Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Burn Notice, Season 4, Episode 9


There's a storm coming, and I'm not just talking about the weather.

Michael is desperate to find out more about Simon. I must confess to being about as perplexed as Fiona and Sam are on this. Yes, he did bad things and yes he got away with it, but he's not Michael's problem, unless he comes to Miami, and as long as Michael Westen is there he's unlikely to do that. He calls in Vaughan to help him. It's not a good idea to bring Vaughan into home territory, fair enough if he comes himself, but to actually call him. Even Vaughan tells him to leave the Simon thing alone, the only way someone gets into Simon's head is if they let him into theirs and that can create a very dangerous and deadly situation.

Vaughan is to a certain extent playing his own game and he tries to get Fiona onside by offering to give Michael access to Simon and even get Jesse back in if she throws in her lot with the CIA. Fiona refuses, but the knowledge that Vaughan knows so much about Jesse is unsettling. What if he decides to tell Jesse the truth about his burning?

Maddie is meanwhile refusing to leave Miami, despite the tropical hurricane bearing down on the city. She's a Floridian and claims she knows when a hurricane is going to hit and when it's going to be someone else's problem. At times seeing Sharon Gless as Maddie brings up comparisons with Patricia Arquette's turn as Sally, Nucky (Steve Buscemi) Thompson's Floridian girlfriend in HBO's Boardwalk Empire.

Having Maddie stay turns out to be a blessing in disguise when FBI agents Lane and Harris call on Michael. The rather bumbling agents have learned to tolerate Michael and even work with him since their first appearances in Season 1 when Sam was informing on Michael to them. This time they effectively hire him to track down and neutralise a hit man who is trying to kill a witness they want to protect. They pay in favours, not money, though, and having an FBI agent or two in your pocket can be useful.

Michael tracks down the hitter by his gun and he turns out to be a former army bomb disposal expert, who turned to assassination when he got discharged from the army for something he didn't do. Over time Michael and he bond (they have shared experience of the service) and team up to protect the witness from an even more dangerous hit man.

Lane and Harris repay the job by threatening Vaughan. He laughs it off, saying that he could have them both killed if he really wanted, but also winding up on the most wanted list for any period of time would seriously mess up what he does, it would ruin his anonymity if nothing else.

Another storm comes in just after the warning about the first one. It's not called Simon, but it very well may be.

No comments:

Post a Comment