Peter hugged Neal first when they saw each other for the first time in six weeks--he even said, "It's good to see you."

That act, and that gesture, would have been unthinkable when Peter caught Neal at the start of the series. But the friendship has become so strong over the years, that Peter not only is willing to throw his career away, but he even dragged his wife and two partners into his scheme to save Neal as well.

Neal, meanwhile, never thought he would stop running at the start of the series. But he found a home in New York and he found a family in Peter and Elizabeth.

At first, however, his new life with Barry (Mozzie) on Cape Verde seems amazing--at least their villa does. They'd been there only about six weeks, and yet all the locals seemed to like them, even the cafe worker who still craved "one moment of honesty" from Neal. When he gave it to her, in the form of a meal on the beach surrounded by exquisite sandcastles looking like the skyline view from his old apartment in New York, he's not only letting her in, he's letting himself remember and admit to himself how much that "chapter" of his life truly meant to him.

Back on the mainland, we see how far Neal's other friends will go to help him get home--without going to jail of course. It's Elizabeth who's able to convince Neal's father's old partner, Ellen, to let them in on how to contact him. (It's a pager of all things. Neal is a sucker for the classics.)

Even Mozzie proves how much his friendship with Neal is worth when he agrees to run with him once Collins has arrived on the island. Mozzie didn't have to run, but he didn't see a life without his best friend at his side.

Neal, unfortunately, is still re-captured at the end of the episode, even with the help of his friends and the only person in town who wasn't willing to turn him in for the half a million dollars reward--the cafe owner. Clearly he'll get away, because as of right now, if he is taken to prison, he's going away for a long, long time. (And we wouldn't have a show.) But it's going to be pretty tough since his friends might not even know where he is.

Overall, a solid start to the season, especially since the writers and producers are committed the idea of keeping Neal out of New York without an easy solution in sight.

Two quick thoughts:

Should Peter have been so careless to leave his clues for finding Neal in his house? While he shouldn't have suspected Collins would be able to get a warrant to search his house, shouldn't he have been a little bit more prepared knowing how far the Agent was willing to go to find Neal?

The sandcastles were exquisite to look at, and Neal clearly has time on his hands, but that was a bit much for a first date, no?

Alan Danzis
Contributing Writer

(Image courtesy of USA)