Burn Notice 4x18

Everything is on the line for Michael Westen, his friends and family. Even his more distant associates are kept under tabs. Vaughn is coming to town and means business. He’s tried being friends with Michael, now Michael will find out what it means to be his enemy. Before Michael can even get the flash-drive with the list to a safe place, Vaughn’s men are on to them. An exciting car chase, some explosions, and a few car crashes later and Jesse is seriously wounded while they need to keep running. They hide out in an abandoned hotel and soon they find themselves under siege. Meanwhile, Madeline and Sam are trying to convince some shady congressman to deliver the list to higher government authorities. He is understandably hesitant, due to their earlier run in, but eventually is convinced by Sam’s pleading. Michael’s plans to escape from under the siege and get the list to the congressman keep failing. He faces death and hopes Fiona will chose life and get out safe. For his part, Vaughn has been able to kidnap Madeline. Michael and Fiona take their last stand, ready to blow themselves up so that Jesse can escape with the list. But suddenly armed forces drop in, at the congressman’s instigation. Vaughn is arrested and Michael is escorted by two men who refuse to tell him who they are. They drive him a long distance without letting him know where they are taking him. When he finally steps outside the car, he’s not in Kansas anymore, nor in Miami. It’s snowing. A suit walks up to him, who welcomes him back. He’s in Washington, D.C.

It’s been another fun and exciting season, with lots of explosions and car chases, blood and guts. This Cricket can’t always follow the plot contrivances, but that doesn’t really matter. It’s a great show with a cheesy sense of humor and an entertaining vibe. There’s a nice chemistry between the characters. Especially Madeline (Sharon Gless) unfailingly offers the emotional bedrock of the series, manipulative and scheming, chain-smoking and complaining, demanding and exacting, but always loving and upright. The writers are well aware that Michael’s obsessive insistence to get his former job back is bordering on insanity – and also point out frequently that he has no real clue what is going to happen should he ever revert his burn notice. There are at least two more seasons left. So it will take awhile before we know (if ever) what is going to happen. I’m glad that, at least for the last two episodes, they focused on the main narrative without the distraction of another job on the side. I can only hope that they will be able to avoid some of the formulaic set-ups that are starting to become just a tad predictable. At any rate, don’t miss out on the fun!

Burn Notice 4x17

The season is drawing to a close. Michael Westen came close to unveiling the men responsible for his burn notice, but then lost the list of coded information to former spy and arms dealer Tyler Brennen. Everything Michael has been hoping for is lost again – and his friend Jesse Porter just lost his former handler Marv. The situation causes tension to resurface between Jesse and Michael – especially because Michael and Sam make it clear that they won’t let Jesse mess things up with Brennen. The latter requires Michael to assassinate several dozen people on the list, on the threat of releasing some audio-file that would incriminate Michael. And to sweeten the deal Brennen has brought in Michael’s “good” friend “Dead” Larry Sizemore to help out. (Don’t worry if the plot seems to lack any rhyme or reason. I’ve seen every single episode and can’t follow it either.) Larry and Michael break into some federal building to find the name of their first victim. Then Brennen informs them that he is going to frame some Filipino separatist organization for the murder. Instead, Michael suggests kidnapping the man, so they can interrogate him and pounce some more information out of him.

Meanwhile, it is clear that Larry isn’t exactly excited to be working for Brennen as a mere gun-for-hire. For his part Brennen warns Michael he will drop the audio-file on Vaughn if he will get only a whiff of a hint that someone is tailing him. Jesse is eager to point a gun in Brennen’s mouth and decorate the walls with his brains unless he hands them the list. But Brennen is keeping it in a biometrical safe in a room with a gazillion cameras. Then, after a few explosions to distract the guards, Michael and Larry break into this guy’s compound, and Larry throws another bomb into the guy’s car, blowing him to smithereens. Michael agrees to work together with Larry eliminating the people behind his burn notice, but not on Brennen’s terms. They need to get the list, but first the audio-file. Larry has a better idea – and kills Brennen. Now Michael is trapped, Vaughn will find out about the audio-file and come after him. To push Michael even farther into a corner, Larry orders him to make Sam and Fi go away, or else ... “they will go away”... Michael calls Fiona with just enough information for them to know that Brennen is dead and that they should spring the safe. Which they do just before Michael and Larry arrive. Sam aims his laser pointer on Larry from across the street, ordering him to let Michael go, while they frame the theft on him. Now Michael has the list again. Vaughn will get the audio-file soon, the gates of hell will open, the apocalypse will be upon them, everyone they know and love may soon be very dead. “What else is new,” Madeline quips.

