Burn Notice 6.1 - Scorched Earth

Plot: We pick up where Season 5 ended. Fiona's being lead through whatever federal building it was she surrendered at and being processed. Michael sits in the Charger, reading Fi's letter to him again. Sam arrives, saddened to hear Mike didn't make it in time. Or is he? Michael thinks it's fishy that Fi overpowered Sam, and eventually, Sam admits that he didn't really fight much, because he agreed with Fi. Not about her going to prison, but about saving Michael from himself. Which, unfortunately, required Fi to go to prison.

At this point, Jesse calls in. he's still at the airport with Pearce, and having access to the Agency's resources, has been watching traffic cams. Lo and behold, Anson shows up in a green Jag, sans mustache. He's headed for Cutler Bay, so probably a boat. Mike hauls butt, steals a rig, blocks the road with it, then sets it on fire for good measure. Well, Anson won't be making it to the marina. But, there's a chemical plant nearby, and he's set up shop in there. Well, Mike and Sam know it, so he's sunk, right? Not quite. He'd been treating an ex-Ranger with paranoid schizophrenia, and his treatment involved making Michael Westen a focus for his anger. So the fellow's headed for Maddy's house. I thought she was still in Daytona Beach with Nate, but no, she's at home, seeing Fiona on the news. Sam recognizes he and Mike are too far away, so it's Jesse to the rescue. Er, until he gets ambushed, at which point it's Maddy to his rescue. Go Madeline!

Oh, and during all this, Fiona is being interrogated by old friend Jason Bly (last seen in episode 2.13, "Bad Breaks"). Fiona tries to convince him that Anson is the one they need to be after, but hamstrings her case by trying to keep Michael out of it entirely. As Bly points out, it's unlikely Fiona would blow up Larry strictly to protect the British consulate. He tells her that she's on the hook for three murders, which is the death penalty, and he can't help her unless she tells everything, i.e., stops shielding Michael. To that end, he even brings her photos of that burned up rig and claims Michael died in the fire. He even ginned up a coroner's report.

Mike and Sam make their way into the chemical plant, find one guard Anson killed, whose death he promptly pins on them, which leads to struggles with other guards, but they manage to convince them they're the good guys. Michael tries triggering the evac alarm to flush Anson out, but it doesn't work. Hey, at least Pearce was finally able to get away from the airport with 3 whole guys. They think they've found the room where Anson's hiding, and Michael prepares to go off half-cocked. Which leads to Sam barring his path, and Michael pulling his gun on Sam. Which makes Pearce pull her gun on Michael. Jeez, first everyone was crying, not everyone's brandishing firearms. However, Mike does agree to calm down, relinquish the gun, and watch the cameras while Pearce, Sam, and the rest go get Anson.

Lucky Mike, Anson already ducked out (leaving some poor employee handcuffed in that room), and Mike catches Anson before he can duck out the back. And then he gets to pummel him. But, Anson gets in a lucky shot with a hacksaw (or a pipe, something metal), and reveals he's rigged a bomb in the plant to a dead man switch, that he's holding. So Mike must let him go, and Sam stays behind to rescue the worker, and the two narrowly escape being blown up since Anson would naturally take his finger off the trigger once he was safe. Because he's a dick. As it stands, Maddy and Jesse are safe, law enforcement is now aware Anson's a bad guy on the loose, though not in a way that can help Fiona, and Fi sees through Bly's deception and refuses to implicate Michael.

The Players: Jason Bly (Not Fiona's Favorite Person). I guess they figure we know who Anson is by now.

Quote of the Episode: Michael - 'You'll never convince me Fiona turning herself in was the right thing to do. Never.' Sam - 'Well, that's why we didn't tell you.'

Does Fiona blow anything up? Nooooo. Blowing things up is what got her into this mess. That and loving Michael Westen.

Sam Axe Drink Count: 0 (0 overall).

