We may only be in mid-July, but it's never too early to plan ahead in the world of TV. USA has revealed the dates in which seven of their nine original shows will be completing their summer runs, stretching from August 7th to September 14th and staying out of the way of the always chaotic last couple of weeks in September.

In Plain Sight will be signing off on August 7th at 10:00, ending its fourth season. The show has been picked up for season 5 already, so if you're a fan, you can sit back and enjoy the rest of the summer run of episodes with no worries. Two days later on August 9th, White Collar and Covert Affairs will be finishing their summer episodes. Fellow perennial favorite Royal Pains will be heading heading on vacation only a few days before Labor Day, as the first half of season 3 will wrap up on August 31st at 10:00.

Burn Notice will end about a week after that on September 8th; newcomer Suits has the same fate. Necessary Roughness will be the last USA show to close up shop for the time being, as its first season will conclude on September 14th at 10:00.

USA has yet to announce its fall/winter premiere dates, so it's unclear when Psych and Fairly Legal will premiere, which shows will have a quick turn around to air new episodes, and how any new shows will fit into the grander scheme for the most successful cable net out there.

Have you been enjoying the new shows USA premiered this summer? Are you looking forward to the next seasons this coming winter?

USA Announces Summer Finale Dates

The fifth season of Burn Notice will be premiering on USA Network on June 23.  Jeffrey Donovan, Gabrielle Anwar, Coby Bell, Bruce Campbell, and Sharon Gless will all be returning for the fifth season and now, thanks to EW, we've learned about two guest stars who will appear.

The first is Gavin Rossdale.  As in, Gwen Stefani's husband and the lead singer of Bush.  Rossdale will be playing a villain named Armand, a wealthy and powerful man who travels all of the world to oversee his "projects".  When Fiona asks him for help he agrees, but only if she'll reciprocate by helping him with a major heist.

This is not the first time the musician has acted.  He appeared in the movie Constantine as the character Balthazar, and in an episode of Criminal Minds.

Rossdale will be appearing in episode 5.08, and will be joined by David Dayan Fisher, who has a recurring role on NCIS.  Fisher will play a ruthless mercenary in the episode.

Don't miss the season 5 premiere of Burn Notice on June 23 at 9:00 p.m.

clarissa @ tvovermind.com
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Burn Notice: Gavin Rossdale & NCIS' David Dayan Fisher to Guest Star

Former Melrose Place star Grant Show will make an appearance in the first three episodes of USA staple Burn Notice's upcoming season, as reported by Entertainment Weekly. He's said to be playing a CIA operative named Max, though no other details were released. Burn Notice premieres its fifth season sometime this summer, likely around the time that White Collar and Covert Affairs make their return (June 7th), and its prequel movie Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe will premiere April 17th.

Since Show left Melrose in 1997, he's made several television movies in addition to being a popular guest star on the likes of Big Love, Private Practice, and Six Feet Under. You may have also seen him in CBS's short-lived Swingtown or in last year's Accidentally on Purpose, also on CBS. He may not have had a lot of action-y roles in the past, but I think Grant will add a little extra spice to the beginning of what is sure to be a pretty explosive season.

Are you getting excited for the next season of Burn Notice? Did last season leave you wanting more? Do you think Grant will be a good addition to the cast?

Grant Show Set to Guest on Burn Notice

Don't know what's going on? Click here.

Here it is, ladies and gents: the first day of the TVO Awards! We'll be covering the best of cable today, so strap yourselves in and keep checking back -- there are plenty of polls left today! First up, we've got the poll for the best show on USA Network. There are a lot of great shows on there, including Burn Notice, In Plain Sight, White Collar, Covert Affairs, and Royal Pains. But which one is your favorite? Vote below, and ensure your show has a spot in the next round of the awards by spreading the word! The winner of this poll will compete on Day 3 for the "Best Show on Cable" award.

This poll will close at 1:50 EST on December 30, 2010.

[poll id="6"]

TVO Awards - Day 1 - Best Show of 2010, Round 1.1 - Best Show on USA

The day has finally arrived for the Burn Notice season finale and it looks to be a good 2 hours of show tonight. Michael, Fiona, Sam, and Jesse are at the verge of a major breakthrough on Michael's burners and you can expect there to be heavy gunfire all night. As a treat for you fans, we here at TV Overmind have a slew of photos to tide you over until the episodes air.

Burn Notice Season Finale Preview (From USA NETWORK website)
Michael's ruthless enemy Brennan vows to release a valuable piece of data if Michael doesn't carry out a specific task: killing off government agents. Michael's actions force a tactical assault team to come after him and everyone he cares about. With his back against a corner, Michael will need to do everything in his power to hold them off.

Jay Karnes and Tim Matheson guest star in the two-hour Burn Notice season finale – "Out of the Fire" and "Last Stand" – premieres Tonight at 9/8C!

(Special thanks to USA NETWORK and Jason Eskin of Electric Artists for the photos)

Burn Notice Season Finale Preview

This season of Burn Notice added some great twists and some interesting character. Thoughout the season, we the viewers have been led to the docks of Miami, the jungles of some far off land, and to the streets of the Dominican Republic all for Michael only to find out he still can't decipher a list of who burned him. Now with the season finale just hours away, we may finally know who burned Michael.

But wait, you say that you don't remember what happened this season. Well my friend you are in luck. Within this classified document you will find the info needed to arm yourself for the best viewing of the Burn Notice season finale. Use this info wisely, or else you to will be burned. And as Michael says "When you're burned, you have nothing...".

"Friends" To Lean On
Like most seasons, Michael has had Fiona, Sam, his Mother, and at times Barry to help him out when he needed a hand. Well, that list of helpers got bigger this season as Michael became acquainted with some fresh faces, Jesse Porter and Vaughn.

JESSE PORTER
Jesse Porter came to the group in a way that most never thought would happen. During a job for Vaughn, Michael inadvertantly burned Jesse. Luckily for Michael, Jesse did not know at first who had burned him. This helped Michael out as he was able to use a fresh new team member for the odd jobs he does around Miami. Jesse became a great asset for the group thanks in part to his prior experience as a CIA operative. Things became tricky as Jesse started to harbor feelings for Fiona. Unaware to Michael, Fiona and Madeline both confronted Jesse on his feelings, with the latter telling Jesse that Fiona will always be Michael's girl.

Jesse, was finally able to learn the identity of the man who burned him. This moment turned Jesse into a man on a mission to kill those involved with Michael. However, Jesse was able to put his anger aside for a short time to kill a man holding Michael hostage, although he severly injured Michael in the process. From that time on, Jesse has come to terms that Michael burned him, and has gotten back with the gang. Jesse and Michael have teamed up in the ending of this season to find a way to make their way back into the CIA.

