(S01E05) I don't think I've sighed as hard as I sighed during the opening scene of this episode of White Collar in a long time. Caffrey and Moz find a note hidden by Kate ... in Grand Central Station? And not even in the station, but in the corner of the building outside. Did I miss some massive clue that Caffrey was following to find the exact location of the note shoved into a crack? Or are we just supposed to assume he's so smart and perceptive that he can find an old note within three minutes of showing up in front of the building? If I missed something, it was silly. If that's exactly how it went down, then it was kinda stupid.
Fun episode, though!
I hope I don't sound too harsh in my criticism of that scene. I really do like this show (in the realm of USA shows, I'd put it way ahead of Royal Pains but behind Burn Notice), it's just that sometimes it falls into that implausible, hacky plotting trap that a lot of action dramas fall into. Some of the White Collar episodes have that happen at the end, with the crook being caught too easily. This episode had a silly beginning (I'll give them this ending because more happened after the bad guy's easy arrest). But I do appreciate the subplot involving Kate and the clues, so anything that keeps that going is fine with me.
As for the main plot, this week it was the disappearance of the painting. It's fun to see how Caffrey will get information from people, like leaning on the guy's car and getting information from him by just acting like he knows what's going on when he really doesn't and getting the guy to admit everything. Hey, it's the guy's fault if he assumes! I like those clever scenes.
The best parts of this show are the scenes like that and the scenes between Caffrey and Burke, the dance that lies somewhere between trust and distrust. Burke can say he doesn't trust Caffrey, but he does. Something tells me that Caffrey really could get that anklet monitor off of his leg if he really wanted to, even if he says it's a new model that can't be hacked. I'm sure he and Moz could think of something. Caffrey likes the position he's in, though I wonder if that will change once he gets really, really close to finding out where Kate is and why she had to leave without an explanation (I'm guessing it's to protect him - she still loves him).
She has to be more careful with the clues, though. I mean, the note in the crack and then another clue when you fold the note like my old issues of Mad magazine? One of these days, Caffrey is going to throw away a major clue because Kate hid it so well.
More thoughts:
- At first I didn't like the segue scenes the show uses, the shots of NYC with the film sped up and the music playing. But I like them now.
- I liked the little banter between Burke and Caffrey about women, Burke asking Caffrey if a woman has ever not fallen for him, and Caffrey mentioning it happened once in second grade.
- Besides the implausible opening scene I didn't like the scene with Burke and Caffrey and the two women in the hotel room. This show doesn't do wacky that well, and it shouldn't try too many scenes like that. Of course Elizabeth had to call during the craziness, right? It reminded me of the episode of The Andy Griffith Show where Helen and Thelma Lou walk in on Andy and Barney and the two floozies from out of town and nothing was going on. It worked there but didn't work here.
- I like that Burke is married, though, and that Elizabeth has a past as a con artist but is also very sensible. Tiffani Thiessen has grown on me here.
- Is it too early to see Kate, hear her voice, and have her be so close? Or would it have been better to have her still out of the picture and Caffrey looking for her until the season finale?
[Watch clips and episodes of White Collar and other shows at SlashControl.]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
11-21-2009 @ 2:29AM
Robert said...
X marks the spot. It was on the bottle of Bordeaux.
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11-21-2009 @ 2:54AM
Adam said...
Where did you infer that Elizabeth had a past as a con artist? She's an event planner.
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11-21-2009 @ 3:22PM
Jessica said...
I was wondering the same thing. Elizabeth is crafty, but never a con.
And of course Neal can get the ankle monitor off; that's not the problem. The problem comes when it's off and five thousand bells and whistles and tracers go off in the FBI offices.
11-21-2009 @ 2:53AM
Creep said...
Lame ford taurus product placement.
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11-21-2009 @ 6:08AM
Dan Chichian said...
Maybe I am just getting so used to product placement but I really did not get that annoyed feeling about the taurus segment since they only said the name once. I think Heroes and the Nissan mini ads were some of the worst product placement in recent years. Eureka had the Degree season but even they poked fun at it.
Am I just too cynical or does anyone else get the vibe that Kate is pulling a major con on Neal? The whole Kate is in danger started when he was still in prison in no position to do anything except give up information. Forcing information out only works if you contact the person with the information and so far she is the only one doing the contacting and not the guy with the ring (this shows version of the one armed man?). Yes, I know that paragraph is very convoluted but the sentiment holds that Kate is behind it all.
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11-21-2009 @ 12:33PM
Steph said...
