Recap / Burn Notice S 1 E 8 Wanted Man

Client of the Week

The morning after Michael and Fiona sleep together, they get together for a day at the beach. First, Fi has a job she wants Michael to help her with; she's picking up odd jobs as a bounty hunter. Her current target has returned and Fiona is in competition with another bounty hunter, Wayne Ray, to try and capture him. Michael distracts her foe while Fiona takes down the target, Thomas. Upon hearing his story, Fiona insists that they take him as a client. She also begins using him to make Michael jealous, to force him to admit that they are in a relationship.

Tom is a liquor distributor and is friends with a hotel manager who showed him a $2 million brooch. Tom's access card was used the night the brooch was stolen, and he's been arrested.

Sam has drinks with Barry, the money launderer, to get information on the brooch and gets the name of a fence who can get them the information they need. Barry declines to make an introduction, though, as they had a falling out over a bad deal that cost Barry a client. Sam promises Michael will cost Cristo a few clients of his own, and Barry tells Sam how to find Cristo.

Michael introduces himself to Cristo by breaking into his home. He also took the opportunity to search it and acquire some stolen goods Cristo had hidden in his freezer. Michael pressures Cristo into telling him who has the stolen brooch (making good on Sam's promise in the process). Cristo doesn't know the name, just the phone number. Michael keeps some jewelry so he can keep up the pressure on Cristo and protect his cover.

The phone number leads Team Westen to Lawrence Henderson, owner of the hotel the brooch was stolen from. He made some bad investments and needed the money. Tom was just a convenient fall guy. However, Henderson now has the problem of needing to sell the brooch and fast for his monetary debts, and buyers aren't exactly coming out of the woodwork for such a recognizable piece. Michael approaches Henderson as a fence, informing him that his contacts in Europe were less than discreet and offers to buy the piece. Their plan is to get Henderson to bring the jewels out into the open so they can get him caught with stolen goods and arrested.

While they're discussing this with Tom at Fiona's apartment, Wayne shows up and breaks in. It's a fight Michael cannot win, so it's fortunate Fi's there to bail him out. Fi breaks a snowglobe over Wayne's head and they take Tom to Michael's loft.

Despite a sit-down and haggling over the selling price, Henderson is too cautious to bring the brooch out, so Team Westen has to convince him that a large team is trying to get past his security. They leave evidence of surveillance, bribe a guard, and take out the security cameras. This works, and Henderson calls Michael in to talk about the sale. In fact, it was a trap; Henderson tortured Cristo and blew Michael's cover. Michael beats a hasty retreat.

Henderson still thinks his security is blown. With help from Barry, Team Westen learns where Henderson is likely to take the brooch. They stage a bank robbery and call the police. Then they call Henderson and get his guards to pull out their guns. The police buy the frame, and they find the brooch on Henderson's person. Tom's troubles are over.

Burn Notice Arc

Michael got a copy of his burn notice dossier from Jason Bly, and it's not good. Someone put together pieces of his past with a lot of lies to make him look untrustworthy. Meanwhile, Sam has gotten his friends at the FBI to tell him about the man who put together the dossier. His name is Phillip Cowan, and he works for the National Security Agency.

Michael asks Fi to reach out to her underworld associates, the scarier the better. In his own words, "I've been accused of being a major security risk; it's time I started acting like one." Fi sets him up to meet with some Libyans. Michael offers them a deal; they get Phillip Cowan in trouble with US security. In return, Michael will give them information about who blew up a Libyan gas supply depot.

The episode ends with a call from Phillip Cowan. The Libyans sent him a fruit basket and he's angry. Michael threatens to send even more problems his way unless he learns why he was burned. Cowan promises that he'll be in touch.

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Tropes include:

