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Odd Man Out
Season 6, Episode 16
BN 616
Air date December 16, 2012
Written by Matt Nix, Peter Lalayanis, Ryan Johnson
Directed by Marc Roskin
Episode Guide
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Best Laid Plans
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You Can Run

Odd Man Out is the sixteenth episode of the sixth season and is the ninety-sixth episode overall.

Notes[]

  • Clients: N/A
  • Bad Guys: James Vanek (cutthroat businessman)

Synopsis[]

Michael is caught between a smuggler and his former client who is bent on revenge.

Spy Facts[]

  • In the intelligence world, when an operation demands that you disappear, it's understood that you will disappear entirely. You can't have anything that links you to your former life. No credit history, no communication with friends, and nothing with your old name on it. That's hard enough for an intelligence professional to deal with, for a civilian, it's nearly impossible.
  • When you're on the run and planning on doing some serious international travel, you need to be prepared to put together some top-notch travel documents. Making a fake I.D. that can reliably cross a border these days isn't just a matter of getting special paper and a hologram sticker. You need some very expensive, high technology. Unfortunately, the people who sell that kind of technology tend to be very unpleasant and very well-armed.
  • One of the biggest challenges of being a fugitive is security. When you're being hunted, you have to be on your guard around the clock. If you're hiding in a safe house, that means keeping an eye out the window, having your weapon ready, and spending some quality time in front of perimeter cams. And sometimes, just as important as keeping your enemy out, is keeping your team in.
  • When you're being chased, you want to be driving something with speed, maneuverability, and stability. In other words, you want to be driving anything but a container van. If you find yourself in an under-powered vehicle with a high center of gravity and a top speed of 60, your best bet is to attack whoever's after you with everything you have. If an attack's out of the question, it's all about getting as much distance as you can between yourself and your pursuers, and bailing out.
  • If you want to scare someone into thinking their vehicle is malfunctioning, nothing is more convincing than a small explosion. The mercury fulminate in a blasting cap gives you the perfect amount of explosive to send the message loud and clear without killing the vehicle or anyone in it.
  • Industrial suction fans spin at more than 1,400 RPM and weigh as much as 500 pounds. Trying to physically stop one requires using an object heavy enough to stop it's linear momentum. And if you don't want to throw your back out, it's best to let the fan do most of the work for you.
  • The tough thing about going up against someone carrying a machine pistol is that they fire over a thousand rounds a minute. The good news is that they're notoriously inaccurate at long distances. So if you keep moving, you've got a pretty good chance of making it out in one piece. If you stop, on the other hand, you're bound to catch a bullet.
  • When you're in the field, the goal is usually to be in complete communication with your team, to work in perfect sync at all times. But when the weight of a mission threatens to tear your team apart, there are times when you're forced to mislead even the people you're closest to. Because the toughest decisions are the ones you have to make all by yourself.
  • If you need to make a clean exit, putting an electrical transmitter between you and your enemy will help make sure there won't be a firefight. All it takes is one bullet to disrupt the sensitive electronics, and create an explosive power surge. Of course, sometimes, an explosive power surge is exactly what you need.

Full Recap[]

Previously on 'Burn Notice': Michael killed Card and CIA Agent Riley is on his back. The crew got wrapped up with Schmidt, a smuggler who ended up needing his help. Maddy says Riley is coming after her and Michael tells her she can come with them. Michael and the crew found and sold a damaged gadget for which one of Schmidt's clients paid $1 million to pay for their new identities and trips out of the country.

Michael burns all of Maddy's identification cards and anything that links her to her old life. He needs to burn her contact book, and Maddy doesn't understand it. She got that book before she even got married. She's also upset that Nathan's son won't have her around. She angrily tosses the address book into the fire and asks when she'll get this new identity.

Sam and Jesse go meet Vanek, a guy who's well armed and sells passport chips. Vanek wants to see Schmidt himself. He wants the pleasure of "seeing that little toad squirm." Vanek says it's not about the money. They have $200,000 for him, and Vanek says to "make it four and we'll talk."

