White Collar – Recap & Review – Countdown

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White Collar
Countdown

Original Air Date: Aug 9, 2011

Jules – Sr. Reviewer
jules@thetwocentscorp.com

My heart is still pounding after watching White Collar’s summer finale. What a rush! This show is never shy with jaw-dropping finales, from Kate’s plane blowing up and then Mozzie being shot, and this one just follows in that trend. With the Degas sold last week, Mozzie and Neal must do their part to get it back, while staying one step ahead of the FBI. All the while, Neal must also decide where his allegiance lies.

Speaking of lies, it’s an episode filled with them. So let’s not waste any time and dive in.

We open with Neal conning Mozzie into finally talking to him since the blow up last week. Neal tells Mozzie he believes he has a life here and wants to stay, although he hasn’t completely made up his mind yet. Neal does reason with Mozzie to agree to stop the Degas from being found.

At the FBI we are welcomed to Agent Kramer (Beau Bridges), Peter’s mentor and current head of the DC Art Crimes unit. He’s here to help with a tip the FBI got about a Degas on the black market they have to find. And yes, it’s the same Degas that Mozzie just sold.

Neal rushes home to tell Mozzie and now they must contact Mozzie’s middleman, Rusty. This is also when Mozzie gives Neal an ultimatum with a giant hour glass. Neal has 48 hours to decide if he wants to leave. In that time, Mozzie will do whatever Neal asks to keep Peter from finding the Degas.

Peter, Elizabeth and Kramer are chit-chatting and we discover Peter’s probie nickname was “the archeologist” because he never stopped digging. Cute! Peter still suspects Neal as stealing the Degas, while Kramer reminds Peter that these are short term relationships and that if Neal’s a suspect, he must treat him as such.

Kramer has narrowed two middlemen who might have sold the Degas, one of whom is Rusty. Kramer asks who Neal would use and Neal says Rusty, so Peter gets Rusty and Kramer gets the other guy to tail. As they head to find Rusty, Mozzie meets with him to get info on who he sold the painting to, but he doesn’t budge. Just then, Mozzie spots Peter and Neal coming and is just able to get away, but not before he steals Rusty’s phone to delete any connection to them. Rusty is soon caught and the phone given to Peter as found by Neal.

Just as things seem to be going well for Neal, he runs into Agent Matthews, the agent from DC art crimes who told him about the manifest. Now that his fake identity of being an Interpol agent could be blown, he quickly creates a cover for his own identity to buy some time. She buys it.

From Rusty’s phone, the FBI find Elliot Richmond, who might have bought the Degas. They set up a meeting with him to negotiate with guns he might enjoy. Peter and Diana get the deal made and set up a plan to take him down for arms trafficking to get the Degas.

Neal then pulls one heck of a slight of hand by sneaking a piece of paper from Agent Matthews’ folder, which turns out to be a search warrant for Richmond’s place the next day. So yet another problem for our duo. Right after Neal tells Mozzie, who thinks they need to copyright that “we’ve got a problem” phrase, Keller shows up, of all things. He still wants the treasure and tells Mozzie that he’ll have to make them give him the treasure. By how, who knows?

Peter continues to track Neal’s whereabouts and Elizabeth comes out and says that Neal did it because last time Peter was that obsessed, he caught Neal.

Neal is working on a forgery to swap the paintings and already has a plan that involves Peter locking him in a room at the apartment and a bazooka. At the same time, Peter has a plan that involves keeping Neal close to see the expression on his face when he sees the Degas.

Mozzie, with mustache, goes to sell Richmond on the bazooka and leaves to hang out in a near by closet to get into the elevator system. Loved the music that plays during this! Neal does exactly what Peter expects him to do, while Mozzie overtakes the elevator and stops Peter and Diana mid-ride. While the front desk people work on the elevator, Neal picks his way out of the closet and into an open elevator just before it closes and anyone noticing.

Neal gets into Richmond’s penthouse, easily finds the hidden Degas and replaces it with the forged one, which was hiding in the bazooka. Ah, finally get why they needed it. Duh! Mozzie tells Neal that Peter and Diana are there and Neal is still in the room, but manages to escape just in the nick of time…again, as Richmond goes to answer his door.

Neal’s outside, but he never told us how he was going to get back down, but did take out some gear from the bazooka box. And there we have it. One of the better escapes I’ve ever seen him pull off. Just as Peter and Diana look his way Neal climbs over the railing, throws over his hat and parachutes off the building! He passes the Degas to Mozzie below and goes back to his closet and soon Peter is there with the painting.

Kramer looks at the painting to identify if it’s real or fake and with some of Neal’s interjections, they discover it’s a forgery – a really good one – that Kramer calls the best he’s ever seen. Peter is a bit disappointed about it being fake and with info about how good the forgery is, still suspects Neal.

By now, Agent Matthews has discovered Neal’s secret. He apologizes for lying to her and knows that she has to tell the truth to her boss, but also knows that by doing so, she’ll be in hot water for talking about the manifest. So they both agree to keep mum about it all. Too easy a resolution, but I’ll take it.

Neal’s 48 hours are up and he says that there are things in this life that he isn’t ready to give up and decides to stay, leaving Mozzie a bit disappointed.

Peter’s talking to Elizabeth telling her that he’s missed something, but it’s late and he soon heads home. When Peter gets to his car, he notices a phone on the dashboard. It’s Keller telling him that Caffrey has the treasure and he’s seen it and wants it. Keller repeats what Elizabeth just said on the phone and the worst thing in Peter’s life just happened.

The last sequence with Peter in a daze while at home looking at what happened and then him telling Neal that Keller took his wife. OMG!

Let’s hope Elizabeth is OK and found soon; she is a series regular. But what will Neal do with this news? I hope he turns himself in, but what about Keller? He better be caught. And has Mozzie left for good? I’m sure when he finds out that Keller took Mrs. Suit, who he’s befriended a lot this season, he’ll be back for sure. There’s my TwoCents, share yours and other comments below!