Burn Notice 2.9 - Good Soldier

Plot: We begin with Michael using his copy of the key card to reach the conference room Bill Johnson visited. The only thing there is a table, and a lovely view of open water. A view a ferry just happens to cross. So Mr. Bill is set to shoot someone, but who and when? The best way to figure that out is to keep eyes on Carla (Tricia Helfer), who has come back to town, and is staying at a very swanky hotel. Which means Sam gets some high-priced drinks while he keeps eyes on her.

In the meantime, Fiona has brought Campbell to Michael with a problem. He helped a man who had been beaten up and left in the street. This man runs a security company, and he's been approached by a man named Lesher who wants information on his protocols, because he wants to kidnap a client. So Michael plays a bodyguard, drunk, divorced, in debt, bitter about life. The perfect person for Lesher to approach and learn the job is just too tough to pull off. Except Lesher can't take "can't be done" for an answer. Which means Michael will have to be a little more persuasive. This goes on while Carla starts throwing her weight around to keep Michael off the trail, which includes having Nate jailed, just as he was starting up his own limo company. Poor Nate.

All that is really just preshow, though, for when Carla has a meeting in broad daylight to draw Michael away from Bill Johnson. Michael sees through it, which leads to a motorcycle chase back to his apartment to get the card, so he can intercept Bill. Except there's no need, because someone blew Bill Johnson up by rigging his front door. If only Sam had let Michael know that before he opened the door to his place.

The Players: Carla, Campbell (Fiona's Boyfriend), Henry (The Client), Lesher (Kidnapper), The Muscle

Quote of the Episode: Fi - 'I remember when kidnapping used to be a mom-and-pop business.' Mike - 'Everything is going corporate these days, Fi. Even kidnapping.'

Does Fiona blow anything up? No.

Sam Axe Drink Count: 2 (22 overall).

Sam Getting Hit Count: 0 (6 overall)

Michael Fake Laugh Count: 0 (7 overall).

Other: Michael goes by "Brad" this week. He's also sporting an unusually heavy 5 o'clock shadow. I don't mean just as part of the cover identity. He's rocking it right from the start, when he scouts the conference room. Brad's kind of irritating when he finds Jesus. I wonder if I'm that bad when I ramble on about weird corners of X-Men continuity to my coworkers. I do like that Michael wasn't faking when he said he couldn't speak Spanish.

Something I meant to mention last week, Michael never wears his seat belt. It came up last week when he kept the dump truck from killing Jeannie. It comes up again this week when Lesher forced his hand. On the other hand, he does at least wear a helmet during the motorcycle chase.

Campbell nearly got fired for the bit with picking up a person having a heart attack, who then never arrived at the hospital. That being said, Michael is awfully reluctant to help him out. I know, he doesn't like Fi having a boyfriend, but he does owe the guy.

I don't know, this episode is somewhat unsatisfying. On the one hand, the way the whole thing with Bill Johnson concludes is a pretty nice swerve, but it does leave this feeling that there was a lot of buildup for nothing. All the time watching Carla, Nate being thrown in jail, the chase, all that tension, and it's blown off in a completely unexpected direction. I mean, it is a really nice swerve, and a good cliffhanger, but it sort of undercuts the plot up to that point. It may play out better over the long haul, though. Potentially, we're seeing a real chink in the armor of the people who burned Michael. We'll see next week.