This episode starts where 15 left off. Maddie has moved into Schmidt's house with the rest of the gang and they're burning her licence and other forms of identification in the sink. The realisation of what she is doing comes when Michael also insists that they have to destroy her old address book. Up until this point I don't think she really knew what sort of a step they were taking. She finally acknowledged the existence of Charlie and how she doesn't want him to grow up without a family (other than his mother). However as Michael and Fiona point out, they don't have an option.
Schmidt has arranged for Jesse and Sam to meet with a shady character called Vanek (played with relish by Pirates of the Caribbean's Kevin McNally). He has the computer chips they need for the passports. Because he doesn't like Schmidt he jacks the price up and treats Sam and Jesse like something he found on the bottom of his shoe.
When they meet in a carpark to see computer hacker extraordinaire, Dixon, and test the passports, Schmidt is jumpy and nervous (even more than usual and he's twitchy at the best of times). The reason soon becomes obvious. He ratted Vanek out to the FBI and the competitor is coming for him. Everyone, except for Dixon, who followed his best weasel instincts and got out while he still could, piles into the van and takes off.
Vanek and his goon squad chase them into an abandoned factory. Well, there was no one there, but everything still worked, so maybe it was just shut down for the weekend or something. While Vanek is looking for a way in, they're looking for a way out. Michael calls Jesse and asks him to meet them there with a vehicle that can handle being shot at.
Jesse can't leave Maddie on her own, and she won't let him anyway, so he takes her. They con a construction worker out of his dump truck (Michael did say bulletproof) and take it to the address Michael gave them.
Sam, Fiona, Michael and Schmidt, do manage to get out before Vanek gets in, but he's still got their access to their ride blocked. If they give him Schmidt he'll let them go. Everyone else, especially Schmidt, is against this plan of action. Although I think Fiona was considering it. Michael, against everyone else's wishes, and I could definitely understand Sam's point here, you don't leave people behind, takes Schmidt out to Vanek. At the last minute he shoots a transformer, causes an explosion and they make their escape in the truck.
It's later, while Schmidt is calming his nerves with alcohol (the smuggling business must pay well, because Macallan is not cheap), he speaks to Michael about the great escape. He contends that Michael had no way of actually knowing the transformer was there. Michael says that he's right, but if it hadn't been, something else would have. He never says it, but both the audience and Schmidt know that if push really came to shove he would have given Schmidt up to save the rest. There's an edge that Michael has never had before, or maybe he always had it, but has kept it hidden until now.
They're almost ready to go into hiding when Maddie goes missing. Michael knows where she is, and he finds her at Nate's grave. She says that she's sorry, but she couldn't go without saying goodbye. Michael says that he understands, and that if a CIA team were watching them or going to grab them they would have done it by now. Maddie leaves the grave and Michael picks up a small bunch of flowers that Maddie thought were left there by one of Nate's friends.
Michael didn't know many of Nate's friends, but those he did know weren't the type to leave flowers at the grave. He extracts the card in them and turns it over. The writing on the back reads I Would Like to Chat, with a number, and is signed A Friend.
They're not leaving Miami, but who is A Friend. Pretty much anyone that we know of who could or would do something like that is either dead or out of the picture somehow or other.
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