S01.E02: Threads

[sinkwriter]

Season 1 episode 2! "Threads."

 

I grew to like Cruz, but in this episode I was thrown because I didn't know where Diana went and I liked her and wanted her to come back. It always bothered me that they didn't really explain it for a while, not until the powers that be decided to bring her back. Then I think they explained that she'd gone for a 'better' job in D.C.

 

I wouldn't say this is one of my favorite episodes of the season, but it does have a lot going for it. 

 

First off, it's got a lot of funny moments.

 

Hughes -- may he Rest In Peace, James Rebhorn, who played the wonderful stately Hughes -- is on fire in this episode, showing a lot of annoyance at Neal's audacity, sarcastically commenting on Neal's plan to have a party filled with models: "Hey, Jones, you like models? Jones like models, too." Heh. And later, he tells Neal the only thing he gets to do is go for a coffee run. And my favorite Rebhorn moment of the episode: Hughes yelling at Neal for putting his hand up during an FBI meeting is priceless. *GRIN*

 

And it's not just Hughes that's funny. Neal putting the sunglasses on Peter and instructing to say "I'll be back" like Arnold Schwarzeneger is pretty entertaining. "You know, Peter, for the record, you looked much scarier than [the other guy's goon]." *GRIN*

 

Then you've got Mozzie commenting on Neal's 2-mile radius: "That's a lot in New York. Remember Jimmy Dimako? The feds had his anklet set at 22 feet. He had to take a shower with one foot out of the tub." Neal shakes his head, looking annoyed: "That's not true." Mozzie concedes: "Okay. Maybe 30 feet." Heeeee.

 

I liked the Neal-Mozzie relationship in this episode. Their camaraderie came through in all their scenes, especially the one where Mozzie calls Neal out for testing their friendship (to see whether Mozzie or Kate would sell him out). Mozzie's in fine form, reminding Neal how he's the one who's always been there for Neal.

 

And he's funny too, mocking Neal's letter to (or from) Kate, how the set-up for the hidden code within it could have been cracked by anyone familiar with Mad Magazine. LOL. Neal was all, 'Hey, we got more sophisticated with our codes as we went along, okay?!' Heeee.

 

There's some nice character detail in this episode as well:

 

I liked that we see Neal is squeamish about dead bodies. He's a charmer, a con man, a thief and a forger, but he's not a murderer. He doesn't like guns, and he doesn't like violence. He likes fun and flirtation, the game and the "dance" of it all. So it's a nice character detail to see him standing as far off on the sidelines as he can during the scene where Dimitri's body is found (stabbed, with the corner of a couture gown stuffed in his mouth). We can see how uncomfortable he is, just being there in the room with the body. He looks away a lot, and his face looks like he wants to throw up and get the hell out of the room. LOL. Nice touch.

 

 

I also like that there's balance and we get to see another side to Peter too. He makes a comment about the dress being couture, and Neal gives him a surprised look, clearly having underestimated his handler's knowledge. And Peter marvelously just shrugs: "We [at White Collar Division] deal with a lot of knock-offs. Ask me what I know about a Prada bag sometime." Heeee.

 

We also get to see how awesome Peter is. Even when he's interrogating the guy who made the dress (and clearly allowed a mini flashdrive of potentially illegal content to be smuggled within the lining of the dress), even when he could throw the book at the guy for lying to him and pretending he didn't know Gavotte, instead Peter reins it in and shifts gears during the conversation. He knows that it's more important to get the full information than to give the guy a hard time, especially when he realizes the guy did it to protect his family. So he softens his approach, and he listens. I love the way Tim DeKay played that scene. Some really nice work, there.

 

We also got a decent villain in Gavotte. He was clever, he outwitted the good guys instead of immediately falling for the simplest con, escaped their reach a few times, and he had a good edge to him. We knew he was violent, had even murdered more than once, so he wasn't to be taken lightly. And he wasn't just a clever forger like Neal. He was what Neal could have been if he had no moral compass.

 

Side note: I loved the tension in the moment after they find out Tara's been taken by Gavotte and then the burner cell phone starts buzzing in an evidence bag on the table in an FBI conference room. Wonderfully spooky. And later, instead of his plan simply being fouled by the good guys jamming his cell phone (which would trigger the bomb around Tara's waist), Gavotte then pulls out a gun and points it at a defenseless and alone Caffrey. The "oh shit" look on Neal's face in that moment is priceless. He clearly hadn't planned on something like that happening.

