Burn Notice 5.7 - Besieged

Plot: So Jacob Starkey is the man who impersonated Michael the day of Max' death, but he's also kind of a dope, which means he did so on someone's orders, rather than his own initiative. A someone who is trying to eliminate him by having him deliver mysterious packages in some gang's territory. Fi and Sam rescue him, not it's simply a matter of convincing them to help draw out his employer.

In other developments, Sam has taken a job on behalf of Elsa, his current lady friend. She's met a young mother, Denise, whose ex-husband didn't bring the son over per the custody agreement. Turns out John has kind of gone extremist since his brother died fighting overseas, and he's joined a militia stationed out in the boonies. A militia with lots of machine guns and equipment which can listen in on cell conversations. Which kiboshes Fi's attempt to sneak in on the underside of a fuel truck. Ultimately, Mike turns Zechariah's eavesdropping ways against him to draw him out of the compound, so Mike can sneak in and convince John to surrender the boy. Which John does, because he loves his son, and he's finally twigged to the fact it isn't in Tommy's best interests to be in some stupid fenced off compound in a fucking swamp.

After all that, Michael goes to meet with Jacob's employer in Jacob's place. he finds a deserted boat with instructions the drive to the Bahamas. He also finds a very nice bomb attached to the engine and a depth finder. He goes ahead and sends the boat out, but not before snapping a few pictures of the bomb - and grabbing a sample of the C-4 - to see if it can help them track down its maker.

The Players: Jacob (The Man Who Posed as Michael/Person of Interest), Denise (The Client), Zechariah (Extremist Nutbag In Charge)

Quote of the Episode: Sam - 'OK, I'll go as fast as I can, but remember: the army may be fake, but the guns are real.'

Does Fiona blow anything up? No. She might have gotten a chance if Sam let her go to war against Jacob's hit squad.

Sam Axe Drink Count: 0 (10 overall).

Sam Getting Hit Count: 0 (7 overall). Mike took a massively telegraphed rifle butt to the stomach, but Sam came out all right.

Michael's Fake Laugh Count: 0 (3 overall).

Other: Michael doesn't use an alias for the second week in a row. Unless you count his posing as Jacob at the end, but he never introduced himself to anyone.

I'm still not entirely clear on Jacob's involvement in max' death. He bought a cell phone in a place he'd be sure to be recorded, then made a call with it near the site of the killing? That's all I can figure. As Sam & Fi noted, he couldn't have killed Max, and if he had, he wouldn't switch to a gun with blanks to fire at Mike, before running off. Which makes him fairly incidental to the actual murder, which is disappointing somehow. I guess if he had done it, Mike could just turn him over to Pearce when she returns from Egypt and she could help him track Jacob's boss. And that'd be too simple.

Still, I question simply cutting Jacob loose. I really doubt he's going to be smart enough to stay hidden for long. Actually, I'm surprised the phone his employer gave him didn't have a tracking device in it. Seems like a logical step if you have a minion you need to keep track of for when it's time to remove him. Especially if you know he's not smart enough to think of looking for one.

I'm want us to meet Elsa at some point. She owns a jet, a hotel, thinks nothing of loaning Sam sports cars or mansions, but also works with some legal aid group that helps women with custody problems. And she sounds very frisky, if her promise to do 'anything' for Sam if he helped Denise was any indication. 'Anything. You have any idea what that means, Mike? I. . . don't need to.'

Maddy had a line partway through, describing Denise as having married the wrong man, and that she knew a little something about that. It made me think, was John always the wrong man? Does the fact he reacted to his brother's death in this way - anger, paranoia, becoming overprotective towards his son, and hostile towards anyone who questioned his judgment - mean he was the wrong man? Or was he the right man at some point? His actions, wrong as they are, seem motivated by love for his son, and grief over his brother. He made poor choices about how to handle those feelings, but can he correct those? When it came down to it, his first concern was for Tommy, even if it meant defying Zachariah, even to the point of getting his leg broken. It would have been better if he never brought Tommy there in the first place, but he realized that eventually, so maybe he's not beyond salvaging?

On a separate note, I enjoy Zechariah's smug face as he listens in on Mike and Jesse's fake conversation. He's so pleased with himself. I also think Fi wears a bandana around her neck very well. And I appreciated Jesse's attempt to justify his going after Jacob's phone by playing to Fiona's ego. She may very well be the better shot - I'm sure she has more experience, so I don't see why not - but Jesse was clearly trying to placate her by saying it was because she'd do better providing cover fire for him, than the other way around.