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.

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The latest episode of Burn Notice not only has Kirk 'Sticky Fingaz' Jones (The Shield, Blade) in a guest starring role but it also features none other than The Wire's own Wallace (Michael B. Jordan) as well. During the episode Michael is distracted from his task of finding out who attempted to kill him by Sam's request to perform a small favour for a friend of his (in exchange for football tickets). This "small" favour turns out to involve protecting a young football player named Cole (Michael B. Jordan) from a car jacker and general gangster named Felix Cole (Sticky Fingaz). During the process of the investigation Fi continues help out while looking into the man who planted the explosives in Michael's flat.

Read about another great show cribbing actors from The Wire, fire and why a golf club is better than a baseball bat beyond the link...

I'm rather thrilled to be able to call Burn Notice as my guilty pleasure show, for a program which is so obviously 'light entertainment' it really does deliver well in every aspect (almost, Gabrielle's accent is still ass, but I forgive her cause she's so much fun). The pacing is point perfect, the plots are light but do contain a certain mix of depth and the performances from both the regular and guest casts have just gotten better and better.

'Hot Spot' was one of the best examples of Burn Notice on "full burn" I've seen in a while, even when compared to the summer's best episodes it stood out. Sticky and Jordan were a big part of this, while their parts weren't massive (Jordan in particular just spent his time eating food and being sympathetic) they were exactly where they needed to be. Sticky was a lot of fun and while the character he played wasn't really outside of his comfort zone -- acting like a gangster isn't exactly hard work for him -- there is a lot to be said for casting the right guest star in a role.

Tricia continues to be very good as Carla, the scenes between her and Michael always work well, with both of their characters constantly attempting to have the upper hand in the conversations while sizing each other up. Both Jeffery and Tricia manage to make their characters believable as spies. I also enjoyed Michael's general quips about the use of a bag blindfold and his total disdain for their methods of talking to him. He's constantly shifting the situation to see what works and what doesn't. It's pretty fun to watch.

I have to once again give props to Bruce Campbell, who's always amazing as Sam Axe. The man knows exactly how to deliver his lines and while you could point the finger and just say "Bruce is being Bruce here" and be right, it just doesn't matter because he's a perfect fit as cocky, confident and good at his job. I also have to note the final few moments of the episode, I'm glad that the writers have decided to move back towards Fi and Michael being together, even if only for a while. It's been fun watching the two of them shoot glances at each other and Michael's obvious dislike for Campbell (the character dating Fi, not Bruce) was pretty hilarious, but I do appreciate a show which moves things on and tries to mix things up. As such I'm happy to see Fi and Michael give it another go, I predict it'll work for a while but they'll eventually break up again.

The entire sequence leading up to the kiss was great as well, as I said during the half season "finale" it's hard to take a threat on Michael's life seriously because the show cannot function without him, but a threat on Fi or Sam is a different matter, while they bring a lot to the show, it is possible (but unwise) to go on without them. So Michael's worried calls and panicking about Fi was both great from a characterisation standpoint

In all Hot Spot was a fantastic episode to watch, it's great to see that the break hasn't dampened the show's ability to entertain and amuse. I'm happy to give this one three thumbs up and call it "The best light entertainment action show since The A-Team".

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Michael Western, Sam Axe and Fi returned on Thursday for the second half of the second season of Burn Notice, second. In the previous part of the season Michael was investigating into the tasks 'the people who burned him' were having him perform and discovered that they were after a sniper rifle and other things that indicated an assassination attempt. But in the final episode the sniper was killed and Michael was partially engulfed in an explosion when the front door of his flat turned out to be booby trapped?

Did he survive? Well if he didn't the show wouldn't return, so lets find out shall we?

Read about scamming sick kids, a new job and 'who talks first' beyond the link...

The returning episode of Burn Notice pretty much picks up exactly where the previous cliffhanger left off, the show kicks up into gear so fast and everything feels so familiar you're left wondering why they even bothered splitting the season up into two parts.

Michael is rescued from the blast and resulting fall by Sam and after an exciting car chase Sam briefly grieves for the loss of his vehicle before Michael rescues a man who attempts to kill himself by walking out in front of a bus. The man is Kenny and he was trying to kill himself in order for his son to get enough insurance money to pay for his son Jack's treatment. He lost most of his money to a group of scammers.

Michael spends the entire episode pretty much at breaking point, he's clearly tired, injured and seeking something to keep him motivated. Helping Jack and Kenny becomes that thing, which isn't really surprising because by now we've learnt that Michael has come to depend on these charitable jobs as a method of validating his existence.

Jeffery Donovan is particularly good in this episode at demonstrating just how tired he is of his situation, through a combination of expressions, tones and even one very strong rant (which is unusual for Michael) we get a great picture of just how tired and worn out he's feeling at this point. Even when dealing with Carla and her men he shows a lot of this, he's obviously a man who's near breaking point. Hardly surprising considering he was nearly killed.

Likewise Bruce and Gabrielle also portray Sam and Fi exceptionally well in this episode, Bruce in particular has a lot to do and as always rises up to the role with gusto. Sam's not only acting as the voice of reason for Michael but he also engineers the initial contact (in concert with Fi), interrogates Philip and Todd (Rachel's underlings) and has a great punch up with Michael. Burn Notice always does well when it gives Bruce a lot to do, and this episode is no exception.


Gabrielle's accent is still a little wonky, I wish they'd drop the 'You're in Miami' moment from the opening credits, it's always painful to be reminded how bad her Irish accent was, and her American one isn't great either. But she's always fun when Fiona is flying off doing what she does best, fighting and shooting guns. Sadly for Fi Campbell brings home a point which the viewers realised a long time ago, as long as she's involved with Michael in any fashion there really isn't room for any other man as they'd always come second. Exit Campbell.

The actor (David Barry Gray) playing Kenny was pretty good in the episode as well, the moment where he spazzes out and attacks Philip was well done (and pretty amusing). He's not one of the best guest actors ever on the show but he put together a solid performance. Stacy Haiduk was very good as Rachel, and boy is that woman ripped.

Also the balance between burn notice plot and case of the week was well maintained here, the previous episodes often felt overloaded with both cases competing for screen time. During this episode everything hung together and felt more natural. I'm hoping they manage to keep this balance up throughout the remaining episodes this season.

'Do No Harm' was a solid and fun return to the show, it did everything you expect Burn Notice to do and managed it in a very reliable and enjoyable manner. While I do sometimes wish that the show would go a little deeper into things that's not really what it's about, the show is about guns, fun, gadgets, witty lines, action and babes in bikinis. As such this episode delivered all of that in spades and more.

Other Thoughts:

• I really do appreciate the character captions in this show, it makes it very easy to quickly learn who a new character is and how they fit into the episode/show. I watch so many other shows desperately trying to learn the names of characters that it's great to have this information handed over to us. Also the captions can be quite funny at times, as demonstrated in the Campbell scene.

• Likewise I enjoy the depiction of interrogation used in Burn Notice, they put more emphasis on the psychological aspect of it and less on straight torture. 'Who Talks first' was a great example of this, in say 24 Todd would have been splattered all over the pavement, but in Burn Notice he's spared a squishy fate when shoved out of the window thanks to a cable tied to his chair.
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So this is it. The last episode of Burn Notice for the year and will everything come to a head? In "Good Solider" Michael has to balance investigating Carla's actions while also helping out a friend of Campbell's who needs to prevent a kidnapping.

Read about yogurt, swimming and a ferry cross the Mersey beyond the link...

With Burn Notice about to go on hiatus for about half a year or so it's very important for this episode to pack a real punch, it needs to be something that will keep you itching to find out what's next - like say the end of any Supernatural season or season six of The Shield - so the question is. Does Good Soldier leave you hanging on the hook and eager for the next episode? The short answer is "sort of", as for the long answer it's time to delve into the episode and see why...

