Having retrieved Simon’s bible cipher in last week’s episode, Michael decides he needs Simon’s help to decode it. Just before a hurricane hits, Michael asks Vaughn (Robert Wisdom) for a meeting with Simon, who’s being held at a secret prison facility. Vaughn refuses, instead asking Michael to give him the bible. Michael refuses, clearly making an enemy of Vaughn.
The next day, FBI agents Lane and Harris (who originally kept tabs on Michael in Season 1) asked for Michael’s help locating James Bailey, a witness who escaped FBI protection to visit his pregnant girlfriend. Bailey was now on the run from several hitmen, one of whom, Cole, had wounded Agent Lane. Tracking down Cole (Jon Seda), Michael was trapped by his homemade security measures. Cole assumed Michael was another hitman named Matt Reese, and he was reluctant to team up to find Bailey.
Despite being Cole’s hostage for much of the episode, Michael was able to read what kind of man Cole was: a former U.S. Marine discharged under murky circumstances. Complicating things, the real Matt Reese showed up to blow Michael’s cover.
Michael, Cole, and Reese all found Bailey around the same time, and Michael riskily decided Cole was not really a killer. Cole had only wounded Agent Lane, not killed him. Cole’s homemade security was set up so as not to snare innocent passersby. The respect that developed between Cole and Michael was one of this episode’s key dramatic arcs.
The other arc concerned Fiona, who received a visit from Vaughn offering to “un-burn” Jesse in exchange for Simon’s bible. Vaughn tried to play on Fiona’s desire to see justice for Jesse, as well as her desire to protect Michael from Simon. Even though Fiona has proven loyal to Michael, I thought she could very well have taken the offer, which might have set up some intriguing future episodes.
In the end, though, Fiona gave the bible to Michael, and Michael used his new friendly status with the FBI to force Vaughn to set up a meeting with Simon. I think it would have been more dramatic had Fiona gone behind Michael’s back and dealt with Vaugn, but I still enjoyed this episode for the dynamic between Michael and Cole.
