'Burn Notice' recap: "Bloodlines" (Season 5, Episode 2)

Michael Westen is on vacation in Costa Rica with Fiona now that he is no longer burned. He and Fiona are riding around chasing each other on dirt bikes, but they are interrupted by two men in military fatigues. Fiona, rather upset, says that for their next vacation they will be going to the Riviera, rather than a government training facility.

The scene changes to a view of the Miami skyline, and then the Nuclear Engineering and Technology Global Conference inside a hotel. Max, the CIA agent, walks up to a bar where Michael is seated. Michael greets Max without turning around, before Max can even indicate his presence. Max smiles and steps up to the bar to the left of Michael, asking him how his trip to Costa Rica was. Michael replies that it wasn’t bad “for government-funded R&R” and thanks Max for setting it up.

Max proceeds to fill Michael in on their next job, which is to guard Carson Huxley, a British scientist who is apparently a valuable asset to the CIA. The scene cuts to a man in glasses taking a shot of tequila—Michael comments that he looks like he is about to eat the worm.

Max fills Michael in on Huxley, saying that he has the IQ of a rocket scientist and the libido of a rock star. He is a top nuclear engineer for the British government, who likes to cheat on his wife at scientific conferences. Max is afraid that he will be blackmailed if someone gets photos of him with another woman.

Michael, in voice-over, says that intelligence groups spend more money trying to protect secrets than they do trying to steal them. But no security measures can protect information that is leaked from “an indiscreet asset’s mouth.” Max decides to take the first shift when they see Huxley flirting with a woman at another part of the bar.

In the next scene, a realtor is showing Fiona an empty apartment, telling her about the great view and features of the apartment. The realtor mentions to Fiona that it will be a great bachelorette pad, and that she should have showed Fiona this apartment before the others. She gives Fiona a few minutes alone to think, suggesting that she “imagine the possibilities”.

Fiona mentions that the balcony is the perfect size to lay prone with a sniper rifle, but that she can’t see a place for her snow globe collection. Michael, who is standing out on the balcony, is clearly distracted and doesn’t hear her. He receives a phone call from Jesse, telling Fiona they have to go so they can meet him. Fiona mentions to the realtor when she returns, that Michael can’t concentrate unless an international conspiracy threatens his life.

When Michael and Fiona meet with Jesse in an alley, he tells them that he was approached during his work as a private security guard and he needs Michael’s help with a job. Michael initially rejects his request, telling him that now that he has been restored to CIA work, he can’t drop that to do another job. Jesse tells him that a lot of people are in danger and that he needs Michael’s help. He says that a lot of girls are going to die if they don’t do something about it.

The next scene shows Michael, Fiona and Jesse in an office as Jesse tells them what he knows about the job he has for them. Michael tells Jesse that he wants to help but that the timing couldn’t be worse due to his duties babysitting Carson Huxley. Fiona walks over to help Michael fix his necktie, not-so-subtly hinting to him that he should help to save the girls’ lives. He tries to protest but she nearly chokes him with his tie.

Jesse asks Michael if he has stopped wanting to help people now that he is back to working for the CIA. Michael replies that he will help as soon as he is able to do so. Fiona butts in, saying that “those of us who are able to prioritize” are available to help Jesse with the human trafficking problem.

In the next scene, Jesse, Fiona and Sam are meeting the woman who approached Jesse about the human trafficking. Her family lives in a small Japanese village outside Kyoto, and she heard from them that her cousin had been taken from their village by criminals from the city with the promise of getting a job. The cousin, Noriko, is only 15. She heard from the family of one of the other victims that they were in Miami, after the girl called her family from a cell phone stolen off of one of the traffickers. The client tried contacting the police, but without more information there is nothing they can do to find Noriko and the other girls.

Jesse’s company has contacts in the telecommunications industry and he was able to get the cell phone the girl used tracked to a South Beach hotel. They decide to go check out the hotel, with Sam commenting that he hopes Michael will be done with his CIA job soon.

Back at the conference, Michael is sitting with Huxley at the bar and they are talking and laughing over drinks. Michael is in the middle of telling a joke about Cuban cigars. Their chat is interrupted when Huxley’s phone rings, but he doesn’t answer it. His wife is calling, and he tells Michael that her specialty is complaining to him.