• Acceptable Break from Reality: How does Michael do laundry? Tom lampshades this, Michael shines it on.
• Actor Allusion:
  • Anwar's final meeting with Michael is in a car, with Anwar behind the wheel.
  • Sam brings up Spider-Man during his discussion with Barry, someone Bruce Campbell should be quite familiar with...
• The Big Damn Kiss: Subverted. When Tom goes in for it, Fi turns her head and sends him packing.
• The Big Guy: Bounty hunter Wayne Ray, played by former NFL linebacker Jeff Chase. He's huge. Lampshaded several times.
• Blindfolded Trip: Michael's trip to meet with the Libyans.
• Bluff Worked Too Well: Michael pretends to be a black market dealer trying to purchase a stolen diamond brooch from Henderson. He plants the suggestion that other buyers might try to get a Five-Finger Discount, then the team starts triggering alarms around his house to make it look like somebody's casing the joint. Henderson calls him back and it turns out he's been torturing Cristo, thinking he was in on it. Cristo quickly gave up Mike as having been trying to find the brooch, forcing him to run for it.
• Break-In Threat: How Michael introduces himself to Cristo, the fence.
• Brick Joke: Michael jokingly suggests to the Libyan he speaks with that they get Cowan in trouble with his superiors, maybe by sending him a fruit basket. At the end of the episode, Cowan calls Michael, furiously asking why the Libyans are sending him a fruit basket.
• Celebrity Paradox: While talking about people who use one name as an alias, Sam brings up Spider-Man as an example. Sam's actor Bruce Campbell previously appeared in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man Trilogy as various minor characters.
• Chekhov's Gun
  • Fiona's snowglobes. Gets fired twice. First, when she breaks one over the head of the giant bounty hunter who broke into her home. Second, when Michael buys her one as an Apology Gift at the end of the episode.
  • Also, the half-step Michael trips over in the first five minutes. He takes advantage of that to trip Wayne, the bounty hunter, later.
  • The jewelry Michael liberates from Cristo is handy later in establishing his cover ID as a high-end fence. It returns again when Sam gives it to Barry in payment for information.
• Choke Holds: Michael attempts one on Wayne, but he's too big and just pulls Michael off his back, and starts choking him.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: The Libyan threatens Michael with this, to which Michael tells him it wouldn't work. Also hinted as the eventual fate of the people who blew up the gas supply depot.
  Libyan: The security services in my country are not known for being gentle.
• Cold Cash: Cristo hides some jewels in his freezer, where Michael finds them. Michael lampshades this and points out it's too common a hiding place to be useful.
• Continuity Nod: The episode opens with the two things that happened at the end of the previous, Michael and Fi slept together, and Bly gave Michael his faked dossier before leaving Miami.
• Cryptically Unhelpful Answer: Tom wonders how Michael does his laundry. Mike just answers, "I manage."
• Distressed Dude: There's absolutely no way Michael could beat Wayne in a fight. The guy's huge. Fiona has to save him.
• The Ditz: Fiona's target, the client of the week, Tom. He's wanted by the police in connection with a crime and jumping bail, and he goes back to the scene of the crime.
• The Easy Way or the Hard Way: After tracking Thomas to Fiona's pad, Wayne Ray appears at the door and announces himself, "hard or easy, your choice!"
• Everything's Better with Sparkles: That brooch is 2 million dollars of diamonds set in platinum.
• Exact Words: Michael asks the Libyan secret police to implicate Philip Cowan by calling him "a friend" when they know the Americans are listening in on their conversation.
  Anwar: "A friend"? And say what?
  Michael: I don't know. Have the head of your secret service send him a fruit basket. Be creative.
  • At the end of the episode, Cowan calls Michael in a rage, revealing that the Libyans decided to take Michael at his word:
    Cowan: You want to tell me what the head of the Libyan secret police is doing sending me a fruit basket?!
• Frame-Up:
  • Tom's been framed by the owner of the hotel.
  • Michael's burn notice is also a frame job. It pieces together bits of real information about Michael's past with lots of dangerous lies.
  • Finally, Michael stages a frame to make it look like Henderson is trying to rob the bank. It doesn't need to stick; he just needs the cops to find the stolen brooch in his pocket.
• Friendly Sniper: Sam once again takes up a rifle for the cause.
• Giant Mook: Wayne. He's one of a very, very small handful of people in the series that Michael has no chance of beating in a straight-up fight.
• Gone Horribly Right: Pushing on Henderson's security sends him into a tailspin and he ends up torturing Cristo and blowing Michael's cover.
• Ham-to-Ham Combat: Sam and Henderson ham it up. Sam really wants that drink, and Henderson waves it around like it's a glowstick at a rave.
• Home Field Advantage: Michael points out how useful this is in the narration, as Wayne trips over something Michael tripped over earlier in the episode.
• Human Shield: Michael uses Henderson as one to escape from his security.
