A Not-So-Normal White Collar; A White Collar Series Review
The edge-of-your seat series White Collar is a must see and stands high above its competitor shows such as NCIS, Bones, or even CSI. White Collar was recently added to Netflix and it is a show that keeps you in your seat for hours. If you start this series you might just be the next person in the neighborhood to become a couch potato.
The television series White Collar is not the normal “white collar” FBI crime show people might assume it is. If you are looking for a series that will be hard to pull away from, one where you might just ignore the baby crying upstairs, this is it. It’s a fast-paced, always changing series that makes it easy for the viewer to follow along without knowing the past outcome of tense situations or scenes. Neal Caffrey (played by Matt Bomer) plays the good-looking conman who keeps everyone in the white collar district on their toes. He takes the average white collar job and transforms it to a whole new level of setting records and solving cases, but he does this while being his true self. However, Neal always seems to be running his own cons on the side. Peter Burke (played by Tim DeKay) is the honest and true FBI agent who is devoted to cleaning up the streets by setting his sights on taking crime out of New York City all together. Now that Neal has joined the force, Burke often finds himself cleaning up messes that Neal usually creates but that they both get stuck having to deal with.
The twist with this not-so-normal investigative TV series begins after special agent Peter Burke spends four years chasing after his obsession, a conman named Neal Caffrey. After four years Agent Burke has caught Neal Caffrey because the criminal finally made a mistake. Surprisingly, Neal Caffrey is offered a job at the bureau in the White Collar District of New York City. The big question then becomes whether the infamous Neal Caffrey is still the conman that he was once known for or whether he has really gone soft and become an FBI agent.
Throughout the show there are many things that the viewer will not see coming. After months and months of Agent Burke and Neal working together, they have actually developed a working relationship that has turned into a deep friendship. They work so well together and enjoy each other’s company so much that they start doing things outside of work. They work on many cases after hours, which helps them reach this whole new level of setting records. To say the least, their relationship has grown from leaving Neal in a crappy apartment and enforcing lots of FBI rules to a deeply developed partnership that gives Neal more and more freedom.
In my opinion, Season 3 is the best one to watch! In this season Agent Burke and Neal come to a crossroads and their friendship is called into question. Burke is faced with the decision of whether to put his new friend Neal (who is still an ex-con) back in prison, or whether to trust that Neal is telling the truth about not stealing a priceless collection of paintings found in a lost German U-Boat. The big questions in this season are: Did Neal and his best friend Mozzie (played by Willie Garson), who is also a well known conman, take priceless art right out from under Agent Burke’s nose? How could Neal have done it when he was with Agent Burke the whole investigation? Agent Burke doesn’t want to believe that Neal, his new friend, could have done the unthinkable. The captive audience of viewers also has a hard time figuring out where Neal’s loyalties really are during this season.
Although the series is one of the best that I have seen in a long time, there is still room for improvement. The White Collar series could do better with its casting. While actress Tiffani Thiessen (from the TV show Saved by the Bell), who plays Agent Peter Burke’s wife Elizabeth Burke, plays an excellent supportive housewife to her overly stressed and busy husband, there is one female character who shows up unannounced and becomes one of the main characters. Her name Agent Diana Berrigan (played by Marsha Thomason). Her character is good and needed in the series, but played by the wrong person. The writers could also have done a much better job bringing this character into the series. She just came out of nowhere and appeared in one of the shows as a permanent cast member. It felt like the writers did not remember to write her in until the second season. I also feel that the end of the series could have been improved. As a viewer, you follow this series over what is many years in television time, and you fall in love with the characters and are on the edge of your seat for hours and hours. Then, in one episode the writers wrap up the whole show and it’s over. There is no big mystery like there was through all seven seasons. It would have been better to have some build up leading to a grand finale at the end of Season seven.
The series White Collar is one Netflix show that I recommend you watch because it is one of the best series I have seen in a long time. This television series has a positive message and is a show that can be watched with the whole family. There is light-hearted humor that will make the audience laugh but keep them wondering what turn the story will take next. The characters are interesting and they continue to surprise the viewer as they learn and grow in their relationships with each other. You just might surprise yourself with how much you are going to enjoy watching this series. Just be careful not to become too much of a couch potato.
