Burn Notice Review: It Goes Down in Caracas

Welcome Burn Notice fans for another season of Michael Westin and crew kicking butt and taking names. What does a burned spy do after he’s uncovered the list of people who, working together, managed to destroy your carefully constructed life, well under-the-radar spy life? Well, if you’re Michael Westin you team up with a former alliance to take the suckers down. And though I’m a little bummed with the way things have turned out, I’m absolutely sure that there’s no one more bummed than Michael. So here we go:

At the end of last season we all watched as Michael was abducted and taken to Washington, D.C. Well, while it looked like Michael was being welcomed back into the warm arms of his former handler and previous life, it turns out those warm arms have turned into nothing more than the CIA equivalent of a pat on the head. Contrary to all expectations, Michael Westin is not being re-instated into the agency. He is still very much a burned spy, just now a burned spy that the CIA plans to use like a moist towelette to do their dirty work before they so carelessly throw him away. Yes folks, that does feel like a general, “Screw you.” After watching how tirelessly and passionately Michael has worked for the past four years in order to clear his name and get back in with his employers, and to now see him regulated to being just this tool that the CIA uses to handle the dirty work that they don’t want to – it hurts.

For the longest time I absolutely hated this episode and didn’t know why, but here it is: the CIA has managed to turn Michael Westin into its lapdog. Everything about him from the way he looks, the slick back clothes and hair to the over the top attitude, the bravado is set out to prove that he’s someone to be feared. Haven’t we just spent the last four seasons loving Michael and uncovering his (forgive the cliché) heart of gold and now he’s being used over and over again to play up that bravado for the cameras and knock bad guys up ‘side the head. That part doesn’t particularly disturb me because as viewers we know who Michael is; usually this attitude comes in place when Mike is having to be the bad guy but for a good reason. The agency doesn’t see the good, they just see and want the front and force necessary to get the job done. Michael is basically a hammer, some tool that the agency is using to scare push in the enemy’s face and to knock out all the hard work, and I hate it. Michael is nothing more than a means to an end for these people, and to see Michael playing along with this game, at the mercy of these people is more than anyone should be asked to bear.

We start this week in Ottawa, Canada where Michael is teamed up with Max, a CIA officer, and the two are now trying to break into some building. Turns out they’re looking for Hector, a bad guy who is at this moment trying to hack into the building’s security. Michael and Max stun Hector unconscious and take him out of the building by pretending to be part of EMS. Once they get Hector to a secured location, Raines, the head honcho, tells Michael to head back to Miami like the good little puppet he is. Michael resists and tells Raines that he wants to stay for Hector’s interrogation, he doesn’t want to be cut out now. Raines promises Michael that he will keep him in the loop, but still shuffles him off to Miami.

Back in Miami, Michael immediately hooks up with Fiona, and the two get it on. In the aftermath pillow talk Fiona tells Michael that she misses him and asks where he was, but of course Michael can’t say. Fiona is a little put out by this, after all this time of them running operations together and now she’s shut out in the dark. Fi’s less than pleased and she let’s Michael know it. She tells him that it’s not fair that she and Sam have spent all these years with Michael hunting down the people who burned him, and now that the bad guys are finally on the run she and Sam are suddenly out. She tells him that the “last four years were hard on all of us” and that she’s looking forward to when Michael can finally wrap this up and move on with his life.

Next on the agenda, Michael heads over to his mother’s house where Sam and Jesse are waiting for him. Michael is surprised to see Jesse, who was supposed to be in D.C., but Jesse tells Mike that after working with the team on so many missions of mercy it’s impossible for him to go back and do the government thing. So now he’s working for a local private security firm, which means that yes, he will be hanging around. (Score!) But that’s not the only surprise Jesse has for Mike. After Sam told Jesse how important the charger (that got blasted last season) was to Mike, Jesse tracked it down and with considerable effort the two are now presenting it to Mike. It’s hidden under a canvas and when Sam asks Mike if he’s going to uncover it, Mike gets a phone call from Raines that delays any sentimental moments, much to Michael’s relief.

Seems Raines should have had a bit more forethought when dismissing Michael, because it turns out that none of his guys can get anything from Hector and they need Michael’s special interrogation skills (not to mention hands free of any CIA strings) to gain information on a bad dude named Kessler. It seems Kessler is the white elephant to this operation, having been involved in every single underground operation (including getting Michael burned). Kessler is the man with all the answers. He’s extremely valuable, but to get to Kessler they first have to get through Hector.

Surprisingly it’s not very difficult for Michael to get information out of Hector, using a combination of “I don’t blame you,” and “I’m just like you” paired with a nice, “they don’t give a crap about you,” Michael convinces Hector to give up the goods. Not only does Michael get the country, he gets an address on Kessler; so now they’re off to Caracas. In order to get to Kessler, Michael says that they are going to need some extra help from people who know more about this operation than the CIA. And that’s how Sam and Fi join the party.

Arriving in Caracas, Sam and Fi learn that their role in this operation has been marginalized as the CIA are a little less than pleased to have them tag along. Let’s start with the fact that all three of them, Sam, Fiona, and Michael are expected to share the same room in a broke down hotel that has barely enough space to hold Fi’s twenty or so suitcases. To add a little more spice to the cake, the CIA call a meeting with Michael to discuss the operations. When Fi wants in, she’s basically told that she doesn’t have the proper clearance and she and Sam are left to twiddle their thumbs while the grown-ups talk business. During the meeting, Max tells Michal that his job in this operation is to bribe one of the local police who surround this road leading to Kessler’s compound. By getting the cop to get Kessler alone, Mike and the team will then sneak in and take Kessler. Seeing as how Michael is not an official member of the CIA, Max warns him that if the mission goes south the CIA can’t/won’t do much for him.

