White Collar Review: The Test Begins

“There’s nothing sadder than a conman conning himself,” Vincent Adler told Neal in last season’s finale. Well, Neal may no longer be conning himself… Caffrey appears fully ready to embrace his inner conman and finally obtain his white whale, no matter how it tests his relationship with Peter.

The episode opens with Neal and Mozzie in an airplane making a getaway with Peter and the FBI in pursuit.

Jump to four days earlier and picking up where the finale left off—Peter grills Neal, who is attached to a lie detector test, about the Nazi treasure and who stole it. No surprises here, Neal passes the test and immediately goes to see Sara. The pair are still hot and heavy and Sara promises to be Neal’s alibi.

Mozzie waits for Neal at his apartment, where we learn MOZZIE was the one who pulled off the art swap in the warehouse and explosion, which makes the most sense since he is desperate for that big score. Moz explains that this treasure is their “white whale.” Neal agrees to take off with Mozzie and the treasure but only if they “take their time and do it right.” They then toast to their “best and final score.”

Back with Peter, Neal plays both sides as he tries to convince him they’re a team, but Peter believes Neal has turned on him. At the FBI office, Peter questions Neal about an alias, Gary Rydell—a playboy and world class fencer and smuggler who also likes expensive cars. It turns out that an old associate, David Lawrence, who was also suspected of stealing $60 million from the Federal Reserve, has contacted Neal’s old alias. Peter believes Lawrence wants Gary’s (Neal’s) help smuggling the money out of the country so the FBI sets up a meeting between Lawrence and Neal.

At the Burke home, Peter stresses out over the piece of painting he found after the warehouse explosion. Elizabeth tries to explain there have been many paintings of the Chrysler building done and maybe it isn’t Neal’s.

Elizabeth: “Maybe you’ve been chasing him for so long you don’t know how to stop.”

Peter: “Or maybe I know him better than anyone else.”

Elizabeth agrees to test the piece of painting for Peter to confirm whether it was Neal’s painting or part of the treasure.

Neal and Lawrence meet at a fencing club—it starts off a bit tense with the two squaring off and crossing blades. This includes Lawrence slicing Neal’s tie in half, much to Peter’s later delight. He saves the cut tie and says “souvenir of Neal Caffrey’s imperfect moment. Priceless.”

Lawrence does admit to stealing the money and enlists Neal to move it. Neal tells Lawrence he’ll smuggle the money by boat. Later on Neal and Mozzie plan to escape with their treasure by plane as the FBI is distracted with taking down Lawrence. Neal is still worried that Peter is on to the fact that they have the treasure.

So what does Neal do? Pays Mrs. Suit a visit.

(Side note: The Burkes have the cutest kitchen ever!)

Neal claims to be there to talk about the trust issue between him and Peter but he catches Elizabeth trying to hide a modern art book. Later on, Neal buys the book and sees a similar Chrysler building painting and starts to put two and two together.

Moz begins to spy on Elizabeth and discovers she is going to test the piece of Neal’s painting, leading Mozzie and Neal to swap the piece with something older from the treasure. The plan comes together but they’ll only have thirty minutes, and plan to enlist June’s gorgeous granddaughter, Cindy.

To pull off the exchange Neal must lose Jones, who’s tailing him, which he does with a bunch of Caffrey look-alikes. Mozzie and Cindy distract the security guard—Cindy “spilling” coffee on herself and then changing her shirt in the lobby of the building – as Neal breaks in and trades the material.

After the successful switch, Lawrence sends Neal a text that it’s time for them to leave with the treasure. Moz reminds Neal that they can’t say goodbye to anyone. Neal sentimentally looks around his apartment, throws his FBI consultant badge on the table and says, “goodbye Caffrey.”

It turns out the $60 million dollars that Lawrence stole was hidden all along in the air ducts in the fencing club. Unfortunately, one of Lawrence’s goons spots Jones, who is back tailing Neal. Lawrence becomes suspicious that the FBI is on to their plan to smuggle the money on the boat. To save Jones, Neal convinces Lawrence he has a backup plan, a plane. He calls Mozzie, who is very disappointed, and in code tells him to get Peter and meet at the airstrip.

The episode has now come full circle as they are loading the airplane. Neal secretly hands a pin to Jones to pick the handcuffs. Moz, dressed in an old-fashioned pilot outfit, prepares the plane for takeoff as the FBI is pursuing in SUVs. Then Jones breaks out of handcuffs, hits Lawrence, and Mozzie stops the plane.

Mozzie: “Your timing is far from impeccable, J. Edgar.”

Peter: “Sorry, Amelia.”

Mozzie: “Luckily, I was here to save the day once again.”

Peter learns the test results on the piece of painting from Elizabeth—it wasn’t Neal’s. Peter lets himself into Neal’s apartment and admires the new Chrysler building painting. Neal shows up and Peter apologizes saying “I’m calling a truce” and maybe he “rushed to judgment.”

In closing, Diana tells Peter they found part of the original u-boat manifest. They decide they will catch the individual who stole the treasure if any of the items from the manifest turn up. At the same time, Mozzie and Neal discuss how to sell one of the pieces of treasure to fund their second getaway. Uhoh…

We’re kicking off summer with the return of one of television’s hottest shows…and with some interesting challenges for Neal and Peter’s relationship. Elizabeth described Neal as “impulsive but having a good heart.” Will Neal fully cross over to the “con side”? I’m a huge fan of the dynamic duo’s bromance and witty repartee, which we’ve seen in the previous two seasons, but I admit I was a bit taken aback watching them at odds and Neal plotting his getaway with Mozzie. However, in Jeff Eastin & company I trust…to not completely wreck the relationship and keep the bromance alive. I’m curious to see how they will continue to blend Neal’s desire for the big score and his relationship with Peter.

There is much to look forward to this season like another Mozzie flashback episode and next week’s Dan Brown inspired episode. Plus plenty of guest stars including Danny Masterson, Christopher Masterson, Anna Chlumsky, William Sadler and Eliza Dushku. Also, Ross McCall will return as my favorite villain, Matthew Keller.

So Collars, what do you think of the premiere? Sound off below.

Season 3, Episode 1 “On Guard” (original air date June 7, 2011)

White Collar airs Tuesday nights at 9/8c on the USA Network.

Images courtesy of  Robert Ascroft and the USA Network.