Vaughn
Vaughn thrust his way into Michael's life by stating that he wanted Michael's help to locate who released Simon from prison. This search led the two men to different locations, mostly in Miami, and brought Michael closer to finding out the people who enacted his burn. Vaughn has become more of a hinderance and a threat now to Michael. It was Vaughn who botched the plan when Michael was to recieve information of his burn. From there, Michael has seen Vaughn as nothing more than an enemy.

Now these two men have been a huge impact on Michael's life. Expect Jesse to remain with the gang for awhile longer. Vaughn however, has not been seen for a few episodes, but it looks as if he will be making a major return for the season finale.

Continue reading to learn more about the story of this season.

What To Know Before The Burn Notice Season 4 Finale

After watching last weeks not so fast and furious episode, I was a little dissapointed yet still optomistic about this weeks episode. With the way the season is going, Burn Notice tends to be amazing one week and slow and tedious the next week. This week continues that trend and puts itself into the running for quite possibly the best episode of the series.

The storylines this week were drawn out greatly by the characters focused on each. First of the main story line focused on Jesse and Michael's quest to have their burn removed so they can go back to working for the CIA again. I still have yet to see a form of Jesse I like, but at least this week he was shown in small doses so I could tolerate him. Also with this story, we saw the return of Marv (played nicely by Richard Kind). I loved the way Marv was first introduced this season and I felt alittle sad to see his character killed at the end by a group of fake Homeland Security, but more on that in a minute.

Now, it was the side story this week that I really enjoyed. Sam Axe (played by the talented Bruce Cambell) really had his moment in the sun this week and the acting by Cambell was great. Sam is investigating the death of a cop buddy only to find that a drug conspiracy is wrapped up in this. While that aspect of the story is unoriginal, the writers were able to add great moments to spice it up. My favorite moment of all had to be Michael's "Ring of Trust". I mean how awesome would it be to have talks with people inside a ring of fire. Anyways, back to the Sam story. Sam had such great moments in this episode that really makes you feel for his character.

The end of the episode really got me going, and I am assuming that other viewers are jacked up for the 2 hour season finale next week. After watching Marv get murdered, Michael notices that Tyler Brennen is back and is going to be wrecking havoc on Michael and the gang. Now that might be enough for some but there is actually another blast from Mikey's past that will resurface next week.

After a horrible week last week, Burn Notice comes back this week with guns blazing and surpasses many of the episodes in the series. A

What did you think of the episode this week? Sound off in the TV Overmind "Ring of Trust" commment section below.

Burn Notice 4.16 "Dead or Alive" Review

This season of Burn Notice has been a roller coaster ride story wise and emotion wise. The first half of the season started off strong. However when the second half began airing, the episodes began to run thin and a little dry. This weeks episode had great potentially but ultimately fell flat in the story line that needed the most attention.

The episode focused on two different stories. The main arc of the season (and the show for that fact), was actually focused on very little this week. More suprisingly, it was Sam and Jesse who were featured in this arc. As for Michael and Fiona, they were back in Miami dealing with a job that Michael's brother Nate had picked up. This story line was where the episode lacked. I have never been a big fan of Nate and this episode did not change my feelings. It's like the only reason Nate is brought in is so he can give Michael a hard time, then help him learn a lesson about family.

As for the main story of the series, huge progress was made in finding out who burned Michael. Sam and Jesse leave Miami on a tip that a list is being auctioned that contains the names of all those involved with burning Michael. This I beleive should have been the main focus of the episode, but if I had my wish, the rest of the season would lack substance. The best moment of the episode by far had to be the final cliffhanger with the gang asking Michael what to do. With Michael only stating that they will take these people out, we as viewers know that a brawl of huge proportions will be awaiting us in the final 3 episodes of the season.

I am hoping that the final episodes can pick up the speed and intensity and return to its glory of the first half of the season. For viewers who don't know, a few more faces from Michaels past will be returning and you can bet he won't be happy to see them (Hint: one of the people returning is thought to be dead). We will have to see how that develops over the end of the season. However, I wish that this weeks episode could have been developed more and could have used less of Nate. B-

Burn Notice 4.15 "Brotherly Love" Review

If you missed last weeks review you can find it here.

After last weeks episode, I began to have nervous feelings about "Hot Property". I thought maybe Burn Notice would continue its line of bad cases. However, I found to be worried for nothing. This episode had everything to make Burn Notice another episode that kept my attention. With fast cars, high profile jobs, and good looking women, this week more than made up for the episode last week.

The case this week was confusing at first but, it was a good confusing. The writers brought the viewers to beleive that the job of the week was to help a man retrieve his sister from a foriegn diplomat. Then just as viewers get comfortable with this story, two shots to the chest change the story to that of theft, biological weapons, and a blast from the past. Season 3 villian Natalie returns and proposes a job to Michael and the gang. I always find that when villians and heroes join forces that you have both great teamwork but also great deception, and "Hot Property" had both. The deception came to a head when Michael made a power play and was able to get the weapon from Natalie, but also get her locked up.

But wait, there was a bigger deceptive power move going on through the whole episode. Michael's mother Madeline was able to trick Michael and Jesse into meeting for a face-to-face talk about there relationship. In one of the greatest speeches on television history, I have to say Madelines "Get over it" speech has got to be one of my favorites. Spoken like a true mother, Madeline treats the two boys like her own sons and basically tells them to grow up. Now maybe if she can help Jesse get a better personality. Oh how a television viewer can hope.

After being let down by last weeks episode, I felt a great sense of calm while watching this episode (well, as calm as you can be with your adrenaline pumping). This episode is in the running to be the top episode of the season. I give this episode a solid A-.

Disagree with the grade? Love the episode? Wish Fiona and Natalie fight would have been better? Whatever you want to talk about, don't forget to sound off about it in our Burn Notice message boards.

Burn Notice 4.14 "Hot Property" Review

After being gone for 2 months, Michael and his crew are back. Will his time in the hospital change Michael's attitude? Will this explosive episode (yes pun is intended) bring the group to a halt, or will Jesse finally exact his revenge towards everyone?

To be honest, I was excited for the return of Burn Notice. Every since the beginning of Novemeber, I had waited patiently for the show to come back from hiatus. However, I have to say I was alittle let down by the episode as a whole. The new episode had so much to live up to after the fall hiatus but fell falt. The story line was something that felt over used in many spy dramas and movies. Chasing down a serial bomber is one of the oldest stories spies at thrust into, and it was even done to some extent for the season three finale "Devil You Know". I may be jumping the gun on this statement, but I beleive Burn Notice is starting to struggle for stories that will be interesting and fun to watch.

I have to say I was more disappointed by the way Jesse was handled in this episode. As most of us remember, Jesse vowed to kill Michael for burning him. At the end of the first half of this season we all were led to believe that Jesse had accomplished this. However, I found it quite odd that in this new episode, Jesse was some what of a friend to Michael and his group again, even helping them out with this weeks job. I really wish that the writers would have worked in the reason Jesse is helping them out again. And, while that might be a problem with the story, Jesse changes his whole demeanor more by actually killing the man Michael is trying to bring into custody. I have to say I did not appreciate the sudden style change of Jesse and I really hope he goes back to being the old Jesse we all love.

