I'm doing the final 2 episodes of the season together, because they really are just one big episode, split into 2 for the convenience of network TV. There's no to be continued at the end of Episode 17, but considering that one major character's life hangs in the balance as the credits roll, it probably should have.
After receiving that cryptic message at his brother's grave, Michael decides to follow up on it. He leaves Schmidt's house (Schmidt himself has already left the country, but did say that they could stay there for a while until they too departed Dodge) in the dead of the night. He finds himself at an out of the way all night diner. Seated at the counter is one solitary customer. Jason Bly, former CIA operative and now with CSS.
Bly offers Michael a deal of sorts. He's been tasked with CSS' investigation into Card's death, and he's worked out that Card wasn't the 'white knight' everyone thought he was. Riley's not much better, she will burn any and everyone if that's what it takes to get Michael. Bly can't do a whole lot for Michael, he killed a high ranking CIA officer, but he can maybe save his friends and family. Riley has already had Sugar thrown in a whole for his previous association with Michael and worse could await everyone else.
Michael tells Fiona about the offer and she rejects it immediately, and counsels continuing with their plan to get out.
Michael, Sam and Jesse go to a dock to arrange transport. The contact is acting suspiciously. By the time they work out that they've been made, the CIA are all over it. Jesse tries to run and gets caught. Sam is shot, Michael takes out the shooter and throws him into his car, and then gets out safely.
Back at Schmidt's, Sam was lying about being 'grazed'. It's a gut shot, and the bullet is still in him. They can't risk a hospital or even a doctor, so Fiona brings in her ex boyfriend, the EMT Campbell.
Sam's injury is one problem. The other is Jesse. They're confident that Jesse won't rat them out, but they also don't want to leave him to Riley's tender mercies. The CIA guy they took at the docks is a hardcase and won't crack.
Jesse knows all about interrogation. He used to work counter intelligence and he's been with Michael for a few years now. He initially gives them a long convoluted and dishonest story. That's when Riley lets one of her muscle men rough him up, but she knows she can't take it too far and Jesse still won't give them a damn thing. She offers him a deal. She'll clean his record and let him go free if he'll roll over. He won't. Jesse is the wrong person for them to have. He has no family and no real friends outside of the team. Eventually Riley offers him the classified file on the police informant that killed his mother, something that Jesse has been trying to get his eyes on since he was 9 years old. He still won't talk, but he's getting closer.
Back at the house, Campbell is unable to do a lot for Sam, although he has stopped the bleeding. Dean isn't talking. Michael lets him free himself and when he tries to make the inevitable call to Riley, traces it and gets a location. Dean tries to escape, takes Fiona out of the fight and has a gun on Michael, when Sam puts a gun on him and he stands down.
Michael uses one of his usual tricks to gas the building where Jesse is being held. Waits until everyone is out and then goes in for Jesse. Just before they leave, Jesse grabs the file and opens it. It's full of blank sheets of paper. Riley was trying to play him.
Bly contacts Michael and urges him to cooperate, because Riley will be madder than ever after his last stunt. Michael hangs up. If they can't get Sam proper medical attention he's going to die. Fiona says she knows a dirty doctor who may help. They all get into the car and drive. As the credits are about to roll, Sam loses consciousness.
Unsurprisingly Episode 18 opens with Fiona and Michael forcing Fiona's illegal doctor to operate on Sam. He can't exactly do the greatest job given the circumstances and lack of equipment, but he does give him a blood transfusion of Michael's blood (lucky that they were compatible) and gets the bullet out. Sam's not out of the woods and really should have proper hospitalisation, but at least now death is not imminent.
Michael and Maddie have a late night conversation about dealing with bad situations and what a picnic living with Frank Westen was. That's when she mentions that at least now the neighbour's dog has stopped barking so they can sleep. That triggers Michael's 'spider sense' and sure enough an assassination team is about to invade the house.
They fight off and take out the intruders. In the encounter, Michael sees a drug cartel tattoo on one of them. The logical conclusion is that drive by hatred and desperation Riley has done a deal with a drug cartel to take Michael out. It's a cartel that Michael went after for the CIA.