 

It just goes to show that Neal is good with sharp off-the-cuff ideas, but sometimes those can get him into deeper trouble. I like the consequences of that showing up in this moment, going up against Gavotte, face to face. And it also shows Neal that he's got good people who have his back... as Lauren comes running in and tackles Gavotte, taking him down. It shows Neal another option in life, that he could use his cleverness to do good things and have people in his life whom he can trust.

 

Speaking of which, we get to see that Peter takes chances more than once in this episode, relying on Neal. Beyond the pilot and the big chance he took in making a deal to get Neal out of prison in the first place, Peter takes his first big chance on Neal here, going to bat for him when talking to Hughes about what sting to run in order to catch Gavotte, and then later asks Neal, "What would you do?" when they're trying to plan for every possibility so they can stop Gavotte and get Tara back safely. That's especially interesting to me. It lays some groundwork for the development of the Peter-Neal relationship which is always good. He wants to believe in Neal's abilities and trust him. It's not easy to do, but he wants to do it. Again, like he did with his interrogation suspect, he listens and considers his options rather than immediately saying no (which he said a lot in the pilot episode). Both Peter and Neal are starting to soften the tiniest bit toward one another, and I like watching those kinds of exchanges.

 

I also like the Peter-Elizabeth relationship in this episode. They had a sweet, fun flirtation, and you can see they have a solid relationship where she reads him really well ("Relax, honey, you're not in trouble" - "Oh, thank god, "). This is the ep where she gives him the watch that doesn't suit him, and then she can tell later that he's just being nice but that it's just not 'him.' She's a bit too 'perfect' but they're so cute together that I can't help but like them. And the moment when she insists he wear his own, familiar watch so that he can keep his head in the game during the big dangerous final attempt to stop Gavotte is a tender moment for the two of them. Love that. Very well played by Tiffani and Tim.

 

Also interesting: Neal gets a first taste of having to be responsible for someone else's well-being, which I don't think he's necessarily had to think about much before this. His con ideas to catch the murderer Gavotte were clever but the model/witness still gets kidnapped and he's partly to blame for it. What's thought-provoking to me about the anklet radius conversation between Mozzie and Neal mentioned earlier is how desperate Neal seems to be to get his anklet off. He and Peter are both still learning to trust one another -- Peter's taking tentative steps to trust Neal's instincts, while Neal still hasn't settled in enough into the role of C.I. for Peter. He might be enjoying the game playing and the coming up with clever con ideas in order to help the FBI catch bad guys, but it isn't something he necessarily feels tied to. He wants to be gone. And when the party idea falls through, he knows he's messed up and his reaction is the desire to run.

 

He tries to see if Mozzie can get him out of the anklet, looks a bit desperate when Mozzie again tells him it's not possible yet. And then the model gets taken, and things change. He didn't just mess up in general; his off-the-cuff fun plan for a party and smart ass comments to Gavotte over the phone at the restaurant ended up getting a woman kidnapped by a murderer who would likely kill her. So it was good to see Neal's conscience emerge, where he couldn't let her get hurt because of him. Neal wants to make sure the situation gets fixed and he takes great risks to make sure he corrects his mistakes. He's lucky Gavotte didn't shoot him in that final confrontation. (Again, I do love that Lauren Cruz takes the guy out. That was fun.) 

 

Anyway, it's not in my top 10 favorite episodes but has some interesting character elements and funny moments. What does everyone else think of this episode?

 

Side note for fun: in the final action scene with the explosives in the belt, there's Bethesda Fountain in the background. I may have mentioned this before, but a couple years ago my sister and I went to NYC for a long weekend, and we happened to visit that very fountain. (Along with "June's house"!) I have pictures! Like with other NYC-based shows like Sex and the City, you could probably make a whole trip out of checking out the White Collar landmarks -- hotels, parks, bridges, restaurants, etc. It's very fun to watch this show and see some of the iconic NYC monuments that we saw on our trip. If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend it.

Edited June 4, 2014 by sinkwriter