'Burn Notice' recap: The trouble with Carla
Jul 18, 2008, 12:24 PM | by Aubry D’Arminio
Categories: 'Burn Notice', Mini TV Watch, Television
Okay, Carla (Tricia Helfer) and your fancy Yemeni coffee. I'll admit that, being a diehard Fiona fan, I'm predisposed to hating your ex-Cylon guts. One, you bring too much sexy to your scenes and distract from my girl. Two, you don't leave Michael any time for those good ol' "what about us" conversations Fi craves. They barely shared a yogurt together last night! I'm also a little annoyed that you're leading Mike on all these wild goose chases that water down the plot (I almost wish he would either spend episodes helping people or finding out who burned him, not always both). But what really sticks in my craw, what makes me totally not like you, is that you're targeting Madeline. You get a pass on the busted sixties-era coffee pot—I understand that you just wanted to make a point that you could get in her house. And replacing it with a new high tech one was sweet (breaking in again, not so much). But I didn't like you threatening her well-being ("Don't test me again, or the next time I leave a gift at your mom's house, it's not going to be a coffee maker"). She's one of my favorite characters on TV this summer. Step the frak off, or like Fiona, I may opt to toss you in the trunk!
That said, I'd love to see Helfer cat fight with Sharon Gless. Then Tyne Daly (as Madeline's new therapist just happening to be making a home visit) can intervene! And Hal Sparks can be watching for the hell of it. Hey, a rabid TV fan can dream!(And after the jump, the rest of my take on last night's episode.)
Okay, so basically, the hour broke down into three parts: The forgery scenes (in which Michael needed to duplicate some fancy security passes for scary ol' Carla); the job scenes (in which Mike, Sam, and Fiona aid an undercover DEA agent to get rid of a stalker who's also one of the guys she's spying on); and the mom scenes (in which Mike and Madeline grappled with their usual issues re: his work).
I didn't understand half the things Carla said about those little plastic security cards her people needed Mike to copy (computer-what? Over-laminate-what?). What I did get is that forcing him to track down an infamous forger brought Season 1's "phone book for criminals" Barry in the picture (yay!), which gave Fiona the chance to threaten him with a blackhead extractor. Then the forger turned out to be Mohinder's dad from Heroes. I like this guy. I was just getting used to him maybe becoming a recurring character—it did look like he was willing to help Michael by using the those cards to find out who Carla works for—when she went and had him killed. Luckily, he'd made an extra copy of the card—those wily Tunisian forgers—that Michael stole from the dead man's office.
Hopefully, the forged card, combined with Michael's discovery that Carla "speaks Arabic with a Kurdish accent" will get him a step closer to decipher what is going on with his burn and who he's aiding with all these under-the-table operations. I'm into the mystery—it's my favorite part of the show—and I'm mildly hoping we can figure it out before he does.
Sophia, the girl Michael helped out last night, wasn't the usual sad sack. First off, she could handle herself with ninja moves and a semi-automatic. Second, she actually used Sam and Veronica to get to Mike. Veronica, apparently, gets turned on when Sam is working. Anyway, in short: Sophia had been undercover as a hostess for two years spying on Campos, the main man in a billion-dollar drug business run out of Miami for some South American cartel. Then the guy's second in command, Raul, began to hardcore fancy her. And Raul, like most drug lords, was a bit scary. Or as Sam said the "guy won't take 'hit the road Raul' for an answer." Michael decided the best way to rid Sophia of Raul was to turn his boss, Campos, against him and let the cartel do the dirty work. So he approached Raul pretending he was an "expeditor" with police connections who could insure his delivers came fast and hassle free (and who has a bit of a gambling problem). And when that plan fell through (oh yeah, this was after Raul tracked down Sophia's phone records and accused her and Mike are having an affair) he had Fiona stage a fake assassination attempt on Campos using a sniper rifle and some C-4. All this, and he still found time to go to a therapy session with his mother.
Now, I feel bad for Madeline: She's been waking up with night sweats since she had to flee to Fort Lauderdale and I'm sure she's only imagining the worst about what Michael's been doing over the past few years. For some reason she doesn't look like a Mom who would be relieved to find out her son knows how to cut a throat or break someone's neck in one move. But what was up with her choosing a look-alike as the counselor ("there was something about her I liked," yeah, we know what)? Or is that how all the older women in Miami are supposed to look? I like it better when she and Michael just chat in the kitchen like they did at the end of this episode (no pottery classes, please!). When Madeline admitted she'd known about the stolen groceries, but didn't want to tell Mike, I was actually moved.
In the end, yesterday's episode also had some pretty funny bits. For example when Raul, describing Sophia, said "She loves me more than her own life" and all Mike could reply was "that's a lot." Or when Michael told Sam he was paying for lunch, and Sam said "you got it Mikey, I'm starving anyway," even though he'd just munched on a gigantic bag of chips and was holding a soda. And when Mike stole Sam's fresh beer and dumped it in the garbage. Plus, Sam's taking Pilates. What's more giggle-worthy than that? We also learned a little tidbit about check forgery: You, too, can do it with some old checks, nail polish remover, scotch tape, and a hair dryer. I don't suggest trying it, but I always wonder if the spy stuff Mike does on this show actually works. Which reminds me: Can you make a bug from a cell phone?
So what did you guys think about last night's episode? Do you still like the split narrative (Carla on one side, Mike's jobs on the other) or would you prefer one plot? Getting annoyed with Madeline, or still love her like I do? Any guesses as to who Carla is and whom she might work for? Discuss!
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