So they run to a hotel. They need to get a tracker on Riley to find out who she's working with in the cartel and see if Bly can trap her in it. They take Sam to the hospital and Michael creates a distraction. He actually rides a motorbike through the hospital, with Riley and her team in pursuit, while Jesse and Fiona break into Riley's car and bug it.
Riley shows her true colours by interrogating Sam and when he refuses to give her anything, shutting off his pain medication. I had some issues with this, not just because Riley is horrible. I already knew that. I can't believe that any doctor would allow this to happen. Hopefully I'm never hospitalised in Miami.
Bly and Michael trace Riley to a marina, where despite Bly's lack of belief that Riley is that off the rails, she's meeting with the drug cartel. He gets audio and vision of her, that will put her away. Then they encounter a marina guard who is with the cartel. They shoot him, but he throws a grenade into the car. Michael gets out, but Bly doesn't, the explosion kills him and destroys all the evidence.
Michael tells Fiona and Jesse to get the guards attention and then he dives into the water and swims for the boat. The drug lord and Riley are surprised when the boat starts heading into open water and go to investigate. The wheelhouse appears to be deserted, but the boat is underway and the coast guard are approaching. Michael takes out the drug lord, then he and Riley pull guns on each other.
Michael wants Riley to confess, if she doesn't he's willing to let the coast guard open fire and destroy the boat. Yes, it will kill him, but it will also killed Riley and it will mean that nothing more will happen to Maddie, Fiona, Sam and Jesse. There were things that Riley didn't know about Michael Westen. He's rarely ever out of a plan. He has nerves of steel. He is willing to die if it means his friends and family are okay. He doesn't have a lot to lose. Finally, he's more than a little crazy. Riley cracks.
When senior CIA members die and are found to be corrupt, and I haven't even mentioned Bly's involvement in it all, investigations have to be held and wheels have to turn. Everyone finds themselves in government custody. After 3 weeks, Fiona is taken from her cell to a helicopter deck. She sees Michael dressed in a suit and giving orders, with a nod of his head the guard releases Fiona, and lets her go to him. He made a deal. If he works as the CIA's puppet they leave everyone else alone.
Because Michael had said in Panama after Card went down and they were through all of this, he was out, Fiona accuses him of getting what he wanted and lying to her. She knows this is unfair. Michael had no other option.
It's a pretty good ending and a nice springboard into the 7th and final season. Season 6 had a rocky start, while it tried to finish off Season 5, but once Nate was killed the show kicked into overdrive, and some of the high points of the entire show were in Season 6, especially when they were being chased by Riley. Had they had to end the show in this season, they could have tweaked the ending a bit and had Michael and Fiona walking off into the sunset. As it is they got a shortened 7th season to actually end it properly.
Michael tells Fiona about the offer and she rejects it immediately, and counsels continuing with their plan to get out.
Michael, Sam and Jesse go to a dock to arrange transport. The contact is acting suspiciously. By the time they work out that they've been made, the CIA are all over it. Jesse tries to run and gets caught. Sam is shot, Michael takes out the shooter and throws him into his car, and then gets out safely.
Back at Schmidt's, Sam was lying about being 'grazed'. It's a gut shot, and the bullet is still in him. They can't risk a hospital or even a doctor, so Fiona brings in her ex boyfriend, the EMT Campbell.
Sam's injury is one problem. The other is Jesse. They're confident that Jesse won't rat them out, but they also don't want to leave him to Riley's tender mercies. The CIA guy they took at the docks is a hardcase and won't crack.
Jesse knows all about interrogation. He used to work counter intelligence and he's been with Michael for a few years now. He initially gives them a long convoluted and dishonest story. That's when Riley lets one of her muscle men rough him up, but she knows she can't take it too far and Jesse still won't give them a damn thing. She offers him a deal. She'll clean his record and let him go free if he'll roll over. He won't. Jesse is the wrong person for them to have. He has no family and no real friends outside of the team. Eventually Riley offers him the classified file on the police informant that killed his mother, something that Jesse has been trying to get his eyes on since he was 9 years old. He still won't talk, but he's getting closer.
Back at the house, Campbell is unable to do a lot for Sam, although he has stopped the bleeding. Dean isn't talking. Michael lets him free himself and when he tries to make the inevitable call to Riley, traces it and gets a location. Dean tries to escape, takes Fiona out of the fight and has a gun on Michael, when Sam puts a gun on him and he stands down.