Good Soldier in many ways is classic Burn Notice, as the show has evolved it's become about the balancing act Michael has to pull between helping others and investigating his burn notice. The first season had a little too much of the first and not enough of the latter, but the second season has looked to address this - giving the viewer a tension packed mix that involves Michael desperately juggling the two threads each episode. Sometimes with fantastic results, sometimes it just feels a little average and overloaded... This week's halfinale™ feels overloaded but that's a deliberate story decision and it's one that works well.

Michael is hot in the pursuit of Carla after last week's events and it's not how good she looks in a swimsuit that's preying on his mind. He's determined to find out exactly what she's up to and he doesn't care what the expense is, which is just as well because it seems Sam Axe is enjoying his food and drink a lot since Ronnee broke up with him, especially when someone else is footing the bill. Also, as Michael confirms in the narrative - spies comfort eat while carrying out surveillance. Cue lots of shots of Carla swimming in this episode and I'm sure Tricia Helfer fans will enjoy those scenes.

The episode is a great showcase example of Jeffery Donovan's acting talents, not only do we get multiple examples of how little Michael likes the Fi & Campbell relationship (Campbell seems fine with the whole thing, maybe someone explained what Michael does with an episode of the A Team) but we also get some cracking drunk acting followed by a seriously amusing religious conversion. Ladies and Gentlemen, the man has serious acting powers.

As for the episode, just as I noted earlier this one is a heavy balancing act between the Burn Notice story and the kidnapping episode story and this time they get it just right. The kidnapping feels urgent, the reason for Michael getting involved is solid and we get a nice, juggling act feel to the entire thing. It does feel like Michael is rushed between both jobs, but he's committed to helping Campbell's friend to avoid having Fi do it solo. Now I'm not entirely sure why Fi can't be left to do such a job alone, it can't be a case of competency - Fi is most definitely competent - so it might be concern on Michael's part about Fi's methods. She's rather... brutally inclined, whereas Michael prefers to deal with troublemakers in a non-lethal fashion and get them killed later (off screen). Speaking of which, hasn't the off screen body count been massive this season? I'm not sure I like the way so many of the criminals in each episode are shuffled off to "Fort Lauderdale" (Burn Notice speak for killed - I'm sure they don't get to go punting around the canals in a dumpster).

What else is there to like in this episode? Well Nate Western makes yet another reappearance in this episode and he's pretty good. Nate's attempting to go straight, start up a business driving limos and even helps out Michael before Carla stitches him up because of Michael's interference. It's Michael's actions at the start of this episode that drive most events later on, because he uses that key card and sniffs about in the sniper perch it seems everything else is brought down around him at the end. I'm honestly a little confused at this point as to why he feels the need to find out about the job he's been setting up - does anyone remember Michael's reasoning behind why he needs to investigate the job Carla is setting up? I'm not sure any more how it relates to him finding out why he was burned, but it does lead to some exciting television.

Michael, Fi and Sam scope out Carla down at the docks, waiting to see who the target on the ferry will be and we get some pretty good nervous/worried/concerned acting from Tricia. The woman doesn't have many lines in this episode but her physical performance in the docks scene and the following motorcycle chase are great. Michael realises that Carla knows he's watching (hardly surprising as he's wearing the same suit he always wears and has made no real attempt to hide) and he takes off with Fi running interference while Sam checks out Bill Thompson (the Sniper's house). We get a pretty exciting final chase scene with cars smashing into each other and motorbikes skidding under semis before Michael loses the tail and heads back home. While opening the door Sam calls and warns him that Bill's house has been blown up with explosives, Michael twigs just as he starts opening the door and leaps over the balcony just as the explosion hits...

"To be continued..."

As mentioned at the start, this cliffhanger ending isn't bad. While there is no worry about Michael's survival there are a lot of questions to be asked. It's clear that Michael's interference has resulted in a kill notice being dropped on the whole operation and all operatives being directly used were to be killed. But there are still serious questions, mostly revolving around Bill's involvement in the whole thing, the unknown operative from Carla's file and of course Carla's reactions down the docks. It's hard to tell if she was trying to stop Michael or attempting to drive him back home, she most likely knew about the explosives - but which side of the equation is she on? What will happen to Nate? Will Sam ever find love again?

At least some of these questions will be answered next halfseason but I'm not left sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to find out right now and that's why it's just a maybe. It was a good halfinale but the final cliffhanger wasn't so gripping that I just absolutely can't wait - I'm looking forward to the return of Burn Notice, but I'm not going to find waiting agonising either.

Overall the second season of Burn Notice (so far) is a nice little package, the show has evolved from the first season and has even moved to expand it's scope of characters. Providing recurring ones and even a slightly enlarged cast (with Campbell, Nate and Carla making multiple reappearances). There has also been some great guest spots, in particular Method Man (Valentine), Chris Ellis (Virgil), Michael Shanks (Victor - who grew on me and I'd like to see again) and of course Tim Matheson as Larry.

I've enjoyed watching this almost as much as I've enjoyed writing about it, but that's it from Burn Notice until next year. How did everyone else find the ride?

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In this week's Burn Notice Michael is approached by a dead man about killing a nurse. It's the penultimate episode of the current "half-season" and boy is it a doozy.

Read about screwdrivers, home improvement and the undead beyond the link...

This week has Michael and company looking into the details of the sniper (Bill Johnson) they discovered in the previous episode while Michael is also approached by Larry (played brilliantly by Tim Matheson) and asked to perform a hit on a woman. It's worth noting that apparently Larry is considered deceased and this results in one of the best captions this show has ever had with "Larry, Undead Spy" and his term for the target provides another excellent character caption with "Jeanie, Dead-ee".

It turns out Larry isn't dead, but most of the cast wish he was. After just a small amount of time on the screen it's clear why Michael and Sam have such an issue with him. Larry is dangerous in a whole new league, it's clear he's wandered over the line Michael edges near and he's spinning along a wonderful curve of destruction. In short if Michael botches the job by informing the police there will be blood. Buckets of blood. Tim's performance as Larry is just stupendous, he provides such an air of barely concealed menace to all his actions. The scene with the screw driver was just fantastic (though the editors did over expose Michael's reaction when he palmed one of his own 'just in case' - cutting back to his hand more than once is a little OTT).

We get to meet Campbell this week, Fiona's new man friend and it turns out he seems to be nothing more than an ordinary paramedic. But I'll be surprised if he lasts because Michael, Sam and Fi are anything but subtle. The scene with Sam and Campbell in the ambulance was particularly telling, and funny. Sam claiming to be a soil scientist while cocking a gun. My favourite line of the episode also comes from Sam in this scene, when Fi mentions that Larry is good looking Sam quips back "He's alright I guess. He's no Campbell though." A fantastic piece of self aware comedy that skates along the fourth wall without actually breaking it.

I enjoy the little scenes like this were the unreality of Michael's life jars with normal people's. Normally it's just the scenes with Sharon Gless (Madeline) that highlight how unusual Michael's life is. Speaking of which, I was thrilled with the counselling scenes between Madeline and Michael. It was great of the writers to get her a little more involved in the story by having her provide Michael with an idea for a cover identity, something he promptly uses as an item in his required list of "Things he's grateful to his mother for". Needless to say, she's none too impressed with his selection.

We also have another guest star of note in Drew (Larry's client) who is played by Zachary Bryan - one very familiar face as he's from Home Improvement. He gives a solid performance in this, but I'm used to seeing him as a kid/teenager so it was a little odd here. Mostly it's the moment where Larry breaks his neck at the end which I found unsettling.

Ultimately by the end of this episode Michael manages to save Jeanie but (as mentioned) because Drew screws up at the drop off and spooks Larry, Michael is unable to take out Larry. Which gets Drew killed. Larry taunts Michael a little - claiming that he knew Drew was already dead but couldn't take the shot because he cares about his old friend Larry. I suspect it's at least in part because Michael doesn't like to shoot people anymore and in part because the network want to keep Burn Notice lighter and more family friendly.

