Review #3926: White Collar 4.11: “Family Business”
Contributor: Gregg Wright
Written by Joe Henderson
Directed by Paul Holahan
After a somewhat underwhelming mid-season finale, with a reveal that was about as heavily-telegraphed as a reveal can be, “White Collar” returns and picks up at the very moment where it left off. “White Collar” serves as an important counterweight in my TV viewing roster to all the grim, unrelenting shows such as “Breaking Bad” and “Game of Thrones”, as well as the more tonally-varied shows like “Fringe” and “Supernatural”. “White Collar” offers charming characters, a perpetually-pleasant setting, and just enough character development and serialized-storytelling to keep it all from feeling disposable.
“Family Business” is a satisfying packaging of everything I like about the show: the humor, the undercover work, the emotional depth, and the intrigue of the long-term mystery. Much of the episode is wisely dedicated to Neal’s emotional turmoil over re-connecting with his father, who he had been led to believe was a dirty cop and a cop killer. I’ve always liked this aspect of Neal’s background: that Neal had purposefully rebelled against his father by becoming a con man, ironically becoming more like the criminal that his father really was.
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Mirrored from Critical Myth.