‘White Collar’ season 5, episode 10 preview: Mark Sheppard’s Hagen and the battle ahead

Let’s start this “White Collar” preview off with what has to be the bad news: The show is going on hiatus for a few weeks. This means no more opportunities to see Neal and Peter go at it, or for his relationship to evolve in some way with Rebecca, for at least a little while.

The next episode airing on January 9 teases a showdown potentially with the man who started it all for Neal: Mark Sheppard’s Hagen. Somehow, the guy has found a way to alternate between being shrewd and evil on “Supernatural” and this show, and the conflict for Neal this time around is two-fold: Finding a way to stop the man that he was at one point this season “working with,” and also saving the latest lady in his life in Rebecca.

But who is this woman really? While there was no shocking twist about her during tonight’s “No Good Deed”, we still cannot help but have a few doubts. This is a woman who has a massive amount of intelligence, and she also seemed to be a pretty skilled actress while helping Neal and Mozzie with the heist this week. We have a hard time believing with this show that anyone is quite as they seem, especially when they are a love interest. Neal Caffrey never has things go that easy.

Let’s just hope that the waiting is not too tedious for you over the holidays, and that the few episodes of the season (four of them, to be precise) live up to the promise and the excitement of what was delivered to us this fall.

What do you want to see on “White Collar” the rest of the way this season? Be sure to share some of your thoughts below!