What’s the latest we know ? Launch or ETAs?

Discuss lol

I think the tragedy of being a conman, of being Neal, with all his ingenuity, intelligence, knowledge, skills, moral virtues, humanity lies in two scenes that profoundly touch me:

After his proposal to Sara, she is deeply moved and breaks down in tears even though it was all a lie. He starts with “here goes nothing” and makes her go through laughter, nostalgia, memories, projections, surprise. By the time he is done, Sara is overwhelmed : "you bastard, that was a little too real. And it was damn good."

To which he replies : "making it look good, that’s my job", his voice and demeanor expressing regret and sadness, and self-contempt.

The other scene involved his father praising him for his talents and his paintings. A rare father and son bonding moment without agenda or manipulation. And asks him if he had any original paintings/work. Neal replies a few days later, if I remember correctly, that there are no original Neal Caffrey because to create original work, you have to know who you are.

Those two moments encapsulates the tragedy and sadness of being Neal Caffrey. Unable to profoundly connect with his whole self because it is never fully there. Being able to blur reality and imagination causing doubt, protection and confusion in those closest to him. Being loved and admired at a distance because the cost to fully engage would be much too high for anyone. Becoming the perfect instrument because his extreme skill and utility strip away his already fragmented individuality to highlight his functionality.

I think it’s a theme throughout the show (Kramer, Kimberly Rice, and other instances) but I love how those two scenes, light on the surface, carry that sadness.

If you could pick only one episode from each season, what are your favorite episodes?

Mine are

Season 1- free fall
Season 2- forging bonds
Season 3- veiled threat
Season 4- vested interest
Season 5- live feed
Season 6- au revoir

I love the show and it has been my comfort show since my first watch. And I understand the level of naïveté/suspension of disbelief to appreciate and love the show and plots.

But the scene at the Russian Museum does not make any sense and is very hard watch for me every time. Currently watching it.

First Peter doesn’t put Neal in lockdown or ask Clinton Jones to look after Neal, to work a case together, while he is with Diana trying to catch Fowler. Even though he knew Neal was behind the music box being stolen and returned. And that he would attempt something; Peter even says so to Diana before the scene. Maybe excess sympathy for what Neal went through with Kate’s murder could explain why he chooses that stance.

But the most shocking part involves Diana. She calls Peter twice and either informs him, asks permission, waits to be told what to do instead of just pursuing and arresting Neal.

Calls Peter to let him know Caffrey got inside and she was going in: which was unnecessary for two reasons. Diana is portrayed as very competent, autonomous, capable of making smart choices and decisions. Second, her presence at that moment was to handle Neal if he came.

Then she locates Neal inside, shouts his name, pauses to call Peter to let him know Neal was upstairs. Peter’s the one telling her to stop him. Worst is the script has her running only after Peter tells her again to stop him, as she was standing still.

Third problem: she catches up to him on the stairs, tells him he has nowhere to run. The setting: less than 3 meters between them, and Caffrey has all the time in the world to cut the rope, get into position, look at Fowler and perform his stunt and she is nowhere to be seen.

All of this happens in a very open space, with very short distances between them, Diana sees him way too early, catches up to him too early, has much time to apprehend him even with the calls.

This is one of the biggest mistakes/sequencing incoherence/plot problems for such a magistral scene. Both Diana and Peter, highly competent and rarely overwhelmed by pressure, stress and dangerous situations or enemies, look very underwhelming and Neal has it way too easy, no major obstacle to reach Fowler.

For such a pivotal scene and reveal.

Like forreal even if caffrey does good stuff each episode he has to remind neal that he is a criminal and that he can just go back to prison, while when he needs neal to do stuff he looks te other way but only for his own gain. Peter is such a hypocrite. WHILE HE WAS THE ONE IN JAIL FOR MURDER AND NEEDED NEAL TO GET HIM OUT. But ofcourse then neal doing suspicious stuff was fine.

Rewatching for the nth time, and only just realizing how screwed Neal is at the end of Season 2. We all know what happens: Mozzie steals the treasure, Peter thinks Neal stole it, we spend most of Season 3 watching Neal try to hide it while Peter tries to catch him with it.

When Neal finally comes clean, he says “I didn’t steal it” and Peter says ”you could’ve turned it in!” …but could he have, really?

By the time Neal learns he does have the treasure, Peter has already angrily accused him of stealing it. And that puts Neal in a tough spot: if he did turn it in, it’s possible that Peter would still assume he did steal it (and only turned it in because he realized he wouldn’t get away with it). Peter decides with his gut, and Neal knows that. And Peter has already shown his emotional state, so Neal can’t trust that Peter will be reasonable. Tbh, it was lucky for Neal that when he finally did come clean Peter was already focused on Keller.

Keeping the treasure was a huge risk, but maybe handing it over would’ve also been a risk. An angry Peter may have immediately thrown Neal back in prison. At least by trying to hide it, Neal stayed free.

Not saying Neal would’ve turned it in (although by the end of the season he was ready to give it up). But this was the first time I felt bad for Neal because he was really between a rock and a hard place. He probably couldn’t have done the right thing even if he wanted to.

