White Collar

White Collar (being aired in over here on the local 'shows that are part of courses at X College/University' channel) sounds on the surface like a story some of us have heard too many times. And, for the first four weeks or so of its run, I felt like there was no point in watching it, because I own Catch Me If You Can, which is a fantastic film. Now that the first season's over, I'm pleased to report that my initial disappointment with White Collar was unwarranted.

While its supporting cast of characters is outstanding, the show revolves around the relationship and persons of Neal Caffrey, a twenty-something, internationally renowned (?) master forger, con artist, and art thief, and the only law enforcement officer who's ever caught him, a well-respected veteran grunt in the FBI's white collar crimes unit, one Peter Burke. The series opens after Peter's caught Neal for the second time, and after hitting a wall in a big case, Peter gets permission to give Neal a second chance in the form of a tracking anklet and a job as a Bureau consultant. The problem is, all Neal wants to do is be reunited with his ex-wife, who he believes is being kept from him by some of Peter's colleagues in exchange for stealing and delivering one of the most elusive, rare, high-profile artifacts sought after by private buyers in the world - a mysterious music box. What Peter wants is to not only help Neal stay on the straight and narrow, but help him want to stay there; all Neal wants is Kate, unwilling to believe that his master con artist ex-wife could be using him to recover the box with no intention of remarrying. While the reason for the government wanting the music box is a mystery, the real, central mystery of White Collar is who's right about Kate's motives. Neal clings to the belief that she just wants to be with him, and is the same woman he loved and married, while Peter suspects that Kate is not acting in Neal's best interests, and that his (Neal's) lot will improve if he lets her go and move on, taking the life Peter continues to offer him.

While the mystery of White Collar is who's right about Kate, the focus is not so much on the way people are deceived by others, but the way people deceive themselves. Peter is a man whose confidence and security comes from being himself, while Neal, the professional confidence man, has destroyed his self-confidence and security by devoting himself to being a wide variety of someone else. The show has an excellent contrast going between Peter and Neal that only really started clicking late in the first season - basically, Neal fools people by being someone he's not, while Peter fools people by being himself, letting them run away with their assumptions. Peter is a man whose confidence and security comes from being himself, while Neal, the professional confidence man, has destroyed his self-confidence and security by devoting himself to being a wide variety of someone else. And the brilliant thing is, we the audience have been fooled by Peter, probably because of the character stereotype created by just about every other show or film featuring a blue-collar law-enforcement officer paired with or against a suave, white-collar criminal. He's uncultured, he's a shlub, he's naive, he's single-minded - choose your character stereotype, and White Collar will boot it out the window. As the season unfolded, we saw good reasons why Peter is so well-respected by his employees and his boss. We saw Peter be a completely realistic man who can identify good food and wine - his wife has a business catering high-profile functions, and often uses him as a guinea pig before presenting menus to her clients - but just because he taught himself to recognize it and analyze it doesn't mean that he likes it, and his favourite meal is pizza and beer. We saw Peter be a law-enforcement officer who we can actually believe deserves his rank and tenure, and who we can actually believe is the only person who could catch Neal, because no matter how much Neal convinces himself he can hide things from Peter, he can't. Peter is not some idiot out of Neal's league who caught him just by being determined.

I'd like to touch back on that statement about Peter's security coming from being himself. This is also where White Collar is, thankfully, not like other shows. Peter isn't some ass who thinks that as long as he's being honest and "true to himself", he's doing just fine. He has the self-awareness (and a loving wife) to know when he's in the wrong and needs improvement, and he doesn't wield his being-his-selfiness (what?) like a weapon, the way popular asses like the main characters on House and Lie to Me do. He's the ultimate TV picture of someone who's mature, and calm, and has reached middle age content with their life. In other words, he's the ultimate TV abnormality. ;)

The biggest reason to watch this show is its believability, and its sensibility. Peter and his colleagues are not stupid, or easily deceived by Neal and his friends. Neal is a believable portrait of a young man in crisis, and his distress and inexperience are little match for Peter's contentment, and probably close to the equivalent of Neal's lifetime worth of experience both professional and private. A lot of shows that have boasted strong first seasons have tanked after getting popular or renewed (or both), taking the path of the lowest common denominator, and although the first season of White Collar ended with the proverbial bang instead of the potentially more interesting option, I have hope that it will follow in the footsteps of other recent shows aired on Access like Fringe and The Sarah Connor Chronicles, whose second seasons eclipsed their first to become some of the finest TV ever produced, hands down. (Not that I hope White Collar goes the way of the dodo the way TSCC did. Man, I miss that show.)

All that blathering to say: well done, White Collar! Keep up the good work! Your writers are fantastic!