Burn Notice 4.3 - Made Men

Plot: As Michael and Co. have agreed to help Jesse continue his investigation, he lets them in on certain aspects of it. One of those is a contact of his, who Jesse dubbed "Cobra", who was working at the docks and has gone missing. As they question deckhands about shipments from Algeria, Jesse sees a security guard getting hassled, and gets involved. Seems Hank is getting pressure from a Tony, the local boss, to look the other way while Tony's boys lift some merchandise. Jesse told Hank they're working undercover for a shipping company, and they'll take care of Tony if he gets them some shipping manifests. Michael, as usual, isn't enthusiastic about getting involved, but does it anyway. His attempt to approach Tony as a fed on leave for drinking falls apart because Tony has a guy at the FBI.

The good news is, Tony's getting pressure from above to make more cash. Sam poses as a member of the family, sent to kill Tony for not earning, which pushes Tony to make a big score. Once they convince him he can't trust his own guys, and will have to use Chuck's, things are looking good. Tony's even willing to go on the heist himself after Jesse brings up a story from Sam's past. Sam didn't exactly love dredging up those memories for a crook, but it worked. Too well, because Tony really buys into 'No man left behind". So much so he abandons the haul to "rescue" Chuck from Hank. Well, that's awkward.

In other news, Madeline takes advantage of Jesse's presence in her home to pump him for information. This leads to a bit of a strained conversation about the death of Jesse's mother, which explains a lot about Jesse's unwillingness to look the other way. It also leads to Maddy realizing Michael got Jesse burned, which brings about an angry conversation between mother and son. Not nearly as awkward as the conversation between Michael and Jesse will be when Jesse figures it out. Bullets are not great conversationalists. On the plus side, they found Cobra's plane, but it looks like he stepped out of it somewhere over the Bahamas. Looks like someone needs to take a trip.

The Players: Jesse (Recently Burned Spy), Hank (The Client), Tony (Mr. Clean), Gio (the New York Guy)

Quote of the Episode: Sam - 'I think it's time for him to meet Chuck Finley. Now there's a code name.'

Does Fiona blow anything up? Tony's car. It was a fairly mild explosion for Fi. The one she blew up the office with last week was considerably larger. Which is odd, considering that was a distraction, and this was meant to look like a hit.

Sam Axe Drink Count: 3 (5 overall) Bit of an uptick, but he actually didn't want a beer at one point, which is never a good sign.

Sam Getting Hit Count: 0 (1 overall). Michael was the one getting hit this week. Quite a bit actually. Had two meetings between his face and a table.

Michael's Fake Laugh Count: 0 (0 overall). Would you laugh if your face lost two arguments with a table?

Other: Michael was Ned Gordon for about five minutes.

I find it hypocritical of Michael to criticize Jesse for a plan that would put untrained Hank in the field. Michael puts untrained people in the field all the time. Like his mother. And his brother.

Things I liked: Sam and Mike busting Jesse's chops about how stupid Cobra is as a code name. Fi's confidence Michael can handle himself when his cover identity gets blown. Jesse's interactions with Maddy. That someone already warned Jesse not to eat cookies Maddy baked. All the stuff between Chuck and Tony.

It's weird, I know Tony's a murdering sleaze. His guys broke Hank's hand. The first time we hear him, he's threatening a shopkeeper's sick kids. Even so, I felt a little bad for him when he challenged Gio, only to turn and realize he'd been abandoned by Chuck and his guys. But if Gio is Tony's boss, then it's a safe bet he's even worse than Tony, which makes Tony the lesser or two evils. Plus, Tony had come back to rescue Chuck, which was sweet, if unnecessary and wholly unwelcome.

Sometime I really ought to chart how Michael responds when Maddy gets angry with him. Sometimes he tries to soothe her, talk his way out of it. Other times he responds like he did here, where he gets pissed off and yells right back at her. I'd like to think the anger comes when he knows how badly he screwed up, but I'd say Maddy is usually justifiably angry at him, and Michael doesn't always gets angry, so perhaps not.