Burn Notice "Comrades" (2008)

Michael's brother Nate returns and brings with him this week's assignment which involves rescuing a girl being held ransom from the Russian mob. There are just a whole assortment of hooligans tending shop in Miami. With it being such a crime hot spot, I'm sure Michael's business will have plenty of clients for the foreseeable future. Nate's return shows him continuing to clean up his act and asking Michael for help with this woman who he clearly has an interest in. I didn't really care for Nate until the end of last season when he stepped up to help Michael while chiding him along the way. He and Madeline are definitely mother and son as both have the gall to question Michael when he tries to put his foot down but follow his lead when absolutely necessary. I was worried he would fall into old patterns here and there would be some other angle to his motivations but luckily he was honest about his intentions and provided able assistance to SPI (Spy Private Investigations, the name I wanted for the gang) as they worked to convince the ringleader of the women traffickers that he was being imprisoned by a covert government agency.

This episode has Sam at the forefront as he pulled double time taking the lead in both the weekly case and weekly burn notice duty. Bruce Campbell is underused enough to always leave the audience wanting more and it was great to see him here running himself ragged in both roles. In an attempt to track down the mysterious Carla, who is MIA for the second week in a row, he wines and dines Harvey Gunderson (Larry Miller) which puts enormous strain even on his soaked liver. It's great to see the omnipresent Miller who turns up in countless movie and TV shows and always brings a welcome comedic touch to whatever the role maybe. We got to see assertive Sam in the end where he's forced to put Gunderson in his place after racking up untold amounts of dollars in meals in the pursuit of discovering Carla's Miami cover. Sam also has to play the mysterious government agent responsible for interrogating Ivan (Andrew Divoff) in an effort to discover the location of their client's sister and who knows how many others.

We even get a Sam/Fiona pairing which I'm always on the lookout for. After last week's tease in the previews, here Fiona and Sam get a nice scene together when they raid the restaurant where they think the girls are being held. Sam once again plays the obnoxious customer to comedic perfection while Fiona sneaks upstairs to find the girls. Returning empty-handed she gives a lovely smile when she sees Sam being roughed up by the guards in an effort to quiet him down. Now this could just have been taking pleasure in Sam's misery but I'd like to think she was smiling at Sam and his resourcefulness. They two have grown closer since that first disastrous reunion in "Identity". The two have grown from having mutual professional respect to really being the only friends the other has outside of Michael. Unlike "Identity" though where the had a cover as couple caught mid-tryst, here she claims Sam is her demented father who she shuffles out of the restaurant without further harm.

The Michael and Fiona troubles take a backseat this week so Michael can focus on doing some brotherly bonding. There is a notable change in their demeanour however. Gone are the loving looks Fiona would give to Michael when he was not looking and the playful touching that Michael usually made a show of resisting. Obviously they cannot talk about their troubles every week and it was nice to seen there are still subtle differences to their behaviors when their relationship is not the subject of a scene. It was brother time anyway and here it looks like that the two have made a peace as both admit they respect the other and the other played a vital role in saving the girl. Michael should be thankful to Carla, otherwise he would still have strained relationships with his mother and brother and now they can all be in the same room together and talk without being forced. Now we're just waiting for Michael's father to turn up alive so we can have a new dysfunctional family member to deal with.

Favorite moment: Nate and Michael's fake fight when he needs to "escape" the prison with Ivan and find the girls. Rather than falling like he's supposed to, Nate keeps coming at Michael which results in a hilarious reaction from Michael. I think the fight might have been necessary as the two needed to purge the demons they've held onto for so long. It ends with Nate getting a few broken ribs and some minor chest pain but at least they're repaired the damage to their relationship. Maybe having Nate around more in the future wouldn't be so bad after all.