They have been married for 23 years, but he no longer loves her. He tells Michael that they do nothing but fight. Huxley is distracted when two pretty women start to walk toward them, but Michael prevents them from coming over by spilling his drink on himself—and then bringing up Huxley’s wife in a loud voice when he tells Michael to quiet down.

On South Beach, Fiona, Jesse and Sam have tracked down their suspect, a man named Takeda, and are watching him out by the hotel pool. They spot clues that point to him being a member of the Yakuza, the Japanese mafia. Takeda gets tipped off by a hotel worker that someone is looking for him, and he leads Sam and Fiona on a chase through the hotel and down the street before he is hit by a car and they can get him into custody in Jesse’s car.

Once they have him in custody, they ask Michael to play the big boss of a rival trafficking group and get Madeline Westen to play a nurse and tend to Takeda’s wounds. In order to keep up the charade, Michael has to scream at his mother before she goes in to take care of Takeda. He walks in after her and threatens to kill Takeda unless he tells Michael where the girls are being kept.

Takeda tells Michael he will not betray his people, and even threatens to kill Michael’s whole family. He replies by digging his hand into the wound on Takeda’s hip. After they have finished with the charade, Madeline is visibly shaken from Michael’s performance and needs his help in lighting a cigarette. Michael tells Fiona and Sam he will need to get drugs from his friend Sugar to get Takeda to talk.

While Michael is working on the trafficking case, he asks Fiona to babysit Huxley for him to keep foreign operatives from getting to him. She goes to have drinks with Huxley, giving him what he wants while keeping him out of trouble. She ends up taking him on a crazy drive down the interstate and scaring him to death when she threatens to call his wife.

Sugar arrives with the drugs and Madeline goes in to give him the shot, but she ends up putting the drug into the mattress at Takeda’s request. Michael is angry with her when she tells him she didn’t give Takeda the shot, but she insists that she can get him to talk to her since he hasn’t talked to anyone else.

Sam briefs Madeline on what to do and say when she goes back in to see Takeda. They tell her that Michael will rough her up a bit and she suggests that Michael hit her. He seems shaken by the idea but reluctantly agrees.

After Michael storms out of the room following the hit, Madeline gets the time and location of a meeting Takeda was supposed to attend that afternoon. Takeda tells her to ask for Hiroshi. Michael is still disturbed by the turn of events.

Back at the hotel, Fiona is chasing Huxley until he hides in a men’s bathroom. The trip with Fiona has made him realize how much he loves his wife and how much she means to him.

Sam is at the restaurant where the meeting is taking place. Jesse and the client are in a car across the street, listening in with powerful microphones from Jesse’s work. They get some interference when another group sits down in front of the mics, but the client is able to translate part of the conversation before the men leave. They find out that if Takeda doesn’t check in within two hours, all of the girls will be killed.

Back at the house, Michael and Sam are trying to figure out what to do about the girls. It seems the only solution is for Madeline to fake an escape with Takeda to lead them to where the girls are being kept. It is revealed that the reason why this charade has been so hard on both Madeline and Michael, is because Michael has been acting just like his father did toward her.

She gets into the room and tells Takeda she’s shot Michael full of morphine, but that they only have a few minutes to get out. She gets him to a car just as Michael comes running out, and he shoots out one of the tail lights. Jesse and Fiona chase them in another car to make the escape more convincing. Jesse and Fiona intentionally stop tailing them so that Madeline can get directions from Takeda on where to go.

They pull up to a group of warehouses, but Takeda tells her he will walk the rest of the way. Instead she convinces him to tell her where they are. Since he is injured, he tells her which warehouse they are in so that she can go get his friends for help. She gets out of the car after lighting a cigarette and Michael hands her a gun to guard Takeda while they go after the rest of the Yakuza in the warehouse.

Jesse meets Michael and Madeline outside of the police station, updating them on the case and giving them some money for their trouble from his emergency discretionary fund. Madeline tries to give it to Michael to fix up the charger, but he doesn’t want to dwell in the past any longer.

Max tries to sneak up on Michael one more time, but it still doesn’t work. Max warns Michael about letting Fiona do his work for him but gives him an improvisational jazz CD before leaving. Later that night, Fiona comes over to Michael’s place and they discuss his life and his job. He tells her he is building her a shelf for her snow globes, and asks her to move in.