I have very little and very much to say about this beautiful season four premiere. Let’s see whether my talky or taciturn side wins, shall we?

When we left Dillon, Coach had been screwed out of his position by Joe McCoy’s machinations,¹ banished to the newly reopened East Dillon High as both consolation and punishment. Despite promises of large state grants to both schools, the best talent and lion’s share of the money have been diverted to Dillon.

With reduced income, reduced status, inadequate facilities, and a dearth of assistants, Eric finds himself in a position he hasn’t faced in a very long time. Remember: he was the JV coach at Dillon before he was elevated to the head coaching job. He isn’t accustomed to fighting with and for scraps. And they are scraps.

His team, such as it is, consists of those unskilled and unidentified athletes Dillon was willing to draw district lines around. Of course there’s a strong racial and economic split between the two squads as well. With the East Dillon players coming from the poor side of town, black and Latino students make up a large percentage of its population which is reflected in the composition of the team. Hearkening back to season one’s “Blinders”, there’s a strong but so far unmentioned problem with race on the team. Following Eric’s rant, only black players walk out and Eric specifically checks with Vince Howard² to see if he’s going to stay.

In fact, race is a thread through much of the episode despite never being mentioned. In the scene with the bloc of angry parents shouting at Tami about their children being moved, the first two parents to speak are black. Then a white woman whose “parents went to this school before Tami ever heard of Dillon High” wants to know why her daughter is being “sent to that hellhole with that element.” In the context of the scene, her rant is overlooked but we can’t ignore it. Especially not given the question asked of Tami numerous times about whether she thinks the two schools are equal. It would be impolitic of Tami to say, “separate but equal is inherently unequal,” but that is the clear implication.

Give all this context, Eric’s emotional explosion against his new team and the subsequent racial divide is far more worrisome.

On other fronts:

• JD has gone full Vader, embracing daddy and daddy’s ways even if he’s letting himself be a bit wild on the side. I remember last season how excited I was to see what Jeremy Sumpter would bring to the table but now I fear he’s been turned into a caricature. I realize he was dejected at State but the mustache twirling is a bit much.
• Matt is back in town – we don’t know why yet – and finding that Dillon Tech isn’t quite the same as the Art Institute of Chicago. Then again, perhaps he’s finally come across a truly insightful teacher (his sketches do have a bit of that “art student” feel to them and I can’t disagree with her sentiments) who will help him find his own unique vision.
• Julie is going to run to East Dillon to be with her few friends who’ve not graduated yet, further challenging Tami’s public proclamations that the two schools are equal.
• Tami and the coaching staff at Dillon are dancing to two vastly different pieces of music. Whether she can keep from being stomped by them will be one of the key story lines this season.
• Related, Buddy realizes he’s not only been marginalized but has in fact thrown his lot in with bad folk. With so little power thanks to Joe’s money, I expected him to stand by Coach Taylor at East Dillon this season. After seeing him tonight, I’m further convinced he’ll make that jump, as difficult as it may be.
• And Tim. Ah, Tim Riggins. Thank you for one great scene after another. The books flying, the young girl’s shredding of a former star, and every moment with Billy and Mindy. That first scene at dinner with Billy and Mindy, where Billy says nothing, that was gold. I’ve said it before and I’ll keep repeating it until the end of time: Derek Phillips is a remarkable actor whose talents made Billy Riggins so much more than the joke he was intended to be.

I’m thrilled to see FNL back at full power. I would stack this season premiere next to most of the episodes in that first, perfect season. Last year was good; this year promises to be great.

What did everyone else think?

1. I’m sure in his eyes, Coach hoisted himself on his own petard by ignoring precious, perfect JD.
2. Welcome to Dillon, Wallace.

Roday does triple duty for this episode, starring and helming from a screenplay he co-wrote. Filled with subtle and not-so subtle homages to Hitchcock, this is the prettiest and most ambitious episode of Psych to date. It also has one of the most touching and peculiar scenes I expect to see on TV this year, something that would feel at home in a Wes Anderson film. And yet it retains its sense of fun throughout.