Burn Notice 4x16

Michael Westen finally has his hands on the list that contains information about all the names of the people behind his burn notice. He has decided to hand it over to the government and trust that they will reconsider the black-listing, so that he and Jesse can be reinstated in their respective counter-intelligence jobs. Michael also chose Jesse’s former handler, Marv, to arrange the hand-over. Marv doesn’t trust Michael, and resents him for causing Jesse’ burn notice. So he straps him on the polygraph to verify he’s talking the truth. “State your name and occupation,” Marv asks. “My name is Michael Westen. I used to be a spy.”

Meanwhile, an old cop friend of Sam has gone missing, allegedly after nicking a lot of cocaine off some dealers. So Sam feels obliged to help the guy’s wife clear his name. Top brass has already closed the case. But Sam thinks it stinks. They learn from some scumbag dealer that Sam’s friend Kevin was set up by his partner Pete, and then killed. Now they have to set up Pete to trap him into selling the stash. They bring on the heat by pretending they killed the scumbag dealer and – even better – that Kevin is still alive and talking to Internal Affairs. Pete wants to make a deal fast, but instead of bringing drugs, he sets off an explosion of his own. With nothing else left, Michael threatens to kill him if he won’t give him the coke. Pete offers to drop it off at Kevin’s house, since it’s too hot to deal on the street, blame it on his ex-partner all over again. When he does, Sam is waiting with a Police Lieutenant’s crew. He finally got busted.

Marv checks up on some of Michael’s stories without raising any flags, and they check out. He decides to help Michael and Jesse hand over the list. But when they meet, Marv is sweating and nervous. He is escorted by three guys wearing Homeland Security uniforms. They also have silencers on their pistols. Something is wrong. They already have the flash drive. Marv is dead. The list is gone. Tyler Brennan, a former spy and arms dealer (who appeared before in seasons two and three), just stole Michael’s precious information! No end in sight. Fun!

Burn Notice 4x15

Sam and Jesse are heading to Santa Domingo, to get in on the auction, check out security, and steal the list Michael is dying to get his hands on so he can finally find out all the names of the people behind his burn notice. He can’t come, because, “when you’re burned,” as every opening sequence reminds us, “you’re stuck in whatever city they decide to dump you.” So, Michael is quarantined in Miami, and he sure cannot afford raising eyebrows skipping town and heading to the Dominican Republic for three days. Justin Walsh, the, um, “auctioneer,” otherwise known as “covert intelligence thief,” isn’t very forthcoming about his security. He just hints that he’s using a moving loop to keep the list safe. Sam reckons that means Walsh is using a motorcycle relay, with various bikes going round until he has sold the list. To keep track of any bikes circling the neighborhood, Sam and Jesse recruit “field operatives” among the locals for a few bucks, and soon enough figure out the pattern of bikes.

Meanwhile, Michael’s brother Nate happens to be back in town, looking for some cars stolen from friends of his. Of course, the story turns out not that simple. One of the cars contained twenty kilos of heroin. Michael got himself new clients. And Fiona is in on the job. Michael visits an old acquaintance, who helps him to the address of the crew who swiped the car, called Buckwild’s, and asks for a little favor putting the crew out of commission. As is to be expected, things don’t go exactly as planned. The car wasn’t stolen by Buckwild’s crew, but actually by one of the kingpin’s henchmen. Michael is able to get his clients scot free, though, when he finally retrieves the car. Then he and Fiona fly to the Dominican Republic – evading customs – and help Sam and Jesse steal the list, well, actually a flash drive, and rush back to Miami. Now what is Michael going to do with the information?

