Every Dog Has His Degas

I tell you what, wow! White Collar may have started off a little shaky for me in the first season, but these last two have been pretty damn impressive. Sure, there are the off episodes here or there or errant storyline that I could live without (*cough* Sarah and Neal's "romance" *cough*), but overall, I've been pleasantly surprised. Tuesday's midseason finale was incredibly suspenseful from beginning to end, pulling together several secondary storylines and tying them all together with the ongoing story arc.

First thing's first. Who all is glad beyond glad that we haven't had to listen to one word about that stupid music box or Kate this season? Everyone? Super. Man alive I'm enjoying the stolen Nazi art plotline better than the convoluted, only occasionally enthralling music box angle. Vast improvement. Given that I never liked or cared about Kate, I had a hard time really investing in the music box or Neal's inexplicable need to track down said bland and boring ex-girlfriend. I cared at all because Neal cared and I care about him. That said, the stakes just never seemed all that high. So you're saying, if he fails, we WON'T have to see Kate? Um, go Neal go? Yeah, no. I hate seeing Neal failing, but when the alternative is Kate von Vacanteyes, I'll take it. With the Nazi art, not only do we have a central item that's truly worth fighting for, but it brings a gravity and nail-biting suspense to every aspect of the show. If Neal fails now, he'll go back to prison, Peter will be devastated, Mozzie could be implicated, and the entire fiber of the show will collapse. Now those are high stakes.

USA Network is no stranger to finales (what with every show having three or four a year), but Tuesday's outing for White Collar was extremely good and could easily have served as a season ender instead. Procedural shows are at their best when the A-plot directly affects every other aspect of the show. My main quibble with procedurals is that they don't do this often enough, or when they do, they do it poorly. Not so with White Collar's most recent pulse-pounding, slick, efficient, well-structured caper. Kudos to that.

While I've always enjoyed the bromance between Peter and Neal, I've always chaffed at the idea that Neal would be such a compliant lap dog who would sell out his criminal friends and associates with such ease. Sure he does his own thing and gives Peter a hard time, but those incidents are almost always self-serving. I don't know, I guess it just always annoyed me that he would turn his back on his peeps so blithely. It's like there's no honor among thieves or something... Anyway, that's why this season has been so appealing to me. Neal is still as self-serving as ever, going so far as to lying to Mozzie of all people out of pure self-interest, but at least his roots are showing. The writers have done a lovely job this season exploring individual nature, turning a magnifying glass on whether or not people can change. Is Neal a con man through and through? Or has he really turned a new leaf? I've always come down on the side of Neal being the master criminal that we all know and love. In the back of my mind, I've always thought of Neal's dalliance with the FBI as another con, another part for Neal to play, another mark for Neal to dupe. This season has been the first to really explore Neal's duality in a tangible way, and while Neal ultimately opted to stay in New York (rather than making a run for it like I would have wanted), I felt like the writers really looked at both options and led Neal to a justifiable conclusion. I have a much easier time sympathizing with his decision when I've seen him truly, honestly consider the feasible alternative. This is the first time his willingness to stay on the tether has truly been a choice, not a nuisance. In my book, that makes it matter a whole lot more. He's no longer Peter's prisoner by law, he's a partner by choice.

Leading Neal down such a path of soul-searching and priority-sorting makes the climax of the episode all the more thrilling and terrifying. Having managed to recover the Degas that would have sealed Neal's and Mozzie's fates in a true nail-biter of a plan, the audience is finally given a few seconds to breath, only to have it snatched away again in the final two minutes of the episode. Honestly, from the word go, I was on pins and needles worrying about whether or not Neal and Mozzie would succeed. Peter's trust in Neal has been on cracked ice for the whole season and with the midpoint fast approaching, the stakes have gotten high right along with my blood pressure. This show has proven that it's willing to take a chance here and there an reinvent the game, so the prospect of Peter actually catching Neal in a lie is a possibility. It's for this reason that the death-defying gambit to recover the Degas got me on the edge of my seat. In my heart of hearts, I knew Neal would succeed, but at the end of the day, he's been caught twice before. The writers did a fantastic job ratcheting up the suspense, notch by notch, right until the bitter end when the painting is deemed a forgery. Even then, Peter is so shaken that it's hardly a moment to relax. He's been so certain that Neal was the guy that he can't let go, which means neither can the audience. We're allowed a moment to let the tension slack, but then they go and turn it up to 11, pulling the rug right out from under us with Elizabeth's abduction.

