White Collar: Copycat Caffrey by Claudia Charles

I was a little mixed on this episode of White Collar. The opening scene was pretty fascinating because we saw that although Neal is now helping the FBI, he still has the heart of an excellent thief. That’s what they need from him but there still seems to be that genuine desire to complete the perfect theft that Neal seems to crave. The banter between Peter and Neal continues to be enjoyable. They are becoming almost yin to each other’s yang. The bromance continues.


Alex returns in this episode. Don't know if you remember but Alex (Gloria Votsis) came in during the end of the first season as one of Neal’s con-man friends. She seems to have a lot of feelings for Neal but because he was in love with Kate, they never got together. I wish I saw better chemistry between these two actors but I really don’t. Thankfully, her return engagement was more about wrapping up her storyline and then providing a missing piece to the music box angle of the story.


I have to say I found Neal being so proud of his very own copycat a bit annoying. I felt like they overplayed this aspect throughout the episode and that was part of the reason I felt mixed about enjoying it. However, I liked that they continued to deal with Neal’s dubious scholarly past. Peter seems to be intrigued with the fact that the con artist doesn’t have any education but has managed to get himself to where he is in his life.


I particularly enjoyed the introduction of Aidan Quinn as Professor George Oswald teaching the criminology course. I would have loved for him to be my professor. I don’t think I would have missed a class. A trio of students made themselves quite evident from the beginning of the scene. It did leave me wondering though that if they are studying Neal Caffrey, is it not common knowledge he is now working for the Feds?

I wish the professor's minions had been more compelling to watch. Eric came off exactly the way he was supposed to but it didn’t hold my attention. As for Neal, he set up the Professor and his minions quite easily. Although I love that Oswald got the jump on Neal and stole the Krugerrands himself.


The scene with Peter being a representative of the Detroit mob was fun. Mozzie cuing him on what to say was hilarious. Peter seems to be having trouble not laughing while he was playing his role. Love Tim DeKay!!

Overall, it's a decent episode but it isn’t my favorite. I will note that in this episode they did have the perfunctory scene with Peter talking with Elizabeth with a totally fake background. Hopefully they will realize that this doesn't work and will wait until Tiffani Thiessen is able to return.


One More Thought

• I enjoyed seeing Michael Boatman in this episode. His character (Russell Smith) was looking into Alex because of the music box. His role seemed surprisingly small, however. Michael has been around along time. In everything from Arliss and Spin City, I'm glad he found his way onto White Collar.