This episode had alot going for it but fell flat in many areas. I hope the writers return to their old styles of writing and bring Michael back to the badass he used to be before his gunshot. I give this episode 3 explosive televisions out of 5 (or a C+ for all those who like that grading scale).

Do you have another oppinion? Do you agree with the grade? Or do you just like talking about Burn Notice? Whatever your fancy, be sure to sound off in our message boards here.

Burn Notice 4.13 "Eyes Open" Review

All series have a shelf life. So do their characters and plotlines. While they may start hot, storylines can just as quickly paint a good show into a bad corner, or completely change it around. (And I don't just mean "When will Character A and Character B get together?" That's the least of my worries.) Here are five elements from some of my favorite series that are just aching for resolution.

1. How much time does Nikita's Michael (Shane West) have to pick a side?

Forget Nikita or Alex. The character I'm most concerned with in CW's spy saga is Division's permanently agitated right-hand man, Michael. He's the only person whose loyalties aren't clear. While Michael's been a good soldier, we saw in "Rough Trade" that he's had his doubts about his work for a few years, and his recent interactions with Nikita have only exacerbated his confusion. He's not sure if he's on the right side anymore, and it shows; in "Resistance" Percy feels the need to test Michael's loyalty.

It's Michael's inner conflict that makes him Nikita's most fascinating character. Every week, he clearly struggles trying to rationalize what he believes to be true with what chasing Nikita is showing him. (And it's not because of her, either.) This vulnerability is a unique aspect to his character that no other incarnation has had, and it's given Shane West plenty of material, which he's capitalized on in spades. His Michael is neither idiot nor fool, as we've seen in his confrontations with boss Percy (Xander Berkeley), so each week as tension mounts, I can only wonder when he'll finally decide he's had enough and join Nikita and Alex in taking down Division.

While Michael's defection from the bad-guy ranks is pretty much inevitable, it will also mean Nikita will be an entirely different series. Shane West will still have plenty of material to mine as Michael starts a whole new arc, but the writers will need to find something to replace the "when will Michael turn sides?" tension that keeps the fans just as interested. It will no doubt come in the form of two other questions: after trying to protect her, will Michael be willing to leave Alex behind (unless he figures out first that she's on Nikita's side)? More importantly, who will Percy replace Michael with in the hunt for Nikita? It had better be someone truly great and more than a little intimidating, because Michael is going to be one tough act to follow.

Prognosis: Variable. It depends on how the writers organized their series; if they had a 13-episode plan, we might see it happen by the end of the initial order. Will they push the game-changing moment to episode 22 now that they have a full-season run? Or will they hold their trump card for into season two and beyond? All of them could be possibilities. One thing's for sure: once they let Michael come to his senses, there's no going back, so they'd better choose wisely.

Speaking of people named Michael...

Continued on next page...

How Much Time Does "Nikita's" Michael Have? (& 4 Other Burning Questions)

Are you as excited about the November 11 return of Burn Notice as I am? Well, there are some new promotional and behind the scenes photos to tide you over.

SPOILER & SPECULATION ALERT.

The return episode, "Eyes Open," wisely continues from where the midseason finale "Guilty as Charged" left off. Here's the official synopsis released by USA:

When a vengeful lawyer hires a paranoid bombmaker to kill off members of a local gang, Michael (Jeffrey Donovan) is forced to intervene before innocent lives are lost in the mayhem. Meanwhile, Michael and Jesse (Coby Bell) must work together to track down a stolen document containing highly classified government secrets. Guest starring Daniel Pino and Robert Wisdom.

From that synopsis, we know that we haven't seen the last of defense attorney Scott (Pino), whom many fans thought would be back. Sounds like he's out to make some people pay for what happened in the previous episode. Likewise, we haven't seen the last of the smarmy Vaughn (Wisdom), who was last seen ruining Michael's plan to take down John Barrett (Robert Patrick). It's good to see that Michael and Jesse are back on the same side, but I'm sure they're not copacetic just yet.

USA's press release regarding the return provides some vague details about what's in store for the rest of the season:

"We will see Michael and Jesse work together to track down a stolen document containing highly classified government secrets; we’ll watch as Michael meets with Jesse's old handler one last time; see Michael escape a tactical assault team threatening his life and those around him; and even see Michael forced to work side by side with his enemy…all while the team is trying to stay one step ahead and get one step closer to figuring out the mystery behind Michael’s burn notice.  Upcoming guest stars include Dylan Baker, Jay Karnes, Tim Matheson, Raphael Sbarge, Leo Fitzpatrick, Alexi Gilmore, Michael Jace, Callie Thorne and Daniel Pino."

It's certainly rife with possibilities. We knew that crazy Larry (Matheson) and the villainous Brennan (Karnes) would be back, but it's still great to see that acknowledged since they're two fan favorites.

We're also uploading a gallery of promotional and behind-the-scenes photos from "Eyes Open" that will provide food for thought for hardcore Burners. Although, why in the heck is Scott pointing a gun at Michael? You know that can't end well.

Let the speculation commence! Burn Notice returns on November 11 at 10 PM ET/PT on USA.

First Look At The Return of "Burn Notice"

You probably don't know Garret Dillahunt by name, but you should, because you know his work. He may be the most hated guy on television. You see, he's got a history of playing the bad guy, whether it's on Deadwood, The 4400, Life, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, or Burn Notice. Needless to say, it was a huge surprise to see the guy who played relentless Terminator Cromartie had signed up for...a sitcom?! Yet Dillahunt shows us a comedic side as the eccentric patriarch of the Chance family (no relation to Christopher) on the almost-absurd FOX comedy Raising Hope, which begins tonight after Glee. He was nice enough to talk to me exclusively and not even try and terminate me.

First things first: what the heck is the guy who tried to kill Sarah Connor doing on a sitcom?

I started actually on sitcoms. I did theater for like seven years and decided to start doing television and film, and the first jobs I got were all sitcoms and sitcom pilots. The first two shows that went for me were Maximum Bob and A Minute With Stan Hooper. I couldn't get an audition for drama to save my life.

You have that reputation of playing some of the most memorable bad guys in recent TV history, whether it was Cromartie or Simon Escher. How do you always end up playing the villain? Is it by choice or by chance?

It's kind of happened. The choice I make is to try to do things different than the last one. I think I was really lucky with Deadwood and that sort of sealed the reputation, deserved or not.

There's a story from Homicide: Life on the Street, where actor Erik Todd Dellums said that because he played drug kingpin Luther Mahoney, people actually started avoiding him in public. Has your history of villainy followed you around at all? Does it wear on you after awhile?

