White Collar Season 3 Episode 3

White Collar Season 3, Dentist of Detroit

Four weeks into a stellar season, this episode falls to the bottom of the pack. This wasn’t a bad episode, just overall average, especially for an episode about Mozzie’s past. The episode felt more of a sob story for Mozzie, which adds to his lacking backstory, but at the same time felt unbalanced. This wasn’t the backstory I was hoping for but I can settle for what they gave me in this week’s episode. The unbalanced side of the story really came at the mob being the villain of the episode, particularly when they killed a person that knew the Dentist. White Collar has a hard time dealing with murders; it kind of brings the nuanced sophistication of the show down.

But there were high points within an average episode. Mozzie has the best rummage sales that I’ve ever seen on TV. I would buy almost anything that he is selling, though the banana with a knife in it is strange, but still very 80s spy. The other highlight was the fight that Peter and Neal had at their sting operation. This turned from staged to serious very fast between these two characters, especially the remark about Peter’s wife. It was the right amount of humor that the episode needed. Also bringing back the spy gadgets back in the episode was a nice touch, letting Mozzie use some of his outdated memories get him away from the suits. And the con he played to get away being called a Ferris Bueller was amazing. More cons need to have John Hughes’ movie titles.

For a flashback episode, White Collar didn’t bring anything new to the table. Nor did they leave anything behind. I would have liked to see White Collar add some of their signature flare to the episode, there were so many opportunities to elevate this episode. Never the less, this week’s White Collar was fine, and if this is the low point of the season, I can be alright with that.

Rating: Fans Only