The episode ends with Michael realising everything he's pulled for Carla and Victor has been support for Bill. A revelation which makes him realise he might be able to find out what the job is. Setting up the final episode nicely, which should be an exciting finish.

Despite the comparatively brief nature of my review this week I enjoyed this episode a lot, Tim Matheson was fantastic as Larry and the show balanced all of it's elements superbly. It holds up alongside the exceptionally Sam Axe-centric episode "Comrades" and as such is one of my favourites so far this season. I look forward to a return appearance from Larry as he's my favourite of all the Burn Notice villains we've seen so far.

Top stuff!

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(There's no Burn Notice reviews for a few weeks after this one because BN is going on hiatus while the US Open is on. But there will be two more episodes after that.)

This week Michael is reunited with a previous client and is asked to help retrieve some anti-viral medication for a children. It's a pretty "burn notice" light episode; in that it deals more with the events of the case and less with the ongoing search for who burned Michael and why...

More after the link...

Direct link to the Crimespree Cinema short review here.

This week I'm trying to cut down on the length of my review, because it was getting pretty out of hand. When I realised that I'd written near on three thousand words last week I thought I should try and scale back a little. Hopefully this one will be a little more concise and less of an essay to read.

Unlike previous weeks where the plot has felt a bit 'bursting at the seams' this weeks episode deals mostly with the events of the client case and has just a small (but entertaining) sideline set of scenes dealing with the sniper rifle from the previous week. Michael is meeting up with an arms dealer called Seymour (Silas Weir Mitchell - most famously known for his portrayal of Haywire on Prison Break, but also from Dexter and My Name is Earl), Seymour doesn't seem to quite understand (or maybe want to understand) what Michael is there for. He spends most of the episode using Michael as kind of a bodyguard and the scenes with them both in are particularly entertaining, just like Valentine (Method Man) and Victor (Michael Shanks) from last week's episode he's an interesting enough character that would be nice to see reoccurring occasionally.

Speaking of reoccurring characters, this week's episode features one. Virgil and you'd be forgiven for saying 'who?' because I'd pretty much forgotten all about him myself. He's an Ex-Navy Seal with a bit of a thing for Madeline and he'd previously appeared in the first season episode "Unpaid Debts". He's played ably by Chris Ellis, but obviously he'ss not that memorable an actor because I'd completely forgotten about him until this episode brought him back (mind you I forget about most clients quickly because Burn Notice doesn't really refer to it's history/backstory/previous episodes much).

The triangle of interactions between Michael, Virgil and Madeline provide some of the lighter moments in the episode. But at times the interaction is a little stretched and doesn't feel realistic. It's a fine line between the two and Burn Notice doesn't always quite hit the right note here.

On the other hand, the scenes where Virgil is working with Michael and/or Sam are fantastic, especially the golf shop scene where a little 'creative golfing' piles enough pressure onto the store owner which gets him to reveal that a criminal named Gerard is behind the original anti-viral heist.

In comes Sam Axe as Chuck Finley! Which is always a delight, as I adore the scenes where Bruce gets to dress up in a suit and act like some big shot. He really sells it all the way to the market and back. This episode is no exception and Sam's scenes with Gerard are just top notch, he's pitch perfect with his delivery in these scenes and it really shows how much Bruce needs to be given another show all of his own (or a 4th Evil Dead Movie, I'd go for one of those). Anyway, Sam finds out that the gang is too late to try and set up a buy for the medication, it's already been sold - but it hasn't been shipped yet.

So the gang come up with a plan, but they need an inside man for a fake heist and as usual Sam volunteers Michael for the job. So the persona of 'Jackson' is created (it's possible this is a reference to Daniel Jackson - Michael Shank's character on Stargate) and Jeffrey gets a chance to showcase some acting skills. Jackson is a cowardly, asthmatic and timid chemist who's unwilling to get involved unless he's forced. Jeffrey's performance as Michael is excellent; he stammers all over the place, physically changes the way he holds himself and overall shows that he's got more in his acting range than just Michael and bad accents.

Virgil poses as the target for the operation, a boat courier/smuggler who's transporting "steroids on steroids" and things are looking pretty smooth. Except that Gerard is pretty tight lipped on the information and it turns out the only way to find out where the medication is being stored is by actually going through with the heist. Because Gerard won't let 'Jackson' out of his sight Michael has to interrupt Fi's date plans (with a mysterious paramedic who's probably Victor) to get a message across to Sam and Virgil. It looks like the heist will have to become a real one and actually happen.

So we're treated to some great scenes where Sam and Virgil doctor up some fake canisters with a selection of special effects and commandeer Michael's fridge to transport them. Then it's off to sea with Michael, Gerard and some mooks. But there's another hitch, it turns out that Gerard (in a scene where he's vocally channelling Brock Samson) plans to ensure there's no witnesses. Michael thinks fast and manages to weasel his way into getting his hands on a gun. Which is soon uses to fake shooting Virgil before tossing him overboard (with a handy explanation that Navy Seals can hold their breath for a long time). There's a great moment in amongst this where Michael realises that the fridge being used is his own one, he doesn't look to impressed at it.

Then back at the warehouse where the new meds are stored Michael discovers two problems, it's huge and the other meds are spread all over the place in locations that Gerard refuses to reveal. So it's time for Chuck Finley to make a return appearance!

This is a great little scene where 'Jackson' turns up and starts blubbering about how Chuck Finley is some kind of Keyser Söze and how he's going to take all the meds and then kill everyone. So Gerard and the crew move in, which is when Sam strikes while Fi ensures the police will be there on time.

Finley rolls in right during the unloading with a truck while Jackson surmises that there must be men in it. So Gerard's men turn the truck into Swiss cheese with machine guns and while they're distracted Michael drops his facade, fells one of Gerard's men, shoots the truck (where explosives are mounted) causes it to blow up and takes off with the meds in the truck. Gerard and his men end up getting arrested, but they're still alive - which makes a change for this season.

Finally we're treated to one last scene with Haywire Seymour and Fi. Throughout this entire episode there's been quite a bit of tension between Fi and Michael over her date; it's been nicely understated as well, present if you look for it but not so obvious as one of them outright talking about it. There's a great little moment before the door where Michael tells her she looks beautiful and they both pause awkwardly before Seymour's bodyguard-dude opens the door and lets her in. In a tense scene we find out that there was a place in Miami where someone could get a high powered Russian sniper rifle calibrated (was being the important word there, fire tends to make things go up in smoke) and Michael leaves with a name.

After previous episodes which felt sometimes overburdened with stuff it was nice to have one which scaled back a little on the burn notice part and instead gave us a little character development for Madeline (with Virgil) and some good wholesome fun in the style of the first season. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the way this season has managed to marry the brun notice metaplot with client cases (this time last season there was narry a whiff of the burn notice plot) but it is nice to have an episode where one can relax and just enjoy things without masses going on at once.

I enjoyed it a lot and I'm happy to give it a 3.5 for classic Burn Notice and reoccurring characters.



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We're now over halfway through the current run of Burn Notice; there are just three episodes left after this one and then the season goes on hiatus for a while. It's similar to the trick that BSG has pulled with season four and I don't entirely approve, but it does mean that I'll be able to take up reviewing The Shield season seven (alongside Dexter) as and when it happens instead.

In this week's Burn Notice Michael is asked to catch an embezzler who is stealing from a charity belonging to a hip-hop mogul.

More after the link...