Psych has grown on me. I’ve been a fan since the pilot but have really appreciated how much the creators have let the show and characters grow into something more than the cheap entertainment it originally appeared to be. This isn’t high drama, but Steve Franks and his writing staff have found a good balance, where rich characterization adds depth and humanity to what would in lesser hands be cardboard stereotypes.

I know a lot of critics find Roday too grating for regular viewing but it’s only through watching the full run of the series that I’ve come to see his Shawn as more than a wisecracking, juvenile attention whore. In these few episodes where Shawn faces challenges and risks to himself and those he cares about, the obnoxious facade slips enough to show the scared kid beneath. The scared kid who jokes and jibes and demands to be the center of attention because that way no one will know he is scared.¹ And in tonight’s season finale, that scared kid is forced to choose between saving O’Hara and saving Abigail by the devious and deadly Mr. Yin.

The season finale of Psych is on USA Network, tonight at 10/9C.

1. And he won’t be alone, when he’s forced to confront his fears.

While I find White Collar to be a decent diversion and continue to watch it each week, it’s failed to make the leap narratively. I’m sticking around because I think Matt Bomer’s got a lot of charm, I love Willy Garson, and I’m a long-time fan of Tim DeKay’s.¹ Story-wise, they aren’t treading ground that I haven’t seen on dozens of other shows over the years.

I just don’t care if Neal ever gets back with Kate.² I’m not sure how much I care about Project Mentor and Fowler and I haven’t found him threatening in the least. Noah Emmerich is a fine actor who can certainly be an intimidating presence and he’s doing what he can with what he’s been given, but there’s just no heat there.

And of course I’m still stinging from the cheap feint over the mid-season cliffhanger.

I want this show to be more than it is and I think part of why I’m still watching is the hope that a little of Matt Nix will rub off on Jeff Eastin. I want Neal to do something truly bad to someone who deserves it. I want him to have a dark secret he must keep from Peter bigger than the uninteresting, plain vanilla machinations to steal the music box for Fowler. I want Peter’s threats to send Neal back to prison to be real, to feel like more than the equivalent of Ralph Kramden’s “to the moon, Alice.”

All of White Collar’s sister shows have embraced the dark to some degree. Even the lightest of light weights, Royal Pains, has demonstrated a willingness to rough up its characters and challenge our assumptions about them. Not so with our mismatched buddies here. Peter is (mostly) a by-the-book guy who grudgingly lets Neal bend the rules a little bit. Neal is a thief with a heart of gold. Mozzie, who at least expresses great antipathy for suits, is nonetheless a pussycat. Where are their edges?

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised Fowler and the criminals-of-the-week aren’t very intimidating. With such toothless protagonists, it would be terribly unbalanced to have actual bad guys as the bad guys.

But there is still hope.

The season finale inches toward the edge of the abyss, keeping its light heart while letting Fowler be a touch more intimidating. Revelations about Mentor and its relationship to Neal add a little spice. And maybe this time, the final shot won’t be a cheap trick to be explained away with a wave of the hand. If the events of Tuesday’s finale hold, it’s just possible that I’ll be watching White Collar next year for more than the charm of its leads.

If you’re hopeful like me, go ahead and give the season finale a chance this Tuesday at 10/9C on USA.

1. Plus, I keep hoping Natalie Morales is going to get a bigger role.
2. The fact that Alexandra Daddario is a blank as Kate doesn’t help the character’s cause. Why the hell is Neal smitten with such a non-entity?

Over the last three years, Michael Westen has faced his demons, ghosts from his past, and – in Victor – a cautionary tale of his own future. In tonight’s season finale he meets something far worse: himself.

The monster whose crimes fill Michael’s burn notice has been locked in a dark hole, stripped of his freedom and the credit for his evil acts while Michael has roamed Miami. Simon’s life’s work is Michael’s burden. And Simon wants it all back. To that end he spent millions, double-crossed Gilroy, and broke into the bright light of South Florida to force Michael’s hand.

