Last night's episode of Burn Notice, "Dead or Alive", was a somewhat creaky example of the show returning to the format we know and love: helping the client. The fourth season has deviated slightly from that format in order to make room for the larger through-plot, and I believe individual episodes have suffered for it. "Dead or Alive" was a nice, though kind of awkward, return.
SPOILERS!
After a longer-than-usual recap (Really? We've been watching faithfully!), the episode begins with Michael in his loft, staring pensively at the NOC list displayed on his computer screen. Jesse comes in to make sure that Michael hasn't changed his mind about what he wants to do with the list - but he didn't have to worry. Michael is still going to turn it in to the government. But who in the government? Jesse suggests Marv, his old handler and guy who managed to get them five million dollars to buy into the NOC list auction. Michael wants to meet with Marv face-to-face, despite Jesse's reservations. Marv is not a Michael fan because of the whole Michael-accidentally-burning-Jesse-and-then-lying-about-it thing.
Michael meets Marv poolside, where they exchange some hostile chitchat. Marv doesn't trust Michael one bit, and insists that Michael take a polygraph test and make a full report on everything he knows about the shadow organization that burned him. I'll pause for everyone's collective "Uh oh". Moving on.
Sam meets Michael at Carlito's, with files on hand detailing everything they've discovered since Michael was burned and dumped in Miami. We were tickled to see that when Sam was surveiling Michael for the FBI, he even kept daily yogurt-consumption logs. Way to be meticulous, Sam! Sam also brings with him a problem: a cop buddy of his has gone missing, and the cop's wife, Claire (The Client), needs Sam's help in locating him. The cop disappeared at the same time that a significant quantity of cocaine mysteriously vanished, so the investigation has stalled and the cop's good reputation is being dragged through the mud.
Sam meets with Claire and her husband's partner, Pete. Pete gives Sam the low-down on what they'd been working on - a narcotics investigation, which is where they acquired the cocaine that's now missing. Claire tearfully asks Sam to do everything he can to find her husband and clear him - the force has already painted him as a dirty cop and cancelled his pension. All Claire has left his her son and her husband's reputation. Sam gets the steely glint in his eye that lets us know that it's definitely personal this time.
Sam utilizes his vast network of buddies to pull the missing cop's phone records, and notes some suspicious activity related to a single phone number. Michael thinks that the number may belong to a Criminal Informant who may know more about what the cop had been investigating. Michael and Sam track down the CI, a junkie named Ted, and capture him with Jesse and Fi's help (since when does it take four of them to grab an unarmed junkie?). They settle Ted into a darkened shipping container for a little quality interrogation time. Ted almost immediately admits that he lured Sam's cop buddy into a trap, shot him, and disposed of the body - and that it was all Pete's idea. In fact, Pete is the one that has the drugs.
Sam, distraught at the death of his cop buddy, nevertheless has to break the news to Claire, in a scene accompanied only by Michael's narration on how hard it is to tell someone that a loved one is gone. This scene twanged at our heart-strings a little, as we saw Claire break down completely and Sam pull her into a bear hug.
Now how to take down Pete? The police department still thinks that Claire's husband is corrupt and on the lam. Jesse and Sam pressure Ted into calling Pete with the news that he has a buyer for the cocaine. He sets up a meeting between Pete and Michael, who is posing as the buyer. Pete is jumpy and suspicious when he sees that Michael doesn't have Ted with him. Michael callously informs him that he killed Ted so he wouldn't have to cut him in on the deal. Pete is thrown by the news and immediately tries to leave, but Michael (in order to show how bad-ass he is), throws down a lighter. This causes flames to erupt from some napalm that he and Sam cooked up. The flames cirlce around the two of them as Michael explains to Pete that he's now in the Ring of Trust - and he'd better follow through with the deal. We go to commercial before we find out how Michael planned on getting out of the Ring of Trust.
Pete proves to be skittish and wishy-washy about the deal - he keeps changing the date. Michael figures that the only way to force him to follow through is to make him think that Claire's husband is still alive - after all, Ted is the one who killed him, and Pete never saw the body. Sam isn't nuts about this idea, but he and Claire gamely pretend as though her husband is alive, but underground. Pete is freaked out by the idea and calls a meeting with Michael right away. Unfortunately, Pete doesn't want to deal as much as he wants to clean up his mess - he blows up the boat on which he and Michael were supposed to meet, and Michael barely escapes in time. Michael calls Jesse and tells him to head Pete off so that he can have a pointed conversation with him.
Jesse causes a traffic jam to trap Pete and allow Michael to jump into his car and scare the bejeezus out of him. Michael really plays to his cover as Pete starts begging for his life, saying "I'm embarassed for you." He manipulates Pete into believing that the only way out of this mess is to stash the cocaine in Claire's house, "proving" that her husband was dirty all along. Meanwhile, Sam tries to convince the detective who was investigating his buddy's case to be at Claire's house to catch Pete in the act. The detective hangs onto his "case solved - not my problem" attitude right up until the moment when Sam pulls his own gun on him to prove how serious he is. The detective agrees to the stakeout, where he indeed observes Pete sneaking into the house to plant the drugs. He and Sam confront him, and Sam tells him that Ted is alive (and will testify), but Claire's husband is dead, up is down, black is white. Then Sam punches his lights out. Yay Sam! Hit him again!
Michael and Jesse collect the NOC list from Madeline's house (apparently they hide everything there). Madeline is upset that Michael hadn't mentioned the possibility of him getting back in, and is afraid that he'll just disappear if he gets his job back. Michael apologizes for not telling her himself, and also tells her that whatever he decides, he will let her know. Jesse asks Michael if he's ready to hand over the NOC list to Marv - it's too encrypted to make copies, so if Michael wants to use the list himself, it's now or never.
Michael and Jesse meet Marv and his Homeland Security escort to deliver the NOC list. Marv is sweaty and nervous, and as he's heading back towards the guys with guns, Michael realizes (duh) that something is wrong. Jesse is a little slower on the uptake, but Marv manages to apologize and tell them that "they" threatened his wife before he takes two bullets in the back. The bad guys grab the NOC list and zoom away in their SUV, but not before Michael recognizes one of the passengers: it's Brennan. Brennan, who strapped a bomb to Michael's ex-fiance's son. Brennan, who shot Nate in the arm. Brennan, whose daughter Michael threatened in order to save Nate's life.
"You know that guy?" Jesse asks. "It's our worst nightmare," Michael replies.
Questions that still need answers:
Where the hell is Dead Larry?! I was promised Dead Larry this season, dammit, and I'd better see him next week!
Who here was surprised that Marv bought it in this episode? Come on, raise your hands. Anyone? I didn't think so. He was dead the moment he said, "Tell me everything."
Is Brennan really "our worst nightmare"? He's a bad guy - I'm not denying it, but he's hardly a menacing villain. He's done really bad things, but he doesn't have that super-deadly-fear-me vibe that I've gotten from other bad guys on this show. Dead Larry, for one.
Next Week:
Michael and the gang try to track Brennan down and retrieve the NOC list before all hell breaks loose. It's a two-hour season finale, and Dead Larry had better show up at some point.
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