A meeting with one of her old contacts (Jonathan LaPaglia) draws Fiona to a kidnapping ring. Meanwhile, Michael continues to follow Gilroy’s lead, hoping to stop whatever his master plan might be.
The plot momentum on Burn Notice is usually very good, but “Good Intentions” was one of the more loosely plotted episodes. I know Fiona can take care of herself, but her portion of the plot seemed to be all about her following her instincts. She had no idea what her old contact was involved in. Once she discovered the kidnapping ring and learned their hostage had a child, she was taken with the crusade not to the let the child grow up without a father.
LaPagla was only in a couple of brief scenes; it was almost a cameo. I thought he deserved better. At least the lead kidnapper (Carlos Bernard) was more fleshed out. A former doctor in Argentina, he saw illnesses caused by the arrival of high-tech firm Apex Industries. He also appealed to Fiona’s sympathies, having lost his own daughter. He planned to kidnap several of their executives to force Apex to admit the situation in Argentina.
In past reviews, I’ve mentioned I like how Michael and friends have slowly changed from cold-hearted operators to more classic heroes. In this episode, Fiona, Sam, and Michael were too clearly the good guys. Make characters too heroic and they have less nuance, seem less real to me.
All along, I knew the kidnapping plot couldn’t get too serious because the episode also had to advance the Gilroy plot. I didn’t really buy that Michael could keep his schedule with Gilroy and keep an eye on Fiona–even with Sam’s help. Too much was squeezed into this second-to-last episode. That said, I did like the final twist: Gilroy succeeded in diverting the black flight and meeting the prisoner. Instead of paying him, though, the prisoner double-crossed Gilroy, wiring him with explosives.
So Gilroy wasn’t the mastermind, after all. Seconds before he died, Gilroy managed tell Michael the prisoner’s name was Simon. I suppose viewers were supposed to think, if Simon outsmarted Gilroy, he must be a serious threat to Michael. Simon is also apparently a nemesis of Michael’s, but I would have felt more threatened if Simon had appeared on the show before. Then again, it’s possible “Simon” lied to Gilroy and he does have a deeper history on the show. We’ll see next week.
