Burn Notice "Unpaid Debts" (2007)

With this episode my prayers have been answered. All the shake-ups I suggested after viewing the past few episodes all fell into one heap in this episode and it made it the most enjoyable of the season so far. This week's job goes everything but according to plan and we are starting to see an increasing affect of Michael's investigation of his burn notice begin to affect his ability to run his new business. We're introduced to Agent Jason Bly (Alex Carter) of the CSS (although we don't find out this information until the end of the episode) who has arrived in Miami to take over surveillance of Michael following the pull-out of his FBI detail. Whereas the FBI were content to remain in the background and leave Michael to his own devices, the CSS agents who arrive make an immediate impact by trashing Madeline's house. This immediately instigates a personal conflict between Michael and Bly, with Michael's firm statement that this is just between the two of them. Bly represents the continuing encroachment this new detail will bring to Michael's life in an effort to force him to drop his investigation of his burn notice and settle down into a normal life. They are also not above using brute force tactics to get Michael's attention and make his life miserable. The one benefit is that Bly is much more capable of providing information regarding the cause of the burn notice than the FBI agents were. The increasing pressure from this new batch of agents will put considerable strain on Michael's business and result in him being even more resourceful to deal with his problems.

Speaking of Michael's business, this week's case in a hot one. Sam's old buddy Virgil (Chris Ellis) has been hired to repossess a boat owned by some Jamaicans who roughed him up during his first attempt. Cue Michael and Fiona who with Sam's help are able to easily steal the boat and bring it to awaiting party. Unfortunately Virgil has mixed the gang up with some dirty cops who planned to kill Virgil upon his delivery of the boat. Now our trio is forced to fend off both groups while trying to determine the best course of action. This episode highlights the fact that despite the detailed planning Michael and the gang go through to pull off one of their jobs, they can easily find themselves the victims of an unfortunate set of circumstances. At every turn when Michael thinks he has things under control another problem crops up. In a testament to his skills as a field operative, he doesn't allow the troubles to overwhelm him and exudes a cool confidence while he nimbly comes up with another plan. The last ditch gambit is a bit risky in hoping that the two parties will kill each other off and Michael almost finds himself at the wrong end of a bullet if not for some quick sniping action from Sam. It shows that Michael is not superhuman and everything does not go to his master plan and effectively shows us how much a professional he is even more than when he is always two steps ahead.

On the personal side Madeline has a main focus in the storyline after some brief scenes the last couple of episodes. Her getting together with Virgil certainly unsettles Michael but was a comic masterpiece in the furtherance of Michael and his mother's new relationship. I'm actually glad that when Virgil is captured by the Jamaicans they didn't take Madeline as well as family drama was not really needed to add to the tense exchange at the end. Obviously this will happen in the future as Michael is in such close proximity to his mother that she would make a profitable bargaining chip but I'm not really ready to deal with that yet. It might bring about a resolution to their sticky relationship and I much prefer her nagging and manipulative side to dealing with Michael than than an overabundance of familial love.

Favorite moment: Fiona's hijacking of the conversation Michael and her are forced to have while searching for bugs in his apartment. It starts off with her childish antics as she relishes the fact that she is backing him into a corner in order to get him to talk about his feelings. Once again Michael tries to rationalize his actions as a part of his trade craft however Fiona quickly calls him on it and he confesses that he did it for personal reasons. It starts out playful and rapidly evolves into a serious examination into their past relationship and how it will affect their current status. It also have a great end with them both scrabbling to write notes to one another. Michael's asking if she was "Happy now?" and hers inquiring if it might be an optical bug in the room shows that Fiona's a professional no doubt about it but she's not above a little blackmail to get Michael to do what she wants and provide the answer to the problem in the process.