Is Neal's Sentence Commuted? Review: White Collar Season Finale - "Judgment Day"

White Collar, S3, E16 – “Judgment Day”

Air date: Tuesday, February 28, 2012, 10/9c on USA

Rating: ★★★★★

Is Neal's Sentence Commuted? Review: White Collar Season Finale - "Judgment Day" 1

Agent Kramer (Beau Bridges) on Neal's tail

Since our regular White Collar reviewer is regrettably unavailable to do this review, I am sitting in for her. While I haven’t seen every episode of White Collar, I’ve seen enough to say the series is consistently engaging and has some good writers on board. Neal Caffrey (Matt Bomer) and Mozzie (Willie Garson) just might be my favorite duo on television these days.

“Neal George Caffrey.”

Neal sits in a stark white room with windows for walls. The day for reckoning has come. Will his sentence be commuted? Judging from his past actions and the good work he’s done for the FBI, Neal won’t make the commutation hearing committee’s choice easy. He has a big task before him: to nab the infamous Raphael in order to atone for a past mistake.

Is Neal's Sentence Commuted? Review: White Collar Season Finale - "Judgment Day" 2

Neal (Matt Bomer) and Sara (Hilarie Burton) confer about the Raphael

Facing down Agent Kramer (Beau Bridges) has set Neal on edge, especially as the agent has cracked Neal’s coded letters to Kate (Alexandra Daddario). I’m not sure what Kramer is expecting to find, but only one thing is on Neal’s mind: to get the Raphael back in Sara’s (Hilarie Burton) hands before Kramer can catch him with it. Racing against time is surely his forte, and he gets plenty of help from Mozzie. I have mixed feelings about the way Mozzie assists Neal, because it’s too pat and just too easy. How far will Mozzie really go for Neal, and vice versa? Garson makes me believe his Mozzie will always be there, but I wonder if that will be the case next season. Neal gets cornered, and there’s no time except to get the hell out of New York.

Out of all Neal’s friends and FBI agents, only one agent says Neal’s sentence should not be commuted, and that’s Agent Jones (Sharif Atkins). This is no surprise, because they’re not exactly friends. More interesting is that Kramer is supposed to come before the committee, but thankfully that doesn’t happen. When it comes Burke’s (Tim DeKay) turn to put in a word for Neal, though, I did expect a different answer, especially after Burke tells Kramer he believes Neal should serve the rest of his sentence (he says this only because he learns Kramer wants Neal to work with him in DC). Burke senses Neal isn’t completely honest about everything even though they have an agreement to always be so. But Neal is a sharp criminal; he will lie when necessary, and only to save himself. It’s clear on Burke’s face (thanks to DeKay’s superb acting) that he’s conflicted about Neal. As much as he respects Neal, he can’t make up his mind about him. When Neal, however, asks Burke to extend his radius tracking so he can go get the Raphael, Burke does so willingly. It becomes clear when Burke nods to Neal on the street to get away (which is one of my favorite moments), that he has complete trust in him. We witness how close the two have become throughout this season; I think we know Burke is firmly on Neal’s side. The question becomes, just how far will Burke go for Neal?

Another favorite bit is when Neal comes before the committee. He’s clear-eyed and realistic about what might happen. He tells the committee of three: “I have a good job, a wonderful home… a partner and a best friend. A family.” This is what he wants, more than anything. Bomer does a good job in this scene, giving us, through his eyes, a glimmer of this dawning realization.

We are left with a bit of a cliffhanger, with Neal and Mozzie taking off for parts unknown, and a new relationship to be explored. We know the Raphael has unknowingly been in the possession of a woman in the witness protection program—Helen aka E. Parker (Judity Ivey)—all along, but we don’t know what her relationship with Neal’s father is, or what happened to turn him into a corrupt cop.