There must be some basic rules must for running two plot
lines through a single episode. If there aren’t, there should be. That way we
could prevent episodes like this week’s “Burn Notice” episode.
It's not that Burn Notice was a train wreck this week – that probably would have been better. At least a train wreck keeps your attention and provides some post-wreck fodder for the dissection table.
This episode of “Burn Notice” didn't give either. Instead, it merely jerked attention back and forth from one story line to the other. Watching this episode made me feel like Sisyphus, just when I started to get a hold of one plot line, all that effort rolls back down the hill as I'm jerked back to the other plot line.
The new character in Mississippi came out of the blue. I will assume that I just missed James’s financial records being turned over to the CIA so that the CIA could discover James’ former friend in a mental hospital. Otherwise that would mean the financial records just magically (and conveniently) appeared out of thin air.
And thin air was exactly where Sam’s constant, contentious disagreement with Michael in the Dominican Republic came from. We've seen Michael and Sam have disagreements before, but this one seemed random and forced. Sure, it’s reasonable that Michael's loyalties might be pulled in many different ways while being a double agent, but we hadn't really seen him show that struggle to Sam. Instead, Sam just shows up cranky and looking to pick a fight.
Normally, Burn Notice weaves two story lines much more seamlessly, so I am hopeful that the remaining episodes will not succumb to these mistakes. This episode, however, can be described as nothing less than a dreary disappointment.