Sunday, January 19, 2014

Burn Notice 7.4 - Brothers in Arms

Plot: Burke captured Serano because several months ago, Serano helped the Russians capture a former agent of theirs, and Burke wants her location. Serano refuses, right up to the point he sees a video of Michael in his house, pointing a gun at his daughter's head. At which point Serano spills the beans. But Burke's a sweetie. He gives Serano a gun with one bullet, so the Russians will never know to come looking for him, or enact reprisals against his family.

Problem is, the agent in question is held within a secret Russian prison, in the remains of a Cuban fridge repair shop. Getting in and bringing the target out will be nearly impossible, so they need the Russians to bring her out on their own. So Michael plays the dissatisfied former CIA guy, who just so happens to know about a CIA strike team planning to hit the prison. How do they know about the secret prison? Because a guy working for the GRU in Miami told them. Fi and Maddy are the ones who abduct poor Ivan and make him look like a traitor, which might just be too bad for him and his girlfriend.

The plan seems to be working. Sam and Jesse do a credible job of making a hotel room look like the hastily abandoned headquarters of a well-informed strike force, then abduct one of the Russians and the car full of stuff they pulled from the hotel room, to make him look like a traitor. Everything's all set for them to bring her out to the marina, where Sam, Jesse, and Burke will be waiting. Oh wait, the Russians sent a submarine to handle the pickup. So Burke goes in, posing as the Agency guy working with Mike and clears a path to freedom. By blowing himself and a bunch of guys up with a laptop full of explosives. Well then.

Mike and the others escape, so everything is golden, except for being in Cuba, and once they make sure the marina is clear, that won't be a problem any longer. But the agent woke up, decked Jesse, and now she's on the run.

The Players: Serano {Bad Guy Who Knows Stuff}, Burke {Badder Guy Who Wants To Know Stuff}, Ivan {Patsy}, Vladimir Duboff {Warden}

Quote of the Episode: Burke - 'Your biggest problem isn't the Russians right now. It's me.'

Does Fiona blow anything up? No.

Sam Axe Drink Count: 0 (1 overall).

Sam Getting Hit Count: 0 (0 overall).

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

Other: I find it hard to believe Burke simply accepted the first thing Serano told him. One of the things Mike harps on constantly is how unreliable torture is, that the person being tortured will say anything to make it stop. Wouldn't that also be true in this case? Serano would say anything to make that gun aim somewhere other than his daughter's head. Now you could argue that Burke will go verify the information, and Serano can take the chance of what he'll do if he finds out it's false, but Burke handed him a gun and a bullet. Which indicates he's accepting what he's been told, because if he isn't why let Serano kill himself? If you find out he lied, then where are you?

I guess the idea was Serano wouldn't take the chance of lying with his daughter's life at stake. Unless he's stalling for time, in the hopes someone can find him and rescue him. We don't know all his resources, or who might come looking for him.

I spent most of this episode thinking Burke was awful bossy and impatient for a guy who wasn't contributing anything. Then he went and saved Michael by blowing himself up. I'm not sorry to see him go - Burke's not my least favorite character, but he wasn't a nice person, ala Max. I do think they've done a good job gradually teasing out this devotion Burke has to something or someone over the first four episodes. The more we've been around him, the more we see he isn't just a hired gun, or a guy out to make a buck for himself. Something deeper than that was driving him. I suppose we'll find out what that is eventually.

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