Guest star Garret Dillahunt brings his usual creepiness to Simon, and by moving with dancer’s grace and standing straight as a statue of Lenin, he imbues Simon with a definite Michael Westen-ness. This monster, more than Victor or Dead Larry or Brennan, is what much of the world sees when it sees Michael.

Of course not everyone is fooled by the burn notice. Maddie knows her son. Sam and Fi know Michael. And for the most part, Michael still knows himself. There are a few moments, brief instants, in tonight’s episode where Jeffrey Donovan’s face contorts and his eyes glint and we can see bits of himself leaking away. Michael’s salvation has always been his makeshift family which is why they fight so hard to keep him from going off alone. This season¹ has seen him forced to push his friends away to work with (and against) Gilroy but their bonds have been strong enough to hold. Any hope Michael has of avoiding the fate of becoming what the pages of his burn notice say he is rests with Maddie and Nate and Sam and Fi.

But are they enough?

Earlier in the season, it seemed Michael was beginning to accept his new life. When Gilroy came to town, he wasn’t fighting to work with him to clear his name but because Gilroy was a bad chappie. With his makeshift family keeping him attached to the world and his drive to be freed from under his burn notice diminishing, it seemed Michael might find some peace. Simon’s entrance on the scene, and his burning desire to get his life back, complicates that. Simon needs intervention from Management to get back his life. At what cost to Michael?

Watch tonight’s very explosive² season finale at 10/9C on USA.

1. All seasons, in fact. The central theme of Burn Notice is that Michael’s ties to his friends and family are the only thing keeping him human. His desire to escape into his job is tempered by his attachment to those he cares about who care about him. A nice allegory for many of us, I’d say.
2. They love to bring out the pyrotechnics in the season finales. I for one love them more for that.

First, let’s get the big mystery out of the way…based on the way Betty’s belly looks I’d say we’ve jumped forward about eight months from the end of season two. Enough time for Don and Betty to have come to yet another in their long string of accommodations, for things at Sterling-Cooper to still be in flux, for Harry¹ to be much more important, and for Bert to have acquired a lovely piece of tentacle porn to keep his Rothko company. But just little enough time that we can watch as the new world order begins to emerge.

I will assume Don’s visions in the opening segment were a reflection of his anxiety over being a father again. Notions of belonging, family, parentage, and especially fatherhood are constantly aswirl within him. We’ve seen facets of this confusion before – his fear of being recognized as Dick Whitman and the time he told Bobby how he had been treated by his father in trying to explain he would never treat his own son that way are the two that come immediately to mind – and this scene shows us they are at the forefront of his mind. At least when he’s at home.

Because Don is a man of as many aspects as of suits. The inner strife that roils beneath the surface at home disappears the moment he removes himself from the heat. Each facet of his life seems to get its own, segregated psyche. He is always living in the moment with little comprehension of the consequences of his actions from one realm to another. Don is a master of compartmentalization.

More than Sal, anyway. Poor Sal. The guy can’t cut a break. A man in uniform takes all the pressure off him and…fire alarm. Which interruption is the problem with poor Sal, he who has a burning fire within that can’t be quenched and he won’t let burn free.

As I see it, the episode’s title refers less to the short trip to Baltimore than it does to the Brits out of water. They’re trying to establish control over Sterling-Cooper from afar with a small colonizing force, but simply fail to understand the reality of the situation. Pitting Pete and Ken against each other will only go so far; pushing everyone around with the gracelessness of a dying empire will eventually fail. Note how easily Joan maneuvers Moneypenny into a visitors’ office, knowing full well he’ll be pushed outside to the secretary’s desk once Lane Pryce sees him there. She understands how things work at Sterling-Cooper, and how things work in America. The Brits don’t²

Unlike Joan (and one suspects, Don,) most of the American staff are in thrall to the romanticism the Brits represent. Hence Bert’s insistence that the fog of London must exist, and barring that, that the name is still apropos. See also the secretaries swooning over Moneypenny’s accent. It will be the clear thinking of Joan and others like her that will keep the essential character of Sterling-Cooper; otherwise, the rebirth we witness this year will be massive in its scope.