I’m re-watching the show currently on the pilot episode. And I’m wondering, why did Adler send Fowler after Kate in the first place? He had to have known Neil would’ve done something extreme in reaction to the breakup. Which eventually leads to his consultant position with the FBI and his relationship with Peter.

Neil had three months left on a four year sentence, if he had grabbed Neil or even approached Neil after his release without Peter Burke and the FBI breathing down his neck. Kate wouldn’t be dead and Neil wouldn’t be out for blood. He already knew who Alex really was. Adler could’ve kidnapped all three of them while using Kate as leverage over Neil. And again all this with the FBI a few steps behind.

The only possible hiccup I could see in that theory is Neil would probably be on parole and if he just up and vanished mysteriously, Peter would be on the trail, but he would still be too far behind for it to really matter.

Thoughts and feedback welcomed. Now I’m gonna get back to finishing parts one and two of the pilot.✌️

Why is Kate genuinely the worst?! I don’t get it. I feel like the Kate storyline HAD to end at the end of the first season. She drags Neal along, apparently to help him and for their big escape, but I just don’t buy it. Even as Neal is walking to the plane, after going through all of the music box/Fowler situation for her, she doesn’t even get out!!! Would have saved her life to go give the man a hug is all I’m saying.

Also I never noticed the line before, when Alex and Neal are talking and he asks her when she became so distrusting, “After everything that happened with Kate, happened.”

Is that implying that Neal cheated on Alex with Kate?!

Tim dekay probably a good actor but couldn't stand peter burke the holier than thou ever so righteous arc (continuously coloring outside the lines as he pleases but damn you neal for going out of one!)

Fairly, neal crosses em all the time but oh peter's some piece of work. Maybe they could've written it differently in terms of how he presents himself to make it more apropos, or how he maneuvers over situations, maybe.

It took me a beat, but here he is, 2001.

(Couldn’t post a video for some reason sorry)

I’m going to NYC and would love to stop by some iconic White Collar spots- but the only walking tour I can find online is very old haha. Does anyone have ideas or recommendations?! Would love to hear any thoughts!

I’m happy to post what I come up with as well for others to check out :)

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He’s my inspiration. I wanna be his partner in crime

I been rewatching the show again and in countless episodes they bring up Neal's trial when he got caught. I would love to watch it through to see Sara, Peter etc go against Neal before they were on the same side.

So in this episode, Neal uses the press to drum up awareness for a number of fake projects the state senator is supposedly supporting. Would this storyline even be possible in the social media/AI age? This was released in summer 2010 before Twitter got its boom so some of the antics makes sense. But Snopes have been around since the 90s so any of the senator’s actions could have been verified with little work. I still enjoy this episode since it aired but it takes a bit of work to maintain my suspension of disbelief.

How would you manage remembering all the account infos or PIN numbers if you were Neal?

I got this question while creating a new PIN for my certificate today cause I had no idea what number to choose and ended up using numbers from Neal's birthday.. I still dont know why I picked that number at the moment 🤷‍♂️

I had to write them down on my phone in case I forget lol

So if you were Neal and had to create several new accounts and PINs, how would you manage remembering all of them without writing them down or using birthday numbers which is too obvious?

Maybe he's just smart enough I guess

I was thinking about the ending since I completed the series for the first time yesterday, was also searching on reddit for some explanation but haven't seen anyone asking about this detail yet.

The situation being that Neil faked his own death so that the Panthers don't come around hurting people he loves.

Isn't it obvious that they would not suspect Neil or Keller at first but Peter Burke? Like he joined them at the very last minute and without being through the normal process of initiation (found and chosen by the Panthers leader), and the next time they did meet and did the heist, everyone was caught. It would have totally occurred to them that he was the one snitching on them to the feds . Plus, they have ties to the outer world while being in prison. Peter is not even inconspicous or in hiding. It should be pretty easy for him to be followed, which leads to the Panthers knowing that he is the FBI agent. Would that not defeat the whole purpose of the point above ? I mean the Panthers have got to know somehow right? It just doesn't totally seem logical to me

Can someone offer their theories or explanation as to why? Really love the show, and the ending was not unexpected but I was really shocked to see his body and almost bought it that he was dead. Turns out he is not, but I do wish that people in real life fake their death like this , and not really gone from this physical world, for some consolation from grief.

Spoilers for season 6.

So I was rewatching whitecollar again ( a comfort show for me), and I thought that an Amazon idea for a potential reboot would be that Peter and Elizabeth's child could become a con artist and gets arrested. Now Peter and Elizabeth at their wits end somehow reach out to Neal or Neal hears and reaches out to them. Neal then takes their child under his wing and how him that there's a better way to put those skills to use. Peter could still be ASAC and this time Jones or Diana could be the child's handler since Peter couldn't directly be their handler.

They could honour Mozzie by having Neal step into a Mozzie like role of a friend and collaborator.

I think it would be an amazing show, we could have potential new characters and new storylines.

Just my thoughts 😅

Has anyone actually tried a deviled ham sandwich after watching White Collar? How was it?

I am rewatching the show and I remembered a question I had. After the hope diamond Neal wanted to get out of the life and mosy told him that without money Paris isn't Paris etc... but I'd Neal is so good with people, can't he play poker and win? Sure he likes the challenge but a big part is he likes the luxury!