what you do for a living.

M-I know that. Neither have you, Mrs. Suit

E-I’m an event planner. I run my own company.

M-Burke Premiere Events. I thought that company was a front for Peter.

E-Okay, not everything has a secret meaning.

M-Naïveté. So sweet. I bet you believe in the moon landing.

Round two for Neal with Wilkes calling the shots—Neal must pose as the limo driver for Loze and steal his briefcase. Then Neal must deliver the case to Wilkes by 4, if he is late or calls the FBI, Lindsay will be killed.

Back at the FBI, because of Mozzie’s message, Peter discovers that Loze is an alias for Edward Riley, a dangerous hired-hand who delivers items for criminals.

Peter and Rice show up at the airport to warn Neal. They inform him of Loze’s true identity, give Neal a two-way transmitter and make him aware that Jones is nearby with other agents as backup. They leave to search for Lindsay. Mozzie also shows up and with Mozzie’s help and acting as undercover agents, they convince Riley to hand over the briefcase, which in a hidden compartment has pre-loaded credit cards.

Peter communicates with Neal through the transmitter and tells him to stall Wilkes because the FBI needs more time to find Lindsay. Wilkes looks in the briefcase, but doesn’t know about the hidden compartment, and is incensed thinking Neal stole the cards. Using speakerphone, Wilkes calls his people and orders them kill Lindsay, but luckily Peter discovers her location and rushes in to save her. Wilkes hears Peter and angrily throws the briefcase, which hits a wall, and all of the cards fall out. Wilkes is about to shoot Neal, when FBI agents appear to arrest him.

Lindsay is reunited with her father. Rice apologizes to Neal and thanks him. Somehow Neal manages to slip away, still without his anklet on. He returns to June’s where Alex is waiting for him. He shows her he doesn’t have the anklet on and she gives him the location of the music box written in an origami flower.

After meeting with Alex, Neal goes to the FBI office where Peter is waiting for him with the anklet. Peter confronts him about seeing Alex (he saw a long brown hair on Neal’s coat early in the episode) and the music box. He warns Neal if he tries to steal the music box, he will catch him. Peter says, “ you know, you can either go back to wearing an orange jumpsuit and pining for the girl that got away or you can stay here and do something good with your life…your choice.”

Wow, what an episode! I cannot help but sing the praises of White Collar! The writing is terrific; they do such a great job at combining suspense with a bit of humor. Also, the writers continue to give Neal worthy opponents in Wilkes and last week, Keller.

So…I’ve been wondering for awhile—is the character of Kate going to be around for much longer? I just can’t picture her fitting into the cast but we’ll see.

They are definitely setting us up for an epic finale, which is next week (3/9)! The preview looks intense and as Jeff Eastin mentioned in the Q&A conference call, there will be a huge cliffhanger! Do my fellow White Collar fans have any theories on what is going to happen? Let me know…

I’ll leave you with a sneak peak of a page of the script and a clip from the finale!!

Season 1, Episode 13: Front Man (originally aired March 2, 2010)

For more on White Collar, click here.

Tuesdays at 10/9c on USA Network

Photographs courtesy of USA.