White Collar Review: Finally! The Boys Are Back

Tuesday nights are much better when White Collar and Matt Bomer are on my television screen. And my Tuesday nights have felt a bit empty lately. But that’s no longer a problem—White Collar is back and off to an incredibly strong start.

The premiere picks up immediately where we left off. Peter (Tim DeKay) hears that Keller has kidnapped Elizabeth (Tiffani Thiessan.) Jones and Diana explain everything they are doing to find her. Then Peter asks to speak to Neal privately and Agent Burke is HEATED. He slams Neal against the wall and shouts that he knows Neal has the treasure, that Keller knows and that Neal will give the treasure to Keller so he will return Elizabeth. This confrontation is interrupted when Peter’s cellphone rings and it’s Keller, who allows Peter to talk to Elizabeth. They exchange their “huns” (Burke code for I love you) and Elizabeth mentions taking care of Satchmo. Keller gets back on the line and informs Peter that he has twelve hours to get him the treasure. Peter checks out Satchmo, who has blood on him from biting one of the kidnappers. Good dog! The FBI will do a DNA swab and keep an eye out for someone with a dog bite. With that, Peter announces that Neal must take him to the treasure.

On the way to the treasure, Peter reveals that he will not tell the FBI yet about Keller and allow Jones and Diana to focus on finding Elizabeth. Neal attempts to tell Peter that he should be the one in trouble for stealing the treasure. A still furious Peter doesn’t want to hear it and says he will pay. Things aren’t looking too good for getting Elizabeth back when they walk into the warehouse and the treasure is gone. Mozzie moved it already and Neal has no clue where Moz is since they fought. Uh oh!

Back to the drawing board…Neal and Peter must find Mozzie, but all of his safehouses, Monday through Sunday, are empty. Side note, I’d love to see more of Mozzie’s safe houses. Who’s with me?

Then Peter asks what Neal and Mozzie fought about. This is one of my favorite interactions from the episode. Neal’s answer is perfect and our conman extraordinaire is ready to finally put down some roots.

Peter: “What were you arguing about?”

Neal: “Mozzie wanted to leave New York. I didn’t.”

Peter: “Why not?”

Neal: “You. Elizabeth. Sara. The view out that window. Stepping off the elevator Monday morning. All of it. I have a life here.”

Peter: “What about Mozzie?”

Neal: “He didn’t like to admit it. But yeah, this is his home.”

Neal finally has a light bulb moment on how to contact Mozzie—Estelle, a special carrier pigeon. While Neal is off sending the message to Mozzie, Peter goes back to the office and gets some news from Diana. The DNA results from the blood on Satchmo are back and belong to Leonard Grant, a criminal with a long rap sheet.

We then finally see where Keller (Ross McCall) is holding Elizabeth. He taunts her saying that she can’t get out through the unbreakable glass window or locked door. But Elizabeth is hanging tough and warns Keller that Neal and Peter will kick his ass. Keller is leaving Elizabeth under his current partner, Grant’s supervision, who was bit by Satchmo.

Back at the FBI office, Neal and Peter wonder what to do if Mozzie doesn’t show up. However, Mozzie strolls in and apologizes that Elizabeth was kidnapped because of the treasure. The three plot to turn the tables on Keller.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth begins to get the upper hand on Grant. She notices he is in a lot of pain and begins to talk about possible blood poisoning from dog bites and the symptoms, like excessive sweating. Elizabeth then secretly turns up the thermostat. Way to go Mrs. Burke!

Despite their mutual strong dislike for Keller, Neal, Peter and Mozzie meet with him to show him the treasure, which Mozzie had hidden in a shipping container in a “storage space for honorable thieves.” Mozzie has set it up so just as they are checking out the treasure, the cops show up to arrest two other criminals, Rufus and Simon, who were breaking into another container. The cops now want to check out every container. Keller is not happy for the delay in getting the treasure and blames Peter, Neal and Mozzie. But Keller flips the script and says, “boys, today we are are going to steal back your stolen treasure.”

