Burn Notice "Dead Drop" (2007)

Well Richard Schiff finally made his way to Miami and is leaving Michael clues sprinkled around the city for the first face-to-face meeting. Michael therefore is putting all private investigations on the sideline and focusing solely on his burn notice and how to get back in the game. Fiona asks Michael point blank what I know I have been thinking all season. Michael has made a home in Miami. He's reconnected with family and friends and Fiona (wink wink) and is helping people when they have no one else to turn to. He's starting to enjoy himself in his new life so why would he want to go back to the people who turned their back on him? Michael's answer was an interesting one. He wants to clear his name of wrongdoing and find the people responsible. He never actually says he wants to go back to work for the people who burned him but he does want to find out who they are and why they did it. Fiona is right in that he is doing something important here in Miami and Michael needs to see that. In the short amount of time he's come home he has done so much for so many people with the potential to help a lot more. He should reconsider leaving it all behind again.

With Michael on the bench, Sam steps into the lead with the new client. In dire need of a wing man, he turns to Fiona who is more than willing to make her services available . . . for a considerable fee. Her response to never charging Michael because she expects other things from him results in a very funny reaction of Sam's. I have to say I was worried right off the bat that Michael was sitting this one out. Not that Sam didn't seem capable of handling things on his own. He was able to see the hustler sneaking up behind him and use some quick moves to disarm him. He figures out the double blackmail scheme pretty quickly as well. However this seemed to be the wrong time for things to escalate out of the team's control as the marks decided it was best to take out the client before their bosses found out they had been compromised. Of course Michael does get involved, part time, but Sam with his lucky sniper rifle has to help him out when the meeting turns into a trap. The end where the marks are blown up by a stinger and armed teams apprehended Sam and chased Fiona off a bridge was a great climax to part one of this two-part finale but it looks like Michael's story is not to be outdone by the Sam/Fiona festivities.

So Richard Schiff is dead already? What is that? I was all excited to see him on the show and bam! He's dead and Michael, covered in blood, is about to be found by the police with his body. I was pretty shocked when that shot rang out but it's a testament to how the show keeps the viewers on its toes. Michael has been looking to meet up with Cowan for the entire second half of the season and Schiff gets the special guest star billing and then they kill him off after he offers a vague yet intriguing glimpse of what it is store for Michael. I guess we need to expect the unexpected and I thought the cliffhanger of Michael needing to be rescued by his brother while Fiona is being chased by the men with guns to be an effective one and would have been a great way to end the season as it would have been killer to have all three leads in mortal peril and forced to wait months to see the conclusion.

After being sidelined for quite a few episodes Mama Weston is back and with a vengeance. Michael's attempts to secretly protect her by having Nate hang out at the house with a gun does not go over well as she bursts into Michael's apartment demanding an explanation. We actually get the most tense scene between the two of them when Madeline demands that Michael trust his family with whatever he is hiding and he snaps back asking when would he have learned that. Mama Weston shows how well she knows her son by knowing this is important enough to him to have her safe and if he's keeping that information to himself then if must be something important. She parts on a friendly note and leaves to stay where Michael knows she will be safe.

Favorite moment: Sam and Fiona working together? It would be a no-brainer it would have to be one of these scenes and the gay bar stakeout is right at the top of the pack. From Fiona telling Sam the "balls are in your court" to Sam getting a man to buy him a drink, it was great comedy scene before the escalation of threats on all sides. I can't wait for part two.