By: Stephanie Sigafoos
USA’s White Collar, which has been on a ratings tear since its debut just a few weeks ago, took to heart the 8th Commandment of “Thou Shall Not Steal” in Friday’s episode, as Peter and Neal were hired by a notorious mafia kingpin named Leo Barelli to track down a pre-Renaissance bible stolen from a church in Brooklyn.
“Everybody in that church has a record. The only people I don’t suspect are the ones still in prison,” Peter remarks as the two trek through New York, returning to the sanctuary to find out it was recently opened to a homeless military veteran suspected of the theft.
Peter and Neal head off to meet Steve, who admits to taking the bible to use its healing powers to cure his sick dog, Lucy. But later, Steve admits to the FBI that Barelli’s nephew, Paul Ignacio, asked him to commit the crime.
When Ignacio ends up dead, his body dumped along the docks of the East River, Peter is blocked from the investigation by the Organized Crime Unit because an agent named Joseph Ruiz won’t trust Peter while he’s working with a convicted felon.
“We’re sitting on the edge of a mafia war and I can’t do a damn thing about it,” he tells Neal – who takes Peter’s FBI jacket and loans it to Mozzie so they can case Ignacio’s house. The two eventually make a discovery that Maria Fiametta, a local art historian, has ties to the Barelli family and may know more about the bible.
When Neal meets Maria for the first time he discovers she’s a fan of his “work” – but neither will trust the other. After they go out on a date and Neal works his charm to convince her he’s out of retirement and not really working for the FBI (just “checking out their playbook”) she admits to having the bible and tells him she’ll sell it to him for a quarter million dollars.
As part of the plan to get the bible back, Neal cuts his tracking device and they end up back at the river — where Maria tries to get away with the money and the bible. But when she shoots at Neal, the bullet becomes embedded in the bible’s cover and Maria is arrested before she can get away.
Still holding the bible, Neal eventually slips it off to Mozzie (still wearing Peter’s FBI jacket) so he can take it back to Steve and Lucy. Barelli meets up with them at the church and says he can’t forgive the theft, until he finds out Lucy is really sick and offers Steve a chance to have her looked at by a veterinarian.
As the episode comes to a close, Neal finally figures out the clue Kate left on the wine bottle – it turns out there’s a map of the New York City subway revealed once Neal places the bottle near a burning candle and the heat reveals the hidden diagram.
Once again, we’re left to ponder what it all means as another entertaining episode of White Collar comes to a close.
Favorite line of the show:
Ruiz to Burke: Where’s your pet con?
Burke: I left him in the car with the windows cracked.
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I really like this show. Another winner for the USA Network. Still like Burn Notice better, but this is a good solid 2nd.