Disclaimer: White Collar belongs to Jeff Eastin, USA Network et al. This is for fun, no copyright infringement is intended.
Copycat Caffrey
The whole thing should have been hilarious. Because, come on – Peter posing as a gangster? With Mozzie bossing him around while feeding him lines? And that delighted look on his face when he hears him repeat his last phrase word for word! Only problem is, as Neal sits there and listens to Peter's deep, sonorous voice delivering those threats so calmly, so seriously … it suddenly isn't funny any more.
Because Peter is a terrible actor. Neal KNOWS Peter is a terrible actor. Oh, he has seen him pose convincingly as some shady businessman once or twice but that was always based on his real, steady, self-assured personality. He might pull off the bumbling FBI agent for a short time as well but as soon as it comes to pretending he is absolutely hopeless … the whole Dr. Tannenbaum-slash-Melissa affair a case in point.
And yet there he is now, self-confidently rewording Mozzie's lines as he pleases; that competent, trustworthy voice of his – that has anchored more than one desperate victim … had anchored him after Kate's plane exploded even if he had been too numb to understand the words – now a low, deliberate, frighteningly realistic growl, sending an icy shiver down one's spine. And no.
Suddenly Neal can't find this even remotely funny any more.