5 Burning Questions For 'White Collar'

There's only one episode left of USA's White Collar following this week's "Taking Stock," but the show's still running full-steam ahead. Thursday night's episode, directed by Tim DeKay, who plays FBI agent and handler to Matt Bomer's Neal Caffrey, Peter Burke, posed more new questions than it answered leaving us wondering what the show's season finale will bring next week. It also marked the return of a familiar face that's unfortunately been missing for most of this season, Agent Diana Berrigan (Marsha Thomason), from her maternity leave. If "Taking Stock" was any indication, we're in for some big revelations.

Thursday night's episode began with Rebecca/Rachel (that's her real name) safely behind bars but still trying to manipulate Neal by calling him from the Big House. And she partially succeeded, because it's no secret that Neal's really broken up over everything that went down between them. It turned out that Rebecca came in handy in taking down a shady stock broker by allowing Diana, who he pulled out of maternity leave, to use her identity. (Even if she's turned into a full-blown psychopath since last week.)

While Burke worked on cracking his last case in the White Collar Division, he was also coming to terms with the fact that he and Elle are moving to Washington and that Neal's requested to be relieved of his anklet and his sentence. (Kind of a lot to process.) And Mozzie decided to try his hand at nannying after getting Diana's babysitter to quit by essentially terrorizing her — he just wants to spend time with "his namesake" that he helped Diana deliver earlier this season. (Diana named her son Theodore after Teddy Winters, which happens to be Mozzie's real identity.) And, last but not least, Rebecca managed to escape from prison and almost blow the cover off of Burke's case. It looks like she's poised to take Mozzie hostage in next week's season finale.

It definitely looks like White Collar is leaving all of the loose ends to be tied up next week. If that's the case, here are our top five burning questions from this week's "Taking Stock" that need to be tied up in the season finale:

Are Burke and Elle actually moving to Washington?

We have a feeling that they aren't — or, if they do, they'll end up deciding that they don't want to stay. In Thursday night's episode, Burke and Elle sat on the floor of their unrealistically fabulous townhouse, surrounded by packed boxes, and reminisced on the great times they had in that place. Apparently, it took them a long time to buy a kitchen table and they ate off of crates for awhile because, you know, furniture is the first sign of permanent roots. Burke even joked about not buying a table for their new place — a sign that they won't be staying long?

Burke and Elle are so attached to Neal that I can't imagine they'd be able to last more than a few days with the feeling that they're leaving him behind. White Collar also would not be White Collar if Neal and Burke were to separate for a long time.

What will happen to Neal's sentence?

Burke seemed taken aback by Neal's request to be released from his anklet and his obligations to the FBI on Thursday night but he might be coming around. He talked it over with Elle (because, obviously), and he even asked Neal if he felt like he could actually succeed and "go straight" without having the FBI monitoring his every move. (Little does Burke know that Neal's been up to small crimes this entire time.) So will he grant him his freedom via a glowing recommendation letter? Or will he get passed onto another well-qualified agent that's also become his friend?

Will Diana become Neal's new handler?

Diana and Neal kicked ass on Thursday night — so they might be the new team to watch while Burke's trying (and failing) to find his bearings in his new job in Washington. Diana returned from maternity leave as if she'd never left the Bureau (she did give birth on the job, after all — if that's not bad ass, I don't know what is) and proved that she's got enough of an understanding of blurring the lines to get things done that her and Neal could work well together. Diana also proved that she's smart enough to keep Neal completely under control if he were to pass under her jurisdiction. So if Burke does actually commit to his big move and big promotion, at least he'll know Neal will be in good hands.

Does the Hope Diamond's twin really exist?

Little Theo helped Mozzie unlock what is potentially the last clue he and Neal needed to decode the Mosconi Codex with his mobile. No, we're not kidding. While Mozzie was playing nanny with Diana's son, he had a revelation that instead of Mosconi's symbols being a message, they're just a series of numbers. DING DING DING. But the big question of everyone's minds here: Does this diamond even exists? And, if it does, how do they know someone else hasn't gotten to it first? With Rebecca out of the equation and safely behind bars last week, Neal and Mozzie planned to take on the remaining Codex clues and find the diamond — but what if it's not theirs to find? Also, now that Rebecca's escaped, that's going to throw a major wrench into their plans. So will there or won't there be a diamond? We need to know.

What's going to happen to Rebecca/Rachel?

Last, but not least: What the hell is going to happen with this psycho? Rebecca (or Rachel, we're not entirely sure what to call her) tried so hard to get under Neal's skin this week that we were honestly terrified. She told him that through her surveillance of Neal, she also studied his previous girlfriends and modeled Rebecca after the best parts of their personalities — OKAY, CRAZY. The girl is also an evil genius that can escape from prisons and break into fancy apartments, as we saw at the end of the episode while she watched Mozzie from Neal's balcony. Rebecca is creepy as hell and we're pretty sure she's suffered a psychotic break at some point in the past or in the past two episodes because her crazy eyes are undeniable.

She's a master of disguise, which we saw thanks to those creepy selfies taped to the mirror in her old lair, so will this escape be her last? It wouldn't surprise us if she doesn't get captured again and instead disappears into thin air only to reappear in a later season of the show. But we hope she falls for another trick and ends up safely locked away again (in a stronger cell this time) because the thought of her roaming around gives us nightmares.

Image: USA