Vanek takes the $400,000 and asks Sam to tell Schmidt that he intends to shut Schimdt's whole business down. Vanek tells Sam to give the chips to Schmidt with his "warmest regards." He also asks him to give Schmidt one more thing, and he punches Sam in the jaw.

Jesse is sitting around the safe house and Maddy wants to "run an errand." Jesse doesn't let her leave. She wants to see Nathan's grave one last time, but Jesse says the CIA is going to be all over that. He tells her that they all have to leave something behind. Jesse says they'll leave in a few hours. He tries to assure Maddy it's going to be OK.

"Is it?" she asks.

"I hope so," he tells her.

In a parking lot, Schmidt's friend Dixon brings the passports and they proceed in checking them out to make sure the chips work correctly. Fi's checks out and Michael asks about facial recognition. Dixon says he altered the pictures enough so that computers see them differently than their regular photos, but humans don't see the differences. Schmidt sees some SUVs headed their way and tries to wrap up the meeting quickly. Schmidt says that if Vanek is there, they need to leave right away.

They take off and Sam tries to outrun the SUVs in the container van. He spots a warehouse and pulls into the parking lot to take cover there. They go in and hide out in the warehouse. Vanek leads his guys toward the warehouse and says they aren't leaving without Schmidt.

Inside, Michael asks Schmidt the real story about why Vanek is after him. Schmidt admits he called the feds on Vanek and thought he'd get swept up. Michael says they need to figure out how they're getting out of there.

Michael tries to hold off Vanek by shooting at his car while Sam and Fi look for other ways out of the place. They bust into a different part of the warehouse and Michael calls Jesse to meet them at the back end of the warehouse with a ride  "something that can take a lot of bullets."

Jesse and Maddy head over to a construction site to steal dump truck. Maddy goes right up to the driver of one of the trucks and says she's there from the rental company and needs to take the truck because of a safety recall. They convince the guy to let Jesse (the "mechanic") "look at" the truck. Jesse plants a tiny explosive in the engine to convince the guy the truck is a safety hazard and he tells them to take it.

In the warehouse, Michael, Sam, Fi and Schmidt end up trapped. Schmidt wants the crew to take out Vanek's men. Vanek calls Schmidt and Michael takes the phone. Vanek tells Michael he's got no issue with him, he just wants Schmidt. Michael says that's not going to happen. Michael sees a fan and they short the circuit to make it stop so they can crawl through it to another room. Michael and Schmidt get through, but a backup power source fires the blades of the fan up again with Sam and Fi still on the other side. Meanwhile, Vanek and his men are bearing down on them, trying to open the door to the room they're hiding in with a forklift.

Michael tries to jam the fan with something big and strong. Sam gets desperate and decides to dump some highly flammable fluid on the floor and hold a blowtorch up, threatening Vanek and his men to stay back or he'll set the whole room ablaze. They talk things over just long enough for Michael to put together a way to break the blades of the fan while they're spinning. Sam and Fi climb toward climb toward the vent and Vanek warns them that just getting out this room doesn't mean they're home free. Sam say they take things "one crisis at a time."

"I really don't want to have to kill you, but I'm beginning to think that's what's best for business," Vanek tells Sam, who responds, "Yeah, I heard your offer. Here's my counter." He drops the blowtorch into the ether and the floor goes up in flames, with Vanek shouting, "You are not going to like how this ends!"

Jesse and Maddy are watching from afar. Michael calls Jesse to tell him they're coming out the rear exit. They all try to make a run for it, but Schmidt stalls a bit and gets grazed by a bullet. Michael goes back to get him.

From outside, Jesse sees that Vanek's men are outside the back door. He calls Sam to warn him.

They're stuck and Fi argues that Schmidt needs to be the one to clean up the mess. Sam stands up for Schmidt and says he won't just leave him to Vanek.

