"Taking Account" Episode Guide

Season 3, Episode 7

Air Date: July 19, 2011

Neal Caffrey's longtime foe and new girlfriend Sara Ellis is left penniless when a computer hacker breaks into her bank and cleans out her, along with thousands of others. Peter Burke immediately takes the case in the hopes of catching a notorious cybercriminal known as the Vulture. But the FBI has been trying to catch the Vulture for a long time with no luck.

So Neal, Mozzie and Sara take things into their own hands. They concoct a scam to gain access to the thief's account and start spending the money. That way the thief will be forced to come out of hiding in order to stop his money from disappearing. Neal and Sara go on an incredible spending binge which concludes once Peter discovers it.

Peter forces Neal to work with him. Peter gets Mozzie to make contact with the Vulture. Mozzie immediately offers the Vulture full immunity if he helps the FBI, much to Peter's dismay. They find the Vulture but instead of a he it's a she. And someone is trying to kill her. She explains that while she helped create the virus that gave the thief access, she didn't do the heist. The real thief is a man named Kurt Brower.

Neal and Peter make contact with Brauer who secrets a virus into the FBI's computer system in order to regain access to his account. Knowing if they don't move fast Brauer will be gone, Peter uses less than traditional means to access the bank's video security system. Now that they know what Brauer looks like, Peter is able to track him down before he leaves town for good. For more information, check out Quotes from "Taking Account" or "Taking Account" Nitpicks.

“There's a lot of missing money out there, and someone's going to prison for it. You're gonna help me make sure that it's the Vulture and not the two of you.” – Peter Burke

Highlights

Neal and Sara's shopping spree
Peter surprising Neal at his apartment after the shopping spree.
All of the Mozzie and Sally interactions.
Neal and Peter bantering at the end of the episode.

The Cons

Neal and Mozzie create an identity and go into a local branch of his bank and pretend to be Cameron Duponte to gain access to the stolen money. Neal and Sara then proceed to spend the money to draw out the thief.

Neal calls Marjorie Cowell, head of accounts at Manhattan Mutual, posing as a wealthy potential client Timothy Blackhouse Astor IV. Then, Mozzie distracts her so her assistant has to finish the call. Neal then tells the assistant he is with another branch of the bank and needs the clearance code.

Interesting Tweets

These are all things that were Tweeted on Twitter about this episode:

"To capture the most action in the terminal [during the final scene], production scrambled to roll cameras just as the Staton Island Ferry was loading." jeffeastin
"In an original draft Vulture was a member of a internet group called Homunculus, based very much on the group Anonymous." jeffeastin
"Matt Bomer is actually an accomplished guitar player in real life." jeffeastin
"Star @Marsha_Thomason and guest star Lena Headey are both from Manchester, England." jeffeastin
"The original script has Neal and Sara buying a kimodo dragon, but the animals are evidently very hard to procure in New York City..." jeffeastin
"Peter takedown of Brauer mimics Diana's takedown of Ganz in “Countermeasures”, another episode directed by Mike Smith" jeffeastin
"The final scene with Neal and Mozzie was shot so the Flatiron Building provided a literal wedge between our heroes." jeffeastin
"Weather was so bad during the opening scene that H. Burton’s hair had to be blown dry between every take & Matt’s umbrella blew open twice" jeffeastin

Character Information

Before Peter caught him, Neal stayed at the Palazzo Sasso in Ravello until he got word that Europol was closing in for a score he allegedly ran in Corsica. In reality, Peter had Europol leak that information to make Neal keep moving.
Elizabeth used to have to make Peter iron his shirts.
Sara's birthday is November 11th. She grew up at 7310 Lake Street.Her first car was a red Chevy Nova.
Mozzie has the court issuance from Watergate lying around his house.
Mozzie has a weakness for notorious scofflaws.
Mozzie likes Moroccan mint tea/
June doesn't like federal agents around her house without supervision.
June's late husband, Byron, built her house.
The police arrested Byron when they found some fake casino chips under the cushion.
June saved Byron's hide on many occasions because she knew more than he thought she did.
Pendergrass is an agent with the cyber crimes division.
Mozzie has perfect recall.

The Bad Guy

The Vulture is one of cyber crimes' top 10 most wanted. Pendergrass talked to the Vulture for six months before he realized he was getting strung along. The Vulture's real name is Sally. She helped Brauer build the virus but did not help him rob the bank.

Kurt Brauer used a computer virus to take over the server and every computer in Midwest Mutual network. He then stole $125 million. He then transferred the money into the account under the name Cameron Duponte.

Nazi Nonsense

Sara confronts Neal about the Victor Moreau passport he has and discovers that Neal has the Nazi art.

