Burn Notice Mixed Messages

A slow look around Michael Westen's loft will tell you that without Fiona's presence it is returning to its wild, natural state. The froufy-ness is gone and the workbench is back by the yogurt… where it belongs in a spy's house. That is where Michael finished reading a letter from Fiona, which Sam had pulled strings in Homeland Security to obtain for him; and that is what went crashing to the floor as Michael vented his frustration over his helplessness! He pronounced Fi as "close to giving up" when she had written that her present condition seemed identical to the last time "she lost him (in Ireland)." He said Pearce had struck out trying to obtain help for Fiona and Sam simply reminded him that he had contacts very well placed; who, now that he was "back in," could help – "if they had a reason to." In voice over, Michael told us: "there are certain people in life you get stuck with; whether you love them, they drive you nuts, or both – they've made you who you are… for a spy, it's his training officer." In Michael's case that would be Tom Card, the man who trained him and who was now in operations. Card didn't apologize for never answering Mike's phone calls. He merely said: "there was nothing I could do for you." Despite Michael telling him Fiona was innocent, he told Michael to "walk away." He had told him the same thing after Mike met Fiona, because your protégé sleeping with a foreign arms trader he had met under a cover ID spoke poorly of him as a trainer; but, he said, "I didn't realize there were so many people lining up to ruin your life" besides Fiona. Michael reminded Card that he actually set at his desk "because of me… and you owe me." So Card offered to take Mike on a job trying to bust a Mexican drug cartel, Zetas, who was attempting to move into Miami; and upon which he had almost wasted the entire previous year leading a joint CIA-DEA task force. Sucessfully completing this mission would help to get Mike in to prison to see Fiona.

 

Ramiro Salazar was the boss of the cartel and Rafael Montero the paranoid thug who had killed at least ten people, many of them undercover agents. Two tons of Cocaine were coming into Miami within 48 hours and Mike needed to find out when and where, then stop it. At a safe house that they were setting up for Michael and Jesse's cover, Sam drug in a body bag full of a real body which he had "borrowed" from the coroner's office – a shooting victim. Doing it this way, Card Said, was the only way that they could sell their cover; which was that they were two DEA agents now wanting to "turn" for the cartel after "shooting" their boss because he had found out that they had been "skimming from the operation." Jesse was to be Alex Russell and Mike, Ben Osbourn, and their cold introduction was to be by telling Montero that the DEA knew of his impending shipment. Card ordered Michael to be extra careful and abort the mission at the first sign of danger. Unfortunately, that occurred as they rounded their first corner and spotted the lawyer for the cartel, Gellman, who would recognize Mike from a previous "mission." Jesse grabbed the radio fountain pen from Mike over Mike's objections and demanded that he was going to go it alone because he was Fiona's friend too. Of course that got Card mightly pissed and Mike had to refuse his order to suit up and go extract Jesse. Eventually, Card agreed to let Mike run the op. Jesse did sell Montero on the ruse and took him to the safe-house they had previously set up with the dead body. However, the next thing that Montero did was to take Jesse to see the dirty DEA agent, Eric Kemp, who he had been paying for information. Jesse had to talk hard in order to keep from being killed; but, he was able to convince Montero, with the help of Mike playing along on a radio frequency, that Kemp was really just trying to bust them all on a sting. Begging for his life that he was being set up, Montero shot him anyway and threw him out a window onto the driveway. "You wanted Kemp, there he is," Michael told Card, and Card responded "I forgot what a pleasure it is working with you" with a tone that gave no indication what he really meant.

