Burn Notice – “Bloodlines” – review

Jesse asks Michael, Fiona, and Sam’s help when his security firm is hired to find a missing Japanese woman, one of several who had fallen into a human trafficking scheme by the Yakuza. Michael is too busy to help with the first part of the case as the CIA has assigned him to keep tabs on a brilliant but womanizing British national and make sure he doesn’t spill any secrets.

Fiona, Sam, and Jesse captured Takeda (Brian Tee), a member of the Yakuza, and tried to force him to reveal where the kidnapped women were being held. When Takeda resisted, Michael had to join in, playing a violent boss character. Against Michael’s better judgment, Maddie played the key role of a nurse kidnapped to drug Takeda. She was able to form a desperate friendship with Takeda, making him believe both their lives were in peril and that they needed to contact Takeda’s Yakuza friends if they hoped to survive.

The scenes between Maddie and Michael were especially powerful because Michael had to push Maddie around and strike her to make Takeda fear him as the boss. Maddie eventually revealed that Michael was emulating his abusive father, Frank Westen.

While Michael was playing the boss character, Fiona helped keep an eye on the British national. At first, she appealed to his boredom, offering a sexy, adventurous alternative to his wife. Subtly, she elevated her performance to “psycho” level, and the Brit proved loyal to his wife underneath it all.

Michael’s CIA contact, Max, was a little upset that Michael enlisted Fiona’s help, but he couldn’t argue with the results. In the final scene, Michael asked Fiona to move into the loft with him, providing Season 5′s first arc.

In my review of last week’s premiere, I mentioned my fear that Burn Notice would become a more traditional spy show. “Bloodlines” was a welcome return to the series’ familiar formula of helping the everyman.