When White Collar first premiered back in October of 2009, it immediately joined the very long list of my favorite TV shows. I’ve found that the quality of most shows that I watch decline over time from how good they were when they first started, and my level of enjoyment watching them often declines over time along with the show’s quality. However, White Collar is thankfully not one of those shows, in fact the level of enjoyment that I get from watching the show often increases over time, especially after I’ve watched the season finale for each season. The season three finale definitely left me feeling very excited for season four to start, and the season four premiere alone definitely did a good job for the most part of living up to all of the hype that E! Online’s Kristin Dos Santos along with many of the people from the TVLine website have been giving season four.
Often times I’ve found that one of the reasons why the level of enjoyment that I get from watching a TV show declines over time is because the writers of a lot of shows get stuck in the same patterns for writing every episode of the show. That’s why I always like it when writers aren’t afraid to try new things when it comes to their writing for the show, and this episode was one of those instances. I really liked that instead of having this episode revolve primarily around the F.B.I. working on another case and the search for Neal simply be a subplot, it was all about them trying to track Neal down.
It was definitely great to see Elizabeth working with Peter to track Neal down. I’ve always loved it when Elizabeth helps Neal and Peter with a case that they are working on in some way. That’s the main reason why episode 3x13 “Neighborhood Watch” is one of my favorite episodes from season 3. I love that it was Elizabeth who ended up convincing Ellen to help Peter get in touch with Neal in order to warn him about Agent Collins looking for him and subsequently help Peter find Neal.
One thing that really surprised me about this episode is how quickly Peter managed to find Neal. I was expecting the writers to drag that out for two three episodes before Peter and the rest of the New York F.B.I. bureau found Neal. Although, with White Collar being a cable TV series, which typically have much shorter seasons than shows that air on network TV channels, the writers for White Collar don’t have the luxury of stretching things out too long. That’s not necessarily a bad thing though. I hate it when writers drag storylines out too long sometimes; doing that can potentially make things get very frustrating and annoying after a while. However, it’s obvious that the whole storyline with Neal being on the run isn’t over yet. They still have to deal with Agent Collins being intent on tracking down Neal, and it’s obvious that he’s really bad news. Plus, there’s also the matter of Peter, Neal and Mozzie getting back to New York and dealing with the fact that Neal once again went on the run from the law before the decision was made about whether or not Neal’s sentence would be commuted.
I’m guessing the fact that Neal once again ran from the law will lead to Neal’s sentence not being commuted, and perhaps they might rule that Neal should serve more time as an F.B.I. consultant than he was originally sentenced to. Doing that would also allow the writers to continue the show’s run beyond the four years that Neal was originally sentenced to. Although, I kind of like the idea of Neal completing his sentence as a consultant for the F.B.I. before the show ends its run and voluntarily choosing to continue working for the F.B.I. However, I suppose the show could always end with Neal completing his sentence as a F.B.I. consultant, but choosing to continue working for the F.B.I. even if he didn’t have to anymore. One thing is for sure though, I definitely don’t want White Collar to eventually end its run with Neal and Peter going their separate ways, never to see or talk to each other again. Despite the fact that Peter was once in charge of tracking Neal down and putting him in prison the first time, it’s obvious that they have genuinely become friends during their time working together.
The other thing that really surprised me about this episode is the fact that Agent Kramer seems to have gone away, but they did mention him briefly in this episode as him being the reason Neal went on the run. I’m assuming that he went back to Washing D.C. after Neal went on the run. I don’t know if it was the writers’ decision to have Agent Kramer not be featured in this episode, or if they simply had to handle it the way that they did because Beau Bridges wasn’t available to appear in the season premiere, but I have to say that I was really disappointed with how they handled that. After all, Agent Kramer having a grudge against Neal and Peter was the reason why Neal went on the run in the first place. Not having Agent Kramer/Beau Bridges in this episode is something the writers for 90210 would do if they were writing for White Collar, and the writers for White Collar are definitely much better than that. The absence of Agent Kramer or at the very least a mention of where he was in this episode if Beau Bridges wasn’t available to appear in this episode was definitely a major fail on the writers’ part, if you ask me.
I felt like this episode had a nice blend of drama and comedy in this episode, which is something the writers of White Collar have always done a great job of. Although, this was definitely an episode where the writers needed to put an emphasis on the dramatic aspect of the show given the plot of the episode and the fact that Neal was in serious danger with Agent Collins going after him and obviously not caring if he was able to capture Neal alive or dead. The writers really excelled at emphasizing the dramatic aspect of the plot. Agent Collins definitely seems to want Neal dead, and that’s why I think he’s really bad news, especially considering the way the episode ended with him finding Neal and turning pretty much everyone on Cape Verde against him.
This episode definitely had some nice comedic moments in it as well. I particularly liked Mozzie’s comment to the man he was trying to buy transport off the island on his boat from about him committing “sea-way robbery”. That was hilarious. Plus, I enjoyed the scenes between Neal and Maya, especially the scene where Neal was answering Maya’s questions about his life in New York. I personally found that scene rather romantic.
One last comment that I’d like to make about this episode is that I absolutely hated Matt Bomer and Willie Garson’s facial hair, especially Willie’s. Usually I consider Matt Bomer to be one of the sexiest men on earth, but Matt’s facial hair definitely lowered his level of sex appeal a little bit in this episode for me personally. I’ve almost always considered men having facial hair a major turn-off for me personally.
All things considered, I thought that was a great episode for the most part. It definitely had fairly nice pacing, and a nice balance of drama and comedy. The absence of Agent Kramer/Beau Bridges from this episode was definitely the most disappointing thing about this episode given the significant role that he played at the end of season three. That really was a major fail on the writers’ part.
That being said, I give this episode a rating of a B+.
