Burn Notice Hard Out

Michael Westen began by telling us that "the more lethal the bomb, the more you know about the man who wants you dead," and Fiona offered to call someone she used to know so they didn't need to break into homeland security to follow up. On a double date with his mother Madeline and Fiona, they were surrounded by "gangers" on motorcycles; except, Fiona recognized they were just the style of her "old friend" so she went with the cyclists.  Her friend Armand said he wouldn't help her unless she would agree to steal a specific truck with ammunition, and Sam was "elected" to help her because M had a job with Agent Pierce. The new CIA assignment was to extract C. Cahill who worked for "low-life's around the globe" and they had word that he was up to something.  She told M that he could bring along Jesse (who had security clearance). Fiona met Pierce for the first time and gave us her obligatory whining and sniping about M not telling her beforehand how good she looked.  In the Caribbean to snatch Cahill, they found that he was delivering something to Miles Vanderwaal a mercenary who had "torched his fair share of villages to the ground." While M and Jesse tag teamed injecting Cahill with Propophol, Pierce found that a boatload of new mercenaries had landed and they could no longer get back to their raft.  Cahill told them that the "mercs were about to launch attacks in South America and this island is their base"; and that "Some shady oil conglomerate hired them to wipe out a bunch of American outposts" so that when they were gone the conglomerate could take over their bases without a fuss. He said that the files on all the outposts is what he had just delivered to Vanderwaal and he had obtained them from a leak in the NSA. Now, they needed a new plan to go back and get the files.

 

Jesse found the merc's satellite uplink on the other side of the island and Michael devised that they should "join them" after torching the uplink. He said that they could claim that the three of them were really a security team sent by the Pyramid Group – the ones who had hired Vanderwaal. Pierce whined that it was the "craziest plan she had ever heard in the field" and Jesse quipped: "you don't hang out with him enough," but was the only one who laughed. While they were torching the uplink, pierce asked Jesse why he would work with someone who had destroyed his career and Jesse replied: "free yogurt"; then added "if it makes you feel any better, things usually aren't much easier back in Miami."  Michael and Pierce marched right up to the merc's and blustered their way into talking to Vanderwaal – even though the merc's had been given orders to shoot intruders on sight. They claimed to be internal security for Pyramid and that Commander Jackson probably just hadn't been able to get through because of the destroyed uplink. Eventually they were able to get the merc's to surrender their radios and to spread themselves out all over the island, while Vanderwaal took them to get the files. However, when they got there they found Jacksons men there and the files gone. Jackson had come when he couldn't call in and took them back to Grand Cayman's. Oh oh! They were in trouble again and while we had to watch 10 minutes worth of commercials, Vanderwaal zip-tied them all and had them on their knees.

 

Thinking really quick, Michael began laughing and claimed that it must be Jackson who was stealing the files. Pierce joined in and said that  "we heard chatter that someone was trying to sell the list we already paid for. We contact Jackson to demand a security test so he had to think of a fall guy quick." "He thought you would kill us," Michael said, "he gave you orders to shoot on sight." Eventually, they persuaded him to go to the Cayman and check it out. Vanderwaal and Michael went together and confronted Jackson. Michael needed to think quick again to counteract Jacksons objections and played to Vanderwaal's ego. Eventually Jackson pulled a gun and Vanderwaal shot him. However, then he demanded that he be taken to see the Pyramid bosses to get a signed contract "something that I can feel, that I can touch." Pierce arranged for a CIA helicopter to come pick them up and after they had surrendered their guns in order to board, Pierce cold-cocked Vanderwaal to the ground and said in his face "how's that for something you can feel Mr. Vanderwaal?" Then she turned to Michael and said: "anybody ever tell you that your brand of espionage is hell on the nerves?" "All the time?" he replied.    

 

Fiona and Sam went to case their job and found that the building was so heavily guarded and alarmed that there was no way they could get in "without thinking of something clever." In voice-over, Michael explained that breaking into somewhere usually only required the willingness to use guns, but that "less bloody approaches require more planning and more recruiting" as Madeline exclaimed "you want me to do what?!" Fiona explained that they only wanted her to plant a timed, smoke-bomb in the lavatory so no one would be getting hurt "except us if you don't do it." Then Madeline bullied that she wouldn't do it unless Fiona gossiped to her about Armand. Fiona said "Armand got me out of Ireland when nobody else could… passport, visa, cash; but his help wasn't free." She had to do lookout duty on a job in Belfast that turned out to be a kidnapping of another low-life. When she got back to the loft she found that Armand was there with a gift of some automatic rifles. He clearly was trying to win her over and she requested a few pounds of metallic sodium. He agreed and took the opportunity to malign Michael at the same time. Fiona had sent a gift teddy-bear basket, full of metallic sodium, to someone who was on vacation at the building. Then when the smoke bomb went off, filled the air ducts with smoke and tripped the sprinkler system, the water ignited the sodium and exploded – thereby causing the diversion. Sam disarmed the guard, Fiona crashed through the gate and hotwired the truck and they both drove off midst a hail of gunfire.

 

Delivering the truck back to the airport, Armand was there with his sultry, soft voice and background music and tried to malign Michael again about "are you happy, was it worth it, coming here to live in a drab little flat with an absentee boyfriend."  She said: "no thanks." He told her that "your boyfriend has some nasty enemies… and if anything should happen remember, you and I have a lot in common." She said that "I don't trade favors for blood." He then finally revealed that the truck was "supposed to be delivered to a rival who had presold the ammunition to a Mexican cartel" who was now so angry that they killed him. Then he tried to turn it back on Michael claiming "what kind of man sends you to me for help." Back at a restaurant, Fiona inflicted Michael with her pouting until he had to demand what was wrong with her. She said that she and Armand were an item "back in Ireland in the bad old days" until she had "found out that he had paid to meet me by doing a favor for some of my associates… he killed a British customs agent." Madeline and her new boyfriend Ben arrived and Michael was asked to propose a toast. He did: "to supportive partners."