Welcome Back Diana. Review: White Collar - “Taking Stock”

Season 5, Episode 12

Air Date: Thursday, January 23, 2014, 9/8c on USA

Rating: ★★★★★

“I was always a badass.” – Diana

When mysterious Conrad Worth (Steven Pasquale) calls one of Rebecca’s (Bridget Regan) confiscated cellphones to offer her a job, Peter (Tim Dekay) decides Agent Diana Berrigan (Marsha Thomason) is the only woman convincing enough to go undercover as Rebecca. Despite Diana being gone for only eight episodes, it feels much longer. Diana brings a different dynamic to the all boys club at the FBI, and her presence rejuvenates the rest of the cast. I have always enjoyed the relationship between Peter and Diana, but particularly so in “Taking Stock” because of Dekay’s excellent return as director. There are also some nice one-on-one moments between Diana and others in the cast, like Mozzie (Willie Garson) and Jones (Sharif Atkins).

While I have really enjoyed this season of White Collar, there have been times where I felt things were forgotten or put on hold. Things like Siegel’s (Warren Kole) death, which was all but ignored most of the season. At other times, things were not fleshed out enough, and I wonder whether creator Jeff Eastin’s focus on Graceland played a part in that. I would have welcomed a flashback scene with Rebecca explaining what happened between her and Siegel that led to his murder. How much had he really figured out about her?

The other thing the writers haven’t focused on much, if at all, is Rebecca being a female Neal (Matt Bomer). I would have liked it if that had been explored more because every time Neal looks at Rebecca through the interrogation room glass, he basically is looking in the mirror. For far too long, Neal has acted like his cons never hurt anyone but with what happened, he feels differently now. How many times did your parents scold you for doing something you shouldn’t by saying, “How would you feel if someone did that to you?” Well, Neal got his answer and it hurts. The writers briefly approached the subject in a scene between Peter and Elizabeth (Tiffani Thiessen) where they talk about Neal.

Peter: “Rebecca not only conned him, she broke his heart. What Neal needs right now is rules, structure.”

Elizabeth: “Or, what he needs is to figure out what he wants in his life. Maybe this was a wake-up call for Neal.”

The writers have focused a lot on the love aspect between Rebecca and Neal, but what about Neal and Peter’s relationship? This season, the two men have been more at odds with each other than usual, and while there will always be a little con man in Neal, I do think Rebecca is the wake-up call Neal needed. I wanted to see more of the internal conflict Neal is going through, not about his broken heart but his realization of how similar he is to Rebecca. I really was hoping for a good heart-to-heart moment, friend to friend, where Neal talks to Peter about the toll being conned has taken, and how he realizes the impact a con can have on people. This would have been a great build-up to the scene later in “Taking Stock” between Peter the FBI agent and Neal the Con Man where Peter asks Neal a very important question:

Peter: “One question for you, just one.”

Neal: “Shoot.”

Peter: “Do you think you can go straight?”

Neal: “Yes.”

It is a powerful scene that I thought should have been explored more by the writers.

There is another line in the scene that gets lost in the gravity of the moment that really shows Peter coming around, and that is when he tells Neal, “Actions define us, I made sure yours did.”

It’s a surprising admission by Peter, especially given his earlier ”Once a con always a con” speech he gave Neal earlier in the season. Had the kitchen scene taken place with Peter and Neal having an honest discussion instead of being between Peter and Elizabeth, the later scene would have been even more powerful.

The meeting between Neal and Rebecca is interesting but I found her interaction with Peter much more intriguing. She explains she had Peter in her sights but knew it would hurt Neal if she pulled the trigger. It feels like we are still missing a piece to Rebecca’s past, and the reasoning behind all the research that went into finding out about the White Collar Unit. Is someone from the past funding all of this? Did they help Rebecca escape or did she do it on her own?

Funny moments

Mozzie driving the babysitter so crazy she quits

Mozzie with the baby

Neal getting caught with his pants down.

“Taking Stock” welcomes Diana back and it truly is a joy to have Thomason back on screen. Four babies were used to play little Theo but I wonder if the photo she places on her desk is a prop or her real baby. Whichever, he certainly is cute!

With only one more episode this season, it’s driving me nuts how much this penultimate episode feels like a build-up to a series finale rather than a season ending. Of course, I felt the same way after last week’s episode too. I hope USA Network makes an announcement about season six soon.

Tweet me @staffaroadtrip or leave a comment below to let me know what you think about “Taking Stock.”

For more on the show, visit the official website at http://www.usanetwork.com/series/whitecollar/.

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Greg Staffa

I provide testosterone to the site. You won’t be reading about how nice a actress looks in a dress or how much of a hunk Matt Bomer is in my reviews. I describe colors using words like brown, not taupe. My twitter name is @staffaroadtrip because I love road trips and have done two different 48-state road trips since 2008. My favorite show is White Collar.