White Collar - Season 1

WHITE COLLAR - Season 1

'White Collar' is an American crime drama serial following the FBI’s New York White Collar division.  Matt Bomer stars as Neal Caffrey a brilliant con man and forger who has been caught and jailed by the FBI.  However, Caffrey offers to use his skills and knowledge to help the FBI catch criminals, and is freed on a work-release scheme.  He now works with the man who put him in jail, Peter Burke (Tim DeKay), a shrewd and talented FBI agent.  Caffrey and Burke form an unlikely and unconventional partnership that nevertheless proves very successful, as they both bring different skills to the metaphorical ‘table’.

The first season of White Collar deals with multiple plot threads, including the evolving relationship between Caffrey and Burke as well as Caffrey’s search for his former girlfriend, Kate Moreau (Alexandra Daddario).  Other plots follow the relationship between Caffrey and his best - and criminal - friend Mozzie (Willie Garson) as well as the relationship between Peter and his wife Elizabeth (Tiffani Thiessen).   Furthermore, each episode deals with a separate FBI case which Burke, with the assistance of his team, Clinton Jones (Sharif Atkins) and Lauren Cruz (Natalie Morales), as well as Caffrey’s support, must solve. 

The season benefits from some excellent direction and cinematography with great transitions and fantastic filming locations within New York City.  However, it is the chemistry between Bomer and DeKay that really makes this show excel.  They complement each other very well, and the back and forth between the two is almost reason enough to watch White Collar.  Indeed, if you did need another reason then the performance of Garson would provide it.  With a list of film and TV credits as long as an arm Garson has definitely been around the block but seems to have found his role, providing a tremendously energetic and amusing performance as Mozzie, providing some light hearted comic relief to juxtapose the more serious elements of the show.

 

The main criticisms of this season are its supporting cast and its chief plotline.  Though not bad actors, Atkins, Morales, and Thiessen just get blown away by Bomer, DeKay and Garson, and though they are billed as ‘main cast’ they are in reality ‘supporting cast’, as they struggle to make their characters anything more than two-dimensional stereotypes.  The biggest criticism has to be levelled at the main plotline however, and although the writing for the individual episodes is exciting and pacey the main story arc comes across disjointed, confusing, and a bit boring!  Especially when compared with the escapades Caffrey and Burke go on every episode!

Nonetheless, this is a marvellous first season with three great actors and characters besides having one of the best pilot episodes you will see!  If you are a fan of the crime caper genre then this is definitely for you, or even if you just appreciate a well-crafted television programme, you will want to buy this season.

8.5/10

IMDB Link: White Collar