Returning from a meeting where Gilroy reveals he wants Michael to steal six weeks of flight data, Michael finds his former mentor Larry (Tim Matheson) and a dead hitman at his loft. Having stolen $2 million from a Colombian cartel, Larry wants Michael’s help to stash the hitman’s body and kill another man in exchange for a new identity.
For about a season and a half, I’ve been craving an episode that drives a wedge between Michael, Fiona, and Sam. Larry turned out to be that wedge. A dark reflection of Michael, he tends to use Michael’s name as an alias to draw him out. This time, he hired a clueless hustler to spread the word that Michael Westen robbed the cartel, hence the hitman at Michael’s loft. Michael tried to clear his name with the cartel, but Larry kept sabotaging him out of personal greed but also out of a desire to regain Michael’s friendship.
Over the course of three seasons, Michael, Fiona, and Sam have done more good than harm, and it has changed them as characters. This episode showed where each of them, most importantly Michael, draws the moral line. Fiona was disgusted by how close Larry said he was to Michael. Meanwhile, Sam helped Michael get the flight data, but balked at handing it over to Gilroy. Larry used this tension against Michael, switching out the SIM card in Michael’s phone to make him believe Fiona and Sam weren’t returning his calls.
The B story involved Michael’s brother Nate (Seth Peterson) returning to Miami having suddenly married a Las Vegas blackjack dealer. He tried to persuade Maddie to move to Vegas. Nate and the clueless hustler ensured the episode’s tone wasn’t overly dark, but Nate also served as the voice of reason, tipping Michael off to Larry’s SIM card switch.
For all the character conflict it brought up, this episode could have been the season finale. I thought Michael’s apology to Fiona and Sam was a little too direct, but I suppose the situation called for straight talk. (“There’s a part of me that’s a lot like Larry, but it’s just a part, and it gets smaller the longer I’m with you.”) I can only guess what the final three episodes of the season have in store.
