Was Carlos Bernard is greatest guest casting ever? He brought all that anguish from 24 to Burn Notice, and completely changed the course of the episode in a few short minutes. It seemed like his character was written to reflect Tony Almeida of Season 7 where his righteous heroism is usurped by an overwhelming desire for revenge which can't be supplanted through peaceful means.
Fi gets a job from Gabriel (Bernard), and from the get-go, clearly he isn't typical client. He grills her over several topics, forcing Michael and Sam to alter her passport. The real meat of the episode starts when he ask her about her past, notably the death of her sister, Claire. Gabriel reveals how in Argentina, an American company, Apex Industries, dump chemicals into the water, causing the death of his daughter. He joined up with FARC, learning how to be a ruthless killer to exact revenge on any random Apex employee. Like Tony Almeida, Gabriel is loony with his logic. Eventually, Gabriel takes her to an employee to kill, but Fiona stops him by putting him in a cage. Gabriel sets the cage on fire, but Michael rushes in to save the day.
Michael steals a .50 caliber gun in the beginning of the episode for Gilroy, solidifying their partnership. Sam tries to get the FBI guys from Season 1 to help, but they don't care or don't have the power. Gilroy diverts the plane while Michael destroys the bridge, slowing the police from arriving. This allows Gilroy to get the hooded man named Simon safely off the plane. But Gilroy isn't as all-powerful as he seems. Simon leaves him dying with a bomb strapped to him. Gilroy was a pretty generic character, so I have no problems seeing him go so quickly. His accent was also annoying to boot.
So who is Simon? From the picture, it looks like he has gray hair, but the lighting is weird, so it may be another color. If his hair is gray, it has to be Michael's father. I think I said the reasons why in last week's review, so I won't repeat myself.
I'll see how the Simon story plays out next week, because Michael dealing with the spy world at the beginning and end of each episode is wearing thin. I would much rather have arcs involving real people and not the fantasy land spy stuff. The Detective Paxson arc could have been so much better, and was prematurely ended before anything really happened, but it showed that the show doesn't need a spy arc.
Score: 9.2/10
