Burn Notice 4.14 - Hot Property

Plot: Mike starts things off with a little felony breaking and entering, sneaking into a fusion center to download some files that may help track Justin Walsh. After a disturbingly easy escape, requiring little more than to throw a chair through a window, put on a coat, and yell, Mike escapes with a lot of information. Jesse - who objects to Mike not letting him in on the plan, but not the actual theft - finds something useful, if they can find someone to use. Like Jesse's old handler, Marv. So Sam blackmails Marv down to Miami, while Jesse helps Fi with a job. A poor fellow's sister fell in love with a Venezuelan diplomat, and he believes she's being held against her will. Yeah, that doesn't sound suspicious.

A little scouting reveals the diplomat has an awful lot of guards to just keep one woman inside (assuming that woman isn't Fiona, anyway). Turns out that Stuart was a puppet for none other than Natalie, the thief who tried to steal Barry's ledger. The actual prize is a vial of a particularly noxious chemical weapon Natalie already stole once, but now needs to return, and she needs help. Seeing as she just killed Stuart with one of Fi's guns, Michael is rather inclined to help.

To her credit, Natalie actually contributes, bailing Fi out once, and swiping a thermal lance to cut their way into the shed holding the weapon. At that point she ceases to be a team player, nearly blows up Sam, and swipes the weapon away, forcing the team to trick her by making her believe they've already tricked her.

Now Marv, Marv is a team player. Sure, he tries to get Jesse on record as talking about how he blackmailed Marv with an indiscretion, but he comes through. First, he tracks Walsh's actions, and learns he's putting the bible and the list up for auction. Then, he gets the Federal Reserve to slip him 5 million bucks that was about to be destroyed anyway, so Jesse can buy his way into the auction. Marv still doesn't trust Michael, and wonders if Jesse should, either, but he came through. Maddy also bullies Mike and Jesse into being friends again. Sort of.

The Players: Stuart (The Client), Marv (Jesse's Old Handler), Marco (Dirty Diplomat), Natalie (Thief)

Quote of the Episode: Fiona - 'Oh, that's interesting. Michael's holding my fake nerve gas hostage.'

Does Fiona blow anything up? No. She spends most of the episode wanting to shoot Natalie.

Sam Axe Drink Count: 3 (34 overall)

Sam Getting Hit Count: 1 (9 overall). C'mon, you have to count the car getting flipped with him in it as a hit.

Michael's Fake Laugh Count: 0 (2 overall).

Other: Michael was Elias Schmidt when he broke into the fusion center.

Fiona needed a baby stroller during one of their attempts to get the Novichok agent out of the compound. Maddy noticed, but explained she wasn't expecting grandkids. Fiona looked vaguely disappointed, which is strange, because Fiona's never been portrayed as one that's entirely comfortable with kids. But a kid would be a sign of a commitment to her, and that Maddy doesn't see it happening is disheartening.

Speaking of Madeline, I'm not sure about her advice to Jesse and Michael. It's essentially "Get over it", which hardly seems appropriate for ruining someone's career, or shooting them in their torso. I wouldn't advise Maddy take up writing fortune cookies or advice columns.

My memories of watching this episode in the past were that I was really annoyed by Natalie. Wasn't the case this time. I enjoyed her insincere attempts at team-building, that she actually bailed Fiona out. Sure, Natalie was acting in her own self-interest the whole time, but she also had to suspect that playing an antagonist was going to provide Fiona with an opportunity to be hostile. The fight was pretty much for show after the first punch, but it looked like Fi put a lot into the first one.