One other point about the Americans vs. the Brits: have we ever seen a bald man at Sterling-Cooper before? A bald man in advertising at all? There have been almost no bald men on the show in its two-year run. But tonight we have a loud, brash, ballsy and bald American who speaks truth to power as he’s being forced out the door. A man who rightfully is upset by the manner in which his new corporate masters are rigging the system. A man who, I propose, is Matt Weiner’s avatar. His time at AMC has been (as far as we can tell, and barring the contract dispute last year) relatively calm but he’s been in the business long enough to have had his share of empty suits get in his way. Maybe I’m reaching. You decide.

On the Draper homefront, Betty is completing the distancing from both her children. Bobby’s the little liar and now Sally is (she jokes) the little lesbian. As they remain close to Don, closer than in the past with his softened demeanor, it seems, Betty will be focusing more of her attention on the baby she carries. Assuming no birthing catastrophes befall her, this can only lead to her further infantilization as she spends all of her time and emotional capital on her baby, ignoring her two older children.

Finally: Pete. Oy. He got the inferior client list³ and has the inferiority complex. Instead of accepting the situation as it is and doing his best to make it work – the approach Ken seems anxious to take – Pete wants to bitch and moan about it. His self-righteous sense of entitlement makes this a difficult pill to swallow. Add to that his constant sense of inferiority to Ken and he is practically choking in the gall. Ken is more confident. Ken is better looking. Ken is taller. Ken is a better writer. Ken is, Ken is, Ken is.

All in all, a great start to the season.

What did everyone else think?

1. !
2. Not yet, at least.
3. What hapened with Utz that caused Ken to lose them? Am I forgetting something from last season involving Ken, or is this a missing puzzle piece?

This episode was all kinds of wonderful. From Hardison’s wig to Parker’s awkward interactions with people to the tongue-in-cheek homages to the great thrillers of the ’70s, from start to finish: fun. By switching up roles in an effort to allow Sophie to seek some comfort and excitement after her breakup, everyone got a chance to use some of the skills they’ve been developing in their ongoing effort to become more well rounded thieves and grifters. We’ve seen more of this, extending back to the latter episodes of the first season, and each time the writers have found a way to make it interesting. Sophie isn’t a master planner and never will be; it would be far more boring if she slipped into Nate’s role without some trouble. Likewise Parker scamming and Eliot playing computer geek.

If I were to complain about anything it would be that Eliot didn’t struggle enough finding information on Hardison’s interrogator and that Nate seems too comfortable in the midst of a grift. The weight rests on Beth Riesgraf’s shoulders to be the awkward, uncomfortable one when playing a role; I’d like to see a little more of that from everyone but Sophie.

That small grumble aside, this was good.

Edit: I wrote my review off the screener. I should have waited. During the episode, TNT had cross-promotion of Raising the Bar with *Nancy Grace*. An hour in which Leverage bashes her loosely fictionalized stand-in and they put her smug face right there in the middle of it!

In what I can only surmise is Time Warner’s blindness, the team took down Nancy Grace tonight. A shrill, idiotic, fear-mongering harridan whom no one takes seriously as a journalist.¹ After viciously twisting the truth, lying, and slandering an innocent man in order to secure ratings, the exonerated bus driver finally tried to kill himself. His good name had been muddied by Hunter – would have been muddied just to be uttered aloud by so despicable a person² – until he finally tried suicide. Fortunately his daughter found him in time and then found her way to Leverage’s door.

It’s probably good for her that Sophie is looking for something to fill the emptiness she’s now feeling; Nate appeared ready to walk away from this job restoring a man’s name. But Sophie thinks they can do it by tainting Monica Hunter and forcing the network to issue a complete apology. And if they taint her enough, all her victims will be rehabilitated in the public’s eye.

The team chose a straightforward con but failed to take into account the extreme pettiness of Hunter. Handing her a story about secret prisons peppering America, she opted not to run with it when she realized her fans wouldn’t be interested. They’d be happy to know such prisons exist in their midst.

