White Collar Review: A Superb Sophomore Start

It’s been 126 days since the first season of White Collar came to a close. Does absence make the heart grow fonder? You bet it does. I could barely wait to welcome back these loveable characters to my TV screen. But the long wait has paid off with a superb premiere of White Collar’s sophomore season.

The season two premiere opens with Agent Peter Burke being questioned about the plane explosion, Neal Caffrey and Kate. We learn that Peter was suspended following the explosion and has just been reinstated. Following his questioning, Agent Diana Barrigan meets up with Peter and informs him that Agent Fowler has vanished but she discovered an upcoming mysterious meeting on his computer.

Peter leaves to “see an old friend,” Neal, who is back in prison and not pleased with the instant coffee and that he can’t wear ties. Peter offers Neal his old deal with a new anklet, which Neal doesn’t accept or reject because they are interrupted by Mozzie, who was posing as Neal’s lawyer.

Fast forward two months. It looks like Neal is up to his criminal ways as he easily breaks into a bank. But not everything is what it appears to be—Neal was testing the security of the bank for the FBI. Peter tells Neal, “good to have you back” and Neal responds, “it’s good to be back.” (I agree!)

Back at the FBI office, Peter explains that the Midtown Mutual banks have received a calling card from “The Architect,” a bank robber who has already hit in Dallas, Chicago and Boston. We also meet Renee Simmons who is in charge of security at the banks. If the Architect’s MO holds up, he will attempt to empty one of the NYC banks’ vaults this week. After the meeting, while working at his desk, we witness Neal’s hand trembling and although he is trying to come across as okay, he is still very affected by losing Kate and the explosion.

Meanwhile, in a hysterical scene with plenty of Mozzie antics involving a voice changer and the International section of the Times, Mozzie and “the Suit” aka Peter meet in the park to discuss Neal. They agree he’s not quite over the loss of Kate and decide to keep him busy with the current bank case.

June welcomes Neal back to his apartment; she hasn’t changed a thing. While there, Mozzie and Neal delve through paperwork about Kate, Fowler and the music box, which was checked into an evidence locker by Diana in the NYC FBI office. Then Mozzie and Neal examine the Architect’s calling card and realize the “A” is a custom font. Neal investigates the “A” and matches it to the handwriting of a Russian painter, Aivazovsky. With Diana’s help, they come up with a possible suspect, Edward Walker (Tim Matheson), a hedge fund manager and buyer of the artist’s artwork.

Neal and Peter pay a visit to the smug Walker who denies any involvement. Our duo separates—Peter has lunch with Elizabeth while Neal tracks down Edward Walker’s assistant Whitney at a restaurant. He turns on the charm, and with a little help from Mozzie, is able to copy the SIM card from her phone to gain Walker’s schedule. Dates marked in green match the previous bank heists and the next day is also marked in green.

Neal informs Peter who sets up surveillance outside the bank they believe Walker will hit. The alarm goes off in the vault but it is not Walker robbing the bank, instead it is an alarm clock in a safe deposit box marked for Peter Burke. Walker suspiciously shows up afterwards and taunts Peter and Neal.

After being grilled for the false alarm, a furious Peter and Neal are back at the Burkes’ house. Neal admits to Peter what he was going to say before the plane exploded—“I didn’t want to run anymore…you’re right, Peter, I have a life here.” Then, it dawns on Neal that Walker was testing the FBI with the alarm clock. They are interrupted by a phone call from Agent Jones and also hear from Diana that thirty-six bank alarms are going off across the city except at the Midtown Mutual, the same bank that they surveyed yesterday. With police stretched thin across the city, Neal and Peter come to the conclusion that Walker is robbing the Midtown Mutual bank. They rush over to the bank and find masked men forcing Renee Simmons to open the vault. Burke and Caffrey break into the bank—Neal causes a distraction while Peter gets Renee out safely. Unfortunately, the masked men get away with the money.

Back at the office, Neal and Peter review the security tapes from the bank. After seeing the number of suitcases and the amount of money taken, Neal recognizes that $1.5 million dollars is unaccounted for.

Next, our boys are back at the bank with Renee Simmons to reexamine the vault. They ask to see deposit box #213 because the box belongs to her (she forged the application to make it look like it belonged to her dead uncle). As they open the box and find the missing money, Renee surprisingly pulls a gun on them. She admits Walker convinced her to help with the heist and take the money. The partners pretend to argue (which they do so well) to distract Renee as Neal hits stacks of money together to shoot the security ink at Renee. This stuns her and gives them a moment to apprehend her.

Afterwards, Neal and Peter happily arrest Walker. Back at Neal’s apartment, Mozzie has some interesting news—OPR requested the music box be brought to DC but somehow the music box was swapped. My jaw dropped as the episode comes to a close and we see Diana opening a safe with the music box inside. I didn’t see that coming at all.

Buckle up, Collars, here we go—no sophomore slump for White Collar. What an entertaining season premiere! There were so many aspects to love like Mozzie and how he consistently makes me laugh, Neal donning his hat right after arresting Walker, the typical banter between Neal and Peter, the top-notch witty writing, the shout out to Psych fans with the pineapple in Neal’s apartment, the gorgeous shots of NYC and the list goes on.

As expected, the cast shone in the premiere. I was particularly impressed with Matt Bomer’s portrayal of Neal dealing with losing Kate post explosion—for example the little hand shake was a tiny detail that showed how affected he truly was. Also, Tim Matheson is the man! Not only did he direct this episode but he also perfectly portrayed the arrogant villain that kept Neal and Peter on their toes.

Of course there are some questions I’m dying to learn the answers to. Is Diana crooked? What is so important about this music box? Why and who was trying to kill Neal? Where is Fowler?

Welcome back, White Collar, I have missed you so.

Season 2, Episode 1: Withdrawal (originally aired July 13, 2010)

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Tuesdays at 9/8c on USA Network

Photographs courtesy of USA and Will Hart.