I find it very amusing that chess is always used as a symbol for strategizers, a kind of visual way of saying, “This guy can really think!” It’s a great game, and it definitely takes a ton of forward-thinking, but chess and calculated thought are by no means equitable.
Nevertheless, it was fun to watch Neal and Mozzie hash out what they knew about Peter, Fowler (Noah Emmerich), Kate, and the ring over a game of the little men. And it was certainly a good suggestion by Mozzie to see if Peter had the ring. I mean, sure, it would have to be something that would stare Neal in the face from a picture hanging on Peter’s wall … because something as ubiquitous as an FBI 10-year anniversary ring wouldn’t have already popped up at the office. Nope.
I know, I’m being harsh. But was it wrong of me to expect a little more suspense and drama from this unfolding mystery? At least the con-of-the-week was great!
You’d be forgiven for having visions of Giovanni Ribisi and Scott Caan dancing in your head after watching tonight’s premiere. I love Boiler Room, and I always enjoy watching a good version of the con unfold. While we didn’t delve too deeply into it here, Avery Philips (Jonathan Tucker) was certainly no slouch as a sleazy character, or as an adversary for both Neal and Peter. And I loved watching Peter go undercover!
Also cute was the comic book collection stored in the vault with 10 second fire response time. It’s a very Generation Y thing to drag our hobbies along with us even as we begin to take over the world from Generation X and the Baby Boomers. In a way it speaks to how we’ve managed to retain more of our childhoods than previous generations, possibly because we’ve been allowed to fully experience them. Whatever the reason, it’s certainly not a bad thing.
But that’s not why we’re all here, is it? No, we all want to discuss Peter, Neal, Kate, and the ring. First of all, I called it that Kate is somehow actively involved in whatever’s going on. And even if I can imagine them explaining that all away four seasons from now, nothing will wipe away the manner in which she talked to Peter about Neal. She’s a con artist, and if the show tries to tell us otherwise down the road it’ll be the one trying to scam us.
The ring explanation was weak, and there’s no way someone as observant as Neal wouldn’t have seen it around somewhere, either in pictures at Peter’s house or at FBI headquarters. You’re telling me no one wears theirs? Or that it’s not a known symbol, likely to pop up in even rudimentary online research?
But assuming that’s true, here’s what bothers me about Peter’s explanation (and what I promised you in my preview): how and why did Peter know where to find Kate? And what did he gain by feigning ignorance whenever Neal asked him questions? Those are points that it would seem we’re meant to not be concerned with, since the show glossed over them without really leaving open the possibility that it’ll come back around to explain them. Neal’s getting right back onboard with Peter seems to preclude that possibility.
And while I liked seeing Neal come to Elizabeth about the situation, why would Peter have included her in the loop in the first place? Yes, they share, which is great, but there seems to be no reason whatsoever for Peter to have included Elizabeth in that discussion in the first place.
As for what it is that this Kate thing is all about, Neal and Mozzie sounded like Robert Langdon while talking about the mysteries that Catherine the Great’s music box is rumored to contain. For sure it would have to be more than the amber that the music box was made from that Kate was after — even on the high end you’d only be talking about a six figure value.
But, in my eyes at least, the request threw the door open on what this show is going to become — Neal’s going back to the con game! Because how else is he going to get the music box? And once he’s reacquired a taste for the con, how could he stay away?
All else aside, White Collar just got perfect.
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Jan 19, 2010 @ 23:00 EST5EDT
Yes! They totally just upped the game. I loved the show for the banter and cons alone, but now the overarching story arc just got awesome. I love, love, love it and I can’t wait for next week!
*POST AUTHOR*
Plus it may replace Leverage for you as a well scripted con show, right? :)
I am also wary on how easily Peter was able to track down Kate. That seems fishy because as good as Peter is, Neal is just as good so why couldn’t he find her?
But I’m not suspicious of the fact that Peter confided in Elizabeth. I think the writers might be deliberately contrasting Peter and Elizabeth’s relationship with Neal and Kate’s. Peter and Elizabeth trust each other and confide in each other and are open and honest about everything. Neal and Kate, on the other hand, are entrenched in intrigue and misdirection and possibly betrayal.
*POST AUTHOR*
I’m not suspicious that Peter confided in Elizabeth, but I do think that shows ignore the confidential nature of someone like Peter’s job, and think that a healthy marriage can only be obtained if they share everything. It reminds me of — and I apologize if you don’t get the reference — The West Wing, when Zoey was kidnapped and Abbey was yelling at Bartlet about what happened.
