- Title: White Collar – Deadline
- wiki: link
Here’s a peculiarity, an episode that doesn’t revolve around either Neal (Matt Bomer) or Peter (Tim DeKay), but on Diana (Marsha Thomason) who finds herself sent undercover as an assistant to a difficult journalist (Jayne Atkinson) on the verge of expose that will likely get her killed. And you know what? It’s pretty darn good.
We even get to see a slice of Diana’s homelife as the series finally allows Neal, and the audience, to meet her girlfriend (Moran Atias) when the pair host a dinner party for Neal and Sara (Hilarie Burton). Although Neal’s alterior motives don’t ultimately bear fruit, what we see of the night is highly enjoyable.
Alas, Neal and Mozzie’s (Willie Garson) plans to snatch the list of Nazi art don’t go as well for the con artists. The list is on it’s way to Washington D.C. leaving the pair at a loss as to their next move.
Although the case itself about a reporter and a shady drug company isn’t quite as interesting, this episode gives us a great deal of character interaction as well as continuing to move the story, and Neal’s relationships with his co-workers and Sara, forward without any of it feeling forced. This episode puts a little more emphasis on Neal’s dilemma of what he would lose by using the Nazi art to escape, rather than just focusing on the positives of regaining his freedom. Hopefully this undercurrent of uncertainty will continue throughout the season.
