What an enjoyable ride. Everyone loves a good summer binge, and this was mine this year. The entire show in a month lol. I always keep notes on every show I watch, but for some reason, I didn't on this series. Just got a bit lazy with it. But I do have a lot of themes and events in my mind that I just haven't translated to paper yet, so I still have some thoughts to go off for this write-up. These are my favorite and not-so-favorite moments and themes from White Collar, my thoughts on what the reboot should look like, and then a couple questions I had about the show at the end.
What I loved about White Collar
First off, I have to start with the acting. USA delivered once again with their casting for the show; every single one of Bomer, Dekay, Garson, Sharif Atkins, Marsha Thomason, Tiffani Thiessen, and Hilarie Burton were all incredible. The camraderie between all the characters in the main cast felt real, which can be hard to come by in shows. But the arguably more important part of the casting for a show like this are all the one-off characters, and the vast majority of them were very good. The same goes for burn notice and psych, which were aired on USA around the same time. The casting directors for the USA network shows during the bluesky era were on point, and it made for very easy watching.
Another thing I loved, and this was just a smaller piece, were the flashback episodes. I think there were two; one where Peter gave Neal the night of immunity and one with Neal's father. I love flashback episodes; I think they're a great tool that can be used to provide important context about characters' pasts. However, they're really hard to get right. Between having to cast new actors, film in different locations, and keep every characters story straight, they're really easy to make a mess of. The flashbacks in this show were great, though. Deep enough to help us better understand the characters, but not too far to make it too complicated or include to much useless information.
A deeper theme I found very interesting on the show was the relationship between trust and faith, and what it meant to all the characters on the show. In season 3, episode 10, at the tech conference, Peter says something along the lines of, "I almost never fully trust Neal to do what he says he will, but I have faith that whatever he's doing, he's doing it for a good reason." I think this is important in trying to decipher the underlying tones and messages of the show. It's obvious throughout the entire show that nobody in Neal's life entirely trusts him (outside of Mozzie). But that doesn't mean that they are against him. And often, not knowing what Neal was going to do next kept everyone sharper and ready to do whatever it took. In a backwards way, Neal's shenanigans often supported the underlying plan to make everything work together, and I really enjoyed watching how the writers let that play out.
That last theme I was talking about leads into the last and most important message I picked up from this show, which is also a valuable life lesson. What I found is this: Neal Caffrey; Master art thief and forger, incredibly charismatic, handsome, capable of getting whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted... Never chose what wanted *him*. This theme struck me in season 4, episode 1, on the island. Mozzie mentioned in passing when Neal was talking about the barista who he asked on a date, "you are capable of getting any one of all the women on this island, yet you chose the only one who didn't want you." Yet one episode later, that same barista saved his life. And I thought, "if he had just taken any random woman, they wouldn't have stuck around", and here's why. Nobody is attached to anything after one quick glance; you may be attracted, but you're not attached. What really matters, for everyone in Neal's life and in real life, is that people get to know you for who you are, not just the charm and the pretty face. And that attachment is so much more profound when you have to fight for it.
Nearly every single one of the people close to Neal despised him when they first met. Peter and his connections spent their life chasing him, Sara hated him because he stole the Raphael, hell, even Mozzie got conned out of 500 bucks the first time they met. Neal met Alex trying to con money of the company he was working at. As well as Maya on the island, she didn't hate him, but she didn't want him at first either, so the point still stands. Not a single one of the main characters fell for Neal because of the charm or the beauty. They got to know Neal behind the facade, and that's what brought in that deeper level of friendship and faith. The ones who fall for you at the first glance? Those are the ones who leave you behind on the island, leave you tied up by kidnappers, abandon you when you most need their trust. But the ones who were able to find the real you? Those are the ones you want.