Burn Notice 4x14

In their ongoing search to discover who is responsible for Michael’s burn notice, Sam and Michael break into a police station and steal some information in the hopes of tracking down the man who is now in possession of the information that decodes Simon’s coded bible. They get their hands on a series of anonymous e-mails which indicates that the list is up for auction. Now they need help from an insider and lure Jesse’s former handler Marv back to Miami. Reluctantly he agrees and arranges they can get in on the auction in Santo Domingo in two weeks.

Meanwhile, Fiona has taken on a client who claims his sister has been kidnapped by some Venezuelan diplomat. Fiona and Jesse soon learn that the dirty diplomat’s house is much too protected just for holding someone hostage. Just when they are confronting their client he gets shot. Natalie, an old enemy, returns to the scene and tells them that the diplomat is in league with some South American revolutionaries and is holding a chemical weapon on his compound that is so lethal it makes mustard gas smell like cologne. The whole team joins in to save innocent people from dying. Plan A falls through, of course; and even after Plan B succeeds, Natalie still steels the weapon from Sam and is about to sell to some shady suits. Naturally, Michael saves the day and they force Natalie to turn the weapon in with the FBI.

In the end Madeline forces Michael and Jesse to shut it and sit down, to start trusting each other again before one of them ends up dead. She tells Jesse get over the fact that Michael ruined his life, and tells Michael to deal with the fact that Jesse was trying to save his life when he shot him in the chest. She’s not talking about closure, but about good old-fashioned gutting it out. It’s what families do when the lie and betray each other – they suck it up. They shake on it – and then it’s back to business as usual. In all, the episode felt contrived and formulaic, and not as much exciting fun as usual. Even the sit-down at the end was not as gratifying as Madeline’s scenes usually are. It seemed more like a convenient way to get past the guys’ mutual distrust and resentment, instead of dragging it on for too long. Let’s hope the show gets its groove back soon. Over and out.

Burn Notice 4x13

Welcome back, Michael Westen, we’ve missed you! Glad you’re still alive, though barely. He’s been in a coma, on life support for three days. “Where Am I?” “Miami.” That telecom CEO John Barrett is dead – thanks to Sam and Fiona – and so are most of his henchmen. But the briefcase with Simon’s coded bible is still missing. He’s barely on his feet and he already attracts an unwitting client in the hospital after a large explosion in South Beach brings in many wounded victims to the emergency room. This is where the plot’s credibility gets stretched beyond my comfort zone, because apparently the criminal defense attorney who Michael last helped retrieve his daughter, is now hell bent on revenge: for the target of the South Beach bombing was the gang leader behind the kidnapping. Very effective method of elimination: blow up explosives on a busy stretch of town to kill your archenemy. Naturally, the attorney did not get his hands dirty, but employed your average run-of-the-mill fantastically fanatic narcissistic paranoid psychopath with delusions of grandeur wishing to rid the earth of all the scum willing to blow people to smithereens in the process.

With the media all over Barrett’s global conspiracy, Vaughn stops by to apologize to Michael for busting in on their meeting with Barrett guns a-blazing, and to say goodbye. Jesse is back on board, reluctantly, not to make nice – on the contrary, he’s meaner and leaner than ever – but to finish the job and find the coded bible. It leads to another trail of blood. (No doubt they are not going to get their hands on the thing until the end of the season.) At the end of the day, Madeline asks her son why he does what he does, the vigilante stuff and the pursuit of those who blacklisted him. He has been thinking about it every day since the day he got burned, but he doesn’t know. A little trite. There were some good bits this episode. Fortunately Michael was evidently still suffering from his wounds – rather than walking out of the hospital kicking ass. It all did feel a little contrived, though, and so much got crammed into the episode it was hard to keep track.

Burn Notice 4x12

Four years ago, Michael Westen was blacklisted. He has spent all this time trying to uncover who is behind his burn notice. In the process he has discovered a global conspiracy involving assassinations and wars around the world. Jesse Porter has been investigating the same conspiracy, but while trying to find out more about it, Michael inadvertently caused Jesse to be blacklisted, too. Michael offered to help Jesse, while Jesse swore to kill anyone involved with his own burn notice. Fiona has been feeling guilty all this time for lying to Jesse, and Michael’s mother, Madeline, has been pressuring her son, too, to come clean. Now Jesse has learned the truth on his own. He nearly killed Fiona for helping Michael, and now Michael fears Jesse is coming after him. Even Sam is complaining to Michael that the situation is bad for the team.

