Last night’s episode of Burn Notice was called “Rough Seas”, and while it was enjoyable enough as a stand-alone, it didn’t really do much to advance the actual burn notice plot. As I’ve been saying for the past couple of eps, I’d like to see more in the way of Michael addressing his own problems rather than always helping other people with theirs, so in that regard I was somewhat disappointed with 2×07.
Odd Job of the Week: Michael and Sam’s old acquaintance Virgil Watkins (who first appeared back in episode 1×06) is back in Miami after spending time away to avoid the guys who were after him before. He’s here for a good reason, though. It seems that Marcela, a young woman he knows runs a clinic that provides much-needed medication to underprivileged children, is in desperate need of assistance. A recent shipment of anti-virals headed for her clinic was hijacked at sea, and the villains made off with the entire load, which is valued at approximately $1 million. There’s no way the clinic can simply replace the stolen meds, so she needs to get her original shipment back. Michael of course agrees to help.
With Sam and Virgil’s help, Mike infiltrates the gang of thieves led by a thug named Gerard. Michael poses as a dorky chemist whose expertise is critical for ensuring that the next shipment of “super steroids” that Gerard wants to intercept is not compromised during transportation. Once Mike figures out where the anti-virals are being stored, he and his crew move in to reclaim the stolen stash.
Burn Notice Progress: Fiona introduces Mike to Seymour, an old arms dealing acquaintance of hers. Michale wants information about the Russian sniper rifle that he x-rayed last week, but it turns out that Seymour knows very little about it. All he can tell Mike is that the guy who modified the weapon for the last buyer is now dead and his store was burned to the ground, so they’re obviously dealing with some very serious and dangerous people here.
Character development: Again, not much in the way of character development this week. Fiona has a mysterious new boyfriend, but she breaks dates with him in order to help Mike when needed. Virgil still has feelings for Madeline, and after initially opposing the relationship, Mike decides to step back and let those two do whatever they want.
My Reaction: I loved that Michael played a geek for once! He always poses as rich, suave, sophisticated businessmen, so it was great to see him go the other way and act like a stumbling, bumbling, OCD-afflicted doofus instead! His turn as the chemist was absolutely hilarious, and made an otherwise ordinary plot a lot more interesting. Here’s hoping the writers continue to let him assume these vastly different characterizations!
I thought the burn notice storyline was a bit weak in this episode, and was unnecessarily dragged out by the botched deals and so forth. Maybe it’s just the fact that I’m tired of seeing the actor who played Seymour appear on all these different shows as essentially the same deranged character, but I was bored whenever he was on screen.
Anyway, there’s going to be a bit of a hiatus before Burn Notice returns on September 11. Let’s hope the second half of the season focuses more on the actual burn notice than the first half did!
