There’s been an interesting phenomenon on White Collar these last few weeks. We seem to be learning an awful lot about the characters and their backgrounds and families … or at least as much as small snatches of two episodes will allow. And this week it seemed like it was June’s (Diahann Carroll) turn.
We’ve always known that June’s late husband Byron was in Neal’s business back in the day, and I’ve always wanted to know more about him and how he ended up in that house with no feds looking to confiscate it. The appearance of Byron’s old partner Ford (Billy Dee Williams) looked to be just the opportunity to get my questions answered.
That was a cool bit with the fingerprint on the coin. I had no idea that it was possible to slowly erase your prints; why isn’t Neal working on that?
I wonder why Neal didn’t consult with June before inviting Peter and Elizabeth to dinner, but I loved how Neal called Elizabeth right after Peter shot down the idea. Neal’s understanding of what Peter meant by “find another way” would have to be different than most people’s. By the way, when have June and Elizabeth met in the past?
I loved the entire caper this week. From Neal finding the printing plate and drooling over the “reading material” from the US Treasury to the actual paper grab and bill printing, the whole thing was fun, upbeat, creative, and enjoyably Kate-free. See how well that’s working for everyone? Even Jonas Ganz (Joseph Sikora) was pleasantly crazy. Great take-down by Diana, by the way.
What I totally didn’t get was the idea that Ford was a cautionary tale for Neal. On what planet? Look, whether he does or doesn’t keep conning right on up to the day he dies, Caffrey will never end up in the same place as a guy who made his bones hustling in the streets back before technology changed the game. The very notion is ludicrous, and Peter just sounded silly pointing to Ford’s hat as the exclamation point to the comparison. Also, the pair weren’t speaking “criminese.” There’s nothing they said that Peter hasn’t heard a million times from Mozzie and Caffrey, let alone on TV.
Other great moments:
I know that a lot of people were excited for or by the moment, but I was totally disappointed in Neal and June’s duet. It was awesome that they did it, but the duet itself wasn’t particularly enjoyable. It just didn’t work for me. Sorry!
In the end we didn’t really learn anything about June (or Byron). I think there is — or at least really should be — something interesting there, both with Byron himself and also to explain why June was so quick to welcome Caffrey into her house. Maybe next time we’ll actually learn something.
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Feb 09, 2011 @ 15:00 EST5EDT
