Line #17 Recap/BurnNoticeS2E3TrustMe


1	At Michael's mother's poker game, Fi volunteers him for a case. One of Madeleine's friend's has a son who got into it with a loan shark for two hundred grand, only it turns out he lost the money to a con man. The client, Andy, got hooked by Zeke, the con man, with the possibility of an investment. The catch: the investment is in a night club in Havana, and thus illegal. Andy made an investment, got an immediate return, and went all in. Then, naturally, Zeke got raided by "feds" while Andy got hustled out the back. Now the loan shark Baranski wants his money back. Michael poses as a rich playboy looking to get conned, Sam as his money manager whose signature is needed, and Fi as a girl to distract Zeke.
2
3	On the burn notice front, Michael sneaks into a Pakistani consulate to steal some documents, so that he can use those to force the resident spy to get him information on Carla (established in the previous episode to have spent time in Kurdistan). Sam causes a scene out front while Michael goes in the back posing as a journalist (consulates help make business happen and they hate bad press), where he grabs some documents. The head of security (a spy, naturally), meets with Michael, but doesn't bite on the blackmail; Michael's threat isn't big enough to make him give up the info Michael has.
4
5	A running thread throughout the episode is people trying to get Michael to move on from Fiona even as he insists he and Fiona were ''not'' dating.
6
7	----
8
9	* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Andy, the client, keeps not understanding what the team are going to do to get his money back.
10	* TheCracker: Barry is needed to fake a wire transfer to sell the con on Zeke, but Barry notes that just making 200 grand appear in an offshore bank account is a tall order even for him. He further emphasizes that the method he ''can'' use (wiring the money from an account that happens to be closed) will only work for the time it takes someone to notice the illegal transfer and "one panicked phone call to Aruba, [Michael's] money is gone", and that he can only keep them off Michael for maybe five minutes (and if it were anyone else, it would be three). There's even a moment at the meeting where the transfer takes longer than usual, though ultimately Barry pulls through and Zeke is too wound up from the rest of the chaos of Michael's plan to even look at the account until his pissed-off and still-alive partners show up, only then realizing he was conned.
11	* DoorClosesEnding: The last we see of Zeke, he's despairingly repeating that he gave Michael all of the money in the safe as his pissed-off partners shut the door to the room.
12	* EveryCarIsAPinto: Sam takes a submachine gun to the fuel tank of Zeke's partners' car. On the one hand, it takes most of the mag before the car catches fire, but on the other, Sam is for some reason aiming at the filler cap instead of the actual tank. Normally when the team needs to make a car blow up they use actual explosives.
13	* FabricatedBlackmail: Michael steals some random files from the Pakistani consulate and holds them hostage to find out what Pakistani intelligence knows about his handler Carla, whom he believes was once stationed in Kurdistan. The security chief, Waseem, tells him the files are worth less than the information, so Michael returns them and has Sam photograph the handoff, then threatens to make it look like Waseem is accepting a bribe (which he admits is too flimsy to get him in serious trouble, but Waseem would probably lose his cushy assignment in Miami). Waseem folds, and Michael gives him the negatives in exchange for the file ISI has on Carla.
14	* HollywoodLaw: Sam says the Pakistani Consulate is foreign soil. That's the popular belief, but not true. Diplomatic missions have various immunities and privileges, and the host country can't enter without permission, but it's not foreign soil and the host country's laws still apply.
15	* InexplicableCorneredEscape: Michael is forced to improvise while he's sneaking into his mark's office, and winds up [[MacGyvering converting his cell phone into an audio bug]] right there. As he's doing this, Zeke's business partners approach the office door. There's a shot of Michael in the office, as he finishes hiding the bug. Then there's a shot of the men opening the door and walking into the office--and then Michael emerges from the bathroom, directly next to the office door.
16	* IronicEcho: Andy claims that Zeke showed him a safe filled with cash, "fat wads of it" as part of the sales pitch. When Michael actually manages to get into said safe, she finds that most of it is cheap counterfeit cash, just a few hundred-dollar bills over a bunch of filler to impress foolish marks, and he emphasizes by calling the fake cash "fat wads of it" to Andy.
17	* LoanShark: Baranski is the AffablyEvil type, fully willing to beat a man who owes him money and [[IHaveYourWife kidnap his mother]] to use as a hostage for incentive, but also never raising his voice and sticking to his word that he wouldn't hurt said mother. Indeed, he returns her with no physical injury once the money is brought. As Michael points out, despite his rage at Baranski doing the kidnapping, Baranski's actions are to prove a point that he ''wants'' his money back.
18	* MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels: Michael writes a note in Urdu to Waseem, the Pakistani head of security, to set up their meeting. At the meeting, Waseem points out the note said he'd be wearing a white shirt... and a kind of spicy goat cheese. Michael replies, "I was trying to say 'black pants'. My Urdu's a little rusty."
19	-->'''Waseem:''' Well, at least you got the name of the restaurant right.
20	* PoorMansSubstitute: [[invoked]]In-Universe, Fi calls Zeke "smooth in a cheesy, Sam-kind of way". Sam unoffended simply says "smooth is smooth, baby."
21	* ProperlyParanoid: Zeke's unnamed partners/the fake FBI agents don't want to do the scam with an electronic wire transfer but cold hard cash, as that's far more reliable, and they tell Zeke to cut Michael's cover loose no matter how big a "whale" he is if he causes too much trouble. When Zeke goes ahead regardless and ends up being conned in turn, [[YouHaveFailedMe they're none too pleased]].
22	* RunningGag:
23	** Everyone comments on how they can see how easy it was for Andy to lose his money.
24	** Sam getting interrupted before he can drink his beer.
25	* ScottyTime: Michael needs Barry to do a phony wire transfer:
26	-->'''Barry:''' I'll need a couple days to set it up. \
27	'''Michael:''' How does a couple hours sound?\
28	'''Barry:''' It sounds like Michael Westen.
29	* TruthInTelevision: Yes, foreign countries run intelligence services through their diplomatic missions. So, for that matter, does the United States.
30	* MrViceGuy: Waseem really enjoys his life in the US. He's dating lots of girls
31	* TheVoiceless: The shorter of Zeke's partners never says a word.

Context Recap / BurnNoticeS2E3TrustMe