Sam Getting Hit Count: 2 (2 overall). Once by the owner of the rig Mike stole, once by Mike's abrupt braking. Also, Mike aimed a shot awful close to Sam's head to scare off the trucker.

Michael's Fake Laugh Count: 0 (0 overall). If you thought he wasn't in a laughing mood last week. . .

Other: Anson shaving the mustache didn't make me enjoy seeing him get pummeled any less, if you were theorizing I hated his facial hair.

I'm not sure how I feel about the revelation that Sam pretty much went along with Fi's plan. On the one hand, it keeps him from looking like a dope who underestimated Fi and got sucker punched (with a bottle). On the other hand, it's not like it's out of the question for Fi to be sneaky like that, and Sam has gotten fond of Fi. He could conceivably fall for it. I don't like that it makes Mike mad, because I feel as though we're supposed to sympathize with the main character, and I'm not mad at Sam. I understand why Mike is, but I've been on Fiona's side in this whole Anson thing for awhile. The idea that she and Sam both decided they didn't like where things were going, and agreed this was the only way to stop Michael from wrecking his life (and many others), I appreciate that. They fulfill that role that Pepper and Rhodey do for Tony Stark in the Iron Man movies, they're the ones who protect him from himself.

I'm curious how much trouble Michael would have gotten into if Fiona had told Bly everything. Certainly, breaking into a foreign country's consulate is no laughing matter, but he was under armed duress. That would have to count for something. I'm also not sure how much that would help Fi. It would explain why she blew up Larry, and would certainly raise the question of why (or how) she put bombs in the lobby, but it hardly clears her of that. Even so, I'm glad Fiona didn't talk. She's taking a bullet for Michael, and she's not doing it halfway. And unlike his attempt to protect her from Anson's blackmail, Fiona isn't destroying other people's lives, or helping a manipulative scumbag rebuild his empire.

How old do you think Anson is supposed to be? He says he and Management built the whole thing together, which suggests they were contemporaries, but we aren't clear how long ago that was. It had to predate the death of Victor's family, since they orchestrated that, and he'd been in their employ for some time before Michael enters the picture. I figure Management is meant to be in his seventies, just like John Mahoney is in real life, but Mahoney looked about that old when he was on Frasier, so he could be in his fifties, which seems more reasonable for Anson.

I'm asking because I was wondering this evening if it was bad that I enjoyed watching Michael whale on a guy who might be old enough to collect Social Security. Jere Burns, who plays Anson, is in his late fifties, but I don't know what age he's meant to be playing. Anyway, I decided I didn't care. If Anson's going to try and wreck people's lives like this, then he better expect people will whup him when they get the chance.

When Anson's puppet went after Madeline, I asked myself, "Doesn't she have a shotgun?" Sure enough, she used it to save Jesse's bacon. I will say, credit to that fellow for knocking politely on the door - twice! - before breaking it open. That was impressive restraint. Of course, I was yelling at Maddy to grab the shotgun and blast him while she knew he was standing right in front of the door. Not very sporting, but hell, it's a crazed ex-Army Ranger against an elderly women who chain smokes! I think she deserves a handicap.

Was I disappointed Anson escaped? Yes. But it's about the only thing I didn't enjoy about the episode. Fiona and Sam's determination, to protect Michael from himself, and from losing his chance at Anson, respectively. Pearce finally getting to chew Michael out a bit for his crap. The way things are sprawled all over the place so the team can't unite and form Burn Notice-tron. Madeline getting to show her stuff. I guess she unfortunately had a lot of practice evading large men out to hurt her from her marriage. At least she could shoot this one. And of course, Anson got beat up. I might pop this episode back in just to rewatch that sequence about 5 more times. Even with his escape, he's been bloodied. Literally. Michael finally went on the offensive, instead of doing what Anson wanted, then trying to reverse and minimize the damage. Now we'll see how much the help he already provided Anson will hinder finding him again.