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Smart show!
One of the reasons why I like White Collar is because it usually plays fair on the cons. Like with murder mysteries, one of my criteria for a good con/heist story is that all the clues are there on the screen, even if the viewer's eye is cleverly misdirected away from them so that you don't notice them except in retrospect.
So naturally I had to go back and see if we see Neal switch the diamond for the rock he picked up. And yes, we do. But it's so subtle I had to play back the scene several times to catch it.
First of all, Neal palms the rock with the same hand that's holding the bag with the diamond in it, so he has the rock and the bag in his left hand throughout the entire scene in which Rachel is disarming and frisking Peter.
At about 20:30 (according to the iTunes file timeline; the MP4 might be a little different) he takes the diamond out of the bag with his right hand and shows it to Rachel. Now watch what happens when he puts it back -- watch his hands. Like I said, I had to watch it several times and play it in slow motion to catch it. Neal palms the diamond with his right hand, and with his left -- the hand in which he's holding the bag -- he slips something else into the bag; it's not visible to the camera but is obviously the rock. Notice that he also keeps his eyes on Rachel, and only looks down at what he's doing after she looks away (being occupied with frisking Peter). Then his right hand moves out of sight behind his leg, presumably to drop the diamond into his pocket.
But it gets better, because a bit later, at 24:53-59, we see him give the diamond to Peter. As he says "There's no time," he reaches into his pocket -- right pocket, the one he put the diamond in earlier -- and then he reaches out toward Peter with his right hand, which remains below the shot, out of camera range. And, as Neal turns to leave, Peter grins triumphantly. If we don't know about the diamond switch, it just looks like a friendly pat on the arm -- except if you do know he's got something in his hand, the timing is exactly right for putting the diamond in Peter's hand (and you can also see Peter reaching to take it).
Clever characters! Clever show!
So naturally I had to go back and see if we see Neal switch the diamond for the rock he picked up. And yes, we do. But it's so subtle I had to play back the scene several times to catch it.
First of all, Neal palms the rock with the same hand that's holding the bag with the diamond in it, so he has the rock and the bag in his left hand throughout the entire scene in which Rachel is disarming and frisking Peter.
At about 20:30 (according to the iTunes file timeline; the MP4 might be a little different) he takes the diamond out of the bag with his right hand and shows it to Rachel. Now watch what happens when he puts it back -- watch his hands. Like I said, I had to watch it several times and play it in slow motion to catch it. Neal palms the diamond with his right hand, and with his left -- the hand in which he's holding the bag -- he slips something else into the bag; it's not visible to the camera but is obviously the rock. Notice that he also keeps his eyes on Rachel, and only looks down at what he's doing after she looks away (being occupied with frisking Peter). Then his right hand moves out of sight behind his leg, presumably to drop the diamond into his pocket.
But it gets better, because a bit later, at 24:53-59, we see him give the diamond to Peter. As he says "There's no time," he reaches into his pocket -- right pocket, the one he put the diamond in earlier -- and then he reaches out toward Peter with his right hand, which remains below the shot, out of camera range. And, as Neal turns to leave, Peter grins triumphantly. If we don't know about the diamond switch, it just looks like a friendly pat on the arm -- except if you do know he's got something in his hand, the timing is exactly right for putting the diamond in Peter's hand (and you can also see Peter reaching to take it).
Clever characters! Clever show!