(S01E05) I don't think I've sighed as hard as I sighed during the opening scene of this episode of White Collar in a long time. Caffrey and Moz find a note hidden by Kate ... in Grand Central Station? And not even in the station, but in the corner of the building outside. Did I miss some massive clue that Caffrey was following to find the exact location of the note shoved into a crack? Or are we just supposed to assume he's so smart and perceptive that he can find an old note within three minutes of showing up in front of the building? If I missed something, it was silly. If that's exactly how it went down, then it was kinda stupid.

Fun episode, though!

I hope I don't sound too harsh in my criticism of that scene. I really do like this show (in the realm of USA shows, I'd put it way ahead of Royal Pains but behind Burn Notice), it's just that sometimes it falls into that implausible, hacky plotting trap that a lot of action dramas fall into. Some of the White Collar episodes have that happen at the end, with the crook being caught too easily. This episode had a silly beginning (I'll give them this ending because more happened after the bad guy's easy arrest). But I do appreciate the subplot involving Kate and the clues, so anything that keeps that going is fine with me.

As for the main plot, this week it was the disappearance of the painting. It's fun to see how Caffrey will get information from people, like leaning on the guy's car and getting information from him by just acting like he knows what's going on when he really doesn't and getting the guy to admit everything. Hey, it's the guy's fault if he assumes! I like those clever scenes.

The best parts of this show are the scenes like that and the scenes between Caffrey and Burke, the dance that lies somewhere between trust and distrust. Burke can say he doesn't trust Caffrey, but he does. Something tells me that Caffrey really could get that anklet monitor off of his leg if he really wanted to, even if he says it's a new model that can't be hacked. I'm sure he and Moz could think of something. Caffrey likes the position he's in, though I wonder if that will change once he gets really, really close to finding out where Kate is and why she had to leave without an explanation (I'm guessing it's to protect him - she still loves him).

She has to be more careful with the clues, though. I mean, the note in the crack and then another clue when you fold the note like my old issues of Mad magazine? One of these days, Caffrey is going to throw away a major clue because Kate hid it so well.

More thoughts:

- At first I didn't like the segue scenes the show uses, the shots of NYC with the film sped up and the music playing. But I like them now.

- I liked the little banter between Burke and Caffrey about women, Burke asking Caffrey if a woman has ever not fallen for him, and Caffrey mentioning it happened once in second grade.

- Besides the implausible opening scene I didn't like the scene with Burke and Caffrey and the two women in the hotel room. This show doesn't do wacky that well, and it shouldn't try too many scenes like that. Of course Elizabeth had to call during the craziness, right? It reminded me of the episode of The Andy Griffith Show where Helen and Thelma Lou walk in on Andy and Barney and the two floozies from out of town and nothing was going on. It worked there but didn't work here.

- I like that Burke is married, though, and that Elizabeth has a past as a con artist but is also very sensible. Tiffani Thiessen has grown on me here.

- Is it too early to see Kate, hear her voice, and have her be so close? Or would it have been better to have her still out of the picture and Caffrey looking for her until the season finale?

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