We open with the crossword from the end of last week's episode which is being carried by Michael as he goes for a meeting. Again we have some evidence of Carla's wry humour as her designated meeting point is "tidy pelican", essentially the cartoon character who is on at least one of Miami's bins and tells people not to litter. But it turns out that it's not Carla at the meeting, but a man who identifies himself as 'Victor'. Michael immediately pushes Victor, in part to see how far he's willing to go and I suspect in part because the contact phone he's been offered is... Well, a bit effeminate. But Victor pushes back because apparently Carla was the carrot and he's the stick. Victor the Stick it is then!

Once the title screen finishes Michael meets up with Sam who's just bought a pre-owned car because Veronica has taken back the caddy after Fi's wonderful advice drove them apart last week. Michael's concerned about what might happen to his friends and family so he gets Sam to move in with his mother; poor Sam, he really doesn't get a break right now does he? Living with Michael's mother could either turn out to be amazing luxury or an absolute nightmare, knowing Sam's current luck it'll turn out to be the latter.

But lucky for us it means Sharon Gless is going to get a bit more screen time as she's not had much to do so far this season, in fact she was entirely absent last episode. Sam arrives at her house and sees a man with a load of wires in the living room, I immediately think "tv repair man" but Sam immediately thinks "spy" and decides to go in with his gun out. It turns out we're both wrong; the man is Ricky, a friend of Michael's and is helping Madeline install her home theatre system. I guess I was closer than Sam was in my guess, but I'm not the one who's living in Miami and friends with an ex-Spy who has a tendency to get people killed. If I was, I guess I'd open up conversations with a gun as well at times.

Michael then meets up with Madeline, Sam and Ricky outside a bar. Sam and Madeline come up with a convenient excuse to leave involving VRCs - do those things even still exist outside of museums and my sister's house? It turns out that Ricky is definitely no TV repair man, he's now an accountant and very clearly the client in this episode, so just wait for those captions to arrive under his face. Wait for it... Apparently two million has been stolen from a hip-hop mogul's (called Valentine) charity account and Ricky is the one being left holding the bag. Fortunately there is only one other possible suspect - one Eddie Ash - but unfortunately he's Valentine's number two and trust buddy. Ricky needs Eddie's books so he can prove that it's Eddie who's embezzling; I find it a little unlikely that Eddie would keep proof of his thievery in his books, but we haven't met Eddie yet so it's hard to gauge if he would. Ricky offers ten thousand dollars and those magic words are enough to coax out the old "Client" caption (that caption is a sucker for bleeding hearts and money). It looks like the job is on!

Michael meets Fi outside of Valentine's offices and she fills him in on the details. Moments later Cheese Wagstaff, Method Man , Clifford Smith Valentine walks out. Apparently Cheese is doing a lot better than we thought after the final episode of 'The Wire', he's changed his name and opened up a record label and a clothing line. A pretty impressive feat all things considered, someone better tell Slim Charles about this! (I promise, no more Wire references in this review...)
Eddie is also with him and turns out to be some bearded goof with overly flashy sunglasses; I guess he'd better enjoy those while he can because Michael's track record this season has left a lot of corpses behind him.

Michael has to go meet the Stick (Victor) down the beach, Stick has a few things to reveal - first that Michael will be involved in a hijacking job for the people who burned him and second that the phone he's been given is not only a "bit" girly but it also allows them to keep a constant track on him with GPS.
So Michael proceeds to take apart the phone but finds a small love note in it for him, well a note that tells him to leave the GPS in anyway. So he decides to use call forwarding instead while Fi fills him in on Valentine's operation and demands a new pair of shoes for payment, knowing Fi a pair of old training shoes are not going to cut it.

Michael calls a bomb scare in the building next to Valentine's in order to get the building cleared out without raising too much suspicion. The bomb squad also provide a handy helping hand for Michael; they jam all electronic signals in the area as a part of procedure and that means all the wireless cameras in Valentine's building are now useless. Michael heads inside and locates the files inside a filing cabinet (just like in the Pakistani embassy a few episodes back, but padlocked this time), but things never run smooth as Eddie turns up and tells the security to get back inside the building pronto.

After making his escape via the sub ceiling Michael meets up with Ricky and reveals that there was nothing incriminating in the files. It seems that Eddie isn't the kind of idiot who keeps his criminal activities on record in his office, it's almost a relief to learn this as only an asinine goober would do that. Instead Eddie is seeking a front for his laundered money, perhaps he could sink it into property development or selling custom wheel rims? So Michael decides to insert himself directly into the equation and convince Eddie to wash his money via Michael, which requires another chat with Barry!

I'm not sure why I like to see Barry on the screen, I guess it's because he's the only recurring character from the first season who's made it into more than one episode. It's nice to see a little permanence in the show beyond Michael, Fi, Sam and his family. It's also great to see how Michael is going to use Barry and land him in more trouble. Something Barry is happy to point out himself. Barry has two offers for Michael; $5K gets him a meeting with Eddie and $3K gets him a meeting if he can promise nothing will happen to the intermediary. Michael being Michael he plumps for the $5K option plan.

It turns out that Sam is having a whale of a time living with Madeline; he's taken to the domesticated life like a duck in a bathtub. But I guess my hope that Sharon would get a little more screen time isn't going to get helped in this scene; she literally walks in, speaks one line and walks out. It was a pretty funny appearance, but I mean 'Come on!' She's a headlining character in this series...

Sam has set up a cover identity for Michael and it's time for him to meet with Eddie and make his pitch. While one can always hope for an amusing accent I'm not sure we're going to get one this week and we don't. But Michael does put on a bit of a persona and voice for the whole thing as 'Jimmy' (McNulty? Ok, ok, I'm sorry!) so I'll live with that. It's just a shame he didn't get himself a fake moustache for the role as well.

Jimmy works Eddie by showing him an empty condo and pitching the whole shebang to him; Eddie is a little cautious and clears off without making an offer. Which is very convenient for Michael because just as Eddie walks out of view Ricky phones, he's concerned about a meeting that Valentine is about to hold. Fi and Michael head off to monitor the situation from outside the build, Fi's first plan is to storm the place shooting like Axel Foley. Perhaps that could be kept as a back up plan? It turns out that Valentine is pretty angry at one Marcus who's attempting to steal a band from his label and for the moment Ricky isn't in the firing line.

I'm just going to take a step out here and talk about Method's performance in this scene, he pretty much nails his performance right on the head here. But it's not surprising that he does, because he's clearly channelling performances from people he's worked with in the past. I have to reference The Wire again at this point because the show has had a massive influence on his acting abilities and it's evident here in this scene. He manages to bring out a mix of Stringer, Avon and Marlo in this and I half expected him to produce a baseball bat De Niro style and club Marcus to death. I wasn't too far off as he chose to bust one of the platinum records over Marcus's nogging instead.

Things escalate, Valentine throws everyone out of the meeting room apart from Ricky and Fi kicks off at this. Taking her shotgun, wrapping it up and heading in while Michael tells her to wait. Valentine gives Ricky two days to produce the cash and Michael manhandles Fi away from the building.

Jimmy's second meeting with Eddie is interrupted by an unwelcome visitor, the Stick has turned up and he lays down the law with the heart phone, it is to stay with Michael at all times - because it brings out his eyes I guess. Stick then pushes things further by spouting off in front of Eddie and making it sound like Jimmy is either in bed with the Feds or at least under surveillance. I'm pretty sure acting like this is going to get Stick killed, Burn Notice only has room for one colossal jerk and that role is already filled by Michael.
Damage limitation is the order of the day now and Michael goes for it in the way he knows best and so 'Jimmy' accuses Eddie of ratting him out to the Feds.

Sam and Madeline step up to the plate and provide slightly obvious surveillance of Eddie; well Sam does, Madeline on the other hand thinks that they're going out looking for a new place for Sam. While Michael gets to meet with Stick and has the plan explained, apparently he's running lookout for Stick while the 'object' is retrieved. Michael is naturally curious about it, so we're treated to a little more spy excitement as he turns the trunk of his car into an x-ray machine.

