Burn Notice 3.3 - End Run

I haven't typed one of these in about 7 weeks. Seemed like a good idea to set them up before I traveled to the land of limited Internet. Do I still remember how it goes?

Plot: Michael starts off the episode impressing me with his coordination. He does this by reading a newspaper while spooning yogurt out of a cup sitting on a table next to him without even glancing in its direction. How the heck does he manage that without accidentally tipping over the cup or dragging it off the edge?

Ahem. Yogurt Time is interrupted by none other than his brother Nate, who has just spent a rousing 5 hours being grilled by Detective Paxson and her partner. She warns Michael she'll be going through his friends and family until she finds one who knows something. That reeks of harassment to me. Granted, most of those people (if not all) have been involved in some illegal activity at some point, but still. After returnign Nate to his car (so he can meet with someone who wants to invest in Nate's limo company), Michael's left to decide how to get her off his back. The team settles on making it appear he's buddy-buddy with someone with clout, like a mayor's aide. Go Sam!

Michael's involvement in this plan is fairly nonexistent as he gets surprised by Tyler Brennen, who has returned with a singular purpose. No, not to kill Michael Westen. To make Michael acquire something for him. If he refuses, Nate dies. Yes, Brennan (and his Sicilian enforcer buddy) are Nate's investors. Which leaves Michael in the position of doing as Brennan asks until he can contact Sam and Fi, then hoping they can find Nate and rescue him. If that fails, then Michael will have to find some leverage on Brennan to make him back off.

The Players: Nate (The Brother), Detective Paxson (Someone Very Interested in Michael), Brennen (Arms Dealer with a Grudge, Michael's New Boss), Jonathan Carver (Man with the Right Clearance at the Right Company), Mayor's Aide (Michael's New Business Partner) The titles are getting kind of long-winded.

Quote of the Episode: Michael - 'You financed a private war so you could get back to Miami?'

Does Fiona blow anything up? Brennan's new house in Miami.

Sam Axe Drink Count: 1 (10 overall). Between fixing Maddy's house (this week it was installing windows) and trying to track down Nate, no time for booze.

Sam Getting Hit Count: 0 (0 overall). Sam's off to a pretty good start avoiding damage. Nate on the other hand. . .

Michael Fake Laugh Count: 0 (0 overall). I really should think about dropping this one. Either it's never happening, or I'm too busy taking notes to notice.

Other: Michael uses two aliases this week, Simon Davis and John Dixon. One to pose as a drunk janitor, the other as a very poor driver (though one very concerned with how close cars are parked to the curb).

There were a lot sentences this week that ended in "Nate dies".

I've mentioned this before, but I love Brennan as an antagonist for Michael, simply because he generally doesn't care about Michael. Westen is at best, a tool, at worst, a roadblock. That's all. Brennan doesn't care about Michael as some longterm asset, like Management, Carla, or Dead Larry, nor does he hate him the way some of his old enemies do. He understands Michael's skills, certainly, that's why he uses him, but he doesn't care about him, not anymore than he did about Samantha, or all those South American guys he armed so they'd kill the guys after him. Nothing matters but him and his objective.

That lets Brennan keep a clear head about Michael, and it's why he's more annoyed than anything else by Michael's attempts to mine information. Or why he finds the bit when Michael finally gets Carver to say "eight" so amusing. Michael's not much more than a pet to him, with all the frustration and enjoyment that comes with training them. I think it also leads to overconfidence, because Brennan is just a little too sure he has Michael mapped out, but there's a real risk he might decide to simply kill Michael, which is fairly rare for most "serious" threats the Burn Notice team has faced (Is there a good name for the team?).

Which is what makes his shooting Nate so chilling. There's no heat behind it, I'm not certain Brennan even cares that Michael knows what he's stealing. He felt the need to make a point, to discipline his dog for poor behavior. Nate's the equivalent of a rolled-up newspaper on the nose. We've seen that sort of impersonal violence before, but it's usually directed towards large groups of anonymous people. Usually when a named character is in danger, there's some actual animosity behind it.

Anyway, props to Jay Karnes. I love how he plays Brennan, especially when Michael does hit the right spot, and Brennan unravels a bit. It happens so fast, because things have turned so fast. Suddenly, he's the one with a loved one in danger, a possibility he'd obviously taken measure to guard against. But he'd never considered those measure would fail, and suddenly, he finds out he's wrong. The stammering call to Anna Belle, the apology for forgetting the time difference, it's amazing how fast his confidence vanishes, but it works perfectly, especially contrasted with how cool he's been up to then.

I mentioned before I've grown tired of villains in the comics only plotting revenge on heroes, and that I miss guys just going out and robbing banks or whatever. I think that's another part of why I like Brennan. If he decided to go after Michael, it would be because he had some larger plan he knew Michael would interfere with, so best to get him out of the way right off. A few revenge-based foes are fine, but a story needs a change every once in awhile, if not more often than that.