At Neal’s apartment, the unlikely foursome plot how to steal the treasure. The snarky comments between Mozzie and Keller made this a very entertaining scene. They decide the most opportune time is when the guards shift change at lunch. Peter sets the ground rules of no killing and no guns. The plan begins with Moz and Peter pretending to be dropping off a cargo truck from another branch of government to help the police. Keller and Neal hide in the back of the truck and this will allow them to get close the treasure to steal it. Peter and Mozzie run into a little snag driving the truck into the storage place because the NYPD doesn’t want to let them in. Luckily, Peter adamantly convinces the NYPD to drive the truck inside. However, there is another problem for Keller and Neal once they are inside—the guards didn’t go on break. The two conman take it in stride, pose as NYPD and convince a Sergeant that container 10 (which has the treasure) has to be loaded on the truck. Keller’s first response is to kill the Sergeant but Neal and Peter, who on the phone poses as the District Attorney, solve the issue. Unfortunately, Keller then knocks Neal out.

During the search for Elizabeth, Agent Jones has a breakthrough—he found cherry blossom pollen on the kidnapper’s shoeprints in the Burke’s home that is only found in one area of the city. The FBI hits the streets to search for Elizabeth. Meanwhile, Elizabeth’s plan to freak out Grant about blood poisoning from the dog bite is working. She convinces him to leave her alone and get medicine from a pharmacy. Then Elizabeth uses her diamond ring to try to make cuts in the unbreakable glass window. Jones and Diana discover that Grant used a credit card at a local pharmacy. Back to Elizabeth—her ring has cut into the window and weakened it. She then uses a chair to smash the window and climbs down the fire escape. As soon as she is on the street, Grant is back from the pharmacy and grabs her. Luckily, Jones and Diana show up at the same time and arrest Grant. Elizabeth calls Peter to tell him she’s okay. She tells him to go find Neal and then meet her at home.

While Keller is driving the truck with the treasure, Neal wakes up in the back and begins to kick his way out of a crate causing some of the treasure to fall out. Keller stops the truck, Neal climbs out and the two begin to fight. It’s a pretty even fight until Keller picks up a Raphael painting. Neal can’t believe that Keller would use it as a weapon but he does and hits Neal hard with it. With Neal on the ground, Keller hits Neal repeatedly with a walking stick with the treasure. Peter comes out of nowhere and tackles Keller, who jeers that he will kidnap Elizabeth again. Peter gets a few good hits in but then Keller picks up a knife from the treasure. As this happens, Neal, who is laying on the ground, grabs the gun Keller dropped and aims at Keller. He makes an amazing shot that goes through Peter’s pant leg and hits Keller in the leg. Hey, when are we going to find out about Neal and guns? They are then able to arrest Keller.

Back at the Burke’s house, Peter and Elizabeth reunite. Mozzie and Neal are also there and Neal confides he is going to make a full confession about stealing the treasure despite the prison time he will face. This gives Mozzie time to disappear and will put Keller away.

The next day at the FBI office, Neal arrives and begins to tell Peter he is ready to make a full confession. But Peter stops him and shows him Keller’s interrogation—he confessed to stealing the treasure but only to return it to the Russians. This gets the Russian mob off of his back.

Neal says he is okay with the fact Keller took credit and Peter says that it means a lot that Neal was going to confess. Neal asks, “what happens now?” But Diana interrupts with a letter from the probation office. Peter takes a look and explains the probation office wants to review Neal’s case—meaning that in a short period of time he could be a free man.

I’d like to echo Neal—what happens now? The treasure storyline was efficiently wrapped up and there is a possible new twist on Neal and Peter’s relationship. Can Neal adjust to staying in one place and possibly being a free man? We’ll see. Also, despite all of Keller’s wrongdoings, I still dig this sexy villain and want to see him again on the show. Welcome back White Collar!

Season 3, Episode 11: “Checkmate” (original airdate January 17, 2011.)

White Collar airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on USA Network.

Images courtesy of Will Hart /USA Network.