White Collar Season 3, Taking Account
White Collar takes on the international banking scene while staying put in cozy New York City. A mysterious hacker has hacked into a bank and stolen millions then sent a video listing his manifesto (this isn’t topical at all) while hiding under a mask sparks a priority alert from the While Collar division of the FBI. The thief turns out to be a big shot on the FBI most wanted list (for cybercrimes) known as “The Vulture”. Neal also has a personal stake in this, since Sara no longer has any funds and Neal feels the need to take her in until she has her money back. Neal made a classic “I’ve made a terrible mistake” (Arrested Development) face the moment Peter recalled when his wife just moved in for a few days. Team thievery (Neal, Sara and Mozzie) come up with the idea to steal the money that the thief stole from right under his nose to draw him out from the cyber rock he is hiding under. Of course, the three of them end up putting the stolen funds into a fake account that Neal has set up.
Neal and company go on a nice spending montage, with the insane purchase being added up as they spend more and more. It’s a nice, simple montage that gets the job done and the ball rolling from being bogged down by lots of repetition. Of course big bad Peter knows that Neal is behind the spending and stops their lavish spending. But Peter’s harsh attitude is quickly turned around, which is almost a letdown since Peter had fire in his belly in his convection of Neal stealing from a bank. Mozzie does his usual magic and gets a meeting with the vulture the next day. The Vulture (Sally) turns out to be a woman (was this really a twist?) but as she is being met by Mozzie, she is shot at by an unknown shooter. She is taking into custody and questioned by the FBI. From the interrogation, the FBI comes up with a different way to ketch the real thief, and Neal puts is best when he says that his way is more fun. Most things that Neal does are more fun compared to Peter.
Neal tries to get Sara to see his point of view in life and in a roundabout way, asks if she would like to be a part of Neal’s future life of wealth. Sara, being the morally ambiguous character that she is, refuses the offer on the grounds that she can’t see Neal of coming by wealth in any legal way. She has no problem helping Neal steal millions from a bank (though it is to find a thief) but objects to Neal’s idea? Her character needs to find a side and stick to it, especially since she is dating master thief and she is well aware of Neal’s past.
The FBI is hit by the thief from a virus that is implanted between lines of code in the video. The FBI needs the help of Sally to get bank footage of the thief, which leads to the team hearing an awkward conversion between Sally and Mozzie. Mozzie gets his groove back would have been a great secondary title for the episode. Anyway, Sally and Mozzie hack the entire train / bus station (on Peter’s request, which is fun) and quickly turn every person in there into an agent, which leads to a fast identification of the thief.
This episode was a departure for White Collar, being very technical and precise in the case of the week. Not to say that this wasn't a bad episode, but normally the criminal that Neal and Peter are after don't pull off such elaborate schemes. And when they are elaborate, they normally don't rely so much on computer viruses.The characters acted like normally would, with Sara being the one who had a morality crisis during the episode, particularly with her finding the webcam of the treasure at the end of the episode. I would think that Neal would make sure his computer extremely secure. The addition of Sally is interesting, adding a love interest for Mozzie was needed and I hope that she will turn up again in the show. The thief ring that White Collar is building is growing, and I like the possibilities that the show could have from this new family.
Rating: Watch
Original Air Date: 7/19/2011
Tuesdays on USA, 9/8c
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