- Peter must devise a plan to return Neal to New York and avoid Collins.
- Peter has joined Mozzie on the island, where Neal has gone missing, having sought shelter with corruption king pin Henry Dobbs. The crook who was to hide and protect Neal on his estate, but learning FBI agent Kyle Collins is after him, had him cuffed to be deported and shot in the leg for nearly pulling a Houdini. Mozzie and Peter plan to discredit Dobbs, and realizing that's an alias for most wanted criminal Robert MacLeish, expose him as payoff to redeem Neal. The plan to sabotage Dobb's monthly party for bribe receivers, with Peter undercover as barman recommended by caterer Maya whom Neal charmed, needs improvised fixing on the day. The FBI however has bad news for Peter.—KGF Vissers
- In Cape Verde, Mozzie (Willie Garson) and Peter (Tim DeKay) are walking down the street, wondering what happened to Neal (Matt Bomer), who never showed up at their rendezvous point. Peter tells Mozzie- to find Neal, the first thing to do is to find the girl he's interested in. They head to Maya's cafe.
Maya asks Mozzie (who she still thinks is called Barry) why he isn't with Neal. She says Neal wanted to meet up with them, but there were too many people looking for him, so he went back to Dobbs' place for shelter. Mozzie theorizes -- correctly -- he's still there. Maya asks when they find Neal, to let her know he's safe. Peter assures her one thing certain about Neal is he knows how to run.
At Dobbs' compound Neal is cuffed, gagged and locked in a cage. He escapes his cuffs and tries to take the screws off the door of his jail. He gets one screw out and it drops outside the cage, just out of reach...only he doesn't do it in enough time. He hears Dobbs (Gregg Henry) and Collins (Mekhi Phifer) coming, puts his gag back on and cuffs himself behind his back. Collins steps into the cage, gives him water and assures him it's a short flight to the nearby Canary Islands, where he'll be extradited to the states. Neal accuses Dobbs of failing to help him, even though he paid him. Dobbs tells Neal he didn't know Neal was a fugitive. Dobbs doesn't harbor fugitives. Collins notices the screw on the ground and pushes the door off of its hinges. He accuses Neal of trying to run, pulls out his pistol, and shoots Neal in the leg. "No more running, Caffrey."
Mozzie and Peter watch Dobbs' compound through binoculars from a distant bridge. Mozzie asks what will happen to Neal when they get off the island. Peter answers before they start worrying about that, first they have to find Neal. The discussion stops when Moz and Peter notice Collins talking to Dobbs on the patio. They start to plan.
Inside the compound, a doctor takes the bullet out of Neal's leg before Dobbs comes in to retrieve him and take him to Collins's car. As she patches up Neal's leg, she tells him to concentrate on Dobbs' ships in a bottle to help him deal with the pain. He stares at them and rattles off their names: Claudia, Annette, Adela, Esmeralda, Isabella, Mirabella...
Neal notices a crystal bowl by the door. As Dobbs helps him limp away, he stumbles against the bowl and reaches inside, grabbing a key.
Collins tries to drive off with Neal.Peter and Mozzie have cooked up a scheme with Hector, the fruit stand boy, to create a roadblock using upended produce. Mozzie runs over and persuades Collins to get out and help him pick up Hector's fruit. Collins zipties Neal to the dash.
But while Collins is helping Mozzie, Peter heads over to cut Neal loose. He notices Neal's been shot. He realizes Neal can't run. Neal tells Peter it's OK, because he has a getaway plan: the key he lifted is for Dobbs' yacht. Peter and Neal drive away in Moz's car and text him to let him know they're at the wharf...
...Only once they get there, they realize they don't know which of the tens upon tens of boats belongs to Dobbs. Neal gets an idea and along with Mozzie, rattles off the names of Dobbs' model boats. Mentioning the names together makes Peter start singing a song about them to "London Bridge is Falling Down," ending with the line "Rob's fair ladies." Neal and Moz are confused. Peter eagerly asks if they're sure those are actually the names of Dobbs' boats, and they say yes. Peter smiles.
"Forget the boat," Peter says. "I think I have a way to get you back to New York."
At another location, Peter calls White Collar HQ and tells Hughes (James Rebhorn), and the rest of the team that he's found Rob MacLeish, the man at the top of the FBI's Most Wanted list. Reese is doubtful. Peter asks what it's worth to him if Caffrey catches him. Neal brings in MacLeish. The FBI reinstates the old deal, with Caffrey on the anklet working with Peter. Reese says it's a tall order, but he'll see what he can do.
Macleish, apparently, is one of the top cases agents study at Quantico. They pursued him through his ladies, but never caught him -- he's the agency's White Whale. Moz, of course, doesn't trust The Suit's intentions, Peter wakes Neal up to the fact if he doesn't take the deal, he'll always be running.
Then comes their other problems: Neal literally can't run and has a huge target on his back. Peter doesn't have the power to arrest or extradite in Cape Verde.Mozzie comes up with a heist scheme: steal back the bribe money. Distract Dobbs by letting word spread he's skipping town with his cash -- and, naturally, the cash of every heavy on the island. Fortunately, Dobbs is also throwing a party. Moz theorizes once word gets around, everyone he's associated with will show up. During the party, they can crack his safe. They quickly train Peter in the art of tending bar, as Moz figures out a way to get rid of Dobbs' regular bartender. Neal persuades Maya to help them with their plan.
Everything is coming together except for one detail: Dobbs' safe is nearly impenetrable. It'll take too much time to crack. So they come up with another plan: Mozzie and Neal will cook up a con in which Dobbs will only think the safe has been emptied. With everything in place, Peter pours the three of them Manhattans. They toast. Before they can sip, an empty glass falls off the bar and shatters. Mozzie decides not to take that as a bad omen.
