Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Burn Notice, Season 7, Episode 3



After his sojourn in Miami, Michael is back in the Dominican Republic, under Strong's thumb, as he tries to bring Burke down. Noticing that his likeness had made the local news after the job he pulled before going back to Miami, Michael shaves off his beard. Thank goodness! Some people can pull a beard off, Jeffrey Donovan is not one of them. It also showed his grey hair, which made him look older. Burke comes to him and wants to pull a truck job. Michael says that he has a couple of people in Miami (Sam and Jesse) that he can use. Burke says he has his own people lined up. The leader of that gang starts making unreasonable demands and then threatens Burke with his knowledge. I said at that point that he had just killed himself. Burke let it go, but before long he had buried the guy's own knife in his gut. So Sam and Jesse are on the job.

At a meeting at a market with Strong, he proposes using trained operatives. Michael points out that no matter how good they are, they don't have the shared history that Michael has with Sam and Jesse, and that could wind up getting everyone killed and Strong still doesn't have Burke. He caves. I find it interesting that Michael, who has never learned Spanish, can stay successfully underground in the Dominican Republic.

Sam and Jesse make plans to head south to help Michael out. The problem with this is that it leaves Maddy exposed. She's in a park watching Charlie play and getting good news about her battle to be granted full custody of the boy. A pair approach her, one is sleazy and dressed in a sharp suit, the other is large and menacing, tattoos can be seen snaking down the powerfully muscled arms in the tight black t-shirt.

The 'suit' was Nate's bookie. After Nate's death his wife continued to make payments on his debts, but now she's in rehab and he can't hold Charlie's health and well being over her head, that's stopped. He's owed $80,000 and he wants it now, or something very bad could happen to Charlie. From the time these guys turn up you know who Maddy will call. Sure enough Fiona Glenanne arrives at the house.

I actually thought that they'd use Carlos as well, but Fiona elects to run this one on her own with some help from Maddy. The bookie talks big, and he probably is connected, but Madeline Westen isn't your average Florida retiree. She has connections of her own. Fiona reasons that this guy has things he doesn't want to be known and he probably hides them in a safe somewhere. She has Maddy give him some money, and some jewellery, including a locket with a tracker in it. Once they know where his safe is, they blow a hole in the wall and break into it. Maddy seems to quite enjoy herself helping Fiona lay the charges. She's learned all sorts of interesting new skills since Michael got burned and dumped in Miami.

She then approaches the bookie, tells him that he won't be getting anymore money from her, she has his contacts and if anything happens to Charlie, then that information becomes public and he'll be dumped in a swamp somewhere to feed the alligators. The moral of the story is do not fuck with Madeline Westen.

Meanwhile in the Dominican Republic, Sam and Jesse have teamed up with Burke, and have concerns which they voice privately to Michael, in that Burke expects them to kill if that's what the job calls for. Michael finally lays it on the table for them. The price for their freedom is to get Burke. If he doesn't carry that out, then they all go to prison forever. How Jesse and Sam, both who have had their own dealings with the CIA, didn't understand this before having Michael spell it out, I do not know.

The truck contains equipment that Burke plans to give to Rafael Serrano, a terrorist behind a number of high profile bombings. Strong thinks that they can get two birds with the one stone; Serrano and Burke.

Burke starts to switch things up at the meet. Michael is in a warehouse with Burke, who is now working off script, and Serrano. Burke kills Serrano's bodyguard, and also reveals that he's not running the show, he's working for someone else. This is something that Strong, despite having had Burke under heavy surveillance for a number of years, was not aware of. He becomes paranoid when snipers are noticed outside, and starts to question Michael. Fortunately Sam and the CIA team can hear Michael and Sam realises that Michael is running a manoeuvre, he takes a sniper rifle and starts shooting at Michael. This gets him off the hook, why would snipers he positioned shoot at him? Now Burke thinks they're Serrano's and knocks him out. They get into an arriving helicopter and blow the building.

Michael has earned Burke's trust and the terrorist thinks that they're best buddies, but it also looks on his own, going into a very dangerous situation.

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