Then there is Simon’s coded bible that communications technology CEO John Barrett needs to get his hands on. With Barrett in town and Jesse after him, it’s not as if Michael doesn’t have his hands full, but still he agrees to help some criminal defense attorney retrieving his kidnapped daughter. For once I had hoped that the episode would focus just on the conspiracy plot, without the distraction of one of the clients. The story is classic Burn Notice: plan A, simply to rescue the daughter, fails; but plan B, to make it appear they are agreeing to the kidnappers’ terms, succeeds. Meanwhile, Fiona tries talking to Jesse, and brings Madeline in tow. As always, Madeline gives the most touching performance, this time defending her son in front of Jesse. “If you’re going to kill my son,” she tells him, “just wait a few days, because he is trying to save a little girl’s life.” Jesse then agrees to talk to Michael, who admits he is guilty as charged, but suggests that Barrett may offer an opportunity to get Jesse reinstated.

Michael’s meeting with Barrett doesn’t exactly go as planned. Despite Michael’s insistence that he’ll go at this alone (well, with Sam and Fiona), Vaughn and his men show up, causing a chaotic shoot-out. One of Barrett’s bodyguards grabs Michael. Suddenly at of nowhere, Jesse shoots at Michael, so that the same bullet kills the bodyguard, but not Michael. Barrett drags Michael into his car and drives off. Michael, bleeding profusely, jerks the steering wheel, to get the car to tumble off the road. This summer finale ends with Michael crawling out of the car, while someone in tanker boots picks up the suitcase with the coded bible that we now know contains the key to the names of people behind all the burn notices. So, who picked up the briefcase? Was it one of Vaughn’s men? Simon himself? Or perhaps Jesse? We have to wait until the show returns in November.

Burn Notice 4x11

Hoping to deflect blame for Jesse’s burn notice, our team has faked an intelligence file that implicates communi- cations technology CEO John Barrett, the man who has been behind the whole global-war-for-profit con- spiracy that Michael is trying to uncover. Barrett is after Simon’s coded bible which will help him bring down Vaughn. Jesse suggest they go to Barrett in New York (which incidentally would be impossible, because the premise of our show tell us that blacklisted spies cannot travel), but Michael instead calls Barrett on his secret number to lure him to Miami.

Meanwhile, Fiona and Sam help a wealthy widow who has lost her money to some sleazy womanizing con-artist. They don’t have much success convincing him to share in his game, even after drugging him. Fiona and Jesse follow him to his money manager, learning that they have too many bank accounts to easily drain him. They try scaring him, which backfires, too. Finally they make it seem he killed the widow in a drunken rage and offer to clean the crime scene for the neat sum of one million dollar, which they can then hand over to the woman.

For her part, Michael’s mother Madeline decides to pack up and leave. She can no longer see her son lie to Jesse. This has been one of the summer season’s main story arcs. The audience has been waiting for the resolution. Will Jesse believe that Barrett is behind his burn notice? Fiona returns to Michael’s place only to find Jesse’s gun in her face. He found out the truth. His former handler Marv showed him security footage of Michael running away from Jesse’s old office building on the day he got blacklisted. Jesse’s promised to murder who ever set him up. But he can’t bring himself to kill Fiona. In tears she calls Michael to warn him that Jesse is on a rampage. Next week’s summer finale will pick up from here. It is impossible to tell how this is going to end, but it doubtless going to be exciting. There’s also no question the situation with Barrett will offer an action-packed cliffhanger.

Burn Notice 4x10

So, Michael needs to have a face to face with Simon Escher – this is the man, mind you, who committed the acts of terrorism for which Michael was blacklisted, the man who escaped as high-risk prisoner on transport to Poland, and who threatened to blow up half of South Beach. Reluctantly, Vaughn has agreed to let Michael talk to Simon in the high-security prison. Obviously, Simon won’t tell Michael anything about the coded bible, but he does point him to a tape he has hidden in a historic cemetery. After Fiona has retrieved the tape, and they play it, they listen to a recording of Vaughn and Simon back in 2007 – that is before Michael got his burn notice. Apparently, “Management” was planning on using Michael as Simon’s replacement.

