White Collar – Ferris Bueller? Really?

A whole episode of White Collar dedicated to Mozzie’s past? Definitely awesome in my book … if that had been what the episode was about. But it comes down to “show” versus “tell,” and whereas we got to see the story about Neal’s past, we weren’t so lucky when it came to Mozzie. I guess it’s my own fault for hoping for something that nobody had promised.

Well, that and the fact that the episode didn’t so much even focus on Mozzie as it did on a story that was about him. The center was still Neal and Peter, with Mozzie locked out and looking in. The episode played okay, but I wonder why the creative decisions that were ultimately made were made in the first place.

The coolest part was learning that, once upon a time when he was a pre-teen, Mozzie was known as “The Dentist of Detroit.” Plus the source of his name being a bear called Mozart whose name Mozzie couldn’t properly pronounce. I wonder if Neal knew that “Mozzie” is a fake name.

I was surprised that Frank DeLuca Jr. (Al Sapienza) came to town not to seek revenge on Mozzie, who as a twelve year-old stole $500,000 from DeLuca’s father, but rather to seek revenge on his enemy Patrick O’Leary (Robert John Burke) using the con that Mozzie had used on DeLuca’s father way back when. Seems intentionally and unnecessarily convoluted to me … how about to you?

Now that I’m rehashing it the episode was unusually weird, even if it was a relatively solid hour of the show. I think I had more questions than answers — the above puzzle, not to mention plenty about the con itself, including how the TV delay worked if DeLuca and O’Leary were in the same room — and as I said before I don’t get why many of the creative choices that were made were made that way. Even the rapid diffusing of The Dentist’s long and colorful criminal past: “DeLuca had wanted to save face.” Well that explains it all!

What I’d really love to have learned about is Mozzie’s life with Mr. Jefferies (Ernie Hudson) from the time Mozzie went to live with him up until today. Mozzie said they send coded messages back and forth to this day … it can’t just be for the hell of it. I wonder what the story is there, and why we didn’t get to learn any of it last night.

I appreciated the respite from the grating U-boat story, although I enjoyed Mozzie’s “slight of hand-me-downs” sale. How exactly do you utilize the banana dagger that Neal bought? It’s a great concealed weapon, but how subtle is it to walk down the street carrying a banana? June was cool for buying some stuff; I wonder what the chance is that she’ll be looking to run a con sometime before the series is over.

Although we’ve seen them do it better, I always enjoy Peter and Neal undercover together. The best part was when they got into their pretend fight, and Peter took the opportunity to make fun of Neal’s awful hats. Come to think of it, it’s been nice not to be subjected to them lately. And Neal’s return jab about Elizabeth was great, too. I wouldn’t think Peter has anything to worry about, but still….

So yeah, not a bad episode, but why come up with such an awesome idea like delving into Mozzie’s past and then not bother to delve or to really use him in the story? Lots of missed opportunities on this week’s White Collar.

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Jun 29, 2011 @ 14:53 EST5EDT