Neal Caffrey, dragging Nick Bomer with him, is back as the smooth and well-dressed white collar criminal that now works for the FBI under the careful eye of Special Agent Peter Burke.
Film making 4/5
Video 4/5
Audio 4/5
Bonus Features 1/5
Total 3.5/5 Stars
Neal Caffrey is back, played by Matt Bomer with Peter Burke as his handler and caretaker who has to try really hard to keep Neal on the straight and narrow path of good. Neal has just pulled off a fast paced switch, actually best friend Mozzie pulled the switch and is trying to get Neal to escape to Europe.
In season two of White Collar Peter Burke and Neal Caffrey are chasing down a criminal that is an old nemesis of Neal’s but the crook turns the tables on the them. The prize behind the crime is both getting back at Neal and a World War II Nazi submarine full of war treasures that went missing.
At the very end of season 2 Neal and Peter defeat the crook but the subs treasure blows up, at least that’s what it looks like to the viewer. Mozzie replaced the treasure with fakes and the explosion is only smoke and mirrors so Mozzie and Neal have a retirement funds worth of treasure.
Neal enjoys working with Peter and others and decides that life on the run is not for him so by the end of season 3 he makes up his mind and turns the treasure in. Peter was sure Neal had the treasure but was not able to prove it but he also is trusting in Neal that he is turning over a new leaf.
Neal is also having to work toward his eventual release from the program that sees him in his current aid role at the bureau but this is jeopardized by an agent from Washington D.C. An old friend and mentor of Peter’s sees how helpful Neal has been and wants to sabotage his early release and take him to Washington D.C. to help work crimes there.
Peter is torn between the old friendship and his new one with Neal so he is not sure how he should respond to the questioning that a board will ask him about Neal’s release. Neal is also torn and in the end decides to run for it as he just does not want to stay in the program, or more notably the ankle monitor while working for someone else.
White Collar has really come full circle with Neal being released from prison on the stipulation of helping the bureau and really being a benefit to Peter’s team. After doing so well some in the bureau want nothing more than keeping him under lock and key to only let him loose to work on cases which is not fair to Neal or to Peter.
Both Neal and Peter want to see him get his release mainly so Neal can help with more crimes for the bureau and Peter as Neal has begun to enjoy the new role life has given him. Season 4 should prove to be exciting as we will find out if Neal really does throw caution and his anklet to the wind and continue on his path to escape.
The episode to episode events are great with only a few episodes that aren’t the higher quality shows that White Collar has been known for. I really enjoyed all but two of the episodes and will continue to watch them again and again when not having to perform other reviews.
The DVD release of White Collar The Complete Third Season includes a lot of great video with the quality being about what you would expect from a DVD release. I have seen both DVD and Blu-ray series and do not find much of a difference in quality as they usually do not put much effort into a Blu-ray transfer when they do put a full season of a show on to Blu-ray.
Quality is no problem for audio as well as video with the entire season having 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound so you get full surround sound that is great if not almost perfect. Video and audio are both as good as I have ever seen for a DVD series and really makes the DVD a worthwhile purchase continuing the story of Neal Caffrey.
The bonus features including a silly and short gag reel, a couple of documentary and audio commentaries and a trivia game that does not make much in the way of extras. The bonus content does not equal enough to make it worthwhile to view other than the requisite once just to see what’s there and to see the actors and such out of character.
White Collar The Complete Third Season continues the excellent action and comedy that Matt Bomer and Tim DeKay as Peter Burke weave into a fun filled series. I highly recommend buying White Collar and if you have not seen this great series you are surely missing out on a fun and addictive show.
White Collar Website
