White Collar US Pace (Possible Spoilers) [Archive]

statto

23-10-2009, 17:30

Just a quick heads up that this starts tonight in the US.

WHITE COLLAR is about the most unlikely of partnerships between a con artist and an FBI agent. The story unfolds after charming criminal mastermind Neal Caffrey is caught by his nemesis, G-Man extraordinaire Peter Burke. After escaping from a maximum-security prison to find his long-lost love, Neal is nabbed by Peter once again. Rather than returning to jail for this daring getaway, Neal suggests an alternate plan – providing his expertise to assist the Feds in putting away infamous and elusive criminals in return for his freedom. Thiessen plays Peter’s wife, Elizabeth, an intelligent, high-status event planner with a certain intuition of her own. Garson plays Mozzie, a friend of Caffrey's with a strong distrust of the Feds and an unyielding belief in conspiracy theories. Diahann Carroll (“Grey’s Anatomy,” “Dynasty”) guest stars in the pilot and will star as a dynamic recurring character.

Looks a little Catch Me If You Can lite, but that's no bad thing.

welshmatt

23-10-2009, 18:23

The futoncritic liked it:

http://www.thefutoncritic.com/rant.aspx?id=20091023_whitecollar

I might watch for Kelly Kapowski.

sleepy67

23-10-2009, 18:45

Its worth a look going by the reviews.

statto

24-10-2009, 22:25

Thought it was pretty good. Will definitely keep watching.

alsemail

25-10-2009, 00:08

I quite enjoyed that. There was a nice bit of humour going on there between the two leads and if they can maintain a good weekly storyline, whilst developing a longer story arc, I can see this being pretty good.

basegreen

25-10-2009, 13:10

Good pilot IMO. USA network does make some good stuff - they do focus on the characters rather than gimmicks.

sleepy67

25-10-2009, 13:16

Good pilot, excellent chemistry between Tim DeKay and Mathew Bomer. Very much in the Burn Notice school of drama, focus on the chemistry and the dialogue and hope the audience doesn't pick up on the plot holes.

Definitely will be watching this show.

camaj

25-10-2009, 20:13

Go on then, what were the plot holes?

Personally I thought it was okay. There's room to improve for sure but it was promising. I'm just disappointed Monk is finishing and this doesn't seem as good IMHO

sleepy67

25-10-2009, 20:26

Go on then, what were the plot holes?How does someone in prison become so familiar with the security thread in a new Canadian note?

He'd have had to trade something very valuble for that info and recently too .. doesn't add up. They didn't include counterfitter on his resume so ...

And I suspect that due to his working for the FBI Neil would be counted as an agent and thus his presence within the counter-fitters building wouldn't count as a reason to justify the FBI's warrantless raid inviolation of the 4th Amendment. From what I've read posted by US cops on other boards they will often wait for a warrant even if they might be able to justify a warrantless search under other laws. This way they don't allow the defense lawyers to claim for unlawful search possibly leading to the case being thrown out.

Anyway they probably had enough to get a warrant, they had an experts opinion that the forger was the church restorer, they had heard a printing press being operated in an abandoned building and that it was being guarded by a few crooks. Thats more than enough to justify a search of an abandoned factory.

And exactly why did the bad guys throw Neil into the office then leave him there?

Anyway as the FBI knew of the fakes they were worthless as the US treasury wouldn't pay up know that $150m worth of duff notes were floating about.

camaj

25-10-2009, 22:29

How does someone in prison become so familiar with the security thread in a new Canadian note?

That's not really a plot hole. The point is, he almost has a supernatural amount of knowledge and expertise. If it were obvious how he worked it out then the FBI guy would have known.

And I suspect that due to his working for the FBI Neil would be counted as an agent

I can't see how you'd be an agent just because you're helping the FBI.

Anyway as the FBI knew of the fakes they were worthless as the US treasury wouldn't pay up know that $150m worth of duff notes were floating about.

But they were spanish bonds weren't they? I know they gave the figures in dollars but presumably that's just to cater to the audience.

sleepy67

25-10-2009, 22:59

I can't see how you'd be an agent just because you're helping the FBI.Not a special agent but a representative in the same way a crime scene tech represents the FBI but isn't a special agent. and the US courts have been very willing to declare any form of law enforcement work arounds of the 4th amendment illegal and hence rule any ting found as a result unadmissable.But they were spanish bonds weren't they? I know they gave the figures in dollars but presumably that's just to cater to the audience.Doesn't matter who issued them I doubt the US government wouldn't ensure the issuing bank knew of the forgeries. Still renders them worthless.

