Identity

Episode 2: Identity
Production Number: BN101
Written by: Matt Nix
Directed by: Rod Hardy


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Full Summary
Personal Commentary
Writer's Blog


Quick Summary:
To get crucial information about his burn notice, Michael must save his mother's friend from a con artist. However, things get even more complicated when Fiona and Sam accidentally blow up Quinten's car, making him paranoid.



Full Summary:
The episode opens with Michael trying to track down where the photographs that he found on his apartment floor were taken. After talking to his mother, he found out two government agents were in her home, and after checking the wiring, he finds a bug. He tracks the bug down to an abandoned house only to see two guys taking off in a car and their equipment left in flames.

Madeline Westen refuses to tell her son anything more about the two men that came to her house until Michael agrees to help on of her friends, Laura, who got scammed and beaten by a con artist. Laura is able to provide only a weak description, but the fake certificate she has leads Michael to a copy shop, where he's able to eventually trace it back to the master criminal.

Sam finds that the con artist's name is Quinten and provides Michael with a brief background of Quinten's run-ins with the law. Michael decides to use this information to attempt to trick Quinten into thinking that Westen is a fellow con artist. After their first encounter goes poorly, Michael pushes Quinten harder. Sam sets up some fake papers to make it look like Quinten's partners are about to betray him. However, everything falls apart when a device meant to disable Quinten's car accidentally blows it up right before he steps inside.

Now that Quinten is scared, Michael is playing his cards carefully. He sends Sam & Fiona to play FBI agents and convinces Quinten's partners to leave town, meanwhile, Michael finally convinces Quinten to give him access to the con artist's bank accounts. Once he has the information, Michael proceeds to return all the money Quinten stole, along with providing his names to several "colorful" organizations.
"Best time I've had in Miami" ~ Michael



Personal Commentary

This second episode is vital to helping the audience figure out where the series will go from here on out. How heavily will we follow the "who burned me" story line, will this end up being a lot of stand alone episodes, how will Fiona and Michael's relationship develop.
Well, we got our answers.
It appears we'll spend about 5 or 6 minutes every week expanding the mystery of who burned Michael, often integrating that larger story line with the smaller episode storyline. It's actually difficult to tell how Fiona and Michael will develop. It's obvious that Michael at least has some trust in Fiona, but it also appears that the majority of the affection and excitement is on Fiona's side (or is she just more open about it).
This episode definitely portrayed how Michael prefers to use his brains rather than a gun, with the entire episode being layer after layer of lies and deceptions on both sides.
It also helps to sell Michael as strange helper, while he does fight for the little guy his tactics can be questionable some time. He's not your ordinary action hero.