Meanwhile, Sam visits a pal in prison, called Juan. Although he is set to be released in a week, Juan fears he will be killed by the leader of the Mexican gang. Michael uses his FBI contacts to break into prison, so he can save Juan’s life. So, the plan involves some corrupt guards, threatening language, a fist fight, a prison riot, and another fun explosion. Initially, Michael hoped to break out with Juan, but during the riot, Juan’s leg was broken, so he couldn’t run. Then Michael lures the gang leader and breaks him out. With the help of Sam and Jesse, he drops him off somewhere, and warns his FBI contacts. The escaped convict is returned to prison and is soon enough murdered back inside. In short, this episode was mostly about Michael, with little screen time especially for Jesse. I’m wondering if Michael will keep his secret about causing Jesse’s burn notice. It’s surprising how little initiative Jesse is showing finding the guilty party...

Burn Notice 4x09

Finally Vaughn is back (that middle-ranking spy from “Management”)! Michael is hoping he will arrange a meeting for him with that terrorist Simon, so he can find out more about the coded bible. But Vaughn tells him “no.” He wants the bible for himself. Then Michael is asked for help by two FBI agents tracking down a material witness who’s supposed to stand trial against some Turkish criminal. Except for some two-way radio contact, Michael is on his own on this job, facing an assassin and a hit team, all while a hurricane made landfall in Miami. Meanwhile, Vaughn pays Fiona a visit. He offers her a tempting deal: if she gives him the bible, Vaughn will make sure Jesse gets his old job back and won’t find out who got him blacklisted. She later tells Michael about Vaughn. She trusts that he will do the right thing, even though she hates the way he’s using Jesse. Now Michael has to ask the FBI agents to do him a favor, threatening Vaughn. He relents, but not without warning Michael how dangerous Simon is. In short, this episode was mostly about Michael; the action was fairly tame and the interaction with the assassin was rather lame; but the deal with Vaughn got him one step closer to learning more about his burn notice.

Burn Notice 4x08

Oh, this is fun! Madeline Westen, Michael’s mother, gets arrested for lighting up a cigarette in a bank’s safety deposit vault. Michael and Jesse panic. How are they going to stop the cops from taking her downtown? She’s already sitting next to the car, explaining that she told the police she put an old photo of her dead husband in her deposit box and forgot where she was... Hahaha! Hilarious! The real point of her incident was that Mike and Jesse were checking the bank’s security, because they need to lift the box from the vault that may contain information about the global conspiracy they are trying to uncover. Meanwhile, Sam and Fiona are supposed to protect a wealthy businessman who is to unveil a new lithium battery that he fears someone is going to steal. Instead, Mexican criminals kidnap his wife, and Fiona, too. While Mike and Sam are trying to find where the Mexicans are holding them, Jesse fails to convince the husband not to release the 10 million dollars ransom. Resourceful as she is, Fiona is able to send a smoke signal through the air conditioning, and overpowers the leader, while Sam takes out one of the guards. The two others criminals are surprised to see Michael at the drop off location instead of the husband with the ransom. With the hostage situation taken care of, Mike and Jesse break into the vault, and find a coded bible inside the box – signed by Simon, the man who committed the acts of terrorism for which Michael was blacklisted, but Michael pretends he has no idea who he is.

Burn Notice 4x07

Jesse is on the beach with Michael and Fiona. It doesn’t take long before he sighs, “Even a day at the beach, isn’t a day at the beach with you people.” Jesse is actually tailing the wife of his former handler, Marv (Richard Kind, known from Mad About You and Spin City). The only lead killer Kendra gave them has something to do with a foiled heist of a bank safety deposit. Jesse hopes they can convince Marv to investigate which bank. Meanwhile an intelligence conference is taking place nearby, and Michael spots Russian black-ops trying to sneak past security. He believes they are after him, but after the team kidnaps one of them, they soon learn the Russians are after a retired spy, Paul Anderson (played by Burt Reynolds), who once developed a technique to disable Russian satellites. Now the team has to divide their attention: Mike and Sam need to keep Anderson safe, while Fiona and Jesse need to approach Marv.

