White Collar, S4, E04: “Parting Shots”

Airdate: Tuesday, July 28, 2012, 9/8c on USA

Rating: ★★★★★

“I need to know who I am.” – Neal

An interesting thing is exposed on the road to self-discovery: how far one is willing to go to get what they want – whether that’s truth revealed, secrets hidden, love requited, or the root of all evil – money. It’s something that White Collar is comfortable exploring as the writers build the motives and methods of our favorite FBI agent and con man.

Some cases are a team effort – and Mrs. Suit (Tiffani Thiessen) is part of the team.

Peter (Tim DeKay) has always walked the line. He’s a model agent who tenaciously searches for the truth. As Neal (Matt Bomer) says in “Parting Shots,” Peter is “the man we all wish we could be more like.” But there’s something about Neal – something that caught Peter early on in his quest to catch the con – that allows and even encourages Peter to cross that line. He’s become quite good at the cons himself, and in “Parting Shots,” he has to convince Neal that the con is worth it.

Neal has, until recently, lived comfortably in the grey areas of life. Never fully committing to a cause or purpose, he moves like water through situations and circumstances until he achieves the desired results. He has trusted few people in his life; trusting Peter has grounded him, forcing him to look at who he really is. For me, the intriguing thing about this season of White Collar is that with the chance Peter gave Neal to return to New York, we’re pealing back the layers of Neal’s life and discovering what laid the foundation for his inclination toward manipulation.

It was interesting to me to discover that even Mozzie (Willie Garson) doesn’t know the whole truth of Neal’s past. He befriends Ellen (Judith Ivey) and, using his adorably sly ways, gets her to tell a subtly heartbreaking story of how Neal worked the system so he could get to school on time when he was in the second grade. With this character-building arc playing so seamlessly in the background, it doesn’t come as a surprise to me when Neal finds himself softening toward Sophie Covington (Lauren Vandervoort), the mark of “Parting Shots’” particular con.

When Sara Ellis (Hilarie Burton) – who is apparently the only investigator Sterling Bosch employs – asks Peter and Neal to help her discover whether recently widowed (and altogether gorgeous) Sophie deserves the $50,000,000 she stands to inherit from her dead husband, the team gets a bit more than they bargained for. Peter, who is still under the thumb of the ill-tempered Agent Patterson (Brett Cullen) in the Cave (and who wouldn’t be grouchy spending their days cataloging glass eyes and snakes) jumps at the chance to be part of the case.

Peter had been lead investigator on the late Mr. Covington’s as-yet-unsolved murder and manages to convince Agent Hughes (James Rebhorn) to grant him consultant status – anything to get him out of the Cave even for a little while.

Neal (incredulous): “You’re a consultant? Do you have a radius?”

Peter (smug and satisfied): “I have a badge.”

It’s great to see Hughes have more screen time as he helps supplement Peter’s consultant status; I’ve always liked the curmudgeony leader. And my second favorite partnering of agents has to be Jones (Sharif Atkins) and Peter. Watching them back each other up as they follow a private investigator tailing Neal was pure fun.

A different kind of ‘hat trick.’

I’ve often appreciated the director’s use of reflecting surfaces in the fish bowl-like FBI office – showing doubled images of Peter or Neal in the windows and doors. As a viewer, it sets me off just a bit and makes me pay closer attention to what I might not realize I’m actually seeing. “Parting Shots” shrewdly uses glass to cut between two characters that appear aligned but may, in fact, be viewing situations very differently. Neal and Sara’s future is still somewhat uncertain because Neal left without saying goodbye but, as Sara puts it, “the world didn’t stop turning” while Neal was gone. Something tells me Sara sees Neal rather clearly and we’ll be seeing the redhead again.

One of the best moments of “Parting Shots” has nothing to do with the well-executed con, and also reveals quite a bit about Neal’s character. As she’s leaving her husband’s memorial service, Sophie is nearly kidnapped. Neal, who is walking toward Peter’s car, thwarts the attempt, saving her life in the process. It is, of course, the perfect in to Neal’s conning the widow but he doesn’t do it for that reason, making it all the more meaningful when he’s hesitant about following through.

But between Mozzie and Peter, Neal is convinced this con will save Sophie’s life, and he allows himself to let some walls down with her, engendering her trust by the mutual understanding that it’s possible to suddenly discover you’re “living a life you never thought you’d have.” The undercurrent of meaning in Neal’s words ripple through each of the primary characters this season.

Slainte!

Personally, I think it was Sophie’s perfectly executed hat flip that wins Neal over, but it could also have her loneliness that he relates to. For all his style and swagger, and even with Peter and Mozzie in his corner, it’s rather clear Neal is lonely. The con doesn’t go as smoothly as anyone expects and the final, tense confrontation is a true test of the level of trust Peter has in Neal – and Hughes has in Peter. The end result is what we’ve been waiting for since the season began. Raise your hand if you wanted to attend that celebratory party as much as I did.

But there is one last ‘parting shot’ awaiting Neal as he returns to Ellen to find out more about his father and the reality of his past. As Ellen said, there was a good reason she was put in Witness Protection, and that reason catches up with her, leaving Neal with only the cryptic directions to “ask Sam,” a former cop and his father’s friend. Bomer’s face captures his character’s devastation with tragic perfection, leaving us to wonder if the truth Neal’s so desperately seeking will result in the same end game for him.

White Collar will be back on August 14 to help put more of the Neal Caffrey puzzle together.

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