White Collar is back and all is not well between Peter and Neal. “On Guard” picks up soon after the spring finale and the fire that “destroyed” the Nazi ship and the treasures inside. Last season, even though Peter and Neal had their differences, they seemed to begin to trust each other. I’d say they even became friends of sorts; that is no longer the case. The third season looks to be about their distrust of each other. Who will win? Will Peter find out the truth? Or, will Neal be able to stay a step ahead of Peter?
Were you sucked in by the opening sequence? I was. I really thought Neal and Mozzie were making a getaway and started thinking, “What the heck is going to happen on the show now?” A Fugitive-style manhunt? I should have known better; I was watching White Collar. While it was a little too convenient how it all played out, I still enjoyed it. And, most importantly it created doubts for Peter to latch onto even though the painting piece was authenticated as from the 1930s.
Why did Peter give Neal a lie-detector test? Peter knows Neal’s faked them before. I’m guessing it was just part of the interrogation process to sweat Neal out, but that was disappointing. Peter knows Neal better than to use that approach. Though, did Neal even need to cheat? I don’t think Neal knew about Mozzie’s plan beforehand.
The case-of-the-week was secondary to the game being played between Peter and Neal. The best part was watching the money stream out of the air vents. Who wouldn’t want to be rained on by millions of dollars? In the end, the Lawrence case showed that Neal may want to leave with his treasures, but he won’t sacrifice another person to do it. He valued Jones more than Mozzie’s and his score. I previously wouldn’t have questioned that about Neal, but I also never thought he would go back to the dark side.
I expected more from Neal. I thought he had grown to appreciate working for the FBI and using his skills legally. But, it seems both he and Mozzie were still looking for the big score, as Mozzie said, “We finally got our White Whale.” In the end, I believe that Neal will realize that he doesn’t want to live on the run because he appreciates his new life. The question is will he realize that before or after Peter finds out the truth. How is Neal going to get out of this one?
“If you were one step away from pulling off the biggest score of your life, could you let it go?” – Peter to Neal
“To our best and final score.” – Mozzie to Neal
Clacked by Carla Day 
on Jun 07, 2011 @ 22:32 EST5EDT