Unlike most of the setbacks on Leverage, this wasn’t a failure of the mission or the result of a clever mark seeing through their machinations. This was, plain and simple, an idiot. No sensible person would think a respect- and power-mad “journalist” would pass on a story of that magnitude and import for short-term ratings. I believe Hunter would pass; it’s just so shocking to encounter someone that stupid in real life or fiction.

As opposed to many of the team’s cons, the conflict was not a result of Hunter resisting for any rational reasons. The biggest obstacles they faced were the result of her bad choices. Jumping the fence at the military base was “Lucy trying to get into the show at the Copa” stupid. And while it did lead to some difficulties in getting her and Hardison back out, it ultimately helped seal her fate.

As much as I enjoyed this one, I’m not sure what to say about it. We’re all aware of the problems of cable news and cable “news” but fear mongering isn’t a new thing. As long as there have been crowds there have been demagogues ready to excite and yoke them for their own nefarious purposes. Historically, those have been about military power and political and religious control but even petty capitalists have capitalized on fear before. Hell, even Henry Hill used fear to whip up the good citizens of River City into a band uniform-and-instrument buying frenzy.

On the personal front, it was nice to see Nate acknowledgment that Sophie “carried his drunk ass for over a year.” Their relationship has evolved into something much greater than the passionate banter and battling of the past into a true friendship. The spiritual void she’s feeling right now will presumably test her convictions about who she is and what she does; having a true friend in Nate will make that much simpler.

What did everyone else think?

1. Had Hunter been a man, I’d have assumed it was a Glenn Beck stand-in.
2. Seriously: Nancy, Glenn…what I’m writing here applies to you.

For two seasons, I’ve found myself in the awkward position of complaining when my second favorite event on the annual sports calendar comes around because USA would preempt Burn Notice for two weeks. When USA lost the broadcast rights to the US Open to ESPN, the knowledge that Michael, Sam, and Fi wouldn’t be interrupted was the only comfort. You see, ESPN does shitty tennis coverage whereas USA has done kickass work for twenty years.

And then I found out the summer finale was in August anyway. Aarrrrgggh!

Alright. That’s out of my system. The gang will be back in January-ish so tonight’s episode, the episodes I have saved on the Tivo, and seasons one and two are all I’ve got to tide me over. Will it be enough?

Tonight’s episode alone might do it.

Back in early June, Jeffrey Donovan tweeted about playing Michael McBride in the summer finale so I was prepared for it. What I wasn’t prepared for was the amount of awesome on display. From the smallest moments – Sam saying, “I’m getting Fi out of there no matter what,” to Michael’s revelation that Fi is not his past before plugging Strickler, this episode went deeper into these characters than we’ve gone in a long time.

Fi knows she isn’t the same person she used to be as well as Michael knows he has to find a middle path that will keep her in his life. Even Madeline realizes she has a place in her son’s life, different from what she’d like though it may be.

I don’t think there’s much I can offer in terms of analysis beyond what anyone can see: the family was stressed tonight by outside forces conspiring to tear it apart and hurt it. Under that stress, its bonds strengthened and it fought back. Strickler, in the hands of Ben Shenkman, proved to be a far worthier foil for Michael than Moon/Blood/Good/Stone/Detective chick. He was clearly competent and dangerous and carried himself with the cool confidence that comes from knowing you have the upper hand with an adversary. He never threatened, yet was always threatening. Likewise, Paul Blackthorne was a believable badass. That he and his team could succeed was a given.

Until Michael and Sam got eyes on the boathouse I could not guess whether the episode would end in a cliffhanger or a rescue and denouement, an advantage for writer Craig O’Neill that doesn’t offer itself but once or twice a year on Burn Notice. Because of the uncertainty – would Fi be shipped to Ireland and season 3.5 start overseas with an extraction and rescue mission or would it resolve tonight – the tension remained higher throughout than had this been any old episode. It wasn’t obvious that Fi’s brother wouldn’t die even after surviving the initial shooting. It wasn’t obvious Diego was going to die.