There's been a few like fiancees and girlfriends of friends who don't want to meet me because they're scared. They're kind of smirking when they say it. It's usually the guys that play the bad guys who are the nice guys. And when you're a guest star, you're usually the bad guy. I'm not one of those guys that takes it home too badly. The saving grace for me is I'm such a fan of writers and I'm so interested in doing justice to their work that I get involved in the story as a whole and not just my role.

Do you have a favorite bad guy that you've played? I know a lot of people who still remember you from playing Roman Nevikov on NBC's amazing series Life.

Deadwood remains a high point for me, and [The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford]. I guess [Ed] is kind of a bad guy although he's kind of an innocent. They've all been really complex.

There's a hilarity here in that you're one of two actors to legitimately scare  the hell out of me, and yet you've also played Jesus Christ (in "The Book of Daniel").

I was,  at the same time I was doing Jesse James. I had to go back and forth.

So did you come to the role of Burt Chance to get away from the bad-guy archetype, or what was it that attracted you to the part?

I elected to take a sort of ninety-degree turn. It was a lot different from the last thing I'd played. I just wanted to do a comedy again. It had been awhile. I really liked the script, and I really liked that dynamic at work. We all crack each other up. It's a nice change of pace. I've never been on a show that's gotten such positive reviews.

How do you prepare for the role of playing an eccentric sitcom father after all this time playing serious roles in dramas? Was it a big change for you?

I don't know. I guess it's different from role to role. It's not like I did a lot of research or anything. Greg Garcia is a lot like David Milch in that he really plays to your strengths. He'll see you do something and it'll inspire him. So I just have to prepare for that.

Does Raising Hope signal the end for your Burn Notice character, Simon Escher? You've been hailed as the best villain in Burn Notice history, and I know a lot of fans were hoping that we would see more of Simon in this season.

I don't think I'm so much in their minds, but me and Matt [Nix] get along great. Me and Jeffrey [Donovan] went to school together. As long as Simon's not dead, though, he's going to come back.

You appeared in this season of Burn Notice along with Robert Patrick, who set the Terminator bar when he played the T-1ooo in Terminator 2. Your Cromartie was the best Terminator since that film. How hard is it to play a Terminator robot?

It was harder than I expected it to be. The hardest part for me was to not show emotion. The real trap for me was to not show disappointment when my plans failed, or anger towards the Connors, because you realize he's a machine. He has no emotional stake in whether he catches them or not. He's just been programmed to do this thing, and that in itself is scary.

You did Burn Notice and you also made an appearance on White Collar, so I have to ask if you'd ever make an appearance on, say, Psych.

I'm sure I would if I was offered a job. I'm a workaholic. If I have a month off, I go crazy. I just think it's fun. Timothy Busfield, who directed that episode of White Collar, directed my episode of The Glades, which my wife [actress Michelle Hurd] is on. I've been around long enough now that there are connections in just about every job I do.

You must have seen about everything now. At least, you've been in almost everything, it seems like.

It's hard to go to the movies and not say, "Hey, there's somebody looking at his mark." Once you know how things are made, it's hard not to tear things apart. I have to keep a sort of naive enthusiasm in this business.

Maybe someday we could even get you a show where you could be busting bad guys instead of playing one. What would you think of that?

Sure. It'd be nice to be a good guy. I've played a lot of good guys. I just hope that people don't get sick of me.

So what are you watching?

I watched a lot of the new shows last night. A lot of it's sort of dictated by my wife. I really love Modern Family. That's really well done. We watch Glee. The TV's almost always on. There's so much good TV on. People criticize TV a lot, but there's a lot of great shows.

Thanks to Garret Dillahunt for an insightful interview. Raising Hope premieres on FOX tonight at 9 PM (ironically after Glee).

Exclusive Interview - Garret Dillahunt (Raising Hope, Burn Notice)

This is the moment all Burn Notice fans have waited for this season. Does Jesse kill Michael, doe Barrett kill Michael, or does nobody die at all.

Spoiler Warning: Before I write this review I want to express that this review will contain info that may spoil the episode for those who have not seen it yet. If you wish to get the recap of this episode check out Brittany's recap here.

I have to say that Robert Patrick was great as John Barrett. He had the sly actions that make him a force to be reckoned with. There are moments that made me cringe with fright as Barrett is such a scary man. I have to say that Barrett (along with Robert Patrick) will go down as the greatest villain/guest star combo second only to Simon (Garret Dillahunt). I am sad to see that it looks as if Barrett did die in the car accident.

As for the episode, I could not have been more anxious for an hour of tv than tonight. Tonight was the night that Jesse and Michael were going to face off. It's the battle we have been waiting for since Michael burned Jesse and.... well we didn't get quite that. I have to say I was slightly disapointed by the commercials for this episode than I was the episode itself. While the commercials glorified a face-off between Michael and Jesse, the episode gave us something different.

Instead, the episode in my opinion was split into 3 different parts. We had the week by week case (A lawyers daughter is kidnapped), Michael and Vaughn trying to take down Barrett, and the fight going on between Jesse and Michael's crew. I really wished the writers would have eliminated the case of the week story line. To me it served no purpose for this monumental episode and in some parts it slowed the main story.

Now the Barret take down and Jesse going after the Burn Notice crew was good but not great. For me, there was not even time spent on Jesse. With him only popping up in about 4 scenes (Only one that had him affecting the outcome of the end), I was unhappy with the way he was teased as being the "main antagonist" for this episode. At least the Barrett story was able to combine with the Jesse story to add some intrgue to the episode, even though it was in the last 10 minutes of the episode. It did do a good job by combining the stories in an explosive way I never saw coming.  The scene that really had me reeling was the final moment. As with many shows these days, the finale ends with a great cliffhanger and Burn Notice delivered on one of the best cliffhangers I have seen in awhile.

With a great ending that keeps you guessing and a possible new enemy surfacing (that definitely didn't look like Jesse grabbing the briefcase) this episode did not live up to all the hype generated by its commercials. B

Now, it's sad to think that we have to wait all the way till November for the story to pick back up. I see this as a time to practice my spy knowledge learned from Michael and maybe even get my own personal sub marine.

Burn Notice 4.12 "Guilty As Charged" Summer Finale Review

Jesse Porter is pissed. John Barrett is not a very nice guy and he's brought an army. Vaughn is probably a little cranky too. All of these guys are looking for Michael Westen, and not to give him a hug. What a way to cap the first half of a great fourth season of Burn Notice!

In case you weren't one of the people (myself included) who were watching USA's handy marathon of the season to date today, here's the quick 411: Michael has his hands on Simon's (Garret Dillahunt) Bible, which decodes...something important. It's the key to bringing down the very bad people that both Vaughn (Robert Wisdom) and Jesse (Coby Bell) have been looking for over the last few years. These very bad people have come to Miami in the person of John Barrett (Robert Patrick), who wants the Bible to take down Vaughn and ostensibly continue his global reign of mayhem. And did I mention that Jesse discovered it was Michael who burned him, and seems ready to fulfill his early-season vow to make whomever burned him pay, friend or not? Even Michael's mom, Maddie (Emmy nominee Sharon Gless), is upset with him. It's probably the worst time to be Michael Westen. We know that he's going to make it through this alive (unless Jeffrey Donovan decides to retire from acting a la Amanda Bynes), but that doesn't mean his life can't be totally wrecked...again.

