Burn Notice: Sam, Serbians, and Who’s Carmelo Again?

In this week’s episode, “Enemy of My Enemy,” Agent Pearce (Lauren Stamile) asks Michael to help recover a Predator drone stolen by a group of Serbians. Since the Serbians have superior numbers and firepower, Michael plans to make it look like they stole heroin from Carmelo (Todd Stashwick), a powerful drug dealer last seen at the end of Season 1. Carmelo would then send his men after the Serbians, allowing Michael to recover the Predator in the crossfire.

I didn’t remember Carmelo, but apparently he had sworn to kill Michael if he ever saw him again, so Michael had to use Sam as an undercover asset. Michael and Fiona made it look as if the Serbians fired on Carmelo’s men while on the road. In the aftermath, Sam posed as the Serbians’ unwilling driver and sold Carmelo the story that the Serbians had stolen his drugs.

Michael’s plan to pit Carmelo against the Serbians was a stretch to begin with, in my opinion. If I were Carmelo, I don’t know that I would have continued to believe Sam after a captured Serbian denied any knowledge of the drug theft. I also found Michael’s having to avoid Carmelo a convenient plot device not to involve Michael more directly in the mission. I don’t watch Burn Notice to see Michael as the mastermind who stages things from behind the scenes and doesn’t do much himself.

Michael took on a similar mastermind role sending Fiona and Maddie to the county clerk’s office to identify last week’s Michael impersonator from DMV records. The impersonator, Jacob Starkey, had apparently been a pawn of still-unseen forces. At the end of the episode, though, Michael spied on Jacob buying a gun.

Despite my criticisms, I liked that this episode took the opportunity of Sam’s peril to highlight Michael and Sam’s long friendship.