But for all the tension and all the excitement – explosions, a wickedly awesome stunt with Ms. Reynolds’ Buick, the standoff with Strickler – this episode was about these people we’ve grown to care about and the way they’ve grown as we’ve watched.

That’s storytelling at its finest right there.

What did everyone else think?

We talk all the time but it never feels like you’re actually sharing anything. As great as you are, there’s always a mask. I just don’t know who you really are, Katherine.

Bernie Goddamn Madoff. He takes our money, insults our legal system, makes the sick sicker, and the poor poorer. Turns out he (or someone just like him) also treats his stepson like crap and plots to kill hapless FBI agents. Special Agents Taggert and McSweeten return for their third appearance on Leverage and almost get killed for their efforts.¹

Tonight the team stretches itself thin as it steals a school. That’s a tough one but they succeed because Nate knows the one true rule of dealing with the rich and powerful: force them to doubt their mastery. By holding himself out as a recognized authority with a book and method that is well known and revered, he challenges the fuming parents to risk looking ignorant by standing up to him. It’s a basic trick of the conman, salesman, hustler, and writer and works best against the people who should be the least credulous. After that, the rest is gravy.

With no Sterling sighting tonight we could be pretty sure the team would win in the end and unlike last week, the stakes never felt as high. No one on the team was in any physical danger, no children were being beaten in the B-story, and the greatest threat was that in fending off McSweeten’s advances, Parker might fail to get Hardison through the apartment’s defenses. So he’d set off an alarm. Big deal.

For the most part tonight was a more humorous outing with Nate’s dreadful rug and accent, Parker and Hardison dealing with their FBI buddies, and Widmark’s ineptitude. However, it was also through sad Widmark we were given a window into Sophie’s reality.

She never had any friends, only fellow grifters she might work with on occasion, and has lied so much and for so long that she may not see exactly where the real Sophie Devereaux² ends and the lies begin. Her new beau – who has been in her life, though not on screen, since before the season opener – dumps her in the first act because of the layers of deception that he can only sense. Only now that Sophie has a place on the gray line where she can help others rather than herself is she beginning to become less closed off and more human. Here she has friends, people who can trust and support her. Here she can take off the masks, at least in private.

She does that for Widmark.

In his lowest moment of self-doubt she speaks to him from the heart with no masks and no lies. She tells him maybe she isn’t a great actress – at least others don’t think so – and let’s him tell her she needs to believe in herself. As great a showcase as the last two episodes have been for Christian Kane, tonight’s moment in the bathroom of a toney private school in Boston was their equal for Gina Bellman. It was small and reserved but she ripped away all of Sophie’s defenses and bared her lonely, wounded soul.

This is interesting. This must be a first. I mean it’s the only time I can remember that the con depended solely on you telling the truth. How did it feel?

Felt great as a viewer, that’s for sure.

Internet Note

I suspect this is the most networked group of talent on any show running today. Seriously. Here’s the list of who’s active on Twitter that I know of:³

• Timothy Hutton, he who leads the team
• Aldis Hodge, he who cracks me up
• Amy Berg, she who puts up with Rogers
• Beth Riesgraf, she who dangles precariously
• Christian Kane, he who sings like an angel
• Mark Sheppard, he who is everywhere
• John Rogers, he who herds the cats
• Dean Devlin, he who makes it all happen

That doesn’t count one-time guests like Wil Wheaton (yes, the King of the Geeks is going to be in an upcoming episode) and Brent Spiner. What this means as a fan of the show is an unprecedented level of transparency into the creative process. That, and I always know what kind of sammich everyone’s eating.⁴

What did everyone else think?

1. If you haven’t already seen it, take a look at this great interview with Gerald Downey and Rick Overton, who play the agents, in ifMagazine.
2. Doubtfully her real name.
3. The web of trust is pretty tightly woven on these accounts so it is unlikely a fake has slipped into the mix.
4. No one can explain Twitter to you. You log on and use it for awhile and get it. Or you don’t.

