Burn Notice: Fiona Goes Hard Out For Information

Fiona contacts her old flame, arms dealer Armand (Gavin Rossdale), to learn who made the bomb that almost killed Jacob Starky. In return for this information, Armand asks her to hijack a truck full of armor-piercing ammunition. Meanwhile, Michael, Jesse, and Agent Pearce (Lauren Stamile) sail to a Caribbean island to covertly apprehend traitor Steve Cahill (Henry Lubatti). Their escape is complicated by the arrival of a mercenary army.

Once again, we have Michael facing superior numbers, but “Hard Out” stood out because Michael and Jesse couldn’t call Fiona and Sam for help. Instead, Michael had the idea to pose as a covert team sent to check the mercenaries’ security set-up. Accordingly, Michael, Jesse, and Pearce knocked out long-range communications from the island, so their identities couldn’t be checked higher up the chain of command.

I’ve sometimes doubted whether Michael and friends could realistically fool people. In this case, you would think an experienced group of mercenaries wouldn’t fall for a covert security team showing up out of nowhere. Pearce pointed out that Michael’s plan was a long shot, but, perhaps because it was such a long shot, I enjoyed watching Michael pull it off. With no official documents explaining his presence on the island, he had to rely on his acting ability alone, constantly gauging what the mercenaries would believe.

Meanwhile, Fiona’s mission for Armand was fraught with the tension of their past romance. Also, stealing a shipment of ammunition is the sort of activity Fiona had given up since working with Michael to help people. Armand played up Michael’s absence, hinting that he would have treated her better. By the end of the episode, Fiona was upset with Michael for putting her through an ordeal. I would have sympathized with her except she was the one who decided to contact Armand, and Michael repeatedly told her she didn’t have to do it. It may have been a sign of Armand’s unhealthy influence on her that he could make her question her commitment to Michael.

In any case, the final moments of romantic tension between Michael and Fiona seemed trumped-up, as did Fiona’s jealousy upon learning Agent Pearce was a woman–two loose parts to an otherwise well-executed episode.