The agents are staying hands off at this point of the mission, so now it’s Fiona and Sam’s turn to get a taste of a little bit of this action. And by little bit, I mean very little as the two basically have to stand there in the middle of the road arguing about their broken down car (that was rigged by the CIA. No homemade bombs this time. Sorry guys.) While Fi and Sam create a big enough spectacle to distract everyone else, Mike sneaks into the guard post to talk with Mr. Head Honcho and posing as a Russian spy, Mike convinces the guy to get Kessler alone. Now before you think “hey, that’s too easy” consider this: Kessler is a very bad boy, and he’s now holed up in Honcho’s country so playing to whole let’s rid this scum of the earth together Mike brings Honcho on board.

Mike’s got the plan all in place, and the CIA are right on board. The guard will draw Kessler out of his car and into the guard station where the CIA agents will come and arrest him. Mike and Max, the heads of this operation, will be watching it all go down from a remote location. You know, so they won’t get their hands dirty or whatever. Agents in place, Mike and Max in place, let’s see, who’s missing, who’s missing… Oh yeah, Sam and Fi. Surprise, surprise their use in this operation is over, and right before the action starts they are shuffled off and booked on the first plane out of there and to Miami. Fiona absolutely hates this! She pulls Mike aside and tells him once again that they have earned a part of this action, this is much more their show than the CIA’s because they have invested far more into it. Michael’s hands are tied, and with no visible regret he tells the two that they’ve gotta go. I’m sure that to Fi and Sam this looks like the greatest betrayal, but honestly Michael’s hands are really tied. This is not really his operation anymore and his tenuous position on board means much more to him than to the agency. Meaning: Michael has no choice but to put up with this crap in order to stay close to this mission that still means so much to him. He is a great asset to the government, but a dispensible one none-the-less. If he goes making too many demands they may just cut him out altogether, which is completely unacceptable to him. And so, Mike takes their crap, and sends Fi and Sam on their way.

But unfortunately the plan doesn’t go down like it’s supposed to. It seems Kessler is tipped off when the guard tries to pull him inside. He races away and a shoot out begins between the agents and Kessler’s men. Max and Michael are disappointed, but while Max is beating himself up over this blown mission Michael is trying to find a way to salvage it and capture Kessler. Mike convinces Max to ride after Kessler to his compound, Max is resisting all the way because they have no back-up and no way to communicate with anyone but Mike takes this all in stride. This is not his first time at the rodeo. Max seems frazzled and completely out of his depth with actually having to you know, do something, instead of sitting around and watching as other people carry out your orders. Maybe this is an unfair assessment of Max, but I won’t take it back. Michael and Max arrive at Kessler’s compound and after a little shoot out Kessler manages to lock himself into a safe room with Michael and Max wondering how they’re going to get in before the local police arrive. And that’s when Fi calls.

Turns out Fi is a little bit of a hardhead, either that or she’s just as dedicated to seeing this mission through as Michael. (She is of course both, but let’s pretend for a moment that the true answer is a mystery.) Sam and Fiona didn’t get on the plane and are instead helping the CIA agents fight Kessler’s men at the gate. But Mike pulls them away because he needs them to create a roadblock to give him time before the police show up at Kessler’s. And here it is, the explosion that we’ve been waiting for as Sam and Fi rig up a car to blow and take out the whole road leading to Kessler. I gotta admit the government was way neater, but Fi’s is a heck of a lot more dramatic. Cue fire scene and Sam and Fi are out.

Mike finally figures out how to get into Kessler’s safety room. He blows out the ventilation shaft and voila! Instant door. Max and Mike rush into the room, but it’s already too late. Kessler has killed himself rather than be taken alive. Mike is furious and starts yelling at the dead guy. But Max pulls him away telling him, “If you wanted tidy endings and easy answers, you picked the wrong job.” For some reason, I love that line. The police arrive and Max and Michael manage to sneak out and make their escape.

Back in Miami, Michael, Max, Sam and Fiona are at a bar and they’re all having a drink. Sam, Fi and Max are all in a great mood over their victory, and as they toast to new beginnings they barely notice that Michael is distracted, it’s like he’s not really there. At the end of the episode Michael goes to visit his mother who tells him that she heard from Sam that Mike didn’t get what he was looking for “down south.” Without explanation Madelyn tells Mike that when his father was alive she thought of everything that she wanted to say to him, to confront him for all the things that he had done. But before she ever got the chance to say it, he dropped dead. “People talk about closure but I don’t buy it,” she says, “somebody blasts a hole in your life it tends to stay open.” Michael agrees. Michael and his mom silently commiserate over what a great loss does to you and in this moment you can see that they are both greatly damaged, haunted, by what will never be.

Can we for a moment recognize how awesome Madelyn is? The way she connects with Michael in this scene is just perfect; the way she understands him and lets him know that she shares his grief is absolutely perfect. It’s a powerful moment and I have to raise my glass to these two for that. Madelyn prompts Michael to fix up the charger telling him that nothing is beyond saving “if you work at it.” That was apparently just what he needs, because with a certain purpose Michael walks over and uncovers the charger. Finally.

Season 5, Episode 1: Company Man (originally aird June 23, 2011).

Catch Burn Notice ever Thursday night at 9 p.m. EST on USA!

Photos courtesy of Virginia Sherwood/USA Network.