Eddie calls Jimmy and they meet up again, Eddie's nervous thanks to Sam's photography and Madeline's big dark glasses. He wants Jimmy to move his money off shore to safety, but Jimmy is reluctant and Eddie is forced to coerce Jimmy into helping him. Eddie also reveals that he's planning to make a move on Ricky and Michael quickly reacts by sending Eddie off to get a bottle so he can warn Fi to get over to Ricky's place. Fi initially plans to use some firepower to solve the situation, but Michael doesn't want it to look like Ricky has help so she has to try something else. Fi being Fi she settles for driving wildly, shouting in an atrocious accent and throwing a rock through a window.

But now it's clear that Eddie won't move the money if Ricky is still alive, so Michael and Fi explain to Ricky that they're going to violently kill him off in order to get Eddie to make a move. Jimmy meets with Eddie and sets up the hit, providing the gun, target and reasoning. He then pushes Eddie just enough to provoke a fight and then get Eddie determined to take out Ricky himself. The scenes where Michael allow himself to be beaten up are always amusing and this one is no exception.

The next scene is a Burn Notice classic, we have Sam Axe in full distraction rant mode going toe to toe with Valentine. While Fi hangs around in the background until it's time to produce a gun and take Valentine for a ride. It's a short scene, but a fantastic one and I couldn't help but wish it was longer. Method and Bruce bantering was just excellent. I wonder where they're taking Valentine? That's a hard one to figure out...

Back at Ricky's place Eddie has the gun and it's time for some action with funky spy music playing. Ricky and Eddie get a little bit of interplay as Ricky convinces Eddie to spill the beans like a Bond villain explains his plan and reveals what he did and why before shooting Ricky with blanks. An exceptionally calm Valentine walks in at this point and Eddie realises what he's done and said.

Eddie gets to take a ride on a yacht and doesn't come back, which is pretty much the same as 'going upstairs' and going to Fort Lauderdale in this show. Fi gets the money to cover some new shoes but Michael declines to take the rest of the cash. He's turned into a real bleeding heart this season, well except for all the bodies he leaves behind him...

Last of all it's time for Michael and Stick to pull the job, but Michael has a few extra surprises planned for Stick. Most of them are the explosive kind as we're treated to not just one, but three explosions before Stick and Michael makes their get away with a rather light looking wooden crate. Stick isn't very happy with Michael's performance, it seems Stick prefers to kill people where possible - in fact it seems that Stick is pretty close to bat-shite crazy - but he lets it go and leaves.

Back at Madeline's place Sam has just finished cooking for Michael and Madeline, when he leaves Mady makes it very clear she knew what he was actually doing there and after he's gone she tells Michael that he should keep her in the loop. Hopefully this means she gets a little more screen time instead of being constantly stonewalled by Michael over every single little thing.

Finally we get to see what was inside the crate with Michael's makeshift x-ray. One military sniper rifle. I'm not sure why they needed to steal that specific one; or why they had to steal one at all, but I guess time will tell.

The episode was a pretty good one on the whole, not the best one so far but pretty decent. It had some decent action and an impressive performance from Method Man really kept things spiced up. It also kept a blistering pace and never seemed to lag, events thundered past and most scenes were over in moments. But this pace did make certain things seem forced, the Eddie/Ricky/Valentine scenario wasn't treated with as much detail as most one off plots are and in some ways that was a shame because the best scenes were the ones that revolved around those three.

Stick/Victor isn't a very interesting character in comparison to Carla, I'm hoping he's just around for the odd episode and if I'm honest I'm not sure why they chose to introduce him to the mix instead of having Carla do the job. It's possible that there is method to their madness and we'll find out why soon. But ultimately he just feels like he's there to get 'sent to Fort Lauderdale' with all the other missing people and as such he's a bit redundant.

3/5 for this one. Solid but not inspiring.

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This week's Burn Notice appears to be the first of the season where Matt Nix (the show's creator) hasn't had direct input into writing the script, it's also got a lot to live up to after last week's Sam Axe-centric episode which pretty much rocked all the buttons (except for maybe parts of the Larry/Bruce dinner scenes which weren't as funny as I'm sure they were supposed to be.) So Ben Watkin's script needs to deliver... And it does.

More after the link...

We open almost with the scene that we closed with last week, Michael and Fiona are pulling surveillance on the PO box (or whatever it's called in the US ;) that's apparently linked to Carla. After Fi abuses Michael a little more - I warned you Michael, never cross an Irish lass - an elderly looking female operative secretary is spotted making a pick up from the box and it's time to tail!

Michael and Fi follow the lady to a non-descript building with a noticeable lack of noticeable security. Of course, just because they're not dressed as security guards it doesn't mean they're not present and Michael clocks them quickly with the ingenious use of a poor (relatively) innocent pizza delivery man. The scene cuts to the logo before we get to see the guy get threatened with a gun by one of the security men, but it's pretty clear that the pizza guy is going to get into at least a small amount of trouble before he gets away. Michael's been landing a lot of people in sticky situations this season.

After the logo (I love how short the credits are for this show) we cut to Sam and Michael; they're having a conversation about surveillance for the building - at least Michael is trying to, Sam's quite interested in showing off his new watch and bragging about how well things are now going with Veronica. Just wait Sam, I'm sure Michael will bone things up for you soon enough!
Back at his place Michael is approached by an ex-con (wheelman) named Trevor who has a problem; he's gone clean and he wants to stay that way, but an ex-employer named Timo wants him for a job and won't take no for an answer. Michael seems exceedingly unwilling to assist him, but Trevor makes a long, heartfelt speech about promising his son he'll stay on the straight and narrow. Michael listens and then; in a really nice touch the camera focuses on Trevor's face before dropping those classic words across the screen "Trevor, The Client" and Michael accepts.

In the next scene we're introduced to the rest of the crew; there's C.J. who's a hustler, Gilbert Kessler the safe cracker, Kandi the muscle (don't you just hope Fi and her will go one on one?) and Timo. Michael's initial plan is to disrupt the group by putting police pressure onto one member (Gilbert) which should result in the job being called off. Step one is to introduce Fi to Gilbert, because what man in his right mind would say no to being chatted up by a pretty Irish nutjob? Apparently Gilbert would, so Sam comes up with a second plan and picks a fight with Gilbert - one which he has to keep walking back into because the local policemen are looking the other way. So Sam gets a pasting before Fi decides to scream and get the attention of the cops, of course Fi doesn't scream too soon as where's the fun in that?

But it turns out getting Gilbert banged up for violating his parole isn't enough (it never is) and Timo is still going ahead with the job. So Michael decides to use the opening created by the loss of Gilbert to get himself inserted into the group as a new safe cracker. Do you think we're going to be treated to another awful accent flavoured with a terrible cover identity? We can hope so!

After Michael installs a webcam on the roof of a building nearby to Carla's Sam notices a single point in the security routine that Michael can exploit and then he heads out for dinner with Veronica. A dinner that goes a little too well, as when Sam lays the charm on Veronica responds by asking him to marry her. Something he seems a little reluctant to respond to right now...

Michael works on his safe cracking skills a little before meeting up with Timo (Timo's name makes me think of the Timosil song as sung by Dr. Fünke’s 100% Natural Good-Time Family-Band from Arrested Development) and the gang; sadly he doesn't put on an accent this time, but he does use a rather amusing style of conversation for his cover identity - 'Joseph' (not Joe). Timo wants proof of 'Joseph's' skills but getting him to crack the safe in a small store but Michael pushes the situation further by refusing to do so. Soon enough both 'Joseph' and Trevor are being threatened at gunpoint and Michael proves his skills by cracking the safe (I was kind of hoping he'd say "This safe is for amateurs, I'll crack something that's actually challenging') and is given an address for the meet.

