Monsters of Television

“Do your thing, Dirty Harry.”

Peter: “How can I be cool again?” Mozzie: “First, I’d have to disabuse you of the notion that you were ever cool before.”

USA keeps reminding me their programming focus is on character. And that might be the only reason I’m coming back to White Collar.

The kinks in the partnership between Neal and Peter have been worked out from a chemistry perspective if not narratively. The glimmers of hope for a great buddy cop show (with federal-agent-procedural stakes) have been more or less fulfilled, demonstrated by Neal and Peter’s first conversation. Neal is no longer the criminal Peter feels he has to be skeptical of. They’re partners now and, while the cop in him is still skeptical, Peter is willing to accept the sketchier parts of Neal’s life (i.e. Mozzie) in order to maintain the friendship.

And that’s what this first episode is all about: the further establishment of the trust bond between these two former rivals, the progression of their mutual respect. Neal continues his track of warming to rule of law and Peter finds deeper sympathy for the devil. Every step of this episode is to further demonstrate how good a team they’ve become, from Peter’s restrained desperation to get Neal back on the force to their non-verbal (or monosyllabic) communication to Peter’s desire to find ways into Neal’s probably grief-stricken head. The stuff with Mozzie is very telling of the esteem in which they hold each other (because Mozzie wouldn’t trust Suit if Neal didn’t trust him). Other characters fall to the wayside in pursuit of this establishment but, let’s face it, even though Neal’s realtionship with her is funny and Peter’s sweet, no one is watching this show for Elizabeth Burke (who makes a single, superfluous, green-screen appearance).

Here’s the thing: as nuanced and developed as the characters are, I’m not sure I could care less about the story.

The plot of this episode, a financier-turned-bank-robber in his free time trying to pull a heist under our heroes’ noses, doesn’t offer any dramatic twists. In fact, their first suspect is the correct one in the end. White Collar isn’t so much a whodunnit as it is a “how did I do it” and “how do you catch me.” There is a lot of ego-play in the series (Neal the caught criminal, Peter the second fiddle to a caught criminal, Mozzie the vestigial sidekick with a successful past) and the normal twists and turns of subterfuge in the child genre of the spy procedural don’t necessarily apply here. While containing some elements of mystery, it’s, more or less, straight-forward.

The episode-level plots are fine for what they are. It’s the series arc that intrigues me because I have no feelings about it. An airplane Neal planned to board at the end of last season blew up, the music box (apparently containing something more than a tinny rendition of The Nutcracker Suite) is changing hands in a kind of backstabby way, and the mastermind evil of last season (Fowler) has disappeared but all I can think is, “Thank God Kate is dead; he can stop saying her name every five minutes.” Had an airplane blown up at the end of a season (any season) of Lost and I would’ve been on the edge of my seat, demanding answers. Here, for some reason, I don’t care.

I’m still trying to determine why that is. I don’t think they should do away with it since it pushes the characters and drives the season (I guess?) but I suppose it’s just not why I watch the series. I’m watching to see how Neal will grift for good. I’m watching to see Peter’s proud papa grin. I’m watching for banter, the relationships, the way Neal will inevitably come down with the answer at the end. I guess it’s like House in that respect, except the story arc I don’t care about has the potential to blow up into something that matters. You know, unlike Huddy, which not only doesn’t seem feasible but also makes me yawn.

Detritus:

• They’re really trying to sell me on Kate being dead. Characters brought up her death, her being “killed,” several times in this episode but I think they did too good a job on staging a soap opera death for me concede to the loss of her character. I’m going to have to see a body. And even then I won’t be satisfied.
• This was a well-executed second season opener. They could have resorted to a lot of clunky exposition to catch the audience up on last season (see Chuck, even episode to episode) but they dropped us in with a lot more show than tell. It was well-appreciated.
• There is the small spirit of a reset button here (Neal going quasi-rogue only to come back into the fold within the space of the teaser) but the show-not-tell aspect of this opener plus the focus being on re-establising Peter and Neal’s bond upfront made it okay.
• Okay, I do kind of want to know what’s inside the box. Treasure? Deeds? The secret to Dan Brown’s success?
• Just in case you were confused, the quote under the image doesn’t actually come from the White Collar. It’s from Sports Night. But I like to think Mozzie and Peter have the opportunity here to be the next Dan Rydell and Casey McCall.