Sam employs Madeline (Michael’s mother) to leverage a congressman. They take Anderson to the congressman’s house, and thus lure the Russians into a trap. When the Russians surrender (petrified by the name of Michael Westen alone), Anderson shoots one of them, and Michael asks the congressman what they will tell the police: that a heroic congressman killed a Russian black-op, or that a black-listed spy saved his life? In return the congressman has to arrange protection for Anderson. For their part, Fiona and Jesse are able to persuade Marv to follow their lead. Marv always believed in Jesse’s innocence. He even brings a thread of evidence (that could implicate Michael), which Fiona destroys. She then chides Michael for continuing to lie to Jesse only out of self-interest (well, and because Jesse has sworn to put everyone six feet under who black-listed him). In all this was a fun episode, Burt Reynolds as Michael’s ghost of Christmas future is a hoot, Sharon Gless as Madeline is great as always, and Richard Kind was a nice guest, too.

Burn Notice 4x06

It is time for Michael and Jesse to interrogate killer Kendra and find out why she assassinated their only lead to the whole conspiracy that lead to their burn notices. You know this episode is going to be exciting! The guys walk into the room where they are holding and, whoa, is this hottie too much to handle! She starts banging her head against the table just to prove that she won’t budge no matter what they do to her! They need to break this lady some other way. Then Fiona has a friend of a friend who needs their help. This man is a forger of leather accessories, i.e., high-end knock-off handbags and shoes, but he recently did a job on two small lion heads and now they want him dead. When Michael and Fiona look into it they discover they are dealing with an antiquities thief with a penchant for violent explosions. And the really interesting part is that the thief is about to attempt a heist of a Macedonian sword that allegedly belonged to Alexander the Great! I love these guys. That’s when things get convoluted, plans go awry and things go boom like we expect from this show. Sam and Jesse have found a successful approach with Kendra by giving her the feeling she has the upper hand and has a chance to come out alive only to crush her hopes later. She is a contract killer, but doesn’t know the name of her boss. She only knows one more lead, about which we’ll surely hear more next time. But this was another fun and exciting episode.

Burn Notice 4x05

Michael Westen has found an obsolete computer tape drive in the wall of killer Kendra. The point of such an old drive, of course, is that the information stored on it is safe – Michael cannot find any device to read it. But now this gorgeous assassin Kendra is tailing Michael. Together with Fiona he lures her into an alley, but she’s too fast even for them. Of course, Michael needs to know why Kendra murdered Kassar who Jesse was investigating before he got black listed. Meanwhile, our team helps out a clinic that is plagued by heroin dealers. Sam and Fiona trace the drugs to the headquarters in a cabaret strip club. Naturally, Sam has no qualms about the surveillance this time. Except that he gets into a fight with the head honcho trying to protect a guy who had some information for them. They found out this Vince Cutler (the guy who played director Billy Walsh on Entourage) from the Bronx took his heroin from a Mexican cartel, and needs to sell very quickly so he can pay them back. That’s the weak spot our friends are going to try and get him. Michael offers Cutler some high-grade pharmaceuticals with which he can spike his heroin. He hopes Cutler will allow him to lace the drugs himself, so he can steal it and have Cutler run for his life from the cartel. But that plan doesn’t work out. It’s Michael’s mother who suggests that the owner of the clinic needs to be seen to scare the dealers away. (I remain impressed by Sharon Gless’ performance.) With the help of some tear gas, car explosions, bombs and our team of snipers, he’s sure to send Cutler’s gang running from town fast! And an incredibly satisfying scene it is! In the end Michael and Sam are also able to kidnap Kendra. I can’t wait for the interrogations!

