Burn Notice 4.12 - Guilty As Charged

Plot: John Barrett's in town, and Jesse's pissed off at Michael and the gang. Michael attempts to make a point by sneaking into Barrett's rented private compound. The point: Michael can get at Barrett whenever he likes. It sort of works, though it butts up against Barrett's counterpoint: I have lots of men with guns at my disposal. They agree to arrange a meeting time for Michael to hand over the Bible in exchange for a job. Meanwhile, Vaughn is lurking, eager to swoop in and grab Barrett himself, and remove Jesse from the board if necessary. Mike has a somewhat different, secret plan: Capture Barrett, turn him over to CIA and get Jesse reinstated. Aww, isn't that sweet? But it'll have to wait because a sleazy lawyer's daughter was kidnapped by the brother of one of his clients.

Michael tries to mount a rescue with a mini-sub (from one of Scott's drug-running clients), it falls apart in the face of Scott telling his ex-wife about the plan. So there's no choice but to spring Rod Lawson from police custody, seeing as Scott isn't a good enough lawyer to get his free. At least, that's what Dale Lawson is supposed to think, just long enough for Michael to get Becky and run. That accomplished, Scott reverts to being an ass and dismisses Michael and his concerns about retribution from the Lawsons.

Now that we have that out of the way, back to the real show. Maddy and Fi tried approaching Jesse, which didn't exactly go well. Lots of people trying to play cards the others weren't buying. However, Fi does tell Jesse Mike would like to meet, and Jesse shows up, after a 10-minute debate over whether to blow Michael's head off. The conversation doesn't go well. Jesse's pissed, Michael's usual tactics for getting someone to go along fail, and it looks like he'll have to capture Barrett with only 2 other people. Except they'll be busy keeping the majority of Barrett's men away, leaving Mike to do the abducting over the likely objections of 2 other armed men.

It's all moot, because Vaughn breaks his promise to stay out of it, and Barrett's about to abduct Michael when Jesse shoots the goon putting the sleeper hold on Mike. And Mike. And then Barrett hauls him in the SUV anyway. So Michael grabs the wheel and flips the vehicle, which kills Barrett. So much for Jesse's way back in. If only he'd worked with them. Oh, and someone stole the briefcase the Bible was inside, along with the data it decrypted. Which just so happens to be a list of all the people who burned Michael. Vaughn's impatience makes a little more sense, if not his tactical incompetence.

The Players: John Barrett (International Power Player), Vaughn (Michael's "Partner"), Becky (The Client), Dale Lawson (Devoted Family Man)

Quote of the Episode: Michael - 'And when I say "work", I don't mean joining the black t-shirt-and-sunglasses squad. No offense.'

Does Fiona blow anything up?There was an explosion under a car during the hostage exchange.

Sam Axe Drink Count: 3 (31 overall)

Sam Getting Hit Count: 0 (8 overall)

Michael Fake Laugh Count: 0 (2 overall)

Other: Mike's alias for the week is "Joseph". I'm guessing since the plan to abduct Barrett fell through, we won't be seeing the mini-sub again. Come on, there have to be plenty of canals and fjords around Miami for it to use!

Why did he try and rescue Becky during the day time? He's all decked out in black, the mini-sub is completely black, doesn't that suggest a night mission? He didn't try and sneak into Barrett's compound during lunch hour.

Speaking of Barrett, he's willing to show up in Miami in his private plane, with 15 heavily armed guys in black SUVs. He's willing to rent a private mansion as his temporary headquarters at $20,000 per day, and have no fewer than 11 guys patrolling at any given moment. But he's not willing to put on his seat belt while making a fast getaway. Here I thought it was only Michael with no common sense. At least Barrett wound up dead as a result, reminding kids to wear their seat belts - or else.

I mentioned all the cards being played during the Maddy/Fi/Jesse exchange. Fi lead off with the "we all lie to each other and forgive, so it's not a big deal" card. Jesse rebutted with the "moral superiority" card, aka "I'm Not Like You". Maddy tried the paternalistic shaming approach of "you're better than this". Jesse turned to the age old teenage response of "You don't know me!" So yeah, real productive conversation there.

Of all those cards, it was Jesse's first one that bothered me the most. He worked in counter-intelligence, he helped Khan (4.2 - Fast Friends) funnel his money safely into America. There's no way he didn't lie to people, didn't confuse or take advantage. It's what people in intelligence do. He might contend he didn't befriend those people, or not as closely as he though Fi, Mike, and Sam did with him, but that's splitting hairs at that point. His hands might be cleaner than Michael's, in much the same way Michael's are cleaner than Dead Larry's, but that doesn't make either of them clean.

It was still a pretty shitty thing to do, though I'm not sure when they could have come clean without it getting ugly. If he's left to his own devices, Vaughn probably kills him, or has him tortured in a secret prison. Without him, Mike never finds the trail leading from "Cobra", to Kendra, to the bank heist, to Barrett. Everybody loses.