Monsters of Television

“Jerry would never let you get that far.”

Probably the most unbelievable part after base-jumping unnoticed onto a busy street is that the hat he tossed down in front of him sat on a New York sidewalk for 30 whole seconds and hadn't been peed on yet.

Letting Tiffani Thiessen’s husband be the villain-of-the-week a couple episodes ago pushed the show off the very thin tightrope they walk every week above Campy and made it come off as a monster-hybrid short of a Syfy original. And Eliza Dushku last week, bless her heart, those pouty lips, and her perky — well, everything, but, when miscast, she has the delivery of day player given her first speaking role (I honestly cringed when she quoted The Book of the Dead). Unfortunate timing for her to be in scenes where they reintroduce the closest thing to a big bad White Collar has had since Fowler.

Yeah, the lead up to the summer finale wasn’t stellar. But they have to give us something and the White Collar Writer’s Room kept demanding via Twitter for East Coast not to ruin the episode for the West Coast. So I assumed that something good had to happen, that the art treasure storyline was going to finally come to a head.

I need to stop listening to Twitter. Read more »

“You’re looking very ‘To Catch a Thief’ tonight.”

“Be afraid of my fancy-pants gun!”

I was hoping for some surfing and for Neal and Peter to come out wearing President masks, but then I realized that the title isn’t “Point Break.” And that this isn’t Psych.

You know how when you’re playing with a dog, dangling a rope toy or something? You dangle it in front of him/her and the dog, depending on age and health, will be ready to hunt for it, snapping, champing at the bit (literally) to get a piece of that rope toy. But say you keep it out of reach of the dog, either in hope s/he will go to further lengths to get it or to exert your authority over the animal or both. You never get the response you want, though. Instead of trying harder to get the toy, the dog will generally get tired of the game, lose interest, feel like the s/he’s engaged in something s/he wasn’t meant to be a part of, and then promptly find a corner to lick him/herself quietly.

That’s how I feel about Kate. Her intangibility doesn’t make me want to know more about her. It makes me care not at all. And Neal didn’t help me this season to change my mind. Because he seemed to care even less. That is until the summer finale and then, suddenly, the seasonal arc is far more important than it was all season, Neal becomes the desperate man I had an inkling he might become but to no real emotional reward. In fact, the only person that really matters to me anymore is Mozzie. Poor, sweet Mozzie.

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