Burn Notice 4x04

Michael Westen is still taking on whatever work is coming his way, helping those in need. This time, that’s a local charity organization that lost all their money in a fraud scheme. When Sam and Michael come to talk with the owner, he’s already at the bank swinging his gun. Before we know it, they’re all involved in a hostage situation. It takes all of Michael’s ingenuity and Sam’s dedication to get them out and get the scam artist in jail. Meanwhile, Jesse and Fiona went to the Bahamas to identify the dead body of the weapons runner (code-named “Cobra”) who’s apparently involved in the whole conspiracy that cost Michael his burn notice. That is to say, they steal his file at the local morgue and use that to trace his address in Miami. The next-door neighbor of this “Cobra” Kassar is one hell of a dangerously nosy hottie (actress Navi Rawat). Using a fake FBI ID, Michael approaches her for some questions. Then he and Jesse notice there are a few things off, they rush back in, where this hottie, Kendra, is bashing a hole in the drywall and then flies out, leaving a tape behind in the wall. It seems she killed Kassar. A killer hottie! We’ll be sure to see more of her! Not in the picture this episode, however, were Michael’s mother Madeline and that guy, Vaughn, the spy who works for the “Management” that got Michael blacklisted in the first place... Overall, I had the feeling we’re heading toward a mid-summer season dip.

Burn Notice 4x03

I’m so glad to get my weekly fix of Burn Notice again! So, now our team has found a new member. Not that he was invited, but he’s joining them anyway. Jesse’s the counter-intelligence guy who got a burn notice of his own, all thanks to our Michael. He knows a lot, so he might be an asset. Together, they’re looking into an illegal arms trade from Afghanistan to Miami, that’s somehow related to the conspiracy behind Michael’s own burn notice. At the dockyards, Jesse notices mobsters harassing a security agent, who he takes on as their new “client,” someone who needs their help. In return the man gives them flight plans of all shipments from Afghanistan. It also means that the team has to deal with the Miami mafia. It’s convoluted fun, including the code-named “Cobra,” Michael approaching mob boss Tony Carra as a washed out FBI agent, Sam going psychopathic, sharpening his tools to threaten cutting Tony into pieces, a car bomb, a heist of microprocessors at the docks, and an attempt to assassinate New York crime family member Gio. Dramatic high points also include the fantastic Sharon Gloss as Michael’s mother. She’s already caught on that Jesse is a spy, and she warns her son that he is not Michael’s friend, that he’s using Jesse, that the truth will eventually come out – and when Jesse will learn the truth we know he might still kill Michael for blacklisting him. The season is really shaping up for great summer entertainment. I’m curious how this “friendship” between Michael and Jesse is going to evolve.

Burn Notice 4x02

Michael Westen has put a burn notice on an innocent man, counterintelligence agent Jesse Porter – just as what happened to him years ago. Now our favorite former spy has even more reasons to continue his own mission finding out why he got blacklisted. Michael returns to his newest Pal, Vaughn, to ask for information about this Jesse, but isn’t very co-operative. Sam, Fiona, and Michael tail Jesse, and nearly see him get shot. Then Jesse shows up at Michael’s house, not because he knows he burned him, but because of Michael’s reputation for helping those in need. For Jesse does need help with some drug-dealing Mongolian Khan who thinks Jesse stole his money. Michael being who he is, barges right in on Khan, and offers to help him get rid of Jesse. He arranges for Khan to buy a vast array of illegal arms, and then have Sam call in the police to have Khan arrested. Unfortunately, Khan gets released as he’d done a favor for some DEA officer in the past – and got his hands on Jesse right away. Now, Michael needs to rush in, give Jesse a cheat sheet, make it seem he’s talking under torture. With Mike’s covert instructions, Jesse tells Khan his associate Lee has the money. A short stand-off later, and both Lee and Khan are shot. With Jesse’s name cleared, Michael has a little conversation with him about being blacklisted. Mike wants to help Jesse; Jesse asks if it’s okay with Michael that he’ll kill whoever is responsible for his burn notice; and Michael says he’s okay with that. Ooh!

Burn Notice 4x01

Aren’t you glad Burn Notice is back? I am! The show’s about Michael Westen, who used to be a spy until someone got a burn notice on him. For the past three seasons he has been getting involved with more and more dubious characters trying to discover why he got blacklisted. We’ve learned that some bloke named Simon has been pinning violent acts of terrorism on Michael. It’s time we find out why. Michael is imprisoned in some secret, private holding facility, by a man called Vaughn, his new best friend, apparently. Vaughn, too, was behind Michael’s notice. Now that “Management” realized it was Simon who was to blame, they uncovered this bloke was working for someone else: Gregory Hart, an illegal guns trader, who has been connected to acts of terrorism and warfare around the globe. Vaughn invites Michael to pay a visit to this man to see who he is working for. Right when they find Hart in the jungle, an automatic plane comes shooting down from the sky!