I'm with you that the opening scene was completely implausible, given the enormous size of the space they were searching. That they were in the correct spot and were able to locate a clue at Grand Central station in just a few minutes left me doing an eye roll at the TV. Even with the "x" on the map there's no way Neal knew the "x" was located in concrete, well above his line of sight outside of the building.
That being said, I like the fact that Kate came out of the woodwork. I feel like there's a lot we're going to learn about her character, and the chance that she's playing Neal -- the master of the con game -- could give a whole new level of intrigue to the show.
The fact that it's being paired with Burn Notice beginning in January leads me to believe they have an arc planned out they know will not only keep the interest of current viewers, but hook some new ones as well.
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11-21-2009 @ 6:18PM
JP said...
One thing that i was wondering is how did Peter have the oragami butterfly? This might be nit picking a little bit but it did look like Neil made a crane in the car that he gave to Peter, yet when he went to confess to stealing the painting Peter had the butterfly in his file. I know Peter already knew he stole the painting but how Ancould he have had the butterfly that he left for the loan shark?
Another problem i had not just with this show is that if the FBI has this building so surrounded there should be no way that the 2 bad guys should be able to get away with $100,000 of government money just by running out the back door.
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11-21-2009 @ 6:47PM
knee.here said...
The butterfly origami was left in the frame at the girls' hotel room when Neil stole the painting. So, when the FBI raided the room, they found the frame with the butterfly in it. I'm assuming Neil used a scrap piece of paper and made the butterfly after pocketing the painting.
More generally, I think everyone is complaining about details in a show designed to be light-hearted entertainment. Some shows aren't meant to be complicated. I don't think that implausible situations take the fun out of the show. On a similar note, who cares if the bad guy gets caught easily?
This show has never pretended to be anything but entertaining and to ask it to deliver an intricate mystery or realistic situations is just silly.
11-22-2009 @ 1:02PM
Dan Chichian said...
I just assumed that origami was Neal's calling card when he stole something and that Peter has a butterfly from a previous heist. I will have to re-watch but I don't think they were the same color.
11-22-2009 @ 5:07PM
JP said...
I must have missed when the fbi raided the hotel room...But he left the butterfly because thats what the loan shark called him.
11-24-2009 @ 4:08AM
MT said...
The FBI were waiting for the loan shark at the hotel, but he escaped (one of the agents mentioned it), so they were left with the butterfly which the loan shark left behind.
Burke could add two and two together and figured out that Neal stole the painting.
11-21-2009 @ 6:42PM
miles said...
That's the feeling I got from Kate. She's running her own con.
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11-21-2009 @ 9:34PM
chrissthomas said...
I am also perplexed at the statement that Elizabeth has a history as a con. Where was that revealed because I don't remember it?
Why ask how he found the X because it was so improbable? Like you have never had anything improbable happen to you. He got lucky and saw something and took a wild guess. It paid off and the plot moves along. I agree that the show shouldn't be overthought just have fun with it.
I think Kate is pulling a super long con for sure. She did not seem to really love Neil in those scenes, there was something forced about them from her. Also, she really focused on getting the locations of "everything" from Neil. Seems fishy to me and it would also be a great way of drawing the plot out and making it more complex so it seems likely. Overall a very good episode.
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11-21-2009 @ 9:44PM
Bob Sassone said...
I thought that in the pilot Burke mentioned something about having Elizabeth followed and her records checked before he asked her out or something like that and I assumed he met her from a case or something. I might be wrong about that now that I think of it, I think he was just checking into her background in general.
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11-22-2009 @ 4:42PM
Jessica said...
No, it was just basic romcom stalking (note to guys- don't do that). He wanted to know if she was already dating someone before he asked her out, so he used his FBI skills to find out.
11-22-2009 @ 10:09AM
Andrew said...
For finding the note outside the station; on the side of the girder, there's a big metal X in rivets.
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11-23-2009 @ 10:29AM
Gina said...
I read an article that Tiffani Thiessen is pregnant. Are they going to work that into the show?
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11-24-2009 @ 4:11AM
MT said...
My one hope is that the man running the long con is not Moz. That would be just too obvious...
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11-26-2009 @ 10:12PM
James said...
Regardless of some uneveness early in the series - give it time. This show is so refreshing and quite frankly Matt Bomer could read the phone book and I would watch...
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11-27-2009 @ 11:13PM
claire said...
ok.. about the note in the stone thing... you did miss something... on the bottle its x marks the spot... bc kate loves the classics and soo then he goes to where that map leads... and the building as a stone with an x on it and its behind that.. thats how he knew
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