We ended the last episode with one of the most chilling scenes ever seen on this show, and we pick up not long after. Though Maddie and Fiona are worried about Jesse (Maddie: "Jesse and I were friends. Maybe I'll stay and try to convince him not to shoot you"), Michael knows he has to focus on Barrett and his incoming army, lest Jesse get burned for nothing and, of course, global mayhem continues. The team has tracked down Barrett's compound and pops in for a visit. Robert Patrick continues to play something close to his Tom Ryan character from The Unit: a raging jackass in authority, though this time not government authority. Michael sets up a meeting with Barrett, wanting to know what it is the Bible actually decodes before he goes handing it over to anyone.

Vaughn thinks Michael is the coolest thing since sliced bread for this. He's also heard about Jesse investigating his own burning, and complains about it too. Michael basically tells him that he's going to do things his own way, which is to take Barrett and not turn him over to Vaughn, but to whomever they need to in order to set things right. In the middle of the gang's little "what do we do" conversation, a guy working for high-priced defense attorney named Scott (played by Cold Case's Danny Pino, who's about unrecognizable with the beard) comes to see them. Scott's daughter has been kidnapped, which means Team Burn Notice has a new case at the same time the world is falling in. When it rains, it pours. Scott knows exactly who did it: the brother one of his clients, as leverage to get Scott to win his trial, which is of course impossible to win. Said brother is named Dale, and he is played by Michael Rooker. I've never been that impressed by Rooker (and in a bit of trivia, also co-starred with Robert Patrick in a little movie called Rogue Force in 1996), but let's face it, he's not the bad guy we're all worried about this week.

Fiona and Sam are back to arguing with each other in the process of helping Michael when they spot Jesse watching them bicker. He's obviously not following them, because he's not even trying to avoid being caught. However, before she can get to Jesse, he's already taken off. Fiona decides she's going to try and find Jesse to hopefully keep him from blowing Michael's head off. This leaves Sam and Michael to come up with a plan, which involves borrowing a sub from drug cartels to try and make a water approach to the bad guy HQ. Well, that's a new one.

Michael meets with Vaughn again to go over the plan, which of course, Vaughn does not like. However, Michael is able to get Jesse's location - at a hotel, under a fake name - from Vaughn and decides to go after him before Vaughn's people do. This is considerate and good of him, but then the show chooses to bring up that Fiona and Jesse kissed last week and continue to annoy me with the lack of a love triangle between the three. Fiona meets with Michael where she tells him what happened, that she cares for Jesse (though not in a romantic way), and feels as if she owes him an apology more than anyone. All of that is great, and perfectly in character, but it isn't affected at all by the fact that they kissed. She felt that way before that moment, so why bring it up again except to continue referencing an inane and frankly not all that existent subplot? Thankfully, Michael cares about it as little as I do, and agrees that Fiona should go find Jesse while he goes to rescue Scott's daughter.

However, the plan blows up when Michael gets a gun to the side of the head. Dale had Scott's ex-wife's phone tapped and heard the whole thing when Scott told her about it. Michael's only play is to barter with Dale, saying he can get him his brother back regardless of the guilty verdict. He's just digging himself a deeper hole. Plan B is to seize Dale's brother when he's being moved from jail and complete what is essentially a prisoner exchange.

Fiona and Maddie go to meet Jesse, and when Jesse gives Fiona attitude, Maddie gives it right back. Win. However, Fiona explains why Jesse got burned and that they still need his help to get Barrett. Her one mistake is using the word "friends" in a sentence, which understandably does not sit well with him. She does, however, point out that everyone on this show has lied to everyone else at some point - Fiona met Michael under a cover ID, and Sam used to inform on Michael to the FBI (remember that?). The person who really gets through to Jesse, though, is Maddie. She tells him that all this BS is beneath him. The Jesse-Maddie friendship has always intrigued me, and it's great to see it come to good use in this episode.

After that, Fiona kidnaps a guy she ran into outside a nightclub earlier in order for them to switch him out with Dale's brother. The team hunts down the real prisoner transport van, with Michael and Dale trailing. This sequence teaches us today's thing we can learn on Burn Notice: emergency vehicles can manipulate traffic lights with a light that strobes at the same frequency.  Once the team rolls the van, Sam and Fiona swoop in to liberate Dale's brother and take off with him. At least, that's what Dale thinks. He turns Scott's daughter over to them, and finds out too late that he's been had. A lot of shooting ensues, but nobody hits anything (do they ever on TV?). The only problem is that now Dale is ticked off, so Michael warns Scott that he and his family probably need to flee the country. That's not a great ending, but at least the guy got his kid back, and Michael picks up a free sub to boot.

Surprisingly, Jesse meets Michael, albeit after he has a debate with himself over whether or not to shoot him. Michael knows nothing he can say or do will make Jesse feel better, so he just appeals to Jesse's sense of duty in asking for his help to eliminate Barrett. He knows that Jesse's been working on this same case for years and no one will know Barrett better than Jesse will. Jesse at least agrees not to shoot him for the time being, which isn't too bad considering the events of "Blind Spot" probably went down only a few days before, if that. Michael isn't able to convince him to come along for the ride, however, which leaves the team one important man down.

Michael goes to meet with Barrett on his own (technically, as Fiona and Sam are covering his back), playing along as if he's going to join the Axis of Evil. He actually hands over the Bible, and Barrett explains that the Bible is actually able to decipher a list of and information about the people who burned both Michael and Simon. However, he then gets a phone call, saying there's a team of people coming to kick his ass. These people, of course, belong to Vaughn and very quickly start a shootout. However, when one of Barrett's goons tries to grab Michael, someone makes a gutsy and life-saving move: shooting through Michael to disable the thug. That person is none other than Jesse Porter, and allow me to take a shallow moment to say that Coby Bell looks great holding a big firearm and wreaking havoc.

However, Barrett grabs Michael and shoves him into a car. Michael, however, is not a fan of this ride and wants off. He grabs the wheel, causing the SUV to roll with both of them inside. Still bleeding profusely, Michael struggles from the wreckage. Barrett is not so lucky, and on top of that, someone we don't know grabs the suitcase now containing Simon's Bible and walks off with it. In other words, the entire fracas is pretty much a loss: the Bible is gone, Barrett is dead, and Vaughn's people have just screwed up everything. At least Jesse is back, though we still don't know what's going on in his head. Of course, then there's the big fact that our hero is bleeding on the pavement. It really isn't a good time to be Michael Westen. At least, not until the show comes back in November...

