Sunday, November 24, 2013

Burn Notice 6.15 - Best Laid Plans

Plot: Schmidt is safe from angry Syrian intelligence agents for now, but with his last warehouse now a crime scene, Mike and the others need to raise some dough to pay for their new identities. 200 grand per person, 800,000 total since Sam will be coming along. He went to see Elsa, and she told him the man she fell in love with wouldn't abandon his best friend, so he's sticking with Mike.

Jeez, I think I'm falling in love with Elsa, but no time for that, there's money to be raised, and it just so happens Schmidt has a piece of equipment that will net him a cool million when he delivers it. He just has to get it out of that warehouse the cops are swarming over. Fi and Jesse help him recover the package, but he tries to take some bottles of booze as well, drops one, alerts the cops, and the cops shoot the package during the escape. So it's a non-functioning piece of junk. No problem, Mike says, paint over the bullet holes, make it look good, deliver it, get the cash, take off. This seems to overlook the fact Thorne, the buyer, will begin hunting Schmidt down as soon as he realizes it doesn't work, but I guess Mike figures that isn't his problem. It becomes his problem when Thorne gets suspicious and Schmidt oversells by promising he has a technician who can verify the modifications and run the thing. Which is how he and Sam end up tagging along on Thorne's dry run at a pharmaceutical company, and then on the real heist, a gem exposition. Thanks to Mike planting a gun and a bug in the device, everything works out OK. Thorne goes to jail, nobody dies, there's enough money to take care of their new identities with a cool 200 grand left to spare.

Or maybe not. While all this has been going on, Maddy's still sneaking around trying to help Michael. She gets cuffed and dragged into interrogation, then released after letting slip that Michael hasn't left the country yet. Then she visits Barry and has him transfer money from Mike and the others' now flagged accounts to countries all over the globe. But Barry made the mistake of canceling a couple of grooming appointments which tipped off Riley and he winds up arrested. And since Maddy smoked some cigarettes while she was there, now she's on the run. There goes that other 200K.

The Players: Calvin Schmidt (Smuggler), Thorne (Not Schmidt's Favorite Client)

Quote of the Episode: Barry - 'Excuse me for not wanting to screw over my manscapist. You know, helping your family is like having a venereal disease. It's the gift that keeps on giving.'

Does Fiona blow anything up? Nope. She did drive a forklift through a wall.

Sam Axe Drink Count: 1 (26 overall).

Sam Getting Hit Count: 0 (6 overall).

Michael's Fake Laugh Count: 0 (1 overall).

Other: There were quite a few exchanges I liked in this episode. 'Schmidt, when in doubt, keep your mouth shut.' Or, 'No, no, my client robs and kills people for a living. So we don't have to feel bad about ripping him off.' Schmidt's constant nicknames for Jesse. I still have difficulty buying Patton Oswalt as a successful smuggler, but he's certainly amusing.

So Mike's idea with the money transfers was to get all these intelligence agencies busy looking for him and his friends in these countries. Like they had arrived and were now trying to bring their money over. Since Riley knew by that point that Michael hadn't left the country, didn't that render it moot? It's already a stretch to assume Riley or anyone else thinks Michael Westen so stupid as to believe his bank accounts aren't flagged. It just seems like once Riley interrogated Maddy and Maddy made that little slip, that plan should have been abandoned.

Certainly would have worked out better for Barry. Yes, as Maddy noted, Mike has saved Barry a few times. But Barry isn't wrong when he notes that he's saved - or at least helped save - Mike's bacon multiple times. No matter how radioactive Mike has been, Barry's always been willing to help. Some times out of fear or for money, true, but he has never turned his back on him. And now he's in jail for who knows how long. Hopefully he managed to destroy all his records, or jail probably won't save him from his irate clients. Assuming they aren't too busy fleeing prosecution themselves.

Over these recent episodes, the story has really been harping on two things: How far Mike, Sam, Jesse, and Fi are willing to go for each other, and how desperate Mike is to fix things. That second one especially. Mike's been offering a stream of platitudes basically since he shot Card. He's sorry for this, he's sorry for that. He'll fix it. . . somehow. It's the final third of Season 5 all over again, except this time it isn't just Fiona's head on the block, it's everyone's.

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