Michael’s existence has changed a lot over the past two and a half years. From a closed-off and guarded loner, he’s learned to trust and care about other people in ways that had long been submerged. He’s still broken. But who isn’t? His sexy flirtation with Fiona in the pilot wasn’t about compassion or concern: it was about the raw physical passion between these two lovers. His early interactions with Sam were awkward, even after Sam’s deal with the Feds was in the open. And let’s not forget his idiot brother and insane mother, right?

Except that’s not who those people are. Madeline loves her son, Sam is a loyal friend, Nate really does try, and Fi…well Fi wants Michael’s heart and soul. Have they all changed or is it that as Michael has changed, his perceptions of those around him – and the reflected perceptions we see – have changed? I’d argue for the latter.

I’m not implying this is the authorial intent. These relationships really have matured over time, as a function of the writing and the performances. But try looking at the show as if it is truly and completely Michael’s journey and we are merely passengers seeing the world unfold before his eyes. In that case, we should expect the world he sees/we see to change in ways both small and large. Miami might appear larger and less restrictive. Madeline more nuanced and human. Sam more loyal.

In The Last Temptation of Christ, when Lucifer shows Jesus the world he could have if he faltered – a long, happy life in a verdant world – he tells Jesus that Israel has always been a garden and he had failed to see it as such. On one hand, this is Lucifer’s attempt to tempt Christ, so we know he’s pumping up the saturation of the colors a bit. On the other, we know that Israel is a land of desert and of forest and of gardens and of beaches. Throughout the rest of the film, Scorsese shows us only the desert aspect. Even at the final Seder, in the GARDEN of Gethsemane, the land is dusty and sere. Our perception of the world is intentionally Jesus’ perception.

I suggest looking at Burn Notice in the same vein. See Miami as though we see it through Michael’s eyes. See his friends and family the same way. He is changing.

Which makes his deal with Strickler that much worse.

Strickler is the devil here. The more he can pull Michael into his world, the farther Michael will be from the humanizing influences of Sam and Fi and Madeline and Nate and even Barry. He’ll shut them out and close himself off and do bad things without questioning why. He’ll do whatever it takes to get back in from the cold, including turning himself back into a closed-off and guarded loner.

Nothing hurts worse than losing a friend to bullets, politics, or something personal. But when you have to work alone again, you lock those feelings away and do the job at hand. Because as every spy knows, there’s plenty of time to think about what you’ve lost after the mission is over.

That compartmentalization is fine to a point but is emotionally crippling if taken to an extreme.

I think episode scribe Rashad Raisani might have pushed the “Natalie is a victim; Milovan is evil” line a bit too hard as it was pretty clear before the reveal that she was the evil mastermind. Then again, once you’ve cast Callie Thorne, I just assume her character is either evil or crazy. She plays such deliciously evil women. Other than that – and a truly obnoxious product placement for a beer I wouldn’t use to put out a fire in my pants – I was thoroughly engaged tonight.

The humor, used in lighter doses than usual, worked well to punctuate the higher emotional stakes. If you want a good gauge of how light the humor was tonight: Barry was the client and had a decent amount of screen time. He wasn’t used for laughs.

Chin Bits

• “I just didn’t expect to be wearing pants here.”
• “Oh, that Marmaduke. He will never learn.”
• And one of the best fake outs I’ve ever seen them pull on Burn Notice: Sam letting Milovan think he’d gotten under his skin (maybe he did, a little) and get his gun. There are two ways of looking at the scene: Sam really got riled and screwed up but is competent enough not to keep his accessible piece armed, or Sam wanted Milovan to think he was going to be free so he would see he’d underestimated his captors. I’m leaning – about 52-48 – to the latter interpretation.

Important Lessons in Spycraft

• “An operation’s more likely to be saved by a fresh set of batteries than a gun.”
• “Tidying up after a heist often involves methods not suitable for parties.”
• “Anyone trained in counter-surveillance  knows most field ops are between 22 – when people finish training – and 55, when they retire. Which is why even wary operatives don’t pay any attention to kids or people on social security.”
• “Burn safes depend on an internal ignition device to start a fire. Pump in liquid CO2 and, if you do it right, you can turn that ignition device into a popsicle. Do it wrong, you turn everything inside the safe to a pile of ash.”
• “Spies don’t keep a lot of prisoners. When you hold someone, you only learn what they tell you. Let them go and you can learn what they do and where they go.”