At the meet 'Joseph' is introduced to C.J., given a new phone and is told about the plan. Actually, he's told almost nothing about the plan what-so-ever as Timo is a total secrecy and control freak. Instead 'Joseph' has to try and get whatever information he can by prying for details about the safe, he's told what make it is and when it was installed. Then the meeting is over and Trevor has to stay behind, perhaps for lines in detention "I must not recommend rude safe crackers."

Back at Michael's place Trevor provides the last piece of information that the gang needs to locate the target. Sam agrees to sort out finding the location (Sam's well connected isn't he?) but he's also rather anxious to talk about his dinner-date with Veronica. Michael provides his usual level of advice with a "Say 'Yes'" followed by a "Say 'No'". Sometimes you have to wonder why Sam's still friends with Michael, so far he's done nothing but cause him trouble and even now he's completely unwilling to give his friend any advice. But then again Michael's always been a bit of a jerk and that's kept him alive so far.

The next complication to rise up its head comes from C.J. who's already worked his way inside the organisation like some kind of faceman (actually thinking about it the entire of Timo's gang reminds me of the A-Team somewhat - I guess it's because Burn Notice reminds me of the A-Team in it's style) and this means they can't easily tip off the target (a jewelry store) without Timosil finding out. Michael puts on a brave face, but once Trevor's gone the mask drops and we see just how difficult things are looking (or how fed up Michael is with this job, maybe both).

Next up it's time for one of the Sam/Fi car conversation specials. I love these conversations and this one doesn't disappoint. Sam asks for Fi's advice on Veronica's proposal but at first refuses to give details as it's "grown up stuff you (Fi) wouldn't understand." Then he promptly caves and reveals the truth; it turns out Sam's already technically married (and has been since the 1970s) but didn't get a divorce as he didn't think he was the marrying type... At least until now. So Fi tells him to fess up to Veronica and deal.
Meanwhile the young lad that Sam bribed at the start of the scene (did I mention that? I'm sure I did...) creates the window for Michael to get inside Carla's building, but a phone call from Timosil means he has to abandon the plan and get back to the boathouse.

It turns out that the plan is on and Trevor is freaking out about it. So Michael makes a promise that Trevor will never have to worry about Timosil again; considering Michael's track record this season it seems likely this will happen as the body count has been a lot, lot higher this season (something I've not really talked about because it seems everyone and their grandma wants to talk about how "Michael is getting people killed" and I like to buck trends). Michael leaves a note for the gang and then heads off to do the job.

The fake A-Team are let in by C.J. under the disguise of workmen from Montaro Heating and Air and after getting inside the security gate they surprise the guards with some shiny guns. Then things go a little weird due to some unusual choices in cutting and music. I had to rewind the scene to make sure I hadn't wandered into the wrong show by accident when Timosil just disappeared from view and some kind of cyberpunk theme broke out. This entire scene is filled with strange cutting and editing techniques, I guess with the intent of making it more exciting than it really is; but it doesn't work. Eventually Sam saves us from this by cutting a wire to trip the alarm and the F-team bails out without stealing anything after torching the van to remove evidence.

The F-Team split up and head for their cars, but Timosil's tires have been let down by Sam and he's left stranded near the scene. The rest of the crooks meet up and 'Joseph' lands Timosil in it by informing C.J. and Kandi that he gave the jewels to him. Michael gives the signal and Fi blows up the boat house, making everyone fall over. Kandi is none to impressed with this and her follow up meeting with Timosil ends with her making an explosive point to him. Trevor seems pretty content with it all and decides not to ask too many probing questions before leaving.

So we cut to Michael's apartment with Fi and Michael getting ready to go out for the job on Carla's place. Sam turns up - having acted on Fi's advice - with bags, Veronica didn't react very well to his confession about already being married (I was wrong! It was Fi who ruined things for Sam this time!) Last of all Michael manages to get inside Carla's building only to find out she's already gone - having already spotted him on his first failed attempt and she's left him a gloating photo message, some balloons, champagne and another crossword...

Looks like Carla has another job for him...

The episode was a pretty darn solid one; it had a nice mix of action and smart dialog, while also remaining pacy enough to avoid any dragging sections. There were some very nice touches in the interaction between the trio and it was a lot of fun to watch.
But the section where the heist itself starts was pretty disjointing to watch; you get used to the occasional split-second freeze frame in BN but the editing and effects in that section were way beyond the norm. It started to feel like 24 or Mission Impossible (the film) and the editing cut where Timosil just vanished in a quick fade was completely jarring.

In all I'd give it a solid 3.5


It's also time to review what we know about Carla:

‣ She's an accomplished spy who's clearly well informed about Michael
‣ She consistently stays one or two steps ahead of him and has him under constant surveillance. Surveillance he often fails to notice
‣ She works with a skilled team who are willing to abandon assets if Michael gets too close
‣ She has quite a wry sense of humour and is willing to push, taunt and tease Michael
‣ The job/target that she's got Michael running errands for requires serious security data and professionally made high tech security key
‣ Information on her is very high security, the Pakistani head of security was very reluctant to hand anything over

Now just speculating here, but I wouldn't be surprised if Michael is set up as a scapegoat for the job at the end of this season. He certainly seems to be constantly on the backfoot where Carla is concerned, so far he's only managed two minor victorys against her that she doesn't seem to be aware of (the duplicate keycard and the file on her) .

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Last week Michael (eventually) managed to get his hands on some files about Carla, this week we open with him reading through the remains of them (they've suffered heavy redaction of course) and sifting what information he can get. Fi joins him (Michael is like the easiest spy in the world to locate if you know who he is), they discuss how Carla might be using her previous cover as an irrigation consultant in Miami and Fi points out that he has a tail (see what I mean?). We then get a little bit of exciting action as Fi drives, Michael bails from the car and then throws a rickshaw in front of the tail. It turns out to be Nate, Michael's brother. This is the first appearance from Nate (Seth Peterson) since Loose Ends (the first season finale) and predictably enough he's got a problem for Michael to solve.

It turns out that a Russian lass named Katya has 'lost' her sister. By lost I mean she attempted to get herself illegally smuggled into America with the aid of gangsters and now they're demanding a lot of cash to release her. More money than a pretty, but poor Russian receptionist can afford. So Katya turned to Nate and asked him where she could get a gun (the girl has spirit, her response to the demands was to swing a crowbar at them) in order to solve her problem. Nate instead suggested Michael, as he solves these kind of things everyday... Well not everyday but often enough.

Michael goes to meet up with Sam and they discuss the job and the file a little. Sam mentions one Harvey Gunderson and we get to see a picture, why it's a photo of comedian Larry Miller. I'm sure Harvey won't be making an appearance in this episode then, no sir!

Michael, Nate and Katya meet up with Fi to check out Ivan - the human trafficker. Fortunately for everyone Ivan likes to wear a selection of Russian prison tattoos that nicely advertise all his skills and crimes. These include stealing, working as an enforcer and killing people; I think there was also one which explained how he likes long walks on the beach and cuddling in front of the fire. But I might have just imagined it. Needless to say Ivan is a nasty piece of work, but that's not quite enough to scare off Katya, her response to finding out Ivan is a killer is pretty... feisty.

Meanwhile Bruce Sam meets up with Larry Harvey over dinner and attempts to get information on the irrigation consultants working in Miami, but Harvey isn't an easy fish to land. He's determined to milk Sam for as much food and drink as he can before releasing the information. It's a short scene (as many of these have been so far) but a pretty good one. I've always enjoyed Larry's work since I saw him in "The Doorman" (he's also pretty good in the few appearances he's made as Edwin Poole in Boston Legal).
Needless to say, Michael is not too impressed with the bill but it's Sam's explanation of what happened that really shines. Bruce is just awesome as Sam, he really is. (Quick trivia question. What other show have both Jeffery and Bruce guest starred in. Hint: They were not in the same episode. Answer at the bottom of this post.) Anyway, Fi's surveillance has revealed that Ivan keeps his distance from the kidnapped victims so the guys hatch a plan that involves kidnapping Ivan and then interrogating him while pretending to be government officials. A plan that Sam really takes a shine to. It's Fi who pulls the abduction job (almost) solo, she entices Ivan over into range and then attempts to hit him with a stun gun. But things don't go entirely to plan and she ends up in a Mexican standoff. She has the gun in range of Ivan and has the drop on him, but she can't zap him without zapping herself because he has a hold of her leg. Her solution is to zap him anyway and let Sam cart them both away unconscious.

