Burn Notice – Episode 4-11 Review

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My name is Michael Westen. I used to be a spy. Until…Wow Burn Notice fans, what an episode we had last night. I’m not talking about the first 40 minutes or so, I’m talking about the last 3-4 minutes of the episode (commercial time not included). What an ending we had. First thing’s first though. So last night Michael and Jesse contacted John Barrett (played by Robert Patrick of The Unit and Terminator 2 fame), the man that Jesse was looking for. Using a phony file that Sam put together, Jesse was convinced that Barrett is someone who they need to talk to about the Bible that Simon previously owned. Michael and Jesse call Barrett and speak to him about the Bible. Barrett tells them they have the wrong man, so Michael tells him the Bible is in Miami if he wants it. Michael and Jesse setup a trap with a decoy for the Bible, in case anyone comes looking for the Bible.

Onto the main plot-line. Fiona and Sam meet with Emily (played by Jean Louisa Kelly from TVs Yes Dear or as John Candy’s niece in the comedy classic Uncle Buck), who was scammed by a womanizing con-man named Charles (who has also killed some women too). Sam decides to fight fire with fire, and becomes Chuck Finley once again. Acting as a womanizing con-man himself, Sam gets close to Charles and proposes cutting him on on a scam. Charles declines because he doesn’t do business that way. Taking another approach, devised by Michael, Sam gets Charles drunk and drugs his drink so that he blacks out. Meanwhile, someone shows up at the site where Michael and Jesse setup the trap and tries to open the trap. Michael and Jesse then capture him.

The next day, Sam tells Charles that he got drunk and went on a spending spree (which included a new Bentley). Charles runs to his lawyer, who assures him that he wasn’t given any money to buy a Bentley. Jesse and Fi are outside, and their cover gets blown. Fi kisses Jesse to throw the approaching security guards off. While this happens, the man that Michael and Jesse caught gets a phone call. Apparently he’s a Colonel. They send him back to Barrett with photocopied pages from the Bible. If Barrett wants it, he needs to come to Miami himself. If anyone else shows up, they will burn it. After the incident in the car, Jesse and Fi set out to bug Charles’s car. The bug is meant to be found. Needless to say that Charles finds the bug. He calls Chuck (Sam) and tells him about it. Sam tells him that he is missing money, but knows someone who can help them. He brings Michael in to pose as this person. Michael gives his sales pitch and asks for Charles’s account information. Charles says no, to which Michael mocks him with a British accent. Charles agrees to get him the information. Meanwhile, Charles’s money man (his lawyer) has sent some guys to kill Emily. Fi calls Michael and tells him that the gunmen are there. Of course Fi does what she does best and takes the two thugs out.

Sam and Charles hang out, and Sam drugs him again. This time when Charles wakes up, Sam shows up and tells him that he (Charles) killed Emily last night. Charles freaks out, calls his money man, and prepares to leave for Rio. After getting $1 million from Charles, Michael leaves and Sam escorts Charles to the airport. On the way there, Sam tells Charles the truth about the drugging and other scams they pulled on him. The limo’s privacy screen drops and Fi points a gun at Charles telling him to get out. They leave him stranded in the middle of a bridge. Emily gets her money back and of course is happy. Michael and Maddy had a moment where she told him she was going to Tampa to see a friend that she really didn’t like, but was doing it because Michael keeps lying to Jesse. Michael gets a call from Barrett. He’s in Miami and will see Michael soon.

Fi goes to Michael’s loft to find him, but ends up face to face with Jesse and his gun. Jesse had talked to his old boss Marv, who had found camera footage of Michael leaving the building where Jesse worked on the day that Jesse’s access was used, resulting in him being burned. He knows now that Michael caused him to get burned and that Fi, Sam, and Maddy had helped cover it up. Fi tries to tell Jesse that they have been working to get him his job back, but Jesse doesn’t care. Jesse cocks his gun at Fi’s head and says, “Goodbye, Fi.” She closes her eyes, and then hears the door. Jesse is gone. She calls Michael and tells him that Jesse knows everything now.

Like I stated earlier…Wow!! Here’s what I don’t get. Jesse is slated to be around for the entire duration of season 4, which after next week’s summer season finale, will be 6 episodes. So essentially, they are going to tie up the Jesse storyline in 6 episodes. I know the preview for next week looks awesome (well, it looks awesome to me at least), but it’s not like there will be some great disaster befalling Jesse. If creator Matt Nix says that Coby Bell is signed on for the whole season, I have to take at his word. Is the story with John Barrett going to extend into the winter season? My answer is probably. I don’t see his character showing up for 2 episodes, only to be killed or sent packing back home. If I were involved with the show, I would be trying to keep Robert Patrick in every remaining episode in season 4. I don’t know if that will happen, but I do know that it would be a waste not to keep Robert around.

Well Burn Notice fans, this year we only have to wait less than 3 months until the remaining episodes of season 4 air. November 11th is the date. 9 PM E.S.T. is the time. I can’t wait and I hope neither can you all. See you next week for the summer season finale review. I hope (actually I’m pretty sure) that the episode will rock. Cheers.