White Collar 3.01 "On Guard"/Covert Affairs 2.01 "Begin to Begin"

[emeraldstag]

The summer shows are here! Woo. First up on WHITE COLLAR, I only saw the last two episodes of season 2 last week (several months after it aired I know but I was busy in Spring! I swear!) so I had where it left off much fresher in my mind than COVERT AFFAIRS. When the finale had left us with the cliffhanger of Neal in a warehouse filled with the lost treasure that had supposedly been destroyed in the u-boat fire I had wondered where the show would take that story and with the premiere I think it's safe to say that it was a brilliant story decision.

Something they had jokingly mentioned repeatedly during the latter half of season 2 was the fact that Neal was practically another suit and the criminal aspect of his character seemed to be disappearing. Now with the treasure in his possession and Peter suspicious of him, it was nice to see the conflicts between them, the conflict between Neal and his reformed life, the conflict between Neal and Mozzie about letting go. This is what was needed now that the Kate chapter of Neal's life (most of the first two seasons) is now closed.

I had thought Alex was the one who would have stolen the treasure after the finale but it makes a lot more sense for it to have been Mozzie because throughout the time of the show we really haven't seen his criminal side either and with them making Sara a regularly recurring character it wouldn't make sense to have Alex there especially since they seemed to close that romantic path in the finale. Excited for this season.

For CA I had completely forgotten how the finale had ended since it aired over 9 months ago, but I was able to vaguely recall that Ben had gotten shot as they were leaving/escaping from the mission. A lot of this episode seemed to be about putting Annie back to the status quo. Having Ben disappear to apparently be welcomed back into the agency clears the status to put Annie into romantic situations with Jai, Auggie and any male agents she crosses paths with in episodes while she pines for "The One".

I am glad to see that the sister has been added as a regular to the show, I definitely think seeing both sides of Annie's life is important, and I like the drama that happens with Arthur and Joan dealing with politics being the B plot to every show. This is definitely more of a fun escapist show for me that succeeds where Burn Notice didn't when I tried that series.