Burn Notice 4x05 - 4x09
Jul. 1st, 2011 01:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
icepixie4x05
Not bad, not bad. My favorite part was the smug kid showing Mike and Sam how to fly the plane. Finally, something Michael isn't naturally good at! Sam seemed to enjoy that aspect. Oh, and I also liked that Fi got to shoot at people and blow things up to her heart's content. The moment where she was all, "I have sniper rifles in the trunk," and Michael says, "No, that'll give us away, we should..." [drug dealer prepares Molotov cocktail] "...you said something about sniper rifles?" And then they tag-teamed to drive off the drug dealers. Awesome.
4x06
I really enjoyed Michael and Fi playing off each other was they did the job of the week together. (Also: finally, something they earned money from!) Timing each other while they picked locks and insulting the results was great.
Jesse has also improved a lot. He made good use of his relative inexperience here in breaking Kendra, even if it did take him a while to shut up and let Michael detail the plan. And it was kind of cute the way he told Sam he missed him, then asked if that was weird.
4x07
GOOD TIMES. I loved seeing reminders that Michael really was quite the badass when he was a spy, and it was also good for him (and us) to see the "Ghost of Christmas Future" in ex-spy Paul (Burt Reynolds!). I also found it hilarious how much Paul kind of resembled Walter and Michael maybe some combination of Olivia and Peter.
Paul: Finally, I get to kill some Russians!
Michael: Not now!
Paul: Anyone ever tell you you're no fun?
Michael: All the time.
Also:
Paul: *shoots at Russians*
Michael: Stop that! Stop that right now!
- Heh, Michael still has the ENTIRE RUSSIAN SPECIAL FORCES scared of him. "I'm Michael Westen. Yeah, that one."
- Alexi looked extremely familiarand rather attractive, but IMDB claims he's never been in anything I've seen. Hmm.
- Has it really only been a year in show-time since the pilot? Wow. I could tell it hadn't been three and a half years, but I was thinking it had been at least two.
- "Do you know where it is?" / "Uh, yeah. It's a bar." Never change, Sam.
- "Technology has improved a bit since the last time you stole their specs." Hee! Poor, frustrated Michael.
- "Not my fiancee, Fiona." At least he didn't deny she was his girlfriend...
- "All you have in the end are your stories." Like the jobs you've done in Miami? Hint, hint...
- Ah, yes, it's midseason, so it's time for Fiona to get pissed at Michael for reasons related to the story arc. Next episode, she has to be endangered and they have to fall into each others' arms, because Fiona is endangered and they make up at midseason just like Michael willingly and warily walks into the lion's den at the end of each season, because that's just How Things Work on this show. (Okay, in S1 they smooshed both the fight and the making up into the same five minutes, but the formula stands for S2-4.)
- It's interesting that the argument they keep having is nothing like what Michael suggested their biggest sticking point was in the pilot. There, he figured they couldn't be happy together because she's too interested in violence for him, but in fact their differences rest in whether they care more about individuals or principles. Which fits their individual backgrounds pretty well; Michael did the CIA thing because he wanted to protect Americans as a group of 300 million, and Fiona went into the IRA because she wanted revenge for a specific person's death.
4x08
All that about how big events on the show run like clockwork aside, I was particularly appreciative of it this time around, because this episode was excellent. "Where there's smoke, there's...Fiona," indeed. She got to kick ass and take names here, and be just as creatively destructive as Michael, but with her own unique spin. Plus, there was teamwork! And the inevitable and much-appreciated Michael/Fi reunion kiss, not to mention the traditional way of shooting it from overhead. (Srsly, check out the ones in "Hot Shot" and "Friendly Fire." They also seem to have a thing about emphasizing their height difference by having Fi sitting on a barstool or at least not wearing her usual ridiculous heels, I guess because it makes Michael look more protective or something. ...Shut up, it's totally obvious at the first glance, I have not watched them all that many times, I swear.)
- Loved Michael freaking out when Maddie was apparently getting arrested for smoking in the bank vault. And of course she conned her way out by going all weeping widow. "First thing Frank's been good for in thirty years." Bwahahaha!
- Charles and Charlotte Findley. HAAAAAA HAHAHAHAHAHA. The only thing that would've made it better would have been if Fi and Sam had had to actually pretend to be married at the party.
- And Fi convinces the kidnappers to kidnap her along with the victim of the week so that she can break them out. BECAUSE SHE IS JUST THAT AWESOME.
- And she blinks Morse code to communicate to the others.
- "Sometimes you have to be your own white knight." Preferably with homemade explosives!
- I liked Michael's little moment of realization that Fi might have a point about what he's becoming, even if he didn't get much time to really think it over.
