Burn Notice 1.5 - Family Business

Plot: Nate's gone a step further than telling people Michael is a helper for hire. Now it's Nate and Mike who work together to help people, a fact Michael is unaware until Nate calls him for assistance. Turns out Nate can't quite handle the family of arms dealers that are pressuring the local airport security guy on his own. His sales pitch could use some work, though, since he keeps berating Michael for having taken their father's Charger, which Nate contends is rightfully his.

To deal with the problem, Michael has to pass himself off as an ex-military man with hardware to move, and exploit the weak point in the otherwise close knit Zamar family. That would be youngest son Ari, whose girlfriend Debbie may be as much hindrance as help. This while keeping Fi from harming Sam after she found a listening device in Michael's car that looks like Sam's handiwork. Sam's under pressure from the FBI for more intel. Surely Michael can find some way to turn that to his advantage.

The Players: Nate Westen (The Brother), Jake Miller (The Client), Zamar Family (Arms' Dealers), Eli Zamar (The Boss), Ari Zamar (The Player), Debbie (The Girlfriend).

Quote of the Episode: Nate - 'You're always on my ass to get a job, here I am.' Mike - 'Lying in a crumpled heap in an airport parking lot?'

Does Fiona blow anything up? A car by proxy. She made the explosives Michael uses for his sales pitch to Ari.

Sam Axe's Drink Count: 1 (18 overall). Stress must be getting to Sam, he's not drinking much. Or he's hiding it better.

Sam Getting Hit Count: Nothing (4 overall). We'll make it a "hit count", since I've started including slaps and vehicular collisions.

Mike's Fake Laugh Count: 1 (9 overall).

Other: Something I forgot to mention about last week's episode. Mike had the Charger running by the end of "Fight or Flight", but needed Sam to drive him around in "Old Friends". So the car broke down that fast? At any rate, it's running again. This week's odd continuity thing is Sam saying he doesn't want to break into Mike's place for the feds. Isn't he still living there after his last lady friend threw him out? That too, may be moot, since Sam met Veronica at the end of this episode. I'm pretty sure she remains his lady friend for awhile.

Mike's alias for the episode is "Steve Remington".

Nate is pretty good at talking his way out of being shot. I get the feeling he's had lots of practice, or several occasions where someone explained in detail why they weren't going to kill him at that time. I don't know whether it's because he's mad about the car, or if their last team-up taught him something, but Nate stays out of Mike's way this episode. It might have been nice if Nate's excellent sleight of hand skills could have helped. I suppose he saves that for getting something over on his big brother.

I thought an ex-Mossad guy like Eli would be able to spot lies better. Maybe he figured he had Jake so cowed the guy wouldn't even think of trying to play him. Or what he was being told fed into his own fears about Ari's irresponsibility.