White Collar Review: It’s All About Mozzie

Neal’s mysterious confidant, Mozzie could be described as devoted, loveable, quirky, even somewhat paranoid but as a leading man? Yes, roles are swapped this week on White Collar. Mozzie gets the spotlight. He works with the “suits” to help his infatuation, Gina, while Neal takes a walk in Peter’s shoes.

Mozzie has developed quite the crush on waitress Gina De Stefano (Diane Farr) and bonded with her over their love of mystery novels. While at the diner where she works, Mozzie becomes concerned when Gina rushes off with two menacing looking men and gives him a clue suggesting she is being kidnapped.

Mozzie rushes to the FBI office and meets with Neal, on an elevator, to discuss his fears about her possible kidnapping and asks for help. At first, Neal is reluctant but he agrees to help. He has an agent run Gina’s name through the FBI database to retrieve her address. Then Neal and Mozzie head over to Gina’s apartment, and in a comical scene, they debate over who is going to knock on Gina’s door. Mozzie tells Neal, “You ever wonder why you’ve never been introduced? She meets you and suddenly I become the quirky friend.” Mozzie ends up knocking on her door and hiding. When confirmed no one is home, Neal picks the lock to her ransacked apartment. Inside they find a note of code Mozzie gave her (“you are cute”) and another message from Gina directing them to a cigar lounge.

Meanwhile, at lunch with Elizabeth, Peter receives a phone call regarding Neal who had information run on Gina. Peter rushes back to the bureau and is told about Neal’s meeting with “the little guy,” aka Mozzie. Peter goes through information on Gina and discovers that her boyfriend, Tommy has a connection to Cristofer Navarro, a known Columbian criminal. A concerned Peter immediately tracks Neal’s anklet.

Mozzie and Neal head over to the cigar lounge, which they don’t know is owned by Navarro and Neal attempts to do some snooping. While inside, Neal’s phone loudly vibrates, a call from Diane trying to warn him, and Navarro is alerted to Neal’s presence. It doesn’t look good for Neal as Navarro’s men close in with guns drawn but luckily Peter rushes in to bail him out. Afterwards, Peter insists that both Mozzie and Neal meet at the bureau to fill him in.

By now, we all know that Mozzie is wary of the suits, so in a priceless scene, a fearful Mozzie struggles with actually entering the bureau. Once inside, Peter informs them that Navarro is a dangerous Columbian who used to deal in drugs but has moved on to weapons and racketeering. Peter also questions Mozzie and Gina’s relationship:

Peter: “What exactly is the nature of your relationship with Gina?”

Mozzie: “Intellectual. Literal. Ongoing.”

Peter: “Is he stalking her?”

Neal: “I’d have to look up the legal definition.”

They determine Navarro is using Gina to get to her boyfriend, Tommy, who has stolen $100,000 dollars from Navarro, which Neal overheard at the cigar lounge.

Diana discovers that Gina used her credit card to buy peanuts at a park, although Mozzie alerts them that she is highly allergic to nuts. Peter has the idea to confiscate the camcorders from tourists to see if they can spot Gina. They combine all the footage of Gina and see that Navarro was using her to draw out Tommy but she is able to warn him. The tape also catches Tommy dropping his cell phone into a trashcan, which Peter and Neal retrieve and listen to a message from Navarro—an exchange at 5pm, Gina for the money, or else she is dead. Now they must find Tommy.

Thanks to some investigating by Diana, she discovers that Tommy paid a taxi driver with sequential hundred dollar bills that are traceable. Peter believes Navarro is laundering money though his cigar lounge and the traceable money could be used to bring him down.

Peter forces Mozzie and Neal to go home but they continue to brainstorm about how to find Tommy. They determine that Tommy would try to get a new identity and Mozzie knows who would make a new ID for him. With a little help from Agent Jones posing as someone who works for Navarro, they pay a visit to the ID guy and learn Tommy’s new identity.

With the new identity now known, Peter and Diana track down Tommy and prepare him for the exchange. Mozzie, who doesn’t think Tommy is right for Gina, spooks Tommy and then Mozzie manages to slip away from the FBI to meet with Navarro. Mozzie alerts Navarro to the FBI stakeout and leaves with Navarro and his men to see Gina. Prior to leaving, Mozzie manages to get a coded message, “perfect exchange” to Neal using the novel he was reading.

“The broker” aka Mozzie negotiates with Navarro, the money for Gina, in what he and Neal believe is the “perfect exchange.” Neal fills Peter in about the exchange but Peter realizes that the “perfect exchange” is flawed because the middle man (Mozzie) becomes irrelevant. Peter takes matters into his own hands and forces one of Navarro’s men to take him to the location where Mozzie and Gina are being held. A tense standoff with guns drawn takes place between Peter and Navarro but other members of the FBI storm him to take down Navarro. A worried Neal rushes in to check on Mozzie and they acknowledge their flawed exchange. Gina thanks Mozzie for saving her by kissing him on the cheek.

Back at the diner, Gina tells Mozzie that she broke up with Tommy and is moving to California for a fresh start. She returns Mozzie’s note with a code for “you’re cute too.” Outside the diner, Neal acknowledges that he didn’t enjoy worrying about Mozzie—Peter’s typical position of worrying about Neal. A surprisingly upbeat Mozzie joins them and asks, “so, we heading to the bureau?” Peter’s response, “I got the FBI on board with Caffrey. But you, I don’t even know your real name and I’ve looked.” Hmm, anyone else wondering what Mozzie’s real name is?

To date, White Collar’s season two has been fantastic. They’ve nailed it each week however this week they presented a nice change of pace from the typical FBI case per week by focusing on Mozzie.

If you haven’t noticed from previous reviews, I think Mozzie rocks. Scenes including Mozzie seem to have extra spark and lots of laughs but this Mozzie-centric episode was like icing on the cake for me. It was a treat to catch a glimpse into Mozzie’s personal life. White Collar would not be complete without him. I hope during the rest of the season Mozzie returns to the bureau to help Peter and Neal out with cases.

I also enjoyed Diane Farr’s guest role as Gina, the apple of Mozzie’s eye. The pair were cute together. If only Gina wasn’t moving to California…

Check out the promo for next week…maybe we will learn more about Neal’s issues with guns.

Season 2, Episode 4: By the Book (originally aired August 3, 2010)

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Tuesdays at 9/8c on USA Network

Images courtesy of David Giesbrecht and the USA Network.