Meanwhile, Fiona and Sam have taken on a case – in honor of Michael (not knowing where he is) – protecting some lawyer Winston (the actor who plays Harry Crane on Mad Men), who somehow got involved with an outlaw biker gang trying to save a girl from her boyfriend and now all members of the gang are after him. With Michael back on board, they’re going to make it seem like Winston was running guns for the gang, so that killing him would send the FBI after the gang. The leader of the pack calls off the kill. To defend his honor, though, the girl’s biker boy shoots the leader. Things didn’t go as Michael planned. Lots of great action, fat punches, fast bikes, shooting guns and an exciting chase! In the end, it all works out. Michael has a talk with his mother, explaining for the first time in his life that his career has been highly dangerous – without actually just telling her he has been a spy – and that this Simon had been blaming Michael – without telling her he was a terrorist. It’s the first heart-to-heart they’ve had. Madeline is visibly relieved. On his next task for Vaughn Michael has to access federal intelligence about this Hart, but when he does, another agent gets blacklisted. Michael just put a burn notice on anther spy!

Burn Notice 3x16

So, Michael Westen, in his continuing quest to discover why he got a Burn Notice, has had to deal with law enforcers and criminals of every shade. Last season the “Management” of the shadowy company behind his burn notice released him out of their surveillance and protections. In season three, Michael is back on the grid, under the attention of police detectives, FBI and CIA agents, as well as black operation psychopaths like Gilroy. Now, Gilroy was double-crossed and an international terrorist is on the loose. Michael is pursued by the FBI for his involvement in the terrorist’s escape. On the run, he’s looking for this terrorist, who’s of course also looking for him. Soon enough we learn that this guy, Simon, has been responsible for major acts of terrorism that were then (inexplicably) blamed on Michael. His burn notice, in other words, is based on crimes this Simon committed. Simon wants Michael to get in touch with the “Management” of that shadowy company behind the burn notice, and threatens to blow up an unspecified hotel in Miami Beach to encourage Michael’s co-operation.

This season delved deeper into Michael’s relations with Fiona (his trigger-happy ex-girlfriend) and Sam (his old friend who used to inform on him to the FBI), as well as his mother (his chain-smoking, complainy, but ultimately iron-fisted and loyal mother). Those relations added more layers, more psychological, emotional depth to the storylines. This season finale was particularly powerful, with great action scenes, and unexpected plot twists. Sam and Fiona help Michael find the explosives to save Miami from another devastating act of useless terror. FBI put pressure on Michael’s mother who refuses to budge. “Management” manages to mess up the arrangement with Simon, who blows up the company’s helicopter, takes “Management” captive. In pursuit, Michael gets arrested, but not before “Management” tells him he has a “big future” ahead of him. In the end, Michael is taken into detention, hand cuffed, foot cuffed, blindfolded, taken to some dark hole in some unknown location ... and when the light goes back on, Michael finds himself sitting in a beautifully decorated room. Ah, what a wonderful cliff hanger! Love this show!

Burn Notice 3x15

In Burn Notice, our former spy Michael Westen is sent by evil limey mastermind Gilroy to a compound decorated with southern flags and armed guards, right-wing separatists (i.e., white supremacists) who wish the American Civil War had gone the other way. Without his knowing, Michael is used as a decoy to create a diversion while Gilroy steals a Browning machine gun. On their part Fiona and Sam are working together on a hostage situation that gets them much more than they bargained for! Not only is the kidnapper a violent paranoid, it turns out he isn’t interested in money but in stopping an American corporation from polluting his Argentinean town where his little daughter died. The questions remains, of course, who this high-risk prisoner is that Gilroy wants to break out by taking out the plane that is to transport him to Poland... When Michael blows up a bridge to prevent the police from following them and sprints to Gilroy’s car he finds him bloody and strapped with dynamite! The world class criminal set up Gilroy!! BOOM! Oooh, what an explosive cliff hanger!!! (Season finale next week.)