It's quite possible that this electric shock has pushed Fi even closer to the edge. She's certainly all kinds of crazy in the following scene. (Gabrielle sells it so well imo). But it seems that Sam is also getting a little 'excited' as he's rather enthusiastic about the upcoming interrogation.
Sure enough he really puts it full on while interrogating Ivan (in a brilliant scene), but it's no good. Sam's a trained expert when it comes to interrogation and he realises quickly that Ivan isn't going to break in the short time frame of three days. So he hatches up a new plan, Michael is going to be put into the 'cell' with Ivan as another member of the Russian organisation and we're treated to a rather impressive scene where Jeffery shows off his skills in language and martial arts before winning the trust of Ivan (through the age old classic method of accusing the other person of being the leak/mole/traitor when it's actually you).

Next we get another one of those great Fi/Sam in a car conversations, it's wonderful how well the pair play off each other and I'm glad the writers have decided to build on this by continuing to give them scenes. They're scoping out the location where the girls are kept but the conversation ranges from Sam's continued failures with Harvey to Fi's pervy neighbour. I just love how natural the whole thing feels.
Once inside the restaurant where the girls are being kept (on the top floor) they use a similar plan to the one used by Michael and Sam last week. In short Sam causes a scene with some loud and annoying complaining while Fi sneaks in while everyone is distracted. But it turns out that the girls are not being kept behind heat shielding and instead it's a piracy ring (it turns out FACT are right! Piracy really does fuel crime, in fictional media at least anyways...) So she leaves with Sam, who was getting his face acquainted with the bar.

This episode really is a showcase of Bruce's talents, he's pretty much running both story lines by himself and it's done so well that you might not even realise how Sam-centric this episode actually is. One of the great things about Burn Notice is because Jeffery is providing narrative in mamy scenes - including ones he's not present in - it's possible to have plenty of stuff going on for the other characters without taking the focus from Michael.

We're treated to a pair of scenes with Sam center stage, the first of which is another interrogation scene with Ivan and the second is a truely fantastic scene where Sam changes tack on Harvey and twists him hard where it hurts. By threatening his career. It's a great little scene which is funny and showcases how great these two men are at their job.
Meanwhile, Michael works on Ivan a little more and learns enough to realise that there's no way they'll get the location of the girls in time. Ivan discloses that the girls will be killed if anyone other than him approaches the safe house and also that the girls will be killed on Friday regardless. So Michael talks to Nate about another change of plan, it's time to let Ivan engineer an escape. Nate is not to happy with this and has a bit of a go, so Michael walks off and it's up to his mother to talk some sense into him, while she doesn't have a big role this week Sharon Gless is very good in the scenes she does have.

The escape plan goes exceptionally well, Michael, Sam and Nate sell it and Ivan just can't wait to buy up every last bit of it. So Ivan agrees to bring Michael to the safe house while Fi and Sam follow in Michael's (not so discrete) car. Ivan agrees to move the girls and then heads off to tell the boss man, leaving Michael with his men. Men who are blindsided by Michael attacking them and then Sam and Fi turning up. Michael opens the van the girls were contained in and lets them out.

Most of the Russians skip town, Ivan "goes upstairs" (which doesn't sound like it was a pleasant experience) and Katya is reunited with her sister. Everyone lives happily ever after, except for Ivan who turns up in a dumpster.

All in all this is easily the best episode of the season so far; while Sharon (Madeline) still had to sit on the sidelines a little she did have a couple of good scenes. Seth (Nate) had plenty to do as well, but the real meat of the story was handed over to Gabrielle and of course Bruce. And both of them rose up to the challenge; not only meeting it but exceeding it with ease. Bruce in particular was stunning in this episode, he's always a delight to see on screen and this was no exception.



I have no hesitation in giving this one 4.5 TVs.

Answer to trivia: The show they've both guest starred in is Homicide: Life on the Street. Jeffery played a criminal on a rampage (with a twist) and Bruce played a cop in a two parter the following season.
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This week Michael continues to dig into the mystery surrounding Carla while also helping a client who owes a loan shark $200K.

It's Friday and that means it's Burn Notice time! "Trust Me" is the third episode in the season and the show is continuing with the format of two plots, one concerning a weekly client and the second separate meta plot dealing with Michael's burn notice and his attempts to find out more about the woman sent to work as his handler.

The episode opens up with Michael and Sam heading into the Pakistani embassy with the intent of using a little distraction (Bruce causing a scene while stealing it simultaneously) to procure some sensitive information from the head of security. Michael explains that the head of security in most embassies is in fact a spy and there tends to be plenty of sensitive information around that they would be desperate to get back if it went missing. It turns out that the normal procedure for storing sensitive material is putting it in a standard grey filing cabinet located in your office, which you leave unlocked while there is an unsupervised guest sitting not more than five meters away. I guess that the Pakistan intelligence agency isn't that interested in keeping their information too secret, they must enjoy a good bit of being coerced. Or maybe the Miami head of security is just bad at his job, I don't know. Either way it's good news for Michael as all he needs to do is pop on some gloves, rifle through the top draw of the nearest cabinet and bingo, he's got something he can use as leverage.

I know that Burn Notice is meant to be light hearted fun and you're supposed to leave reality at the door when dealing with it, but this heist must go down as the easiest job Michael has pulled in the history of the show. Sure it's important to keep things pacey, but that one was as smooth as fresh snow on polished silver. Maybe I shouldn't think too hard about this and just enjoy it instead.

A bit later Michael is attempting to sneak into his mother's garage for car parts when she spots him. Maybe the Pakistani embassy should consider hiring her as their head of security, she's obviously better at surveillance than they were. Michael is brought in and joins a game of cards with his mother's friends (and Fi). Apparently another of Mrs Western's friends is having trouble as her son has borrowed $200K from a loan shark and has lost the money with a poor investment. Fi decides that Michael should take this job, it seems she wants him to pay penance for putting his burn notice ahead of her. Ah Michael; never cross an Irish woman even slightly, she has a million ways to get back at you. It doesn't matter what the show is called, Fi considers herself more important, women are a little crazy like that.

So Michael heads off to talk to the woman and her son (Andy) with Fi, they quickly identify that Andy has been the target of a rather old style sting. He was approached with a 'deal of a lifetime' by a man called Zeke and only had to front $200K to pay for a club in Cuba with a promise of thousand fold returns. Just as he handed over the money the "FBI" arrive; arrest Zeke, confiscate the money and leave Andy penniless. This is of course a classic con, one that anyone with a passing interest in con merchants or con films should immediately recognise. I'm not going to have a go about the use of such an obvious old school con because it fits here. Andy is clearly a complete rube, he's a nice guy but very naive. So it's natural that he'd fall for something so obviously false that would send anyone who's even been near a con movie into full alert.

Michael heads off to meet with the head of security for a little blackmail information exchange but he rapidly hits a snag. It seems that the information he's stolen isn't as valuable as the information on Carla, so down but not out Michael leaves to hatch another plan.

Fi is then sent to try and get her hands on the money direct from Zeke, to do this she comes up with the clever disguse of letting her hair down, wearing a very short skirt and employing a British accent that's just as terrible as the one Michael used in the first episode. I'm really enjoying the bad accent running joke, it's more fun than the yogurt one. Unfortunately her plan doesn't work out because Zeke likes to keep his office locked with a key card, Fi's hairpins don't work on key card slots so the gang have to come up with an alternative two man operation that involves someone playing a tempting mark for Zeke. Sam seems the obvious choice but Fi lands Michael in it instead (see Michael? Don't upset the Irish women, they'll hold a grudge forever and wear you down the same way water from a vine leaf wears away a rock!)

