Entertainment

Welcome Back, Neal Caffrey

by Christine DiStasio

No one ever said the con life is easy, but I don't think Neal Caffrey realized that it could be this hard. On Thursday night, the White Collar Season 6 premiere, "Borrowed Time" aired on USA and, thankfully, it didn't drag out Neal's kidnapping storyline longer than it needed to. I mean, White Collar 's final season will only have six episodes, it would've just been absurd for them to keep Neal and Burke apart for that long. But, while Neal and Burke's bromance reunion was a happy one that showcased how great of a team they've become over the years, the Season 6 premiere was far from a happy start to White Collar's last hurrah.

I guess we should start with the happier points because it'd be all too easy to fall into a dark hole of sadness that this was the last White Collar premiere ever. So, first, let's talk about how the Season 6 premiere got the gang all back together again — Neal and Burke reunited, Elle's pregnant (!!!) and back from Washington, DC, and Mozzie's fully recovered from his Belladonna poisoning and is back to sipping red wine in Neal's rooftop garden. Everything and everyone are where they should be, with the exception of Neal's anklet which he's totally not wearing anymore.

That's right, people, Neal's struck up a new deal with the FBI that guarantees his freedom (and that he doesn't have to wear the anklet) in exchange for the elusive con-man group, the Pink Panthers. Neal's going to infiltrate the group, bring them down for the FBI, and then ride off into the sunset as a free man who's got the world at his feet. Well, at least that was the plan.

Batshit crazy Rebecca also returned for Thursday night's premiere to add an air of craziness but also tragedy to White Collar's final season. Burke brought her in for questioning in regards to who might've kidnapped Neal and after her information helped to save him, Neal met with her on his familiar stomping grounds at the FBI's office. Honestly, I expected their meeting to get a little more psychological thriller than it did, but Rebecca was astonishingly real with Neal about the life they'd chosen and how they were all just living on, you guessed it, "borrowed time." And then, as she was being lead out to return to jail, Rebecca shot herself. It might've been the darkest and most tragic moment in White Collar history and it shook Neal to the core.

The White Collar Season 6 premiere had high highs and an extremely low low that might make Neal Caffrey's farewell more of an emotional journey than anything else. What has being a conman done to Neal and can freedom really make him happy or will it be just another unique prison? Rebecca's death posed the question and Season 6 probably has the answer, even if it's not easy handle.

Image: Giovanni Rufino/USA Network