Part One explored the Neal-Peter core relationship of White Collar, but this dynamic duo wouldn’t be who they are without their other partners: Mozzie (Willie Garson) who is Neal’s confidant and caper go-to guy and Elizabeth Burke (Tiffani Thiessen) who has been Peter’s beautiful wife for a decade. Not only are they both crucial to the series, but they are important to and beloved by fans as well.
Fans of The Moz got their hearts wrenched in the season finale last week and there wasn’t a hint of what was coming when Willie Garson sat down to talk with press at San Diego Comic Con 2010 in July. Instead, Garson revealed that it didn’t matter to Mozzie if he was doing capers for the bad guys or the good guys, because he doesn’t look at what’s going on outside the caper. “As long as he does do a caper, feels like he got away with something and feels important, that’s all that Mozzie cares about. And gets him out into the light of day once in a while, other than that he’d live in a hole or a sewer somewhere.”
This viewpoint makes Mozzie a unique character on TV. “What Jeff is playing with really well,” Garson explained, “is the relationship between Neal and Mozzie, where they have a convergence of common goals.” To illustrate this, Garson touched on a memorable scene, which added to that very special Mozzie lexicon which fans love so much. “I make a joke in something we just shot where Neal tells me I have to go do something with Diana, and I’m like oh why don’t you go ask me to have a cup of coffee with Lady Suit, like these are not my people.” And yet, despite his dislike of interaction with “Suits,” Mozzie does as Neal asks.
Mozzie and the Suits
The Suit, Mrs. Suit, Lady Suit… not only endears Mozzie to fans but makes them wonder whether that kind of dialogue was always scripted or ad-libbed in the beginning. So much so that Garson was asked about how much freedom he has in his role.
“It’s a pretty luxurious situation,” he admitted. “They were very generous, um, in their happiness in having me, so they let me… I have a lot of free range. That said, as you guys know, it is a writers medium. So the scripts come and they’re great and they’re really condensed and perfectly scaled out. Within that, it’s like, ‘listen, I’m playing the guy, I should say this here,’ and they’re great, they’re very collaborative. May that last into the sixth, seventh season…”
Garson went on to explain that last remark. “I mean, we don’t have any egos on this show. It’s never like, ‘oh you’re really heavy on this episode, I have nothing.’ It’s always like, ‘you know what? I shouldn’t say anything in this scene, I shouldn’t even be in this scene, take me out of this scene, it makes much more sense for Marsha to say this here.’ And as long as that keeps up, we’ll have a good show.”
Having been on shows where that changed, Garson is happy that’s not the case with White Collar. “We are in a luxurious situation,” he insists, “because there are no egos on our show and it’s all for the common good. And it’s showing on the screen.”
It has been nice this season to see Mozzie and Peter talk and work together. However, Garson doesn’t know if that will become a regular thing. “It’s Peter Burke becoming more comfortable dealing with, really, this low rent criminal. Him and Jeff [Eastin]. I don’t know if we’re going to kick it up a notch.”
In terms of the future, Garson hinted, “They keep telling us we’re actually gonna do some flashback stuff, showing how we met and showing how we started doing capers together. My only hope for that is that I’m arranged some badass hair piece.”
At that point the publicist interrupted, saying, “Okay on that note…”
To which the affable Garson quipped, “On that note, I have to get fitted for my hair piece.”
The Other Partner - Elizabeth Burke
In an early episode, Peter tells Neal that anyone can pick up a date at a bar, but keeping a beautiful woman interested for ten years running, that’s the real challenge. Obviously, our G-man extraordinaire is as good at this as he is at handling Neal, for the married scenes between Elizabeth and Peter are another appealing draw for fans. “It’s nice to see a marriage that is solid on TV,” said Tiffani Thiessen, who plays the endearing wife. “You don’t see that very often and I love that. I love what that means to the characters in the end, the good relationship between Elizabeth and Peter.”
Told how appealing it is that Elizabeth trusts Peter so much, Thiessen agreed that they did trust each other “very much. Peter and Elizabeth’s characters have been together for over ten years. They really are each other’s rock and they know each other very, very well. It’s nice. It’s nice to see that.”
It was inevitable that someone would ask whether they are going to incorporate the baby into the series, although the way they handled Tiffani’s pregnancy spoke against it. “No, I don’t think… we’re not,” Thiessen said. “Peter and Elizabeth don’t have kids. I don’t think we’re going there. But it’ll be a definite balance for me, that’s for sure.” In fact, she said, our roundtable would be her last, so she could get back to the little one, who was understandably “demanding.”
Thiessen revealed that she never gets to talk to the FBI consultant on the show even though she’d like to. “It’s a great idea because I would love to know what his home life is like. To kind of get a glimpse of what it was like for his side of it. But the guys hog him so I can’t get any time with him.”
So, Elizabeth has a rock and a loose dog, she was later reminded. “I know,” Thiessen laughed. “And then I have a real dog at home, too. Yes, that’s about right. Actually I think the writers really like the dynamic that happens between the three of us.” So does the audience. Just as much as we like that other threesome: Peter, Neal, Mozzie.
To see what happens next to these threesomes, tune into new episodes in January on the USA Network. In part 3, the remaining regular cast weighs in on playing Peter’s FBI team and how they fit into this world. And the two Jeffs share more secrets on writing WC.
Crystal Taylor - I'm a writer of TV one-hour scripts, screenplays, novels, short stories, articles, and poetry. I'm most proud of a story (episode outline) ...
