Six episodes in the one thing Burn Notice lacked was a Big Bad. The motw episodes were just that, the mystery of the week. Michael and Co tracked the bad guys (they had all been male to this point) down and served them up justice, then we moved on. There were over arching stories that held it all together (who burned Michael and why, the relationship between Michael and Fiona, his relationship with his family, initially his mother, then younger brother), but it needed something else.
I get the term Big Bad from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Unlike many shows that came before they didn't have one villain or even one villainous organisation, it changed from season to season. It's become a term something uses when trying to identify or explain a villain in a TV show since.
Episode 6 gives the viewers that Big Bad. After his FBI tail let higher powers know that Michael had somehow managed to obtain a copy of his burn notice they were removed from the case and someone else was assigned to it. That someone else is a sleazy creature who doesn't mind breaking a few eggs to make an omelette.
First he goes after Madeleine. Michael arrives before anything bad happens, but that's just a welcome. Then Michael's house is searched and bugged, his car is taken for the same treatment. Now whoever this is, he won't give Michael a name, knows about Maddie and Sam, but not Fiona. He's also underestimated Michael, despite comments to the contrary.
It's child's play for Michael to find and disable the bugs in his apartment. The lack of a car is annoying, though. Fiona tails Michael's tormentor and then Michael turns the tables. He puts a high powered magnet in the desk lamp in the guy's hotel room, which wipes the hard drive on his computer the next time he powers it on, and pisses him off no end. He's now angry and sloppy, this lets Michael needle him the next time their paths cross and Fiona takes his wallet. The id reads Jason Bly.
Ladies and gentlemen we have ourselves a Big Bad!
Bly was played to the hilt by Alex Carter. He rather reminds me of a younger, meaner version of Joe Pantoliano's Guido the Killer Pimp from Risky Business. Dealing with Bly is going to be fun. He's the kind of guy you really want to see get his teeth kicked in.
While trying to piss off and neutralise Bly, Michael still had to pay for the damage the government heavy did to his mother's house. To that end he mentioned looking up Lucy from episode 1 for a job, but was instead referred by Sam to an old Navy SEAL buddy.
The guy lived out in the Everglades and repossessed boats for a living. He'd recently had issues with a Jamaican who employed some heavy muscle.
Michael posed as a redneck yokel by the name of Homer and took the boat, but knew there was a reason the Jamaican wanted it back and it was not just because it was a nice ride. Suspicions were further tweaked when returning the boat to whoever paid Sam's friend he got shot at.
The old Navy buddy moved in with Madeleine for safety and wound up sharing her bed. Michael's reaction to that was wonderful.
Sam and Michael found $10,000,000 under the floor of the boat. It's never stated, but probably is the Jamaican's drug money. The other guys are crooked cops who also want the money. Eventually Michael takes some for himself and his friends and some for Sam's friend and stacks the rest up on a pier. He sets it on fire and leaves the Jamaicans and the crooked cops to shoot it out.
Setting all that money on fire is rather impressive. Channel 10 down here used to use it as a promo for the show, I think it was what first piqued my interest.
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