I find myself having mixed feelings toward this episode. Truthfully, it was never going to resolve everything set up in the first half of the season, or there would be no need for a second half. Yet especially on the heels of last week's excellent episode, it didn't deliver quite the same punch that I was hoping for. At least we did finally find out what the Bible decodes (I can only assume that the second half of the season will involve trying to recover it and find out the names on this alleged list), but not much else. Yes, there was a showdown of sorts between Michael, Barrett and Vaughn's people...but not much of one. It was more a lot of shooting than anything else. Robert Patrick really wasn't given all that much to do, which seems a bit of a waste.

Likewise, we didn't get the explosive confrontation between Jesse and Michael that would have been fascinating to watch. As my colleague Jordan Cramer pointed out in his review, we didn't even get that much of Coby Bell at all, which is a waste of character potential and acting talent. I'm glad that at least Jesse is willing to come back and help Michael, though I doubt everything is going to be suddenly copacetic between them; still, one brief scene between them arguing wasn't quite what I was hoping for. Jesse was primed to explode last week, and apparently we missed all the exploding off-screen. It was a treat to see it being Maddie and Fiona, especially Maddie, confront him on his behavior, though, and do so using the entire history of the show to prove their point. The Burn Notice writers actually use their entire canon rather than write it and forget it.

Don't get me wrong: I liked this episode, and it's an interesting ending to the first half of the season, but it just didn't do it for me completely. I would've liked to see it be more character and less action-driven. The characters certainly had enough to carry the story. The show set up a great final confrontation between Michael, Vaughn and Barrett, and another between Jesse and Michael (or at least Jesse and Fiona), but those storylines could have been so much more. I wonder if the episode would have been better had it left out a "case of the week" element (this one wasn't one of my favorites, honestly) and just concentrated the entire forty-four minutes on its major climax. I'm still excited to see what happens in two months, but I also find myself thinking about what might have been. This episode did what it needed to do from a technical standpoint - break the season and leave it in an interesting place - but that's all it did. It wasn't the big blockbuster episode that we were teased, that fans were hoping for, or that it absolutely could have been with all the talent both in front of and behind the camera.

That said: who else is still incredibly excited for part two? In that respect, Burn Notice delivered.

Recap - Burn Notice 4.12: "Guilty As Charged"

In case you didn’t know (because I sure as heck didn’t until I saw something the latest Entertainment Weekly), the Primetime Emmy Awards air on Sunday, August 29 on NBC. In the glow of some great nominations and not too many ridiculous slights (I’m resigned to the fact that Sons of Anarchy won’t get its due), the whole thing kind of sneaked up on us, didn’t it? Thankfully, I have enough time to spew out a bunch of predictions before the actual ceremony airs. I’ll be discussing one category a day all week, covering who I think will win and who I think should win.

Sorry for the lack of post yesterday, today we'll first finish off the supporting categories with Supporting Actor and Actress in a Drama Series.

Both of these categories are super difficult to choose, but for completely different reasons. Of all the categories, these are the two I feel the least confident in picking an actual winner. But for you, I’ll try.

Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

Nominees:

• John Slattery, Mad Men
• Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad
• Andre Braugher, Men of a Certain Age
• Michael Emerson, Lost
• Martin Short, Damages
• Terry O’Quinn, Lost

What won’t happen: Man, this is so tough. Literally every one of these actors has a good chance of walking away with the award; this is the most stacked category of the night. Of the six nominees, three have taken home an Emmy for their performance (Martin Short won a writing award years ago for SCTV): Emerson, Braugher and O’Quinn and we know the voters love former winners. Aaron Paul might seem like the odd man out, but he’s been nominated two years in a row and the voters are obviously paying attention to Breaking Badperformances. Thus, I think the two people who have the least possible chance to win are Short, whose performance isn’t as good as advertised, and Slattery. But again, I’d be far from shocked if either actually did win.

What could happen: Though Andre Braugher was probably the sixth nominee, he could very, very easily be the winner for his great, but overlooked performance on Men of a Certain Age. He’s not a showy actor, but has been awarded with Emmys twice (Homicide, Thief) and nominated multiple times. The Emmy voters clearly love him. But we can’t forget the two Lost actors, who bookended Željko Ivanek’s 2008 victory with wins in 2007 (O’Quinn) and 2009 (Emerson). I love them both, but I’m not sure Emerson had enough to do to warrant the award, no matter how great “Dr. Linus” is on its own and O’Quinn didn’t really re-invent the wheel with his dual performances. But, they’re both former winners, so never, ever rule it out.

What should happen: Aaron Paul handed in the best individual performance of any single actor this past season. His work on Breaking Bad is intense, subtle, exciting, emotional and really any other great adjective I could think of off the top of my head. If you think that sounds hyperbolic, watch the series and tell me different.

What will happen: Like I said, I’m still honestly unsure of my choice, but I do think it comes down to Paul, Braugher and O’Quinn. Paul will be back, so let’s unfortunately get rid of him. Between Braugher and O’Quinn, I’d probably pick Braugher, which means O’Quinn is going to win. Lost is going away and he’s the series best chance to grab a major award. I think he does.

Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

Nominees:

• Sharon Gless, Burn Notice
• Rose Byrne, Damages
• Christina Hendricks, Mad Men
• Christine Baranski, The Good Wife
• Elizabeth Moss, Mad Men
• Archie Panjabi, The Good Wife

What won’t happen: Ew. Unlike the actor side of things, the problem with picking a winner here is that there none of these performances bowled me over during the season. Don’t get me wrong, these are all capable ladies, and in some cases (Gless, Baranski) the series did them wrong or they submitted oddly (Byrne, Panjabi). Of the six, Byrne is the least likely to win both because she submitted oddly and isn’t as good as the other five women around her, no offense. I’m going to go ahead and rule out Panjabi as well, who was a surprise nominee, but would be an even bigger surprise winner.

What could happen: Either of the Mad Men ladies could finally help the series break its odd streak of not winning anything for performances. Moss was nominated as a lead last year and again here this year, so the voters certainly like her. The question is whether or not they love her, especially in a relatively light year for her. Christina Hendricks submitted well and is more deserving of the two. Baranski plays one of the lesser characters on The Good Wife, but she’s a veteran nominee/winner who could easily win just because the voters see her name on the ballot.

What should happen: I’m not a major Good Wife fan, so I wont’ even pretend to say either of those ladies should win and instead will go with Hendricks, whose performance is often overlooked when people are too busy discussing…other things about her.

What will happen: I can’t believe this is going to come to pass, but the weird batch of nominees is probably going to lead to a Sharon Gless victory. She’s a major Emmy favorite, which is why she was randomly nominated in the first place, and I don’t see why that wouldn’t continue this Sunday. I can’t believe that Burn Notice is going to win a major Emmy award.