Michael meets with the head of security a second time to tell him that "He wins" and return the stolen files in a suspicious looking brown envelope. Intrepid photographer Sam Axe happens to be around with a camera and manages to photograph the entire exchange. Can you smell a second blackmail attempt coming? Mmm, blackmail...

Somewhere in amongst all this the loan shark comes round with a couple of heavies to put pressure onto Andy and his mother. Michael responds to the threats in the way you'd expect, he beats up the thugs with a magazine called 'Cat Fancy' and then informs them they'll get their money. At this point everyone seems to be wisely keeping quiet about any kind of interest, it seems this loan shark lends you $200K and only expects to get that much back. Perhaps that's why his men are easily fought off with nothing more than a glossy for people who like kittens.

Michael then heads off to the club to pose as a Texan oil baron trust fund baby. Cue the second terrible accent of the episode (hooray!) as Jeffery Donovan hams it up big style in order to compete with Gabriel's outrageously bad British accent.

Once inside the office Michael finds out that there's another snag (I'm sure he's tired of this by now, it seems he hits more snags in his plans than Malcolm Reynolds), the safe contains newspaper instead of money. So the gang need a third plan built off the back of the second one. A plan where they can get Zeke to hand over his money first. Enter Sam Axe, who poses as Michael's trust fund manager.

Meanwhile, Michael meets with the head of security again. Shows him the pictures and once again attempts to blackmail him, this time using the threat of being reassigned to somewhere unpleasant for accepting handouts. This time it sticks and the guy agrees to get the information.

Sam proceeds to manipulate Zeke by employing the strategy of 'walk away whenever Zeke refuses to hand over the money' and Zeke caves repeatedly to this. It's actually a lot funnier to watch than I've described it here. But basically Sam's part in the plan is to pick up all his toys and walk off saying "The deals off". The deal is set up and Michael gets Barry to help with a fake transfer. Then when the deal goes down the gang essentially pull a variation of the con trick used by Zeke and his partners. Sam intercepts them, sends them off somewhere and then blows up their car. Michael claims his ex-special forces mates have just aced some FBI men and want paying. Zeke promptly panics, goes back to the bar and hands over the original $200K (plus a little extra) to Michael. His partners then show up alive and Zeke is left explaining what he's just done. It's quite likely that we won't see Zeke again, he's probably enjoying a long swim in a special sack now. But maybe his partners will resurface seeking their money at some point.

The money is repaid to the loan shark (along with a lifetime magazine subscription to 'Cat Fancy') and Michael exchanges the photos plus negatives with the old head of security for the files on Carla.

It's a solid episode, not as good as the previous two but still enjoyable, light hearted and most importantly fun. We get two terrible disguises with awful accents and one whole explosion. What more could you want? (Apart from maybe a vampire and an explosion).


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This week Carla meets with Michael face to face and asks him to get in contact with a skilled Tunisian counterfitter who can duplicate a high tech key card for her organisation. Also, Michael is approached via Sam by a waitress who's being stalked and asked to help her out.


[Episode Spoilers Below]


Thankfully the writers of Burn Notice have decided not to drag out the moment before Michael and Carla meet face to face, the episode pretty much opens with it - following on almost directly from the scene where Sam met her the following week. Michael heads out with Sam and Fi for the meeting, with the intention of getting Sam to photograph her while Fi follows her. Predictibly this doesn't work, in fact I was left wondering why Michael thought it would work. He's such an astute spy he should have known his friends would be clocked the moment they were in the same area as Carla. But he doesn't and they are.


Carla hands him the afformentioned key card and explains that there's only one man in Miami who can make something like this. Michael has to set up a meeting and get the counterfit duplicate made. Sam then meets up with Michael and explains about helping Sophia, Michael is reluctant to help at first but decides to do so at least in part for Sam. While scouting out the "stalker" Raul they realise he isn't exactly what Sophia made him out to be, as he's packing a Mac 10.

Meanwhile, Fi goes to the one man who'd know where the counterfitter would be, Barry the money launderer. It's nice to see Barry back on screen again; even if it's only for a moment, and he's suitbly sleezy when dealing with Fi. Something she's more than happy to respond too in her prefered manner, with violence and threats. I do find Fi's love of violence refreshing in some manners, it's great that the most trigger happy character in the show is in fact a woman. But it's a little stereotypical that she's also Irish.

Michael confronts Sophia over Raul and after some shrewd observations about inconsistencies in her story he gets her to admit to the truth. She's a DEA agent, Raul is part of a drug cartel and she's been trying to get enough to arrest him for two years. Unfortunately she's in over her head, but unwilling to tell the DEA as that would get her pulled from the case. Michael learns about the organisation and comes up with a plan to get her out of there and take Raul down in about 30 seconds. You have to wonder why they burned him if he's that good at this job.

Michael meets the counterfiter with another flimsy cover identity, this time he dresses up in a terrible shell suit top and puts on a slight voice while he pretends to be a low skill counterfitter who specialises in cheque washing (once again Burn Notice teaches you something the public shouldn't learn about, this time it's how to blank cheques that have been used before). It's nowhere near as funny as his British performance last week, but it's still entertaining to watch.


Once again Carla and her people break into Michael's mother's house, this time to replace the coffee maker with a new one. He takes this pretty well, they're consistently trying to rattle his cage but he hasn't gotten angry or worried about the bunch of trained spies who seem to treat his mother's place as a place to leave him messages and screw with his head. His mother also seems to be completely oblivious to the events, assuming Michael bought the new coffee maker for her. She also asks that he go to councelling sessions with her, counselling sessions that don't work out.

Michael manages to work his way into Raul's confidences and starts to put his plan into motion when he hits a few setbacks, the first of which is when Raul discovers that Michael and Sophia have been talking on the phone to each other. Something Raul mistakenly assumes is to do with them sleeping together, but Michael keeps his cool and doesn't give anything away while talking Raul down with a believable story about "checking him out in advance". The second snag he hits is when Raul turns out to be far more loyal than Michael had estimated. His initial plan to get Raul eliminated as a potential leak of information becomes impossible because Raul brings him to meet his boss Campos. So Michael rigs the situation to make it seem like Raul wanted to have Campos killed and this forces Raul to go to the DEA rather than get killed.

Michael returns to collect the duplicate from the counterfitter and also asks him to find out where the keycard would be used. But Carla's organisation are ahead of him and attempt to kill Nezi right after their meeting. Michael realises this but gets back too late to save him. He does manage to reclaim his money and gets another copy of the key card for his troubles.
Finally he meets again with Carla to give her the money, the counterfit and the original and he gets her to show off by communicating in Arabic. Which gives him a clue to her identity as she has a Kurdish accent. It's not much, but Sam agrees to do what he can.



Turn and Burn is classic Burn Notice, but with an added layer of complexity. The 'problem of the week' format is followed but this time the 'big season metaplot' also gets equal screen time. As such you get two stories in this episode, but it doesn't feel too packed in or rushed. All of the cast are excellent when on screen, Bruce and Jeffery provide the best performances (as usual) but Tricia is very good when she's on screen and looks very good with a more natural appearance to her (compared to BSG) except for her smile, sometimes it's just darn creepy and really unflattering.

Clues as to Carla's agenda continue to arrive, previously we had a collection of high security data files and this week we have an exceptionally high tech key card being duplicated. It's clear there's a major heist on the books, but why, who, where and how come everything needed is in Miami hasn't come to light yet. Next week promises to reveal even more about her.

There's a lot to enjoy in this episode and it's probably better than the season opener (which was still good).


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