 

Next Montero took Jesse to Salazar who was at first unbelieving then told Jesse to prove himself by going to Black Rock Cove, where they normally took their drugs, and proving that the DEA was there to bust them. So, yet again, Mike, Sam and Card had to set up a fake scene to look like the DEA was there. Jesse had told them that a safer alternative would be to use Dadeland Cove which is where all the real DEA agents were waiting. Montero was convinced at the ruse they had set up and called Salazar to let him know to divert to Dadeland. However, then Montero wanted to cause a diversion by starting a gun battle at Black Rock and killing Mike first. Jesse grabbed a gun and instead shot at the back of the van to give Mike time to get out claiming that he was aiming for the hidden agents and their explosives – it did explode (what did you expect this is Burn notice.) Montero and Jesse left and told his other thugs to wait for any other agents who came to check on the burning van. Unfortunately, before they got to the new location Salazar called all excited that he was watching the DEA completely take down their entire operation. He threatened Montero to come back to him so they could "talk about it." Again, Jesse was nearly killed except for his quick thinking and explanation that Montero had better come work for them now because Salazar was going to have him killed. "Your only choice is to come work for us and you will live," Jesse said. In abject frustration, Montero unloaded his magazine through his back window. Completely out of breath, Jesse stammered "my spanish is a little rusty but I assume that meant yes?" Back at the bust, Card told Michael: "Landed a two ton Cocaine bust, dirty DEA agent and a cooperating witness – that's a hell of a plate appearance. You've scored some major points with Langley… after today's win I don't think that (seeing Fiona) is going to be a problem." Mike nodded gratefully to Jesse as Card continued, "come back to the office with me. Let's get some yogurt."

 

Madeline and Nate showed up at Michael's loft, ostensibly to see how he was doing and Madeline said that she had brought his brother so they "could talk… about things." Michael told them that he really didn't have time for it right now because he was in an operation which would help him get to visit Fiona in prison. Uncharacteristically, Nate deferred and ushered Madeline out saying they could talk later.  After Michael's operation was over, Nate came to the loft again and, when a gun was pointed at him again, observed that "still with the guns, you're worse than I thought." Eventually he revealed that his wife Ruth and his son, Charlie, were still in Vegas. Even though he had tried hard to be a good husband and father, she had called it quits one day and left. He said he didn't know why. When he said that was all he had come to say and started to leave, Michael asked him to stay.       

 

Fiona didn't know whether her letter would ever be allowed to reach Michael. She told him that, just like the time before in Ireland when he left her, just dreaming about him was enough to get her through the day. She was at Allarod Federal Penitentiary in a private cell for "the worst of the worst," which was her only privacy. Her trial is still months away and her lawyer was worrying that her confession made her defense "more of a challenge"; so Fiona told her to "not to waste her time." She was welcomed to the pen by another inmate dumping her food tray onto the floor in the cafeteria. When she stooped to pick it up a very large black inmate, D. B., stepped on it then offered her an apple to eat. Before she took a bite, a seemingly friendly inmate, Nichole, warned her that the gal did the exact same thing to every new inmate in order to see what they would do. If they didn't eat it, it was an insult; if they did eat it, it meant that she owned them. The new "friend" showed Fiona a scar across her neck from when she had stopped doing what D.B. told her to do all the time. Fiona dropped the apple on the floor. Then, in order to get out of the exercise yard without running the gauntlet of D.B.'s stooges, she had to talk back to Clyde, the guard, who ushered her back to her cell without lunch. Fiona made a lighter to start a fire by shorting a battery with a piece of wire; then, she made two billy clubs from tightly wound and bound magazine pages soaked in salt water. While going to the exercise yard, the "friend" started a diversionary fire for the smoke and Fiona attacked D.B.  and her two stooges. With the surprise, she actually took all three down. The "friend" was able to get her reassigned to the cafeteria instead of the laundry which was a lot more safe. Unfortunately, once they were alone, the new "friend" hit her on the head with a frying pan and tried to drown her in the sink. This is Fiona, however, and eventually the "friend" was being choked against the wall. She had to confess that she had found a burner phone under her pillow and a "guy on the other end said I had to kill you or they would kill my sister." That's where we were left… the "friend" saying "all I know is that he wants you dead."