References

Phishing: A way of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.
Computer Virus: A computer program that can copy itself[1] and infect a computer.
Trojan: A Trojan horse, or Trojan, is a destructive program that masquerades as an application.
Europol: Short for European Police Office. It is the European Union's criminal intelligence agency. It became fully operational on 1 July 1999.
IRC: Short for Internet relay chat. A form of real-time Internet text messaging (chat) or synchronous conferencing.

Allusions

"The Palazzo Sasso in Ravello. It's the height of the Renaissance frozen in time."

The Palazzo Sasso in Ravello is a real hotel with a website. It's everything Neal said it was.

"Of the Astors?"

The Astor family is a significant American family of German descent notable for their prominence in business, society, and politics

"I'm highly trained in Hapkido."

Hapkido is a dynamic and eclectic Korean martial art. It is a form of self-defense that employs joint locks, techniques of other martial arts, as well as kicks, punches, and other striking attacks.

"Oh, the court issuance from Watergate with the word 'president' excised."

The Watergate scandal was a political scandal during the 1970s that eventually led to the resignation of the President of the United States, Richard Nixon, on August 9, 1974. The court issuance that Mozzie read from can be found here.

"Like Burr and Hamilton."

Burr and Hamilton were two prominent American politicians. Alexander Hamilton was the former Secretary of the Treasury and Aaron Burr was the sitting Vice President. On July 11, 1804, the two dueled in Weehawken, New Jersey, after Hamilton refused to recant injurious statements he made about Burr. Hamilton was mortally wounded in the duel.

"Short for 'Salieri'?"

Antonio Salieri was an Italian classical composer, conductor and teacher born in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, but who spent his adult life and career as a faithful subject of the Habsburg monarchy.

"Of course, they're putting RFID chips in food packaging now, so they can track you through your Cap'n Crunch."

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is a technology that uses communication through the use of radio waves to transfer data between a reader and an electronic tag attached to an object for the purpose of identification and tracking. The idea that people are being tracked using RFID chips is not just believed by Mozzie. Others believe that too.

"Foil... It's not just good for hats. "

Wearing aluminum foil hats is believed to be a way of preventing people (or aliens) from stealing or invading your thoughts.

"Is it just me, or does knowing this Les Paul cost $800 grand actually make it sound better?"

Les Paul was a pioneer in the development of the solid-body electric guitar which made the sound of rock and roll possible.

"It's like Franklin Castle."

The Franklin Castle (also known as the Hannes Tiedemann House) is a historical house located at 4308 Franklin Boulevard in Cleveland's Ohio City neighborhood. It is believed to be haunted.

Neal and Sara's Shopping List

4 AgustaWestland AW139 Helicopters – $20 million x 4 = $80 million

The episode misspelled the name as Augusta Westland, but AgustaWestland is a real helicopter as is the AW139. The sales person had it wrong, however. It can carry up to 15 passengers in its cabin, not nine.

Matching Black and Red Rolls-Royce Convertibles – $1,252,062

Brand new, a Rolls Royce convertible can cost up over $500,000 according to Motortrend.com.

Hammacher Schlemmer Personal Submarine – $2,177,500

Yep, it is real and it does cost $2 million. Check it out: Personal Submarine

24 Fioravanti suits

According to Forbes Magazine, William Fioravanti is a master, appointment-only master suit makers in New York City.

48 Valentino Dresses

Valentino is a major designer.

These are items listed on the shopping spree that I have not tracked down yet.

12 Napolitano Dresses – $8,500 x 24 = $212,400
16 Nadezha Faux Fur Coat – $6,000 x 16 = $96,000
3 S&F Jewelrs – $388,380 x 3 = 1,165,140
Collette Peep-Toe Heels – $2,480
St. Germaine Wide Brim Hat – $1,945
Andy Levy Signature Collection Glasses – $2,900
Venus de Milo Marble Copy – $32,000
Auguste Rodin's Hercules Copy – $45,000
16th Century Charlemagne Icon – $64,000
24 Westend Tanners Suede Jackets – $209,040

Reviews & Links

Credits

Writer:		Director:

Regulars		Guest Stars
Neal Caffrey Peter Burke Elizabeth Burke Mozzie Clinton Jones Diana Barrigan Sara Ellis June	Matt Bomer Tim DeKay Tiffani Thiessen Willie Garrison Sharif Atkins Marsha Thomason Hilarie Burton Diahann Carroll	Marjorie Cowell Sally Brauer Teller Salesman Woman Commuter Business Woman Jacob	Anastasia Barzee Lena Headey Kahan James Julee Cerda James Lloyd Reynolds Sue Jean Kim Shorey Walker Mayank Saxena

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All material is ©2011 by Darcy Oordt, unless stated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Original content cannot be used elsewhere without written permission.
White Collar is produced by Fox Television Studios and was created by Jeff Eastin.