Richie

26-10-2009, 01:00

They didn't include counterfitter on his resume so ...Actually, they did! ;)
http://i627.photobucket.com/albums/tt352/Richiedvd/caffrey_counterfeiter.jpg

I thought this was great fun. Very cute plus Tim DeKay and Matthew Bomer have great chemistry. :thumbs:

Vulcan101

26-10-2009, 07:35

Well, he was technically a fugitive as he had left his "control" zone. He was only on temporary release and he was forced into the building by the bad guys so not really an agent or even a carded consultant.

Bonds like those are often used as collateral or are exchanged for goods and services never seeing the inside of a bank. The bad guys also didn't know the forged bond in the national archive had been discovered, they simply suspected the FBI was onto the forger.

Richie

01-11-2009, 00:48

hmmmm, episode 2 really wasn't good. :|

sleepy67

01-11-2009, 06:46

A tad harsh methinks. Whilst it wasn't as good as the pilot, it was still reasonable TV. The interactions between the leads was there, they used Peter's wife intelligently (plus seeing a good marriage on TV s so rare these days the show should get bonus points just for that ;)). OK the macguffin was a little silly and I'm not sure about the new female FBI agent.

I don't know why they had to change actresses, surely the fact that she was gay didn't mean she tested so badly TPTB/network required her to be dropped?

Oh I came across a blog by a law professer who likes the show and likes its treatment of the law. It seems that Neils stunt in the pilot would have probably worked as he wasn't yet accredited to the FBI. At the end of 1x01 Peter gives Neil his FBI id which in the eyes of the 4th amendment makes him a government representative so that trick wouldn't hold up in court again.

statto

01-11-2009, 12:11

Oh I came across a blog by a law professer who likes the show and likes its treatment of the law.

Linky? :)

basegreen

01-11-2009, 16:48

What was the score with the watch? Looked like she was giving him some sort of bugged device?!

Richie

07-11-2009, 22:29

That bloody hat has got to go! It makes Caffrey look (and act) like a **** when he should be super cool. Something is still missing in this for me. I like it enough but there's a change from the pilot to series that's a bit off and I can't put my finger on it.
Willie Garson as 'Mozzie' is pretty much stealing the show at the mo though! :D

catfood

07-11-2009, 23:46

nice to see middleman-woman natalie again - but what have they done to her hair???

Richie

07-11-2009, 23:56

Ah thanks! I knew I'd seen her before but couldn't place her!

sleepy67

08-11-2009, 16:17

Agree about the hat but I think this show still has it. The chemistry between all the characters is great. The weakest link is the female FBI agent. Not the actors fault but the writers, did the change from the pilot throw them off?

One weak moment was our two heroes discussing whether a woman could kill ffs what is this the 19th C. though it did lead to my favorite scene of the show with Neil Peter and wife at the dinner table.

Oh and why did Peter think that cuffing the prof made FBI womans* day?

* must learn her name and the wifes.

sleepy67

08-11-2009, 16:19

Linky? :)Sorry followed a set of links and couldn't back track it later.

stupidgibbon

21-11-2009, 21:34

Been watching this for a few weeks, throwaway fun ;)

Anyway just realised, that FBI guy is Bizarro Jerry !!! :clap:

Richie

06-12-2009, 02:21

Last couple of episodes have been really good. Just watched the "fall finale" and all I have to say is, WHAT?!! :nuts: :D :shrug: :thinking:

sleepy67

06-12-2009, 10:10

Last couple of episodes have been really good. Just watched the "fall finale" and all I have to say is, WHAT?!! :nuts: :D :shrug: :thinking:yeah and is it me or does the actress who plays Kate bear a strong resemblance to Thiesson

Richie

06-12-2009, 14:00

I was really, really hoping that the last minute twist would be that Tiffani 'Wife' Thiesson was actually the criminal mastermind and was behind it all (as she seems to be privy to so much info which can't be "proper" can it?) as otherwise she's essentially a pointless character! Give her something to do dammit! And yes, Kate looks a lot like her.
I am totally confused by the "twist" though, I hope someone can explain just wtf?!?!

sleepy67

06-12-2009, 16:15

The resemblance between Kate and Elisabeth surely can't be a coincidence. They must be related (half?) sisters maybe?

