In last week’s episode, Strong coerced Fi into staying in Miami and helping with Michael’s mission while Sonya helped Michael and the boys get out of Cuba. In tonight’s episode, “All or Nothing”, Michael and Fi reunite in the field — to painful results — and Michael reaches a breaking point. Read on to find out what the Burn Notice writers have in store for us this week.
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Michael and Fi Join Forces
Now back in Miami, Strong pushes Michael to keep things going with Sonya because she is their only connection to the terrorist organization. Michael tells Strong about the mission Sonya pitched in which they will target the hacker group — also known as ‘The Collective’ — who gave Sonya up to the Russians. Strong tells Michael about his deal with Fi and encourages Michael to bring her aboard. Michael is furious that Strong is using Fi but Strong insists they need her and tells Michael to get with the program.
Michael and Fi have to team up in the field and it forces Michael on an unexpected trip down memory lane. When Fi’s life is put in danger during the mission, Michael has flashes of their past and is hesitant to let Fi go even once he knows she is safe. Sonya witnesses the interaction between Fi and Michael and seems intrigued. She asks Michael about his relationship with Fi and Michael says that trying to have something beyond a professional connection got a lot of people hurt and he is not sure if it was worth it.
Mission-of-the-Week
Michael meets up with Sonya and she explains the first step in their mission — to steal a computer virus from a software developer. Michael and Sonya complete the task and Sonya reveals that step two is to upload the virus to The Collective’s main frame so it sends the data directly to them.
Michael and Fi pose as hackers and work their magic to become The Collective’s latest employees. Fi makes an impression on one of The Collective’s big-wigs and distracts him so Michael can upload the virus. But Michael gets caught before he plants the virus and is taken captive by Frakes, a Collective leader.
When Michael is being held by Frakes, Sonya refuses to leave him behind and it is unclear if her desire to bring Michael back is because her organization needs him or because of her own growing feelings for him. Sonya works with Jesse and Sam to free Michael and finish the virus upload.
Is Michael Moving On From Fi?
After the mission is complete, Fi makes it clear that she still believes things with Michael are over. His talk with Fi sends Michael to a bad place and he goes to Sonya insisting that he wants a seat at the table, ASAP. Sonya tries to explain that working for her organization is “not just a job, it is your whole life and it requires you leave everything and everyone else behind.”
In a heartbreaking but all-too-true moment, Michael breaks down and tells Sonya that he has already lost everything. Michael knows the people he loves have moved on without him and the only thing he has left is Sonya and her organization. Sonya responds to this confession by sleeping with Michael, creating a whole new set of complications. The next morning, Sonya promises to make the call to her people.
The final scene between Michael and Sonya is interesting because while Michael has clearly hit rock-bottom, he appears to be clinging to Sonya for reasons beyond fulfilling his deal with the CIA. And for Sonya’s part, it seems like her relationship with Michael is the first real thing she has experienced in quite a long time. If the connection between Michael and Sonya continues, will Michael be able to take her down along with the rest of her organization? And how will Fi react if she learns that Michael and Sonya are together in a more than professional capacity?
Many of the scenes in tonight’s episode, including the Michael/Sonya love scene, take place in the ruins of Michael’s loft. This setting does a good job of reflecting where Michael’s state of mind is at this moment in time and his breakdown in the episode’s closing moments has been a long time coming. Jeffrey Donovan has been putting in great performances all season but it is hard to see Michael so broken. Will Michael go the way of so many spies and wind up alone or will he finally cut ties with that life?
What did you think of tonight’s episode? Let us know your thoughts and theories in the comments section.
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(Image courtesy of USA)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
