Pulling Strings (White Collar)

In the episode, Peter Burke (Tim DeKay) assigns Neal Caffrey (Matt Bomer) to work with his former girlfriend, Sara Ellis (Hilarie Burton), to track down a missing Stradivarius violin.

Meanwhile, Peter must deal with the arrival of Elizabeth's (Tiffani Thiessen) parents (Tom Skerritt and Debra Monk), who are in New York for their daughter's birthday.

"Pulling Strings" received mostly mixed to positive reviews from critics, with many praising individual elements of the episode.

After taking vacation from work to be with his wife–and her parents–on her birthday, Peter turns Neal over to Sara in order to retrieve a missing Stradivarius that she believes was stolen by her former fiancé and current boss, Bryan McKenzie (Bailey Chase).

Kramer intimidates Diana, learning that she, Peter, and Jones (Sharif Atkins) have been covering up Neal's recent crimes.

On June 20, 2011, it was announced that Beau Bridges had been cast as Peter's mentor; his first appearance was in "Countdown", and he returned for "Pulling Strings".

[1] The next month, the casting of Tom Skerritt was announced; he was reported to play Alan Mitchell, the father of Elizabeth Burke.

"[7] Hilary Rothing of CraveOnline wrote that she enjoyed the performances of Bridges and Skerritt and that the Burkes' storyline was "fun" but "still schmaltzy.

[10] Brittany Frederick of Starpulse.com gave the episode a more mediocre review, calling it "lackluster" and mentioning that she has "never felt Hilarie Burton's chemistry with Matt Bomer.