NEW SHOW: White Collar: The Dutchman Returns

Not a pilot show, but new for TheTalkingBox, as we discussed last Friday. The new season's premiere did not disappoint, though it did feel rushed. Six weeks have passed since the season four finale, which show most in Diana, who is now obviously pregnant (on her own, through a clinic, using a donor who is a chef). The passage of time outside of the series combined with how much happens in this single episode is a strange juxtaposition... Peter spends next to no time in jail that we see, and Elizabeth hardly has to be without him. Neal's work without his handler goes unquestioned, and the aftermath of Senator Pratt's death isn't fully explored. Aside from a new "handler" for Neal and a promotion for Peter, the drama should be back to status quo by next episode.

White Collar "At What Price" (S05E01): Curtis Hagen, "The Dutchman" from the pilot, texts Neal about helping Peter get out of jail. [for people who didn't just marathon the series in the past couple months, was Curtis that memorable for you?] He knows a federal prosecutor, and if Neal will rob a vault for him and forge James's confession, Curtis will handle the rest. As James is nowhere to be found, Neal speaks the confession and Mozzie makes it sound like James. [this sort of technology freaks me out a little.] The charges against Peter are dropped, and he soon returns to work, complete with an offer to run White Collar, and then hopefully receive an even larger commendation with a move to Washington, DC. Peter thanks Neal for getting James to confess, unaware that anything fishy has been going on. [the fact that he wasn't really suspicious bothers me... though I guess he was just so glad to get out of there!]

But, Neal still has to pull off a heist. Fortunately, Mozzie has been able to crack Neal's anklet, so he can now go outside of his radius, but the job will still require them both in order to work. [before Neal was even shown standing still, I was thinking that it wouldn't seem odd because of his painting/sculpting hobbies.] Mozzie acts like he's going to jump from the top of the building adjacent to the target structure. [HILARIOUS to watch him not agree with conspiracy theories!] This gets the fire department there, and Neal poses as one of them to get into the building. He quickly diverts from the group and clears an office on the other side of the wall as the coins he's taking. He puts them into a tank, but it's collected. [I had been wondering how he was going to hang onto those...] So, Mozzie sets up camp outside the fire station so he can follow the tanks on the truck while Neal goes to work. There, Peter is working the coin theft, and quickly realizes that one of the firemen is wearing compressed air tanks when there was no fire. [dang. these guys are quick!] Mozzie gets the truck out on a call so it isn't there when the FBI goes to interrogate the station workers, but the tanks aren't on the truck, they're at the station. When Peter calls for permission to check out the tanks, Neal starts a fire to keep everyone occupied so he can find the coins and pass them to Mozzie, through a firehose from the second story. [that was intense and time-consuming!]

David Giesbrecht/USA Network

Neal realizes that Hagen filmed the heist, so now he's a slave for The Dutchman. His next task will be to destroy some FBI evidence to help out with Curtis's upcoming appeal, only it'll be much tougher... Peter has decided that they're too close and Neal needs a new anklet and handler to keep the proper perspective.