Vanek calls again and Schmidt hands the phone to Michael. Vanek tells Michael that he tags all the passport chips he sells, just in case he gets caught. He can trade the feds information on the whereabouts of fugitives in exchange for his freedom. So, when Schmidt sent the feds after Vanek, he also sent them after Michael and the crew. He tells Michael that if he hands Schmidt over, he'll get the group out of the country himself. He gives him five minutes to think it over.

Michael gets off the phone and Schmidt asks what he said and Michael says, "Nothing new."

Michael tells Fi and Sam he saw some possible supplies in another corner of the room, and they head over there. Voiceover Michael tells us that sometimes the weight of a mission can be so great that you have to mislead your own team because some decisions have to be made alone. He grabs Schmidt and walks him out to Vanek.

Schmidt insists that he thought Michael and the group would be safe from the FBI. Schmidt says he didn't mean for anyone to get hurt, and "this isn't personal." Michael says this isn't, either.

Michael holds a gun to Schmidt's head while Vanek asks him to hand Schmidt over and they can all leave. Michael has some demands. He wants a clear path to the gate and he and his friends will leave, and at that point they'll hand Schmidt over. Vanek hesitates, then announces, "Fine, deal."

Sam and Fi watch this play out from the warehouse. Sam tells Fi he can't believe she talked Michael into this, and he says that leaving a man behind is never an option.

Michael backs Vanek and his men up all the way to a gate, where he says he'll then hand Schmidt over. Once they're in position, he lets Schmidt go and forces him to walk toward Vanek. Michael tells Schmidt to duck and fires his gun at an electrical transformer, which blows up and knocks over Vanek and his men. Jesse sees this as his cue, and drives the dump truck into the warehouse lot. Sam, Schmidt, Fi and Michael jump into the back and the truck drives away, with Vanek left shaking his head.

Later, at their safe house, Michael finds Schmidt drinking. He asks Schmidt if the passports can still get him out of the country. Schmidt wants to ask something first. He wants to know if Michael really would have handed him over to Vanek. Michael says he needed Schmidt to think he would have, because Vanek needed to see real fear in Schmidt's eyes. Schmidt doesn't really buy this, because he says Michael couldn't have seen the transformer before he marched Schmidt out toward Vanek. Michael says that if it wasn't the transformer, it would have been something else.

"I needed to make an opening for Jesse to get his truck in," Michael says.

"You can say all that with a straight face," Schmidt says. "Wow, you're good. Is that the same crap that you shovel down your team's throat."

Michael, angry now, leans forward and tells Schmidt, "All anyone needs to know is that I didn't want you to die, and you didn't die."

He asks again about the passports. Schmidt says they're good, but he wouldn't sit on them for too long. He says they're become "radioactive" if Vanek gets hooked up by the feds. Michael tells Schmidt he should go somewhere, too. Schmidt says he's going to leave town that night, but Michael and the group should use the house until they're ready to leave. Schmidt says he's going to go to the opposite part of the world from where Michael ends up. He says he gets the feeling that if he hangs out with Michael much longer, his luck is going to run out.

Jesse comes to tell Michael that Maddy is missing. He says he has an idea of where she is.

Michael finds Maddy at Nate's grave. Michael isn't upset, understanding that she needed to say goodbye, and if the CIA were there, they would have moved in already. Maddy tells Michael that Nate wanted to take her out of Miami. She says it doesn't feel right to leave him behind. Michael tells her that he's trying to do the same thing  get her out of Miami and see her smile again.

Michael notices the fresh flowers on the headstone and Maddy says she didn't bring them. Michael looks around nervously, then asks Maddy to give him a minute alone. He'll be right behind her. She tells him to take her time and walks away. Michael picks up the flowers and pulls out the card that says, "Thinking of you" on the front. On the back is written, "Would love to chat  A Friend" and a phone number.

Cast[]

Main[]

Recurring[]

Guest[]

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