Burn Notice 3.2 - Question and Answer

Plot: Last time, we saw the risk associated with government types being able to find Michael. This week, it's the cops' turn. Specifically Detective Paxson (Moon Bloodgood) and Detective Forget-Your-Name, er Lopez. Seems Paxson has questions about some blown up cars, and Michael's her prime suspect, through her witness description, as Mike points out (white, dark hair, *cough* athletically built), could fit a lot of people in Miami. This argument fails to sway her, so Mike better get that C-4 out of his storage unit before Paxson gets her warrant, or he'll be a sad panda.

Seeing as Paxson also cost Fiona a bounty she'd captured, Fi drags Michael in on a job for the sister of a past bail jumper. Patrica's husband won't let her see their son, and she needs some more immediate help than lawyers can provide. Especially once it turns out their son was kidnapped by Santora, who wants Howard to steal him some diamonds. To find out where the boy is, Michael will have play a junkie informant who heard something about a kid and diamonds. Sam gets the fun job, he gets to play the crooked cop who approaches Santora with this, and asks if he'd like to ask "Shep" a few questions.

Plus, Sam gets to hit Michael repeatedly. Come on, you know he can dredge up some crap Michael's pulled on him in the past that makes him enjoy that part. Michael gives Santora just enough that he fills in the rest himself, and in so doing, reveals to them where the boy is. After that, the actual rescue is fairly perfunctory, and the bad guys even clean up after themselves. Unfortunately, Michael's going to have Paxson on his tail for a little while longer. And even worse, Madeline cooked dinner to celebrate Michael's birthday. Hope he's built up an immunity to poisons over the years.

The Players: Detective Paxson (Michael's Worst Nightmare), Howard and Patricia (The Clients), Santora (The Kidnapper), Jimmy (Santora's Guy)

Quote of the Episode: Madeline - 'Don't fool yourself, honey. Loving Michael is always trench warfare.'

Does Fiona blow anything up? Nope, probably a wise idea with Paxson snooping around.

Sam Axe Drink Count: 2 (9 overall). At least he slowed down a little this week, though he supplemented it by snorting lactose. That sounds disgusting.

Sam Getting Hit Count: 0 (0 overall). Sam got to do the hitting this week. About a 5 punches, I believe.

Michael Fake Laugh Count: 0 (0 overall). Little too busy playing tweaked out guy being repeatedly hit.

Other: Like I said, his name was Shep this week.

Sam got Michael beer for his birthday, of which Sam drank two bottles. Fi got Michael a bayonet. I like that a) he goofed around like she might have booby-trapped her gift when he opened it, because it's rare to see Michael relax like that, and b) that when Fi mentioned someone told her loving him was like trench warfare, his eyes fly to the kitchen, where Maddy is. Admittedly there aren't many people Fi would discuss that topic with, but still, it's a nice touch he automatically knows who it was.

At any rate, we appear to be heading into another mini-arc, as Michael attempts to do what he does with Paxson sniffing around constantly. Last season there was the "learn about Carla arc", then "what's the rifle for?", followed by "who tried to blow me up?" I kind of like that. It gives the season a stronger overarching plot than simply "Michael is burned, attempts to reverse that", by giving him something more specific to deal with for a few episodes. And they're usually pretty good about not dragging it on too long.

I do wonder how this protection worked. Paxson shows up not long after the protection is lifted. Was it that she was prevented from knowing Michael was in Miami? This seems unlikely, given the number of people he's helped and interacted with, not to mention the number of shootouts and explosions he's prompted. So was it that she knew Michael was around, but she was specifically warned off by the higher-ups, themselves being warned off by Management? This seems likely, though I'd expect a cop like Paxson to try observing him covertly on her down time, which I assume Michael would pick up on, being Michael. I guess it could be that the specifics of who he is were kept hidden, so while there might be record of a Michael Westen, there wouldn't be any record that he served the government and is an expert with explosives.

At this point, that's probably of less concern to Michael than the question of how to make her go away.