2010 Emmy Predictions: Supporting Actor and Actress in a Drama Series

This Thursday, USA has given us appointment television at its best: the sure to be smoldering summer finale of Burn Notice season four. As the first half of the season comes to what's sure to be an impressive conclusion (9 PM ET/PT), let's take a look back at what you need to know, and what we just plain loved.

Michael's New Mission

As season four opened, Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) had made 'friends' in the loosest sense of the word with a man named Vaughn (played by Supernatural's Robert Wisdom). Much like Management before him, Vaughn wanted Michael's help, this time in investigating people who were helping to fund wars, crimes, and other illicit dealings in foreign countries. We haven't yet gotten details on the exact scope of their crimes, but we were assured that they were very bad people. Of course, because this is Burn Notice, Vaughn was never exactly trustworthy himself.

The as-then-unidentified bad guys were eventually found out to be after the contents of a safe deposit box at a local bank. Michael got to the box first, and discovered it contained a Bible belonging to none other than Simon Escher (Garret Dillahunt), the psychotic madman from Season Three's finale. The Bible was actually in use as a book code to decipher something else. This made Michael eager to meet up with Simon, who had a massive chip on his shoulder regarding their mutual former employer. Simon led Michael to an audio recording which proved Vaughn had been directly involved with whomever had burned him.

However, on the other side of the coin, the face of the people Vaughn had Michael hunting was revealed to be John Barrett (Robert Patrick), the head of Drake Technologies, a telecommunications company.  Barrett wants the Bible for his own agenda, and to bring down Vaughn. Vaughn may have been involved with burning Michael, but is hurting him worth letting the bad guys win? It's a moral dilemma Michael has to struggle with, as Barrett and his men have arrived in Miami looking for the Bible. Being stuck between two bad guys is nothing new, but this is a conflict in which Michael has reasons to go either way.

Making New Friends (or Enemies?)

The main plot this season is what normally would be Burn Notice's B-story: who burned Michael and what exactly is going on behind the scenes? While the battle between bad guys is no less important, it took a backseat when the show decided to completely reverse its formula. In the season four premiere, Vaughn loans Michael a set of credentials to get into an annex office and procure some needed information. Michael finds out only after the job is done that the credentials belong to a counterintelligence agent, who is subsequently fingered for the theft. Michael has done what was done to him: he's burned a spy.

That now ex-spy is Jesse Porter (Coby Bell), a counterintelligence expert riding a desk after his temper and unwillingness to turn a blind eye got him moved out of fieldwork. Jesse was working on the same thing that Vaughn had Michael working on, at least until he lost his job. He has obviously heard the Legend of Michael Westen, as in the second episode, "Fast Friends," he comes to Michael looking for help. While Michael helps Jesse out of a jam with one of his former assets, he also struggles with lying to Jesse about what is happening behind the scenes, especially when Jesse's temper rears its head and he vows to kill whomever is responsible for his burn notice.

Jesse joins Michael's team, ostensibly because he has nowhere else to go, and proves his worth on a few occasions. For example, with some help from Sam (Bruce Campbell), he cracks hired killer Kendra in "Entry Point." He also bonds with Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar), with whom he shares a hot temper and a love of firearms. The addition of Jesse puts Fiona in a hard position, as she is loyal to Michael yet she loathes what their cover-up is doing to Jesse. Vaughn later tries to use this to his advantage, as he tells Fiona that he will give Jesse his life back if Fiona gives him Simon's Bible. Even Michael's mother, Madeline (Emmy nominee Sharon Gless) has difficulty watching Michael lie to Jesse and in "Blind Spot," plans to leave town until the situation is settled.

Yet Jesse is not sitting passively by. He tracks down his former supervisor, Marv (Richard Kind), in "Past and Future Tense." Marv agrees to get him information on his last case - the information that directly leads Michael to the bank and the discovery of the Bible. In the same episode, still feeling loyal to Jesse, Marv provides Fiona with evidence that Jesse is innocent of the theft that Michael perpetrated, but Fiona destroys it after a crisis of conscience. In "Blind Spot," however, Jesse tells her -- at gunpoint, having expected Michael instead -- that he's spoken to Marv again, and uncovered security camera footage from across the street from his former workplace. On that camera is footage that shows Michael leaving the annex right as Jesse is being taken away. Jesse now knows that Michael burned him, and while he can't bring himself to harm Fiona, she tells Michael that she believes he's going to make them all pay.

Clients of the Week

Aside from its two season-long plots, Burn Notice has also featured its usual impressive array of guest stars. Some of my favorites included a great performance by The Shield's Benito Martinez ("Neighborhood Watch"), and veteran TV actor Steven Culp as a well-to-do businessman whose wife is kidnapped along with Fiona ("Where There's Smoke"). Burt Reynolds made a heavily promoted appearance as a glimpse into Michael's future in "Past and Future Tense." This was to say nothing of the much-welcomed return of Garret Dillahunt in "Hard Time," whose Simon is one of the show's more memorable villains. Casting Robert Patrick was a coup in and of itself.

So Far, So Good...

Season four of Burn Notice may be its best yet, as the reversal of the show's core formula has altered the relationships between the show's main characters in a way that has allowed them to grow and change even further. Helped by the solid writing, the stellar cast hasn't missed a beat in their performance. Gabrielle Anwar has been a standout this season with her portrayal of an honestly conflicted Fiona, and the writers made a genius move in making Sharon Gless's Maddie an active part of some of the team's missions, therefore allowing her to do more than just worry over Michael. The only thing that's missing would be a cameo from Michael's ne'er-do-well brother Nate (Seth Peterson), though that would probably only complicate the elder Westen's life further.

The show also made a bold and successful move in bringing in a fifth regular in the person of Coby Bell. Introducing new main characters to a series is always hit and miss, especially when fans are loyal - sometimes too loyal - to a show in its current incarnation. Yet not only did the character of Jesse Porter reinvigorate and expand the show's narrative, the actor behind him is a find. Jesse has taken the audience on a journey as he struggles with his life falling apart, yet he's also shown the temper and cocky streak that no doubt hampered it. The final scene in "Blind Spot" still brings me to both tears and chills because of Coby Bell's impressive work, and Jesse's fate is probably the biggest question on my mind. I couldn't have been a bigger and more public doubter of his addition, but now I couldn't be a bigger supporter of making sure he stays.

If the show had one misstep, it was trying to institute any hint of romantic tension between Jesse and Fiona. I never saw any hint of it on-screen, yet in "Where There's Smoke" Madeline tells Jesse in no uncertain terms that she belongs to Michael. Things get further awkward when Jesse and Fiona end up kissing to protect their cover in "Blind Spot." The on-again, off-again romance between Michael and Fiona is one of the great relationships in Burn Notice, and I was hoping that the show would resist the tired idea of a love triangle. Not to mention it hampered the introduction of a perfectly good new character by making him look like the guy coming between them -- the fastest kind of character assassination I've ever encountered on TV. Thankfully, this seems to be something that isn't going to go any further, so we can assume the writers have learned their lesson.