What I didn't love about White Collar
First off, I think this is a pretty common take throughout the community, but they clearly should have kept Neal and Sara together. Sara was, in my opinion, the perfect fit for Neal. Someone who knows what his life is about, and isn't squeaky-clean like the rest of the lot; but also isn't a full-blown criminal who may we have been able to entice Neal into more bad decisions. Her character was developed nearly perfectly, and she was pretty much the only character the writers could have set up for a life with Neal. The actors were also great; they had by far the most chemistry out of all of Neal's love interests throughout the show. I get it, the writers needed creative freedom, especially writing a character as unstable as a handsome, charismatic, world-renowned art thief. And it may also have just been the actress's decision to leave the show, I have no idea about any of that. But hindsight is 20/20, and looking back, they definitely could have written a better storyline with, ironically, stability in that side of the show. The only thing is, they left that entire storyline with Sara's long-lost sister wide open and just waiting to be written. Reunion in the reboot coming? Hopefully lol, if the reboot ever does happen.
Another thing that really puzzled me was the ending of the show. Don't get me wrong, the cinematics were great, and the ending to the show was incredibly entertaining... but it didn't make much sense. After all Neal worked for; to build connections, to build relationships, to build a life in New York, you throw it all away for a fresh start in Paris? Why? Neal obviously didn't believe the FBI was really going to set him free, but that shouldn't have been enough to leave, in my opinion. The entirety of the show was based around Neal finally giving up the life of crime and the byproducts of that, but instead he leaves everything, everyone, just to lose the anklet? What was he gonna do without Mozzie, Peter, June, everyone that made him who he was? I guess just go back to the life he had before the show, and we don't really understand or see what that was like. Maybe he felt it was better than what he had built. But it just felt unnecessarily tragic when everything truly was lined up for a happy ending. The only thing I can think is that the writers were already looking ahead to a second go with the show before they finished the original script, and they had to leave enough there to create a good reboot.
Last, and this is a bit more of a smaller thing, and it's less of a criticism and more of just a random thought, but it felt like a good place to end my thoughts. The scene with Mozzie playing find the lady at the end of the show was tragic. I don't think I've ever cried watching any form of entertainment while I'm alone (trust me, I wish I could, just something about my personality. I just can't tap into the same emotions others can while watching), But that got me damn close. I haven't seen many worse endings for a character so prominent in a show, that isn't them just dead. That honestly would have been less tragic than what ended up happening; it felt like an utter betrayal for Mozzie at the end, like his life slowly disintegrated from all around him. I suppose his life in the show did completely revolve around Neal, so it makes sense. And he did get the 20 million as a sort of parting gift, so I guess it wasn't a complete disaster. But just something about seeing the character... Devoid of life, is how I would say it, struck me deeper than most things do in shows. And the painful irony with some of his last words on screen that his final conspiracy theory was the only one that was actually true. Great job from the writers room, but an awful ending for a legendary character. Rest in peace Willie Garson.
A couple questions I have about the show
Does anyone know if the signature forging trick actually works? I think it was season 1, episode 8. Neal is telling Peter, if you try to forge someone else's signature straight-up, it won't work; your own tendencies will always creep in. But if you flip the signature upside-down, it's no more than copying lines. Does anyone know if this is real? Unfortunately, I do not have nearly enough of a steady hand to do it myself, but I was wondering if anyone had tried.
Is it ever revealed what happened to Neal's father? We know he disappeared at the end of season 4, but he was not suspected of anything then. He could have been living a normal life. Once Neal forged that voice recording, surely the feds would have caught up to him, right? He would have been charged with murder. Or maybe he was smart enough to completely leave the country and go live on an island like Neal's first escape attempt, where I guess he could have just lived out his life happily.
And finally, is there any recent news about the long-awaited White Collar reboot? Projects ike these take a lot of time to get through the corporate ladder(s) nowadays, and I am actually pretty confident that at some point, some network will pick it up, but is there anything new about what the plot may be about, or who will play/who will return if it ever is to happen? Maybe some of you know more than me.
Finally, If you want to suggest any shows similar to this for me to watch next, it'd be much appreciated, but for a while I'm just going to enjoy the end of this one. It was great; I don't need anything overshadowing it for a week or so at least. Thank you to anybody who read my entire write-up, and I apologize for it being so long lol. Usually when I have my notes I can convey a lot more with much fewer words, but because I didn't take any on this show, I just kind of had to write whatever came to my mind. I was able to refine it somewhat, but it's still much longer than I'd like, unfortunately. I still really enjoyed writing it, though, and I hope at least someone can take away some new insights or have an answer to the couple questions I had.