“Abdul Shareef had nothing to do with what’s happened to Zoey.” – Bartlet
“You don’t know that.” – Abbey
“It was debated and discussed and agonized over for weeks.” – Bartlet
“Debated and discussed? I’m here. I don’t remember that.” – Abbey
“It was a difficult decision!” – Bartlet
“Made by you, not us.” – Abbey
“I did what I thought was necessary.” – Bartlet
“Your decisions, Jed, not ours.” – Abbey
Right … um, because HE’S president, not both of you? Had her anger been that he’d done something that had led to Zoey being kidnapped, fine. But no, she was mad (or was also mad) that he’d made such a decision without consulting, and conferring with, her. That gaffe on the part of the writers made me despise her character, and dramatically lowered Stockard Channing’s stock in my eyes.
Anyway, my point is, some things are confidential. Even more so when you’re in government or law enforcement. The idea that Peter would be discussing the whole Kate thing with Elizabeth, from a professional standpoint, makes no sense to me.
I don’t think chess was being used to build up the characters as strategists so much as it was a convenient narrative shortcut for the viewers. Even people who don’t play chess know the symbolism of the King, Queen, and Pawn, and perhaps the Knight as well. It would be much harder to make the same point easily with Go stones.
Elizabeth and Neal even discuss the pin/ring in that scene. Apparently, agents don’t wear them around the office day to day, but do break them out for special occasions like formal dinners. Also, it seems Neal doesn’t have the same hypersenses as a Shawn Spencer or Patrick Jane, who would have noticed the ring one time at the FBI office, or in Peter’s pictures. Once Neal got his head wrapped around the possibility, he found it easily enough.
Someone left the picture of Kate on Peter’s desk “the same day” (I presumed this was the same day Neal got it). He had plenty of time to track her down the same way he found Neal or any other brilliant criminal, and probably kept tabs on her the entire time she was in New York, so he could go straight to her hotel room. Presumably, if Neal were not anklet-hobbled, didn’t have to rely on Mozzie as an intermediary, and could bend certain resources of the FBI to his disposal, he could have found her just as easily.
It did shock me that Elizabeth knew absolutely everything, because there should be some things an agent keeps from their spouse, but I suppose it’s in keeping with everything we saw in the first half-season about there being no secrets between them. I think Jewel’s point is spot on, here, and you’ll just have to chalk it up to creative liberty if you want to continue to enjoy the show, Aryeh. Oh, and I skipped that entire West Wing scene as always, so don’t worry about boring or bewildering us. ;)
*POST AUTHOR*
Chess was used here as an analogy, or whatever, but I think we were also meant to see Neal and Mozzie playing chess and say “Yeah, that’s right, because they’re such great strategists as con-men.” That’s what was funny to me, especially as it had just followed a similar situation on Criminal Minds.
I don’t know; I imagine Neal spent a lot of time studying the contours of the ring, and I think we know that Mozzie did research on it. If Neal didn’t notice it somewhere, Mozzie should have hit on the FBI angle in his search.
If Kate was so easy to find, what was the point in her hiding? I’m sorry, I don’t buy into that one…. You expect me to overlook a lot of stuff, man. I can’t wait for In Plain Sight to come back! ;)
When I think of chess, I think of old and/or homeless guys playing it in the park. Or The Turk, a chess-playing AI from Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles later played by Garret Dillahunt. Not master criminals/con men. It would be card tricks and legerdemain for them.
A minor point, but remember that the ring doesn’t matter, as different ones will be chosen by different recipients. It’s only the pin itself that remains the same. For that matter, perhaps Mozzie was researching rings when he should have been researching pins. :D
I think the point is that finding Kate would have stumped the rest of the FBI, just not Peter. Hey, I just point out alternate scenarios and rationalizations; it’s up to you if you want to buy them.
Wouldn’t it be funny if the showrunner change reduced In Plain Sight to another boring procedural with perfectly reasonable, rational characters, and there was nothing about which to argue?
*POST AUTHOR*
When I think of chess I think of my kindergarten teacher who taught it to me. But when I think of its use on TV, its always the brilliant thinkers who’re sitting there and playing it, because it’s “totally representative of their outsized ability to problem solve and think creatively.” Is that not the obvious point between Gideon and Reid on Criminal Minds? Or Malcolm and Jason Alexander’s character on Malcolm in the Middle?
When I say ring I’m talking about whatever’s on the face of it, which I assume is the pin, no? They were studying the face/pin in the picture, not the band, right?
“Wouldn’t it be funny if the showrunner change reduced In Plain Sight to another boring procedural with perfectly reasonable, rational characters, and there was nothing about which to argue?”
I can’t imagine that happening to us! :)
If you’re right about the analogy, what does it mean now that we know that Kate doesn’t like chess?
I thought that’s what you meant, but your use of the word “contours” above made me think of the band instead of the face of the ring.
I do hope In Plain Sight benefits from USA’s more aggressive original drama scheduling when it returns, growing its viewership.
*POST AUTHOR*
I’m not sure I see an analogy, just feigned symbolism, but it would mean that Kate sucks and was using Neal. Sounds about right so far.