What I’m Watching: White Collar

White Collar: Season 4, Episode 6 “Identity Crisis” (B+)

There’s nothing like a Revolutionary War treasure hunt to distract from the search for the truth about Neal’s father. Mozzie’s enthusiasm is unsurprising, and this episode even attempted to pull at the heartstrings with some puppet theatre written by an eight-year-old Mozzie about how his parents were Cold War spies who had to give him up for his own protection. His excitement, however, was a lot of fun, and, along with Peter’s mockery, it’s what made the episode interesting. The “secret in her eyes” from the painting made me think immediately of the Oscar-winning Argentine film of the same name, though that produced much darker results. This secret led to Neal posing as George Washington, which, as expected, was a hoot, complete with Jones as a descendant of Thomas Jefferson. Damian Young, probably most recognizable as Karen’s humorless beau Bill from season one of “Californication,” was perfectly detestable as the author of the Culper exposé, who proved to be less than subtle by waving a gun around at every turn. It was also great to see Mircea Monroe, currently portraying the ageless Morning on “Episodes,” as the female spy with whom Mozzie had the pleasure of interacting, who, to his eternal delight, turend out to be a real member of the Culpers who was able to procure the flag for them. Neal and Peter may never believe it, but they clearly care enough about Mozzie to take a big chunk of time out of their otherwise busy days to save his life.

What I’m Watching: Person of Interest

Person of Interest: Season 1, Episode 18 “Identity Crisis” (B+)

I’m consistently impressed with the way that this show manages to handle a premise that could very much turn into a normal procedural and make its cases and clients enticing on a weekly basis. This show earned a second season renewal along with the majority of CBS’ programming slate two weeks ago, and it’s exciting to think that this is the first freshman series that may just become a staple. This episode was interesting because of the identity theft and the gender-ambiguous name that allowed the thief to go entirely incognito. Both Jordan Hesters were familiar TV faces, Sarah Wynter, who played Kate in season two of “24” as the female version, and Rhys Coiro, familiar as fanatical director Billy Walsh on “Entourage,” as the wannabe drug dealer trying to get his identity back. The confusion also allowed for Detective Fusco to prove that he’s a good cop and a man of his word, helping to get an innocent man released from prison after proving that his identity had in fact been stolen. At the same time, Detective Carter is headed down a dangerous road, being encouraged to believe that Reese is a threat and must be stopped. The best part of this episode, however, was Finch’s state following being drugged by the duplicitous Jordan. Michael Emerson has fulfilled the duties of his role to this point, and this was his first opportunity to go above and beyond and be truly hilarious, externalizing his inner geek without any inhibitions to perfect effect.

What I’m Watching: Suits

Suits: Season 1, Episode 8 “Identity Crisis” (B+)

Now this is one very involved episode for all of our lawyers, as they’re on the prowl for a major victory in a case for a dear friend of Jessica’s and Harvey’s managing his own side case which may have serious implications for Mike. Louis took center stage in this episode as he managed to consistently mess up, being so abrasive with Perkins that he dies on his way out of the office, then berating his wife, and then falling prey to a scheme hatched by the opposition that nearly gets him in serious trouble. It’s good that Harvey was mature enough to ultimately go to Louis to ask him for help with the financials, and they were a fun team for the few minutes that they were actually getting along. Ending on a bad note makes sense since having them be friends wouldn’t be nearly as fun for this show. There were plenty of notable guest stars in this episode, including Tim Russ from “Star Trek Voyager” and Bruce Altman, currently recurring on “Damages,” as the opposition of the case being driven by Paula Newsome, from “Women’s Murder Club.” James Morrison, a.k.a. Bill Buchanan from “24,” drops in as Jerome, and I liked how that plotline progressed, with Lola quickly discovering how Mike didn’t actually go to Harvard and then hacking in and creating a diploma for him so that his story would be considerably more airtight. This episode marks another confirmation of what I’ve been noticing this entire week on USA. Apparently the word “shit” can now be uttered, since Peter definitely said it on “White Collar” and Harvey dropped it at least three times in this hour. In other news, “Suits” has officially been renewed for a second season, which is terrific!