I always appreciate it when, especially for a procedural, foundations of storylines were set up several episodes ago. Keller is an excellent and menacing villain, so bringing him back was an inspired move. The writers specifically pointed out how nervous Keller makes Elizabeth in the last episode, but smoothly veiled it in terms of her concern for Peter, whom Keller had kidnapped. I honestly didn't see it as a set-up for her own abduction at Keller's hands, which makes it all the more satisfying and surprising. The fact that she finds him so terrifying only serves to up the ante, which, quite frankly was pretty sky-high. When Peter walks into his home, so out of him mind with worry that the walls are shaking and everyone sounds like they're underwater, you can feel just how rattled he is. The direction may have been a bit over the top, but in that moment, the viewer can feel how panic-stricken he is, and can see it too. The art direction was pitch-perfect as well, with a pot of red sauce spilling onto the floor in the kitchen, looking just enough like a grisly murder scene to upend Peter even more. That was a very nice touch. The aspect that hit me the hardest though, was when Neal walked into the room and locked eyes with Peter. I thought it was interesting and even off-putting that when Keller called Peter and said confirmed that Neal had the treasure, that Peter took his word at face value. At least I think he did. Anyway, I guess Peter was so sure he was right that it didn't matter the source. That, or he still has no idea, but has to take him at his word. Having just been told that his wife is in danger because Keller wants the treasure Neal has been hiding, I was really scared for how Peter would react to seeing Neal across the room. For a second, I thought Peter would explode, screaming, "You! This is all because of you!" at Neal, but turns out, he's so overcome that all he can say is that his wife is gone. In its own way, that hits so much harder.

This turn of events changes the whole game and in an even bigger way than if Peter had caught Neal with his hand in the impressionist jar. The difference here is that it's all on Neal now. Peter has Keller's word that Neal has the art, but in the end, it's up to Neal to cop to it. This really is Neal's fault in a number of ways and Neal knows it. Compounding the internal turmoil, Neal finally decided to stay in New York, with Peter. He watched Mozzie walk out the door to begin the life they'd always dreamed of, and opted to stay with his new family, his new priorities, and his leash. In that one moment, Neal had made his decision and was in a position to make it come true. Keller taking Elizabeth rocks that situation to the core. If Neal gives up the art to save Elizabeth, he's been caught and his relationship with Peter is ruined, if he keeps the lie intact and tries to save Elizabeth in some other way, he risks losing her altogether. This is a no win situation in just about every sense of the term and Neal knows. Peter knows it too. This development sets up the second half of the season for even more intensity and emotional nuclear war than we've already had, and that's saying something. Surely Elizabeth will be fine, and odds are they'll save her in the first episode back, but however they go about it, things will never be the same.

This show started out very fluffy, very "blue skies," and fairly ordinary in its first season. The second season it really upped its game, and with the third, it's changed a lot of the rules. My only fear is that the writers are so stuck on "capers-of-the-week" that they won't be able to explore this new dynamic in all the ways I hope they will. Whatever the fallout, it'll be hard to believe Peter and Neal working together to foil bad guys in the same way ever again. Even if they do retain the procedural quality of the show (and I'm sure they will), at the very least, every seemingly fluffy A plot will be tinged with all the weight thrust upon it by the current situation. This show took a while to become appointment TV, and it certainly has its flaws, but in its own way, it has turned into a solid drama and a top tier program all the way.

I'm hopeful that this story arc, and other steps by USA network to retool their brand, will take the show in a new, more intense, and more adult direction. I love the laughs, which surely will remain in tact, but I'm a delighted nail-biter when the occasion merits it. Here's hoping for more.

In the immortal words of Willy Wonka, "The suspense is terrible. I hope it'll last."