In Seek and Destroy Michael is hired by Scott Chandler (played by Joel Gretsch who was in my favourite superhero show The 4400) to investigate some potential security breaches in his art gallery. But while investigating what should be a simple case Michael discovers a deeper truth after an encounter with an employee. At the same time Michael's investigation into the man who attempted to kill him with explosives requires the aid of a familiar face, the arms dealer Seymour ( Silas Weir Mitchell)...

Read about more great guest stars, how much I miss The 4400 and a magnetic backpack beyond the link...

Seek and Destroy is an episode that's very much in the vein of Burn Notice's first season, a season which I only started watching because it filled time between The 4400 and Dead Zone. The summer season of TV is always weak, not surprising really because we'd all rather be out in the sunshine or in cinemas watching the big summer blockbusters. This is why I tolerated and enjoyed the first season of Burn Notice, yes it couldn't ever stand up to the fall or winter shows, but it didn't have to because it was out here enjoying a bracket which had shows like Psych and Monk around. All genuine light entertainment.

But we're here in the winter period now and there are ruddy great big behemoths of shows stalking about the landscape; Lost, Damages, 24 and Battlestar Galactica for example. So Burn Notice can't just float back to what it was when it first came out. Unfortunately that's almost exactly what it did for it's main story here, the plot was rather pedestrian and it felt like old ground.

But the episode still managed to remain enjoyable for the entire time, I was thrilled to see Joel Gretsch again his appearance has made me completely nostalgic for the unrecognised brilliance of The 4400, so much so that I keep mentioning it in this review almost unconsciously -- forty four hundred, forty four hundred, forty four hundred -- He gives a good performance as Scott Chandler and manages to keep most of the "A" story ticking over by his presence. Unfortunately the same can't be said for Marla Sokoloff, but this isn't really her fault as she wasn't given much to do beyond simple plot exposition.

On the other hand the ongoing B-Plot, currently known as "Operation find the man who attempted to blow up Michael (played by Chris Marazzo) in order to find out who hired him and side with them against Carla" (needs a snappier operation name) was light in content but pretty good, and big part of that was thanks to Seymour's return, Silas Weir Mitchell always gives a good performance in any show he's in and this was no exception. I do enjoy it when the show returns to it's existing backlog of characters in order to develop the plot instead of just introducing new characters, Seymour was highly entertaining in his last appearance and remains great throughout this (even if he is not-so-subtly pushing Burn Notice Covert Ops in the process.)

I obviously spoke to soon when I said last week that Fi and Michael were back together, oh no it remains all complicated and filled with weird energy. Hum, not sure how I feel about that one, either put them together or get rid of Fi and replace her with some other chick please.

Overall it was a decent enough episode, but pretty much an 'instant forget' filler episode apart from the performances from the guest stars. Not enough Sam Axe, a little too much Fi and a storyline that felt like it was lifted almost directly from the first season means this one isn't one I'll be revisiting in a hurry any time soon.

Other Thoughts:
• I did enjoy all the lines Michael uttered to Chandler which were loaded with double meaning, talking directly about himself as the spy without giving it away.

• I also enjoyed Sam Axe's constant ribbing and groaning about the Fi/Michael situation, he was echoing my thoughts quite well throughout.

• Both Silas and Joel need to be back on the air more often, how about a show with Joel as the lead and Silas as his sidekick?

• Michael puts his bag on top of the computer, computer goes putt! How does the security guard not get even the least bit suspicious? Ah I'll forgive it, because it's Burn Notice.