Burn Notice: Comrades

In the latest episode of the second season of Burn Notice, Michael and Fiona are interrupted while perusing the file Michael obtained last week that deals with Carla, the mysterious operative who had a hand in burning Michael. Fiona spots a tail and Michael draws him out. Michael is surprised and not too amused to discover that the amateur tail is none other than his brother Nate, who returns to the show. Nate implores Michael to offer his expertise and services to a beautiful Russian woman whose sister is being held captive by a human smuggler.

Meanwhile, Michael charges Sam with cajoling a list of agricultural specialists from a weaseling character who sits on the Miami board of agriculture because it was revealed in the file that Carla may have worked undercover as one years ago. Sam tries to wine and dine the information out of the weasel, but soon learns that he is trying to take him for a ride.

Michael unleashes Fiona on the human smuggler, her job being to lure him and incapacitate him so that Michael and Sam can kidnap him and get him to tell them where he is holding the captive sister. In her best scene so far of the season, Fiona gets the job done in a manner that involves a dash of electroshock treatment and a pinch of self-sacrifice. The scene is hilarious and pure fun, but also shows the ruthless side of Fiona. As always, Gabrielle Anwar steals the show as Fiona and demonstrates that she is just as tough and resourceful as her male counterparts.

Michael and Sam imprison the smuggler in a shipping container, but he proves to be uncrackable in interrogation. This forces Michael to try to gain his trust (as a gateway to getting the location of the girl) by joining him in the shipping container under the guise of being a fellow Russian prisoner who works for the same employer as the smuggler. This gives us a chance to see new sides of Michael, learning that he speaks Russian and knows a distinct style of Russian martial arts. Jeffrey Donovan shines here, showing Michael at the top of his game. One of the great things about Burn Notice is that we get to see Donovan play a character who plays other characters, thereby insuring that each episode will show us a new enjoyable component of Michael Westen.

The episode also allows for development in the relationship between Michael and his misfit brother. My only complaint is that after Fiona shines in the aforementioned scene and one other juicy bit in the first half, she almost disappears entirely from the rest of the proceedings. Still, Burn Notice is by far one of the most innovative, fun, and shrewdly crafted shows on television.