Back at Neal and Mozzie's former safehouse, Collins and a team of armed goons storm the place only to find Peter, drinking a cocktail. While the armed men search the rooms, Peter tells him he's done and he's heading back home. He tells Collins the place -- and the chase -- are all his now. He puts down the glass and walks off. After Peter is gone, Collins picks up the glass and reads the writing on it: El Cafe Isleno. Maya's place.
At the party, Peter serves a female guest and drops a rumor about Dobbs's old bartender running into problems with the law. She promptly goes back and whispers about it to her date. Meanwhile Mozzie pulls up front in a van to make a distracting delivery, allowing Neal to sneak inside.
Back at the party, two official looking men, including one wearing an officer's badge, come up to the bar to inquire about the other bartender, and Peter says he heard he was detained because the American authorities saw him loading "all that money" into Mr. Dobbs' boat. The men get their drinks and pass the rumor around. Peter steps away from the bar and tells one of Dobbs' employees that, in case he needs to make a quick escape, there's a plane ready to go at the airport.
Inside, Neal and Moz place a painting of the empty safe on an easel by the so that, from a distance, it'll look like the safe has been emptied. But before they can make their exit, a strong wind blows through the window and rolls one of the ships in a bottle off the shelf, making it crash and break on the floor. They realize they'll be discovered before Neal can crack the safe. Neal comes up with a new plan.
Collins goes to Maya's place and tells Maya he knows Neal is still on the island. He also insinuates her place could use some upgrades, lots of upgrades $500,000 will easily buy. Maya looks torn for a moment, but then admits she knows where Neal is.
At the party, Dobbs has gotten wind of the rumors and approaches Peter and tells him to shut up. Then the two official men confront Dobbs about the Esmeralda being fueled up and money being loaded onto it. Dobbs assures them none of that is true. The men then ask why his regular bartender is being questioned by the American authorities about the money, which confuses Dobbs even more. He assures them their money is safe and offers to show them the safe to prove it.
Once they get to the room, Neal and Mozzie have put suitcases into the room and packed his ships in a bottle...and the safe appears to be exposed but not open. Dobbs, panicking, tells the men he did not do any of this. But then the party slams to a halt when Neal walks in and loudly announces to all of the guests, and one of the men with Dobbs -- who is the top cop on the island -- he is Neal Caffrey, wanted by the government. Dobbs turned on him after he paid him for safe harbor.
The cop grabs Dobbs and Neal goes on to explain Dobbs was going to leave while the cops were distracted with catching him,. Dobbs is really Robert MacLeish, number four on the FBI's Most Wanted List. Then Collins enters, gun drawn, and nabs Neal. MacLeish/Dobbs suddenly looks very shaken.
Outside Neal, now cuffed, encounters Maya as Collins stuffs him into his Jeep. He angrily tells her he hopes her betrayal was worth it. She spits back she'll be thinking of him as she spends every dollar. Before Collins drives away, Neal smirks at Maya in the sideview mirror. She faintly smiles back at him.
Peter and Moz watch as Dobbs pulls up to the airstrip to make his "escape." Peter is pleased that, as usual, their plan came together. He asks Moz if he wants a free ride back to New Yor. Moz declines. As they shake hands, Moz makes Peter swear he'll take care of Neal. As Peter walks away, Moz mournfully watches from a distance.
Collins and Neal arrive at the airstrip just in time to meet Peter, who congratulates Collins on capturing Neal, then says Dobbs is aboard the plane Peter chartered to take them home. He goes on to reveal Dobbs's true identity, and pitches Collins on the merits of accepting part of the credit for capturing one of the FBI's Most Wanted criminals in exchange for saying he recruited Neal to help him to do it, thereby getting Neal reinstated to the White Collar team.
"And what do you get out of this Caffrey?" Collins asks. Neal replies, "My old desk back."
Collins agrees his job was to bring Neal back, and it doesn't matter how he does it.
Back at the office, Jones and Diana greet Neal back at his desk, upon which waits a letter of commendation. Neal is not impressed -- he wanted the MacLeish's bounty, but no dice. Jones (Sharif Atkins) and Diana (Marsha Thomason) also joke he's also getting a medal...and presents him with his new ankle cuff, which they then place back on him.
"Comfortable?" Peter asks.
"Yeah, feels like home," Neal says with a wan smile. But he's clearly not happy.
Back in his old room at June's, Ellen (Judith Ivey) comes in to greet him and break the news. T he marshals will be shipping her off in a few weeks -- she's too exposed in New York. Neal wishes they had more time and tells her even though they never spent much time together, she's the closest thing he has to family, saying nobody knows about their history or his father. June insists nobody needs to. It was a long time ago. But he says he does.
Neal says everything he grew believing was wrong, and he ran before he could hear the truth about his father. But he says he's not running anymore and wants to know who he was. Ellen promises before she leaves, he'll tell him everything.
The next day, back at the office, Reese asks Peter why a map with Caffrey's location circled was found in his home and points out he spoke to Neal on the phone. Peter says he needed to find him, so he called. Reese says Neal's case has gone up the ladder and a lot of Peter's work is now under a microscope. Moreover, Collins is getting the credit for helping Caffrey bring in MacLeish, not Peter. Peter suddenly looks very concerned.
Peter assures Reese now that Neal's back, he'll make sure both of them stay on the straight and narrow. Reese tells Peter they're past that.
Cut to Neal recapping the island caper to Jones and Diana as Peter walks up. Neal asks if everything is alright. Peter says no, he's been reassigned. Neal asks what that means.
Peter answers he's no longer part of White Collar.
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