Episode Title: "Breach of Faith"
Writer: Ben Watkins
Director: Jeremiah Chechik
Previously on "Burn Notice":
Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan), Fiona Glenanne (Gabrielle Anwar), Sam Axe (Bruce Campbell) and recently burned spy Jesse Porter (Coby Bell) took on organized crime at the Florida port and successfully convinced the mob to turn on themselves. Using information from a grateful dock worker to learn more about the conspiracy, Michael and Jesse tracked down an airplane hanger and determined that a body had been dropped from the plane. Afterwards, they were able to trace the body to the Bahamas.
Story:
In the Bahamas, Jesse and Fiona engage in a con to determine the identity of the body, whom they believe may have been "Cobra," Jesse's initial contact with the conspiracy. Jesse and Fiona elude the local police and share their findings with Michael: The dead man was named Jeremiah Kassar and he lived in Florida. However, before Michael can follow up on it himself, Sam drags him off to help him with a favor. Sam's friend Josh Wagner (Frank Whaley) — who runs a charity — was scammed out of all of the charity's funds and is desperate to get the money back.
Michael and Sam catch up to Josh at a bank, where he has already taken Nick Madison (Clayton Rohner) and his employee Patty (Rhea Seehorn) hostage and is demanding that the money be returned. Nick pleads his innocence as cop sirens are heard outside. Josh locks up Nick and Patty and asks Sam to leave. However, Sam won't abandon his friend and Michael won't leave Sam behind; trapping them in the bank as the police surround it. Michael and Sam quickly learn that Josh never loaded his gun and they attempt to get answers directly from Nick and Patty.
While Patty is innocent, it soon becomes clear that Nick is not. Michael reaches Fiona and Jesse and gets their help in tracking down a business associate of Josh's, who under duress quickly admits his part in the scam before they lock him in Fiona's trunk. The police outside the bank make contact via the phone, which Michael answers and pretends to be a hostage. Thanks to a tip from Fiona, Michael and Sam find the missing cash in Nick's hidden floor safe, but since the police outside know who they are — because their cars are parked outside — there is no apparent way to avoid getting arrested.
Michael and Sam agree to try a risky con, after attempting to Patty on their side. Michael allows Nick to get the drop on him and steel his gun just as the cops enter the bank and subdue him. After Patty backs their story, the police believe that Nick was the one holding the hostages; which allows Josh, Michael and Sam to walk free with the charity's money recovered.
In the epilogue, Michael and Jesse successfully enter the house of Jeremiah Kassar, only to discover that Kassar's neighbor Kendra (Navi Rawat) — whom Jesse and Fiona had encountered earlier — is actually an assassin. She gets away, but Michael recovers a high density tape cartridge in her wall; which may give them even more answers about the conspiracy.
Breakdown:
Once again, "Burn Notice" has been one of the most consistently entertaining shows this summer. Why can't "The Good Guys" be this much fun? They're both created and produced by Matt Nix. Although with "Burn Notice," you'd swear that Nix must have had a few seasons to perfect his game.
Which of course, he did.
I actually interviewed Nix a few weeks ago and he mentioned the events of this episode, so I kind of knew where it was going ahead of time. But watching it play out was a thing of beauty. The situation even added some depth to both Sam and Michael. We knew that they were loyal to each other, but it was refreshing to see that Sam also shows that loyalty to his other friends.
"Burn Notice" also kept its "MacGyver" credibility going with another improvised device to break into the floor safe, using among other things, a toaster! That was classic.
Another thing that seems to have developed over the last few episodes, is the burgeoning partnership between Fiona and Jesse. She's clearly impressed with his skills and I'd say that she's even attracted to him. Jesse is basically a lot like Michael, except he's more unpredictable; which I believe is a quality that Fiona is drawn to. It may not go any where, but she's clearly having more fun working with him at the moment. They really play off each other very well.
And I have to mention: the scene in which Fiona tells the guy in her trunk that he's lying on her C4 was hilarious; especially the way his eyes bugged out when he heard her. I don't think they dealt with him again after that, so I'm not sure what happened to him. It would be kind of funny to find out two or three episodes down the line that he's still in the trunk because they forgot about him.
One of the more impressive things about this show is the way that its able to keep the ongoing conspiracy story going without disrupting the single episode stories. Kendra's introduction was particularly masterful. In her first two scenes, you literally don't realize that she's going to be an important character by playing upon our audience expectations. The reveal and the brief shootout with her at the end of the show was also fun to watch; and Kendra will apparently be one of the main antagonists in the next episode.
If you're not watching "Burn Notice," you should really start now. It's currently the best action show on TV.
Crave Online Rating: 8.5 out of 10.
