Burn Notice: Friendly Fire

For a refreshing change of pace, Sam takes center stage this week on Burn Notice when he agrees to help a former SEAL team member he would have been happy to never see again. The guy’s name is Mack, and after getting out of the Navy he became a cop working child abductions. His nemesis is a guy named Rincon and he killed some of Mack’s guys while they were trying to take him down. Mack was subsequently suspended and all of his other cases are in jeopardy if he can’t clear his name and make things right. After punching him in the face a few times for reasons we aren’t initially privy too, Sam agrees to help him.

Michael, meanwhile, is all about figuring out the whole Gilroy thing. “This man is a freelance psychopath,” he tells Fiona, “and I’m the only one in a position to do something about it.” Their initial meeting at a hotel pool involves snipers and witty one-upmanship banter. Gilroy’s agenda still isn’t quite clear, though he is miffed that Michael killed Strickler. Apparently Strickler’s murder made Michael’s agency contact Diego take notice of Strickler’s business, and Strickler’s business was Gilroy. Hmm, okay…what exactly does that mean? Surprisingly, Michael suggests that he and Gilroy work together. Isn’t Gilroy just a new version of Strickler? Didn’t Michael already make this mistake? I guess Michael’s motives also aren’t quite clear yet. Interesting. Gilroy doesn’t take the bait just yet so Michael will have to keep working.

Sam, Fiona and Mack are initially having trouble getting their hooks into Rincon so Fiona guilts Michael into joining the fray, saying that if he’s got time for Gilroy he must have time to take down a child predator. How could Michael say no to that? Fiona is good at setting traps, no doubt. Michael’s idea is to get a local gang leader named Omar to watch Rincon for them. Of course to do this, Michael has to exert quite a bit of leverage on Omar. His approach is simple: he takes one of Omar’s men hostage. Oh yeah, he also blows up Omar’s car and gets him in trouble with another hood named Vega (Danny Trejo). Now why didn’t I think of that? There is definitely something to be said for the direct approach.

All the hallmarks we expect for a Burn Notice episode are here: Michael assuming an undercover persona complete with a fake voice (it sounds like he tried to steal it from Christian Bale) and shiny suit, gunfire, infiltration schemes involving local hardware, fancy surveillance, and bad guys getting their due. Bonuses: exploding ice cream, a gunfight involving rappelling down a building, Fiona yelling at Michael, and a window into Sam’s past—namely marital…or should I say, post-marital problems. Burn Notice is still moving smoothly and remains one of the more diverting hours on television. And, being that as I write this, it’s 13 degrees in Boston with a 24 mile per hour wind, it sure doesn’t hurt to look at sunny Miami and fantasize.

Season 3, Episode 11: Friendly Fire (Originally aired January 28, 2010)

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Thursdays at 10/9c on USA

Photographs courtesy of NBC Universal and Glenn Watson