Burn Notice Neighborhood Watch

Michael Weston and Jesse labored at the computer trying to crack into the data disk they retrieved from Kendra while voice-over explained that it was harder for a spy to crack arcane or out-of-date software than it was the latest technology and this was the former. When Fiona helped, she brought her usual whining about "14 phone calls, 7 data recovery experts and 3 hours of arm twisting -- and it's still unreadable" which prevented her from even noticing the subtle clues of a trap. M noticed that temporary signs were routing everyone through a single point which could be observed and saw Kendra watching - realizing that they would be here eventually. M called Sam to help try and entrap her then slowly led her to where Sam had left a Taser - no luck, she felt the trap and did a cat-burglar exit up a ladder to the roof leaving a cell phone. He punched the call button and she coyly bantered with him - answering that "Kendra was as good a name as any." M said they should talk because he had something that she wanted and she retorted that she hoped he was ready to have some fun. Jesse called and tricked M to come over for Madeline and used the occasion to belittle Ms plan to grab Kendra, "it's a wonder you're still alive." Madeline had a friend who had trouble with drug dealers. Exasperated, he growled at Jesse "I expect this from her!" Lauren, a former "doctor" of Madeline's, who had moved across town to work with her boyfriend, physician David in a community clinic, explained that heroin dealers had begun selling right outside the clinic. David had called the police, who were ineffective, and now the hood had beaten David up and told him to "leave or die." Without even looking at M, Madeline chimed in committing "he'll see what he can do." David was rude and refused to work outside the police. He said someone had to stand up to the thugs and he had dealt with people like this before in Brazil and Uganda. Finally Lauren shamed him into listening and M said that they would deal with the thugs from the outside so they didn't retaliate against the clinic or him. He resignedly agreed. Both Jesse and Fiona wanted to go to battle without even knowing who the dealers were so M had to talk reason. Fiona said: "fine, just promise there'll be hitting at some point," and walked away.

 

Kendra called and used a flirty, bantering to which M responded in kind until Fiona gave him the "witches eye." He told Kendra to meet him tomorrow at 4 with $50,000 for the tape. M went to scout the meeting place while the others "climbed the drug chain" using a  RFID tracking device on the money Jesse bought some drugs with. They tailed the runner to a strip club and Fiona decided to call in a favor with Sugar for some inside information on the boss in the sport coat. Sugar recognized, and was afraid of, the guy calling him a "psycho who gave drug dealers a bad name." Vince Cutler, Sugar said, "came down from the Bronx and was spreading through Dade County like the plague." A couple of years before, Cutler had shot Sugar's friend Carl, and had told Sugar that if he ever saw him again he'd kill him, and he saw him; so, Sam had to divert Cutler's attention by picking a fight with the guy then beating him down. Sugar said that Cutler had been funded heavy by a Mexican cartel and now had to pay them back so was scared. As he was having stitches in his head, Sam said "worse surveillance ever!" David protested mightily about having them fortify his clinic. They had to tell him about Cutler's cartel problem and that they "just needed to find his supply, take it, and he'll be running from some very angry Mexican's." M said they needed to give Cutler something else to hide so they could track it back to his stash, and asked for some Fentanyl (a narcotic analgesic).

 

Sugar met them at Carlito's with expectations of "being on the team." Sugar said he "owed them one… anytime… except this time." M asked him to have his buddies up north "remember working with me" and he reluctantly agreed. M pretended to be Kyle Barkley a "supplier of Fentanyl without a demander" after his buyer in DC got shot at a dog fight. He left his number and expected that Cutler would check him out. Back trying to snatch Kendra, Sam posed as a security guard to tase her for shoplifting; but, she just called and toyed some more and set her own date, time and place. M had to deal with another useless tirade from his mother about how incompetent his plans were, even though she was the one who had forced him into the mess. Cutler called for a meeting, took Ms drugs but resisted the attempts to get him to show his stash house. Jesse followed the car with the runner going to the house, but arrogantly blew it and barely escaped Cutler's road trap. Cutler threw a brick through the window at the clinic with a note saying: "you're closed." David belligerently refused any cooperation with M which required M to "capture" him, saying "you'll thank me later." They utilized a remote controlled airplane with a camera to scout the area Jesse was rousted in and found a house, with a cluster of guys, which they were sure was the stash house. Kendra called with another place to meet and M had to run to Madeline's where David thought he could handle Cutler better than M. Cutler had told their neighbors that he was going to hit the clinic to "teach them a lesson." They found Cutler himself ranting and railing outside the clinic with no one there. When he picked up a fire bomb Fiona shot it and peppered all around them from hiding. David complained that M couldn't protect the clinic, offered no other plan except to complain and (surprise, surprise) both Jesse and Fiona wanted to go to war with Cutler. M kept saying to keep to the plan and Madeline stuck her nose in demanding M go talk to her "right now." She had no other plan to offer except a story about how M had backed down the bully Todd for Nate when they were young. After M went to high school Nate was "fair game" and they made his life miserable until Nate solved the problem with a 2x4. M told her that David wasn't up against school bullies, "these people will kill him" Her only comment was "I don't think you're going to let that happen."

 

When Madeline was through Fiona arrogantly gave him an ultimatum "either your with us or not, we are going to hit Cutler." M directed clearly "No, WE are not. David will be the one who stands up to cutler." However, M had to do a phenomenal amount of set up to make it look like David was the hero. M went to Cutler, beat up and saying that David had beaten him up. He told Cutler that David ran with some "merc's or something. He is ex-delta force and used to run black ops with them all around the globe. Now he's coming after your stash." M showed him a whole folder of newspaper clippings about David. Cutler checked with his "corner boys" and found that they had been hit. Incensed, he ran to his stash house to fight against David. With Fiona, Jesse, Sam and M already prepared around the house, David crashed the clinic's van through Cutlers road trap and confronted Cutler on the street. He said Cutler had forced his hand even though all he wanted was to live in peace for once. Jesse fired tear gas into the house pulling out all Cutlers men. Then, Fiona blew up Cutler's car. Cutler attacked David who acted like some kind of Gandhi saying "either leave town or face the consequences." When Cutler drew his gun, Fiona shot it out of his hand. David said he'd count to three. Cutler still did nothing, so on three Fiona blew up the whole house. David said his people were everywhere and they wouldn't kill him if he left. All the men started running and Fiona's gang peppered the ground behind them with bullets. As David acted the hero, Jesse said "that's how we do it people." In recap the next day, the clinic was open and David said thanks. On their way out, Madeline nagged M that "sometimes people need to fight their own battles." Annoyed, M told her "I got it the first time."  She said, "better to have Michael Westen than a 2 x 4."

 

At a vulnerable boat yard, M expected Sam to cover him from an untenable position. He said that he was going in to get her and he had reinforced a briefcase with metal siding. Actually, he needed it because she drew him out of Sam's line of sight, then pulled a Japanese Tanto knife on him when he was diverted from the back-pack of payment she tossed at his eyes. When her knife went clear through the briefcase and was stuck, he hit her with it and knocked her out. As Sam helped put her in the trunk, he said "this isn't going to be easy. She's going to make our life hard."