Now that Season 2 of White Collar is over and we’ve all had a little time to contemplate, it’s the perfect time to think about how it compares to the first season. 
It can be hard for a series to maintain the momentum of a strong first season year after year. So how is White Collar doing? If you haven’t seen both seasons yet and don’t like spoilers, you might want to go watch them before reading the rest of this article.
The Mystery
One of the main challenges in a series with an ongoing mystery is keeping the viewer guessing without having the mystery turn into a giant, chaotic mess. White Collar made a smart decision by bringing the ‘find Katie’ plot-line to a definitive close at the end of Season 1. I was a little worried that in Season 2 Kate would immediately turn out to still be alive (which I’m still waiting to happen), and that we would have another season of Neal running around New York chasing her down.
Instead, we got new, equally interesting plot-lines. First the team had to find Fowler, then when he turned out to be a red herring they started searching for the real villain, Adler. The story stayed exciting, and Peter and Neal were just as emotionally invested in their new goals as they were in Season 1. The mysteries build off of the other, bringing us deeper into the mystery and actually giving us answers to most of our questions.
That’s not to say there weren’t weak spots: Alex’s story of her grandfather telling her about a mystical Nazi boat seemed cheesy, and Adler’s claim that he killed Kate to keep Peter from questioning her came off as a bad excuse. But I like to give them the benefit of the doubt, and hope that these were lies the characters made up. In a show about con artists, we have to assume they lie at least some of the time.
The Cons
Of course, the ongoing mysteries are only a small part of what makes White Collar great. What I really tune in for each week is to see Neal and Peter solve another multi-layered case. And in that respect, Season 2 has not disappointed.
The writers keep coming up with entertaining crimes for the team to solve, from Burmese political intrigue to adoption scams. And they consistently find clever ways to play with the characters. Peter and Neal have to switch places, Peter gets kidnapped, it’s all great fun.
The Characters
Season 2 did some great things with its characters, but also took some missteps. White Collar has amazing characters, full of complexity and flaws that make for outstanding television. Neal and Mozzie saw some great character development in Season 2.
For Neal, Season 2 was mainly about him getting over Kate. First he went after Fowler to get revenge for her, then slowly started to accept her death and move on. We also got to see him getting further and further from his old life and start to normalize into regular, law-abiding society. That change made the twist at the end all the more dramatic, when Neal is mysteriously gifted a room full of ill-gotten treasure (unless he was in on the con the whole time, but I’m not buying that).
And Mozzie, by far one of the most unique characters on television, has since the beginning of the show gradually become more adjusted to a life that intersects with law enforcement more than he would generally like. He makes baby steps, like turning to the FBI when his would-be lady-love disappears and joining the FBI in the finale to help locate Neal.
Unfortunately, Neal and Mozzie are hogging all of the forward momentum! Even though a huge part of Peter’s character is that he is steady and consistent, it would be nice to see him grow a little. It’s only human nature to move forward, even if one does it in a steady, consistent manner. He does sometimes color outside of the lines, but it always comes off as occasional exceptions rather than Peter’s character actually changing. I’m hoping that next season Peter gets thrown off his game more often, and hopefully has a little more friction with his wife than just drama over the dry cleaning.
As for the other characters, they just need to get used more often. Elizabeth, Diana and Jones are all in desperate need of more screen time.
USA has already renewed White Collar for a third season, so we’ll have to wait and see if Season 3 manages to carry the torch or falls flat.