- Woooow. Hi, product placement. Now I know all about Hyundai's rear-wheel drive and how their super-special brakes mean that you can go faster in a car chase. I think this might've been even more blatant than the Ford rearview camera thingy Fringe did in the most recent season. There was a definite air of, "You want product placement? WE'LL GIVE YOU PRODUCT PLACEMENT, BY GOD," from the production side there. *g*
- Aw. Michael still can't speak Spanish. "En inglés, por fav--please!"
- Loved loved loved Fiona breaking herself out of the handcuffs (and having to shove her shoulder back into its socket, OW), making the light bulb bomb, and wrapping Big Brother Jacob up in enough duct tape to...well, let's just say that probably hurt a lot when it came off.
- Poor Jesse. "Wow, they are really caught up in each other. I definitely feel like a third wheel. Guess I'll just leave now..." Only to have Maddie tell him that attempting to win Fiona's affections would be a really, really bad idea. Uh...I had missed that there was even supposed to be tension there, but whatevs.
- Speaking of that speech: "They love each other. And they hate each other. But it's always each other." Yeah, that about sums it up, doesn't it?
- "We try not to talk about our upcoming felonies."
- A BOOK CIPHER. AWESOME. My favorite thing about espionage is codes and ciphers, so I am very well-pleased at this Bible cipher key of Simon's they've found. In general, I'm finding this season's arc much more interesting than the past two. I think because it actually feels like Michael's making progress on finding answers to a legit mystery, rather than just wandering around doing what outsiders tell him because he hopes they can get him unburned.
- On the other hand...oy, Michael, will you just tell Jesse already? It's not like you did it on purpose. Part of me wonders if Jesse's naivete is all an act and he's actually known who burned him from the very beginning. That would be nifty.
4x09
- Teehee. Fi's heard Michael's spiel so often she can recite it forwards and backwards. "I was mocking you, but that doesn't mean you're wrong."
- Finally, Miami gets a hurricane! It's high time they had an episode featuring one. Or the aftermath, whatever.
- And it blew in Harris and Lane, our favorite FBI agents! Who are about to lose their jobs and need Michael to help them, for which they will owe him a massive favor. Nice.
- "This is awkward." Getting caught breaking into someone's apartment generally is.
- Oooh, Vaughn's getting sneaky, going to Fiona to get the Bible! With an offer to reinstate Jesse, even.
- "Add some flammable household cleaners to the condensation pan, and your AC unit will pump out fire instead of cold air." And this would be why I love this show.
- Awww, Fi still has faith in Michael. Good for her.
- Heh. That was a quick favor.
- NOOOO, SIMON-THE-ABYSS WILL STARE BACK AT YOOOOOOUUUU! Annnnd scene.
Not bad, not bad. My favorite part was the smug kid showing Mike and Sam how to fly the plane. Finally, something Michael isn't naturally good at! Sam seemed to enjoy that aspect. Oh, and I also liked that Fi got to shoot at people and blow things up to her heart's content. The moment where she was all, "I have sniper rifles in the trunk," and Michael says, "No, that'll give us away, we should..." [drug dealer prepares Molotov cocktail] "...you said something about sniper rifles?" And then they tag-teamed to drive off the drug dealers. Awesome.
4x06
I really enjoyed Michael and Fi playing off each other was they did the job of the week together. (Also: finally, something they earned money from!) Timing each other while they picked locks and insulting the results was great.
Jesse has also improved a lot. He made good use of his relative inexperience here in breaking Kendra, even if it did take him a while to shut up and let Michael detail the plan. And it was kind of cute the way he told Sam he missed him, then asked if that was weird.
4x07
GOOD TIMES. I loved seeing reminders that Michael really was quite the badass when he was a spy, and it was also good for him (and us) to see the "Ghost of Christmas Future" in ex-spy Paul (Burt Reynolds!). I also found it hilarious how much Paul kind of resembled Walter and Michael maybe some combination of Olivia and Peter.
Paul: Finally, I get to kill some Russians!
Michael: Not now!
Paul: Anyone ever tell you you're no fun?
Michael: All the time.
Also:
Paul: *shoots at Russians*
Michael: Stop that! Stop that right now!
- Heh, Michael still has the ENTIRE RUSSIAN SPECIAL FORCES scared of him. "I'm Michael Westen. Yeah, that one."
- Alexi looked extremely familiar
- Has it really only been a year in show-time since the pilot? Wow. I could tell it hadn't been three and a half years, but I was thinking it had been at least two.
- "Do you know where it is?" / "Uh, yeah. It's a bar." Never change, Sam.
- "Technology has improved a bit since the last time you stole their specs." Hee! Poor, frustrated Michael.
- "Not my fiancee, Fiona." At least he didn't deny she was his girlfriend...
- "All you have in the end are your stories." Like the jobs you've done in Miami? Hint, hint...
