When White Collar ended last, Neal Caffrey was running with Mozzie after getting a meaningful shake of the head from Peter. While Neal and Mozzie were living the covert life in Cape Verde, Peter was stuck dealing with the aftermath.
The finale provided the show an opportunity to reboot and re-energize the series. Instead, the show turned Peter into an idiot. The White Collar premiere had some great moments, but overall, I was left feeling disappointed. The Peter that captured Neal would never have been as careless as he was this time.
With Peter off the case and Agent Kyle Collins brought in, the situation had become urgent. Instead of leaving Neal alone, Peter put him in peril. I would give Peter the benefit of the doubt if he wasn’t aware of Collins or didn’t know that Collins was onto Peter, but he knew both.
Peter’s interaction with Edith Parker was so risky since Collins knew about her. A phone call to warn Neal made a little sense, but wouldn’t he have known the FBI would be after him? So, what did the phone call accomplish? And, why did Peter have to track Neal down?
During the episode, I had one moment of hope when Collins showed up at Peter’s house with a search warrant. I expected to find out that Peter was playing Collins the whole time and planted a map with a fake hide-out location. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.
While I can understand the writers wanting to move the chase along, they didn’t have to do by making Peter look incompetent. That was a huge disappointment.
Odds and Ends
Clacked by Carla Day 
on Jul 11, 2012 @ 02:32 EST5EDT
Thought the same thing about Neal’s behavior- why would he make the call in a location that had noticable, specific sounds clues (given his familiarity with Peter’s competency, Neal had to know that the call could have been traced). And really, assuming Neal had done some background research on the island, didn’t realize the bell was an anachronism in that locale? I did think that Peter would have been more careful with the map- why did it still exist? So, in order to move the plot, the audience has to buy several really big character blunders.
I was disappointed with the Cape Verde episode. I lived there for a while and it was like comparing Tokyo to the fictional Mayberry. They didn’t even speak Portuguese much less Portuguese Creole.
I too was annoyed by this. As a Portuguese American (don’t speak it, but grew up around it), I know that Portuguese really doesn’t sound like Spanish. To treat to audience like idiots after going out of their way to establish that Cape Verde is a place where people speak Portuguese was disappointing.
‘Neal shouldn’t be surprised that Dobbs sold him out to Collins’ but has Dobbs sold him out, or is it his way of making sure Neal gets off the island safely, after all Neal and Mozzie have paid for his help.
I got really upset when I found that Neal was in Cape Verde. Cape Verde, really?
I thought he was in Cuba or any other Latin American Island! In Cape Verde, the inhabitants are african people (not latin people) they don’t even speak spanish or english (their official language is portuguese or creole, NOT SPANISH).
As they said in the Episode, it was a Portuguese colony, not a Spanish one! It was as much insulting as showing Eiffel tower and people speaking dutch and saying that was New York..
Those imbeciles at usa should get fired for thinking people are ignorant! They should be embarassed! Confusing Spanish and Portuguese.
totally agree… Spanish & Portuguese are very different… the Director must think audiences are stupid… Not a clever episode, good to see Elizabeth, Jones & Diana are all in this, that Peter is not alone… Neal & Mozzie really thinks they can hide forever??? :(