Natalie from last season’s “Friends Like These” returned by shooting Fiona’s lying client and blackmailing the team into helping her retrieve a chemical weapon. While Jesse almost blackmailed his former handler, Marv, into getting information to help them track down Justin Walsh and the bible. It was intriguing to see how the team really isn’t that much different than Natalie in their methods, though their motives are on the more “good” side of the spectrum. And, they of course don’t kill people in cold blood.
And, behind all this blackmail is the question of trust. They trusted Natalie, even given her methods, somewhat more than they trusted each other. And, they got burned. I must be naive, because I didn’t see the Natalie double-cross coming. I did think something seemed off when she didn’t make it over the wall after Jesse, but not that she was tricking them. She ended up the sucker though, as Michael and Sam easily tricked her back.
I enjoyed this episode and the subtle hypocrisy that was there between the two missions. In the end, Michael, Fiona, Sam and Jesse are doing what they need to do for the good of society. That is the big difference. They aren’t in it for the money or for themselves. They are trying to keep people safe and that justifies sometimes tricking people into helping them. Though, in the end, Marv seemed to genuinely want to help Jesse, otherwise I don’t think Marv would have come up with the $5,000,000.
On the personal side, I was happy to see Fiona and Jesse clear the air and that Jesse didn’t blame her. Even more, I loved how Madeline forced Michael and Jesse to clear the air. It will be interesting to see how that plays out going forward.
Overall, it was a fun episode and I’m glad the show is back. Burn Notice is able to incorporate characters from previous episodes naturally. That is one of the reasons Burn Notice is one of my favorite shows. They create this world that the characters live in and use that to enrich the story.
And, for all the guys out there … how hot was the fight between Fiona and Natalie? I’m sure you were all loving it!
Clacked by Carla Day 
on Nov 21, 2010 @ 12:45 EST5EDT
I know a lot of people don’t like the addition of Jesse but I love him.
I also enjoy the addition of Jesse. And, I like him more now that he knows that Michael got him burned. The team doesn’t have to protect him from the secret and they are dealing with the ramifications of what they did.