Michael uses one of his usual tricks to gas the building where Jesse is being held. Waits until everyone is out and then goes in for Jesse. Just before they leave, Jesse grabs the file and opens it. It's full of blank sheets of paper. Riley was trying to play him.
Bly contacts Michael and urges him to cooperate, because Riley will be madder than ever after his last stunt. Michael hangs up. If they can't get Sam proper medical attention he's going to die. Fiona says she knows a dirty doctor who may help. They all get into the car and drive. As the credits are about to roll, Sam loses consciousness.
Unsurprisingly Episode 18 opens with Fiona and Michael forcing Fiona's illegal doctor to operate on Sam. He can't exactly do the greatest job given the circumstances and lack of equipment, but he does give him a blood transfusion of Michael's blood (lucky that they were compatible) and gets the bullet out. Sam's not out of the woods and really should have proper hospitalisation, but at least now death is not imminent.
Michael and Maddie have a late night conversation about dealing with bad situations and what a picnic living with Frank Westen was. That's when she mentions that at least now the neighbour's dog has stopped barking so they can sleep. That triggers Michael's 'spider sense' and sure enough an assassination team is about to invade the house.
They fight off and take out the intruders. In the encounter, Michael sees a drug cartel tattoo on one of them. The logical conclusion is that drive by hatred and desperation Riley has done a deal with a drug cartel to take Michael out. It's a cartel that Michael went after for the CIA.
So they run to a hotel. They need to get a tracker on Riley to find out who she's working with in the cartel and see if Bly can trap her in it. They take Sam to the hospital and Michael creates a distraction. He actually rides a motorbike through the hospital, with Riley and her team in pursuit, while Jesse and Fiona break into Riley's car and bug it.
Riley shows her true colours by interrogating Sam and when he refuses to give her anything, shutting off his pain medication. I had some issues with this, not just because Riley is horrible. I already knew that. I can't believe that any doctor would allow this to happen. Hopefully I'm never hospitalised in Miami.
Bly and Michael trace Riley to a marina, where despite Bly's lack of belief that Riley is that off the rails, she's meeting with the drug cartel. He gets audio and vision of her, that will put her away. Then they encounter a marina guard who is with the cartel. They shoot him, but he throws a grenade into the car. Michael gets out, but Bly doesn't, the explosion kills him and destroys all the evidence.
Michael tells Fiona and Jesse to get the guards attention and then he dives into the water and swims for the boat. The drug lord and Riley are surprised when the boat starts heading into open water and go to investigate. The wheelhouse appears to be deserted, but the boat is underway and the coast guard are approaching. Michael takes out the drug lord, then he and Riley pull guns on each other.
Michael wants Riley to confess, if she doesn't he's willing to let the coast guard open fire and destroy the boat. Yes, it will kill him, but it will also killed Riley and it will mean that nothing more will happen to Maddie, Fiona, Sam and Jesse. There were things that Riley didn't know about Michael Westen. He's rarely ever out of a plan. He has nerves of steel. He is willing to die if it means his friends and family are okay. He doesn't have a lot to lose. Finally, he's more than a little crazy. Riley cracks.
When senior CIA members die and are found to be corrupt, and I haven't even mentioned Bly's involvement in it all, investigations have to be held and wheels have to turn. Everyone finds themselves in government custody. After 3 weeks, Fiona is taken from her cell to a helicopter deck. She sees Michael dressed in a suit and giving orders, with a nod of his head the guard releases Fiona, and lets her go to him. He made a deal. If he works as the CIA's puppet they leave everyone else alone.
Because Michael had said in Panama after Card went down and they were through all of this, he was out, Fiona accuses him of getting what he wanted and lying to her. She knows this is unfair. Michael had no other option.
It's a pretty good ending and a nice springboard into the 7th and final season. Season 6 had a rocky start, while it tried to finish off Season 5, but once Nate was killed the show kicked into overdrive, and some of the high points of the entire show were in Season 6, especially when they were being chased by Riley. Had they had to end the show in this season, they could have tweaked the ending a bit and had Michael and Fiona walking off into the sunset. As it is they got a shortened 7th season to actually end it properly.
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