- Ah, yes, it's midseason, so it's time for Fiona to get pissed at Michael for reasons related to the story arc. Next episode, she has to be endangered and they have to fall into each others' arms, because Fiona is endangered and they make up at midseason just like Michael willingly and warily walks into the lion's den at the end of each season, because that's just How Things Work on this show. (Okay, in S1 they smooshed both the fight and the making up into the same five minutes, but the formula stands for S2-4.)
- It's interesting that the argument they keep having is nothing like what Michael suggested their biggest sticking point was in the pilot. There, he figured they couldn't be happy together because she's too interested in violence for him, but in fact their differences rest in whether they care more about individuals or principles. Which fits their individual backgrounds pretty well; Michael did the CIA thing because he wanted to protect Americans as a group of 300 million, and Fiona went into the IRA because she wanted revenge for a specific person's death.
4x08
All that about how big events on the show run like clockwork aside, I was particularly appreciative of it this time around, because this episode was excellent. "Where there's smoke, there's...Fiona," indeed. She got to kick ass and take names here, and be just as creatively destructive as Michael, but with her own unique spin. Plus, there was teamwork! And the inevitable and much-appreciated Michael/Fi reunion kiss, not to mention the traditional way of shooting it from overhead. (Srsly, check out the ones in "Hot Shot" and "Friendly Fire." They also seem to have a thing about emphasizing their height difference by having Fi sitting on a barstool or at least not wearing her usual ridiculous heels, I guess because it makes Michael look more protective or something. ...Shut up, it's totally obvious at the first glance, I have not watched them all that many times, I swear.)
- Loved Michael freaking out when Maddie was apparently getting arrested for smoking in the bank vault. And of course she conned her way out by going all weeping widow. "First thing Frank's been good for in thirty years." Bwahahaha!
- Charles and Charlotte Findley. HAAAAAA HAHAHAHAHAHA. The only thing that would've made it better would have been if Fi and Sam had had to actually pretend to be married at the party.
- And Fi convinces the kidnappers to kidnap her along with the victim of the week so that she can break them out. BECAUSE SHE IS JUST THAT AWESOME.
- And she blinks Morse code to communicate to the others.
- "Sometimes you have to be your own white knight." Preferably with homemade explosives!
- I liked Michael's little moment of realization that Fi might have a point about what he's becoming, even if he didn't get much time to really think it over.
- Woooow. Hi, product placement. Now I know all about Hyundai's rear-wheel drive and how their super-special brakes mean that you can go faster in a car chase. I think this might've been even more blatant than the Ford rearview camera thingy Fringe did in the most recent season. There was a definite air of, "You want product placement? WE'LL GIVE YOU PRODUCT PLACEMENT, BY GOD," from the production side there. *g*
- Aw. Michael still can't speak Spanish. "En inglés, por fav--please!"
- Loved loved loved Fiona breaking herself out of the handcuffs (and having to shove her shoulder back into its socket, OW), making the light bulb bomb, and wrapping Big Brother Jacob up in enough duct tape to...well, let's just say that probably hurt a lot when it came off.
- Poor Jesse. "Wow, they are really caught up in each other. I definitely feel like a third wheel. Guess I'll just leave now..." Only to have Maddie tell him that attempting to win Fiona's affections would be a really, really bad idea. Uh...I had missed that there was even supposed to be tension there, but whatevs.
- Speaking of that speech: "They love each other. And they hate each other. But it's always each other." Yeah, that about sums it up, doesn't it?
- "We try not to talk about our upcoming felonies."
- A BOOK CIPHER. AWESOME. My favorite thing about espionage is codes and ciphers, so I am very well-pleased at this Bible cipher key of Simon's they've found. In general, I'm finding this season's arc much more interesting than the past two. I think because it actually feels like Michael's making progress on finding answers to a legit mystery, rather than just wandering around doing what outsiders tell him because he hopes they can get him unburned.
- On the other hand...oy, Michael, will you just tell Jesse already? It's not like you did it on purpose. Part of me wonders if Jesse's naivete is all an act and he's actually known who burned him from the very beginning. That would be nifty.
4x09
- Teehee. Fi's heard Michael's spiel so often she can recite it forwards and backwards. "I was mocking you, but that doesn't mean you're wrong."
- Finally, Miami gets a hurricane! It's high time they had an episode featuring one. Or the aftermath, whatever.
- And it blew in Harris and Lane, our favorite FBI agents! Who are about to lose their jobs and need Michael to help them, for which they will owe him a massive favor. Nice.
- "This is awkward." Getting caught breaking into someone's apartment generally is.
- Oooh, Vaughn's getting sneaky, going to Fiona to get the Bible! With an offer to reinstate Jesse, even.
- "Add some flammable household cleaners to the condensation pan, and your AC unit will pump out fire instead of cold air." And this would be why I love this show.
- Awww, Fi still has faith in Michael. Good for her.
- Heh. That was a quick favor.
- NOOOO, SIMON-THE-ABYSS WILL STARE BACK AT YOOOOOOUUUU! Annnnd scene.