Season 2 Premiere Episode Review
“Withdrawal”
Watch the Season Two Premiere Episode on Tuesday night July 13th at 9 PM EST on USA Network
July 7, 2010
By Lena Lamoray
OFFICIAL USA WHITE COLLAR PRESS RELEASE: USA NETWORK’S NEWEST HIT ORIGINAL SERIES “WHITE COLLAR” RETURNS FOR A WHITE-HOT SEASON TWO TUESDAY, JULY 13 AT ITS NEW TIME 9/8C
Series stars Matt Bomer, Tim DeKay, Tiffani Thiessen, Willie Garson & Sharif Atkins; Marsha Thomason Returns to Join the Cast in Season Two. WHITE COLLAR, USA Network’s newest hit original series, starring Matt Bomer (“Chuck,” “Tru Calling”), Tim DeKay (“Tell Me You Love Me,” “Carnivàle”), Tiffani Thiessen (“What About Brian,” “Fastlane”), Willie Garson (“Sex and the City,” “John from Cincinnati”), Sharif Atkins (“ER,” “Hawaii”) and Marsha Thomason (“Lost,” “Las Vegas”) re-joining the cast as a series regular, returns for season two on Tuesday, July 13 at its new time, 9/8c. WHITE COLLAR will serve as the lead-in to USA’s newest original series, COVERT AFFAIRS, at 10/9c. WHITE COLLAR, one of this fall season’s most critically acclaimed dramas, focuses on the most unlikely of partnerships between a con artist (Bomer) and an FBI agent (DeKay). Diahann Carroll returns as a recurring guest-star. This exciting crime drama, which was one of cable’s #1 shows for 2009, kicks off its second season this July with all new cases, more intrigue, more "bromance"...and more Matt Bomer, People Magazine's "Sexiest Rising Star" of 2009. Tim Matheson (“The West Wing,” USA’s BURN NOTICE) both directs and guest stars in the premiere. WHITE COLLAR was created and is executive produced by Jeff Eastin and comes from Fox Television Studios. Jeff King and Mark Goffman are co-executive producers. The show is shot entirely in and around New York City.
USA’s strategic move of WHITE COLLAR to a new night in January resulted in younger audiences and higher demos. The show stayed among the quarter’s top scripted originals; taking the #2 spots among P25-54, P18-49, total viewers and households. WHITE COLLAR enjoyed +17% gains from 2009 in P18-34 viewing and improved +2% in P18-49 viewing from 4Q09. It was one of the only scripted series to average over 2 million P18-49 or 4.5 million total viewers in 1Q10. When the network aired WHITE COLLAR Tuesdays at 10P, USA delivered more M18-34 than CBS.
WHITE COLLAR takes it to a whole new level this season. If you loved last season then get ready to have your mind blown by the monumental return of the best episodes ever and the cast is equally incredible and extremely good looking, as always. WHITE COLLAR is not one of those shows that you have to grow into because after one viewing it already fits you like perfection. Jeff Eastin has created something special that is well written and he doesn’t feel the need to dumb it down like some shows do. He’s brilliant and he knows that you are, too. Jeff makes sure that you can connect with the characters on some level so that you really care about what happens to them and of course casting MATT BOMER as Neal Caffrey will certainly captivate the audience. I don’t think they could make Matt look bad even with prosthetics because his charm would still shine through. I could not imagine anyone else filling Matt Bomer (Neal Caffrey) and Tim DeKay’s (Special Agent Peter Burke) shoes. Tim and Matt make such a fabulous onscreen duo as the cop and the conman. The entire cast blends together perfectly, I mean really Matt Bomer, Tim DeKay, Willie Garson (Mozzie), Tiffani Thiessen (Elizabeth Burke), Diahann Carroll (June), Marsha Thomason (Diana) and Sharif Atkins (Jones) all on one show.
WHITE COLLAR season two takes us literally right back to where we started with Neal and Peter in the episode entitled, WITHDRAWAL. Peter is feeling the heat from upstairs and admits to Neal being “a pain in the ass”, but of course you know he really misses that familiar and friendly irritation. Peter does what he can to help a “friend” out.
Mozzie reprises his role as an attorney and you know when Mozzie is involved the job will get done and creatively as well. He has some new toys this season that really change things up for him but Peter sees right through the facade. Mozzie really shines in this episode and he is connected to Peter by the common bond that they both share, Neal. They both want to make sure that Neal is alright after the loss of Kate and they do their best to keep him focused on other things.
Neal is reunited with his old faithful companion, Mr. Ankle Tracker and he has promised not to chafe Neal so much this time around. In this episode we are treated to a bit of Nick Holden while Neal takes a dip into his past and proves how flawed things can be. As always, Neal owns up to his title as the king of seduction and uses that to his advantage to try and get one step ahead of the bank robbers. Neal and Peter must work together to beat the clock and not end up on wanted posters. Of course, things don’t always goes as planned for the boys but after some fighting and rooftop golf the situation gets a new perspective.
Tim Matheson stars as Walker, the “arrogant bastard” in this episode that he also directed and of course I love his work. Tim plays crazy well and he proves that again in this episode.
This episode of WHITE COLLAR reminds us of why we love the series so much. It is witty, charming and always leaves you in suspense. The soundtrack to this episode is also pretty cool! Watch the season two premiere of WHITE COLLAR Tuesday July 13th at 9PM EST on USA NETWORK.