• I Am Very British: Tom spends some time teaching Fi about baseball. She mentions that it's really nothing like cricket.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: Sam's cover as Mike's middle man is very professional, which means he's not allowed to drink. Sam hates it. Word of God has it that when the actor playing Henderson learned that's where Bruce was taking his portrayal, he ramped up his handling of the alcohol props.
• Improvised Weapon: Michael takes Henderson hostage with his neck-tie and a ball point pen.
• Indy Ploy: Henderson moves in unexpected directions, scotching Michael's plan.
• Ironic Echo: "I didn't think we were in a relationship, Michael."
• Jumped at the Call: When Michael asks if Sam is going to help, Sam says, "Of course, when have I ever said no?"
• Kick the Dog: The fire that burned down Henderson's night club almost killed a bus boy.
• Kill It with Fire: Before Henderson bought the Victor, he owned a club in New Orleans that had a similar cash flow problem and was hit by a "very convenient fire".
• Laser-Guided Karma: Henderson framed Tom for stealing the diamond broach, and he gets taken down by a frame job making it look like he planned to rob a bank.
• Lethal Joke Item: The head of Libyan security sends Cowan a fruit basket.
• Noodle Incident: Something happened in Iran.
  Michael: Oooh, let's avoid people who use "Michael Westen" and "jihad" in the same sentence.
• Oh, Crap!: When Michael walks into a room and sees Cristo sitting there, badly beaten, and knows his cover's blown.
• Operation: Jealousy: When Michael doesn't acknowledge his and Fiona's night together as a Relationship Upgrade, Fi retaliates by inviting Tom to stay at her place, deliberately trying to make Mike jealous. Then Mike doesn't respond, so she ramps up her feigned interest in Tom until the poor guy thinks he and Fi actually have something going on, leading to the subverted Big Damn Kiss at the end of the episode.
• Only One Name: Cristo the fence. Sam and Barry also go back and forth listing celebrities: Madonna, Charro, Sting, Fergie, Pelé, Spider-Man, Liberace.
• Paranoia Gambit: The linchpin of Team Westen's psychological warfare against Henderson. Sometimes, however, it backfires.
  Michael: (narrating) The thing about security, is that the very things that protect you can be turned against you by someone who knows what he's doing. It's tough to compromise a well thought out security system, but making someone think you can compromise it, well, that's much easier. Take surveillance cameras, for example. You can disable one by shooting a laser at it and overloading the light-sensitive chip. Cheap, easy, and exactly the sort of thing a sophisticated criminal gang, with lots of resources, would do. Leave around some tell-tale signs of surveillance like cigarette butts, a forgotten camera lens cap, and the more security there is, the more likely they are to think they've got a very serious problem. Even the security team itself can be an opportunity. The more employees you have, the more you have to worry about. Deliver some vague threats and a few hundred bucks to a security guard. If he's honest, he'll tell his boss, who then wonders who wasn't so honest. For the cost of a nice dinner, you can get a whole security team canned.
  ...
  One of the dangers of any kind of psychological warfare, is it can be too effective, and send the target into a paranoid tail-spin. That paranoia can be useful... or deadly.
• Properly Paranoid: Henderson has a lot of security. Fair enough, he has enemies.
• Punch! Punch! Punch! Uh Oh...: During their fight, Michael hits Wayne several times, only for Wayne to completely No-Sell it.
  Michael: Ohhh, damn...
• Real Men Wear Pink: Michael's cover wears a pale rose shirt and a stronger pink pocket square.
• Relationship Upgrade: Michael tries to deny he and Fiona are in a relationship, to her disappointment.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Sam uses his FBI buddies to find out Phillip Cowan's name, and his cop buddies to find out who stole the brooch. Michael trades favors with the Libyans to rattle Cowan's cage and get him to contact him.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: He, in this case. Sam ditches the Hawaiian shirts for a nice suit and shaves.
• Simple Solution Won't Work: Anwar suggests he could just torture Michael for what he knows about the terrorist attack and then kill him. Michael matter-of-factly replies that they could do that, but "torture is unreliable, as you know, and then you'd have to deal with Fiona, who put me in touch with you. More trouble than it's worth, trust me."
• Surfer Dude: Michael briefly pretends to be one to distract the other bounty hunter. He says "dude" a lot.
• Too Dumb to Live: Or at least too dumb to hide. Tom McKee returns to the scene of the crime. In a car with his name on the license plate.
  Michael: Fi, I've got a feeling this guy isn't gonna be too tough to find. Is it always this easy for you?
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: The hotel employee who showed Tom the $2 million brooch because she'd thought it'd be fun for him to see such a huge diamond unknowingly made him the perfect target for her boss's Frame-Up.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: It's official; Sam and Fiona are on friendly, talking terms. Sam walks in and lets Michael know that Fiona's unhappy about how focused he is on his dossier.
• Why We Are Bummed Communism Fell: Sam hasn't had this much fun since East Germany.
• Your Favorite: Fiona makes Michael tuna with tahini.

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