White Collar promotional poster
The pilot episode of White Collar was most definitely slick and smart, as well as charming, as Matt Bormer will charm the pants off anyone he meets as his suave alter ego Neal Caffrey.
This show most definitely fits in the USA Network’s slew of shows, which include Burn Notice and Royal Pains. It has good pacing and interesting chemistry between Matt Bormer and Tim DeKay, something that isn’t easy to fake. They work well on the screen, there is no denying this.
Basically, Dekay’s Burke is a white collar specialist who put Bormer’s Caffrey away a few years ago. In order to reduce his sentence a bit further, after having escaped a super max jail, Caffrey offers to help Burke to catch the illusive Dutchman, a criminal that Burke has also been chasing for a few years. This setup kind of reminds me of Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can as well as The Sting with Redford and Newman.
What’s also interesting, is that the guys don’t just keep this professional. They also involve their personal lives. Burke needs help to make his hot wife Elizabeth, played by Tiffani Thiessen, happy while Caffrey is searching for his wife that just vanished. All in all, a great show with good actors. I recommend it.
Warning: spoilers ahead
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The big revelation in this episode is that the man who is holding Kate prisoner is from the FBI. At least that’s what the Interpol agent told Neal. The cases are interesting, but I’d like them to move forward with why Kate has been taken away. They are drip dropping around with this one, not letting us know much of the situation.
I also find it funny that Liz, Peter’s wife, has 100% confidence in Neal, a known felon. I mean, they haven’t known each other for very long, even though Burke has spent quite a bit of time chasing after Neal.
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The FBI is missing an undercover agent. Agent Costa was trying to launder money through Shen. One of Caffrey’s aliases was involved with Shen. They want him to go undercover. They make it known that Holden is in town looking to launder some mula. Caffrey has go to play a poker version of dominoes.
The NYPD raids the game and the gangsters suspect Caffrey. They pull guns on him. The cops arrive and Caffrey has got to get out of there to maintain his cover. Burke didn’t want it to go down this way. Instead of meeting Burke, Neal gets a meeting with Shen again. The hot Asian chick picks him up and takes him to a condo. She takes off his watch. Neal has got a GSM device in the watch. She smashes it. She pulls a gun on Neal. She’s working for Interpol. She called the cops. She knows that Caffrey is posing as Holden. She says that if he helps her, he’ll get Kate. She knows where she is and knows what the man with the ring wants, or so she says.
The next day, Neal turns up. He doesn’t tell Burke about the offer from Interpol. They trace the tip off call to Mai Lin Wong. This is the Interpol girl. It doesn’t lead them to much but Burke records Mai Lin’s escort girl co-workers. Lauren runs Mai Lin’s face and finds out that she’s Interpol.
Liz tells Peter that there is only one reason Neal would keep something like this from him: Kate.
Burke finds Costa. He’s dead. He tells Neal that he knows about his Interpol friend. Burke tells him that it isn’t about Lao’s boss. He doesn’t have any. It’s about funding. If they arrest Lao on Chinese soil, they get more funding from China.
Mai Ling shows up at Neal’s place. She entices him with more info. Neal doesn’t really buy it. On the day of the bust, Mai Ling gives him a new account number, one that the FBI can’t trace. He gives Lao the money from Mai Ling’s account and then plays another hand of dominoes.
The flash drive Mai Ling gave Neal is empty. She phones him later and says that the one with Kate is FBI.
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