What did everyone else think?

Tonight’s mark, Eddie Maranjian, was a hedge fund manager of Armenian descent who, naturally, preyed on the weak and walked off with their money. The team is pretty sure he’s got at least $400K liquid stashed away somewhere and offers to help one of the victims. But this is no straight con.

Eddie’s on a plane to a minimum security Federal prison in Florida in an hour. Either the team has to crack him – while guarded by US Marshals – before then or delay his departure. Nate notes that Eddie had a bottle of germ killer at trial and quickly riffs out a plan to delay and crack Eddie at once.

Humor aside, tonight’s episode reminded me most of a classic Mission: Impossible. In a short time the team needs to convince a mark of something wholly untrue to get him to turn over his money. While the cons on the show are usually of short varieties, they are still generally normal cons. The game they played on Eddie by taking him away from all other contact was more on the order of psyops.¹ And it was a lot of fun to watch.

The game itself was simple: separate Eddie and convince him, using the same tricks successful horror film directors have used for decades,² that he is at ground zero of a deadly virus outbreak. Only a title card on the TV set, Sophie’s unseen death,³ and anxious voices and hurried steps in the hallway (thanks to Hardison’s speaker setup) give Eddie a glimpse of what’s going on. The sudden onset of his symptoms combined with the absence of information cause him to fill in with worst-case scenarios.

Until an even worse case is finally presented to him. By the time Parker gives the situation a name – Order 23 – Eddie’s been so softened by events that he easily makes the leap to believe. But he’s still a greedy bastard.

And everyone knows it. So the security guard’s stun gun is left in the hall while Parker dons an insulating belt.⁴ Believing he’s free, Eddie rabbits to the cash and the team trails him. I find it amusing that he thought he’d deliver them to the police in exchange for leniency. Sure, it had worked against the Armenian mob…but the Feds cared about arresting them.

As to the Armenian mob, let’s just say it’s a good thing Dr. Wrathokhan worked at the hospital.

Amidst all the chaos, fighting, and running around, Eliot still found time to be Eliot. Helping out Randy by sending Marshal Bob to his house was the culmination of an episode’s worth of small character beats and provided nice closure on both Bob’s and Randy’s stories.

Some other thoughts:

• I’ve really grown to appreciate the repetition of the formula, “Let’s go steal an X,” expressed tonight at the end of act 1 by Nate as, “Let’s go steal a hospital.” I’ll have to crack open my season one DVDs to see if this snowclone has been used in all, or at least most episodes.
• Another couple of fun bitchfests between Eliot and Hardison, my favorite being the first one, over who got which uniform.
• Which bitchfest led to the great line, “A bully’s just a cowboy with low self-esteem.”
• I also really enjoyed Nate’s extreme joy over messing with Eddie, leading to Parker’s question: “Did you just give a guy a nosebleed with the power of your mind?”

Above the rest stood this exchange between Parker and Sophie:

“Is it just me, or has Nate gotten a little sadistic since he’s quit drinking?”
“Is it just me, or does that make him even more attractive?”

I enjoyed tonight’s episode a lot and was impressed to see how the team could step outside their usual con comfort zone to do something more extreme. This opens up whole new avenues of exploration.

What did everyone else think?

1. This episode is close kin to last season’s “Comrades” episode of Burn Notice. While watching, I was reminded of the games Sam and Michael played on Ivan to turn him, fundamentally twisting his view of reality.
2. Note: by successful I don’t necessarily mean the ones who make a lot of money. I’m talking about creating dread, not drenching the set in fake blood.
3. Everything is scarier in shadow play. It hearkens to our primitive past when our ancestors climbed out of the savanna and huddled in caves for warmth and security.
4. I know, I know. What if he’d gone for her hip or shoulder? It would have been better if Hardison had jury rigged the stun gun but that’s not what happened. Let it go.