From a twitter post by the showrunner we know that Peter met Kate the first time he chased Neil. And unless tptb have gone mad there is no way that Peter is the bad guy. My guess is that Kate is the bad guy or is working for BigBad and Peter is aware of that, plus he's aware that she's his wifes (half) sister.

OPR are interested in this BigBad and they too are aware that Kate is working for him and that she's related to Elisabeth. And its this reason that they bugged Peters phone. Not cos of Peter or Neil.

Peter has kept tabs on Kate knowing that she's bad and hence his not telling Elisabeth and not helping Neil trace her.

In another twitter post the creator said it was all laid out in the pilot however in another posting since deleted he said that the network might want the arc reworked. Don't know what to make of that.

Cant' wait for January

Richie

06-12-2009, 16:39

Oooh interesting! Certainly makes me want to come back for the rest of the season having been a bit ambivalent between episodes 2 and 5.

sleepy67

20-01-2010, 09:45

hmmm

not sure what to make of this episode.

So Fowler (OPR guy) is the bad guy and he's had Kate working Neil for 5 odd years, that doesn't make sense.

The cliffhanger of being Peter a bad guy was a big mistake. This shows appeal rests squarely on the relationship between Peter and Neil and to even hint that it was false was a major miscalculation.

I guess the similarity between the actresses playing Kate and Elizabeth is either unintentional or a plot point they've since dropped

Glad its back

Richie

20-01-2010, 20:58

hmmm

not sure what to make of this episode.

My thoughts exactly. I'm a tad confused as I'd forgotten that Neil had made any connection to Peter being the ring guy - did he actually? The very first scene of this episode really threw me. Anyway, it's interesting to see where it goes but it's all a bit "off". As you say sleepy, the show only works because of Peter and Neil's relationship and to make Peter anything but the rock solid moral anchor will kill it imho. Looks like you were right about Kate though!

sleepy67

20-01-2010, 21:36

My thoughts exactly. I'm a tad confused as I'd forgotten that Neil had made any connection to Peter being the ring guy - did he actually? The very first scene of this episode really threw me.That through me as well. What I think happened was that in 1x07 when Neil burst into the OPRs room monitoring Peter and the show cut to a new scene We missed Fowler telling Neil that Peter was the bad guy.

I'm sure I recall Moz with a line that implied that in this weeks broadcast.

statto

20-01-2010, 22:20

My thoughts exactly. I'm a tad confused as I'd forgotten that Neil had made any connection to Peter being the ring guy - did he actually? The very first scene of this episode really threw me. Anyway, it's interesting to see where it goes but it's all a bit "off". As you say sleepy, the show only works because of Peter and Neil's relationship and to make Peter anything but the rock solid moral anchor will kill it imho. Looks like you were right about Kate though!

Agreed. I'm glad they didn't go down that path, as it's what the phrase "jump the shark" was invented for.

sleepy67

20-01-2010, 22:20

Did you get the jokes when Neil picked up the knight at the end?

basegreen

24-01-2010, 07:23

Agreed. I'm glad they didn't go down that path, as it's what the phrase "jump the shark" was invented for.

Confused the hell out of me too this episode - how did he make the link? I guess it was a pretty badly handled faked cliffhanger.

sleepy67

28-01-2010, 18:08

Moz who doesn't love him :thumbs:

Lots of excellent character moments, but this was all about Moz stealing the show.

Now wondering is Fowler really the Big Bad, or is he a patsy too.

sleepy67

10-03-2010, 16:49

Well thats S1 finished and I totally confused about the bad guys motivation for everythingand even worse we wont know if Kate died in the plane as she went out of view for over a minute before kaboom.

Richie

23-04-2010, 11:08

UK heads up for anyone interested!
White Collar starts tonight (Fri April 23rd) on Bravo at 8pm.
http://www.bravo.co.uk/shows/white-collar/

Pentasa

21-07-2010, 22:00

UK heads up for anyone interested!
White Collar starts tonight (Fri April 23rd) on Bravo at 8pm.
http://www.bravo.co.uk/shows/white-collar/

Just finished the watching season 1 on Bravo and I'll move right on the the US pace for season, I'll catch up with the first 2 eps of seaon 2 this weekend, Quite enjoyed the 1st season even tho it was nothing special :)