Burn Notice 6.12 - Ends and Means

Plot: The plan to use Tyler Gray to expose Tom Card's misdeeds proceeds slowly, but is progressing. Card has asked Gray to toss Mike and Fi's loft for anything that might incriminate Card, then burn it. Fi is understandably upset, and insists that she and Michael handle that part, while Mike hands Gray a few files that will make it appear he had been close to linking Card to Anson.

While preparing their arson, they receive a visitor. Fi's associate from prison, Ayn. Ayn's out now, but is having problems with an old enemy. The man Ayn killed, the brother-in-law who was beating her sister, was a C.I. for Detective Garza. Garza is hellbent on bringing down local gang leader Sharrod Washington for killing his partner, and to that end, was willing to work with wife-beaters to do it. Since Ayn killed his informant, Garza's cause was setback, and he's still nursing a grudge. Fi is all set to help, but Mike advises against it. Theya re supposed to be dead after all. Fi presses on regardless. No surprise there.

When Fi and an uncertain Sam visit Ayn to devise a plan, Garza arrives with Ayn's parole officer, and then promptly plants drugs in her apartment. By that time, though Fi and Sam have already escaped with Ayn's son, Amari, and now they have to wreck Garza. So Jesse has to pose as a gangster out to usurp Sharrod's position, who is looking for Garza's help. The plan is to get Garza to steal a gun from an unsolved case, then try and use it to pin the crime on Sharrod. But Garza balks, he won't wreck other cases, and instead decides to simply drive to Sharrod's residence, call him out and arrest him. Or get beaten to death, and maybe someone will testify. At this point, Michael finally agrees to get involved, they put on quite the show to scare Sharrod into surrendering, and Garza gets his guy. Afterward, I assume he either confessed to planting those drugs, or otherwise convinced her parole officer to ease off.

So that's the basic plot. In the subplot, Maddy is sharper than Mike gave her credit for - again. She's knows the man he came back from Panama with is the man who shot Nate, and she wants to meet with him. It isn't so much about understanding Gray, or even browbeating him for shooting Nate. It's a continuation of her conversation with Card last week, an attempt to try and understand Michael. I'm not sure it helped her understand him, but it seems to have resolved something within, because she's decided to leave Miami, believing she's lost both her sons already.

As to the overarching super-plot, Gray's doing a delicate dance with Card, trying to get dealt in on what Card's up to, without ringing too many alarms. Unfortunately, his methods are too passive for Michael, who fears Gray is scamming him. In the end, it turns out not to matter. When Gray meets with Card in a nice hotel, Card has a frequency jammer ready to scramble all listening devices, and a team ready to rush in and handle Gray. Except Michael rushes in first. Not that it saves Gray. He dies, and Card makes it look like Gray shot first.

And then Michael shoots Card, right between the eyes. After Card holstered his weapon.

The Players: Ayn (The Client), Detective Garza (Scumbag with a Badge), Sharrod Washington (Gang Leader)

Quote of the Episode: Garza - 'I'm not stealing evidence from any case to close mine. I'm not screwing cops. I'm not screwing victims. That's not who I am.'

Does Fiona blow anything up? I assume she made those explosives they used on the two cars.

Sam Axe Drink Count: 1 (21 overall)

Sam Getting Hit Count: 0 (6 overall). It was Jesse who got the beating this week.

Michael Fake Laugh Count: 0 (1 overall).

Other: No real alias for Mike this week. Unless you count "Officer *Explosion* from the Department of *Explosion*".

I didn't know Nate liked graphic design, or that his middle name was Elias. Jeez, what were they thinking with that one?

I am sorely disappointed in Sam and Jesse for how reluctant to help they were. I at least understood Mike's reasoning - that they were trying to keep a low-profile - and fighting cops wasn't conducive to that, even if I disagreed. But Sam and Jesse just didn't want to help because Ayn had been to prison. For killing a wife-beater. I like Sam, but guy is a soldier. He's killed a lot of people. Can he really say every single one of them deserved to die more than the man Ayn killed? What about Michael? He worked with Dead Larry for like two years? You're going to tell me he didn't kill even one poor schmuck of a Soviet guard, whose only crime might be standing in front of the wrong doorway? But what, it's OK because it was for your country? Well Ayn did what she did for her family, so a little consideration was in order.

That being said, Fi playing the "don't let Amari grow up without a mom like you did" card on Jesse was pretty low. Also, while the slow badass walk was a nice touch, I'm not sure it was a good idea only a couple of blocks away from a place where a bunch of cops are pulling up to investigate shootings and explosions. Especially when you're all carrying assault rifles. Kind of conspicuous.

The Madeline subplot has been interesting, even if I'm not sure how well it's gelling. I do think it was a nice touch that she didn't appear for a couple of episodes after Nate's death, and that it was clear she was avoiding Michael. She's trying to sort things out herself. it used to be almost a joke, how odd she found his life, the lying, the sneaking about at odd hours, the misdirection. She'd comment wryly, then offer him coffee. He was back home, speaking with her, that was enough.

It's not funny any longer. She needs real answers, if they exist. Having reached an impasse, she takes the chance to seek out Tom Card, and later, to speak with Tyler Gray. She's truly confronting just how little she understands about either son, but especially Michael, and so she turns to others. Card, who trained him. Gray, who was a sniper, just like Michael was originally. I mean, it wasn't exactly subtle when she asked Gray if he came from a broken home while she glanced over at her son, who, you know, came from a broken home.

Also she hasn't bothered to try talking with Fi or Sam since then. You might think they'd be ones to ask about Michael, but for a couple of factors. One, they're almost too close to Michael, and with the lives they lead, his behavior might almost seem normal. Plus, they didn't know Michael before, and with as little as he speaks of his upbringing, they don't really have a baseline to compare current Michael to. Further, they tend to take Michael's lead and treat Maddy with kid gloves, even though I've lost count of how many times she's demonstrated she can handle all the crap that gets flung on her due to her proximity to their lives. They'd both offer useless platitudes. Better to talk to someone who will listen when she tells them not to, who probably doesn't care enough to sugarcoat things.

But it didn't matter, I don't think. The answers didn't help her understand him, not in any useful way. Her conclusion is she's never going to understand him, so perhaps it's better to just stop.

Then there's Michael shooting Card. I have a lot of questions about that? Did Michael always intend to shoot Card, at least once the jammer was active and there was no chance of getting him to say something incriminating on tape? If so, what does it say that he waited until Card holstered his weapon? That he wanted to make absolutely certain he succeeded? Maybe Card is that fast, and this was a time Mike couldn't afford to fail? Or did Mike want it to be absolutely clear why he shot Card. Or at least make it clear it wasn't in self-defense, that it was an execution. Card didn't get to go down fighting, he got to die thinking he'd won again, completely unprepared.

There's always the chance Michael had decided not to shoot Card. Mike's usually pretty pragmatic, he knew with no Gray, with no evidence, he couldn't nail Card to the wall as he hoped. And then Gray said he was proud of Michael. The thing he said when he was planning to air strike him. The thing he told Tyler Gray Mike liked to hear, which almost had to be done as mockery, because why would Gray need to know that? The sort of thing Anson probably told Card, assuming Card hadn't figured it out for himself in training. There's a chance that was the straw, and Mike simply snapped. That Card's arrogance, his self-assured attitude would encourage him to say that to someone he tried to kill just recently, who got his brother killed, was just too much.

I don't know which it is, but I know that after multiple seasons of me encouraging Mike to just shoot this bad guy or that one - from Carla, through Management, Simon, Vaughn, and especially Anson - he finally did it. And it may have been the absolute worst time to do so.