Where is the show going to go from Thursday onward? I honestly don't know, and that's refreshing in a TV climate where skeptical viewers can pick apart a show before it even airs. I do know that I'm so excited, I'm counting the days, and I'm certainly thankful Burn Notice is returning in November instead of January this year.

If you love good television, you'll be in front of your TV watching the summer finale on Thursday night. And if you've missed a minute of this intense and engaging fourth season, USA will run the entirety of it leading up to the finale with a season four marathon beginning at 10 AM (EST) on Thursday. It'll be the best way you could possibly spend a day, capped with one heck of a summer finale.

Burn Notice Season 4: A First-Half Look

I have to admit, the idea of this episode could not be more perfect to me. I love Burn Notice, I love Jeffrey Donovan, I freely admit to a crush on Coby Bell, and I’ve been a fan of Robert Patrick since I was a kid. All three of those people on this show? Well, that’s just heavenly.

As we know from last week, Patrick plays John Barrett, the CEO of a Big Technology Company who is out to get his hands on Simon Escher’s Bible and use it to bring down Vaughn and his people. At this point, it really is the lesser of two evils for Team Burn Notice. Sam, Fiona and Michael are having a poolside meeting to discuss a fake Naval Intelligence file that they plan on passing off to Jesse implicating Barrett. Jesse proceeds to kick himself for not connecting the dots, not knowing he’s being had by his own team. This puts all the wheels in motion, as Michael gets Jesse to agree to help him in contacting Barrett and setting up a meeting…I mean showdown. “I don’t mind being the bait as long as the trap is good enough,” Michael informs Jesse, knowing this won’t be easy. (Of course not. This is Robert Patrick we’re talking about. Anyone remember Terminator 2? The X-Files? The Unit? Double Dragon? Okay, you were probably better off forgetting that last one.)

While the boys are off on that tangent, Fiona and Sam take the case of the week: that of a wealthy woman named Emily whose money was swindled by her supposedly perfect boyfriend, Charles. As Fiona says, it’s a job for Sam, who breaks out the Chuck Finley persona over her objection. The two of them go to schmooze with their target and his new lady friend, and Sam tries to convince Charles they’re playing the same game, with no success. Fiona would much rather shoot him (obviously), and has to be nearly dragged away. The new plan: drug the guy and do it with a smile. What follows is pretty much a tutorial on how to get your friends, or in this case enemies, so drunk they wake up on the floor with no recall.

Michael and Jesse are watching their trap via laptop, waiting to see if Barrett or any of his goons show up. Their commentary is hilarious as one of the goons manages to shock himself and end up with two guns aimed at him. While he enjoys being tied up in an abandoned boathouse, Jesse goes to help Fiona and Sam with their new houseguest. This is Bruce Campbell at his finest: loud, boisterous and unruffled by an angry British guy aiming a golf club at him. Having a panic attack, Charles takes off with Fiona and Jesse in pursuit. They follow him to a law firm where he tells his money manager that he thinks he went on a drunken spending spree (which is exactly what we want him to think). Unfortunately, they get caught out. Fiona’s idea of keeping their cover is sucking Jesse’s face off. Thankfully, while it’s massively awkward between them after the fact, we’re not subjected to anything more than awkwardness. Fiona and Jesse are too good for that kind of character assassination.

They take their information to Barry (too bad we don’t actually get to see him this week), who tells them that Charles has too many accounts to pinpoint where Emily’s money is. Moving on to Plan B, Sam elects to turn up the heat and make Charles even more paranoid to the point where he believes he needs help – and of course, help is going to be named Michael Westen. Fiona and Jesse set up a very obvious listening device. “If Charles can’t find that thing, he’s more of a dumbass than we thought,” Jesse tells Michael when they meet up again. They tell Barrett’s senior henchman that either Barrett comes down to get the Bible or they’ll burn it.

Charles finds the bug in his car and calls Sam in a panic. Sam, of course, suggests that he call in a friend for a meeting. Michael plays the ‘dirty cop’ routine perfectly, complete with mocking Charles’ British accent. Unfortunately for them, Charles gets a call from his money manager telling him that they know Emily has hired somebody to go after him, and he tells Sam he’s on his way to Rio. Meanwhile, the money manager has sent armed goons to Emily’s place for good measure. “Whenever possible, it’s best to avoid charging into a building filled with angry men with guns,” Michael says. There’s your ‘things I learned from Burn Notice’ for this week. Not to mention, Fiona singlehandedly to Emily’s rescue.

Now it’s on to Plan C. Sam gets Charles drunk again, and he wakes up thinking he’s beaten Emily to death and lit her boat on fire. Of course, as he’s panicking, Sam is there to fill in the blanks. Michael ramps up his bad cop impression even further over the top, and Charles caves this time, calling his money manager to drain his accounts while Sam and Michael look on amused.  He hands Michael a million dollars in cash and thinks he’s going to Rio after all, until Sam shows him just exactly how he’s been had. The limo, with a gun-toting Fiona driving, dumps him out for his money manager’s goons to find.

Our first concluding scene for the episode has Maddie leaving town and heading for Tampa. She’s upset, saying having to have Jesse around while watching Michael lie to him is getting to her. She doesn’t want to come back until everything is over. Before Michael can really talk to her, Barrett calls him to say he’s in Miami, big black SUV and all.

Meanwhile, in the best scene ever, Fiona arrives at Michael’s place to see Jesse with a gun in her face. He’s talked to Marv (remember Marv?) and Marv has uncovered the security footage of Michael and Fiona leaving Jesse’s workplace. Our dear friend Jesse has finally figured it out: Michael burned him. She really thinks he’s going to shoot her, but he takes off instead. She calls Michael in tears, warning him that Jesse knows and is out on a rampage. One hell of a way to end the season, since the summer finale is next week!

This episode absolutely lived up to the hype I had made for it in my head. Robert Patrick may not be in it much, but he certainly establishes himself as a Very Bad Guy. (I wonder what will become of Vaughn, or if Vaughn will face off with Barrett, considering Vaughn is also established in that category.) The case of the week is interesting enough, though I couldn’t help thinking that the guy who plays Charles was a poor man’s Chris Vance (Gilroy for you hardcore fans), right down to the sound of his voice. Where the episode really snagged me, though, was in doing its job and bringing everything from the season arc together for the summer finale. Burn Notice laid out a big arc this year, and it can be easy for a show to mess that up royally, but everything falls into place here. We get a callback to Marv, whom it’s safe to assume told Jesse about the evidence that Fiona destroyed earlier in the season, and the reveal of the security camera footage makes perfect sense. It’s not one of those “oh, we made this up because we were out of ideas” reveals. Michael didn’t just cop out and tell him because the show ran out of time; Jesse figured it out for himself in a way that makes sense. We know from this episode two great things: Barrett and Michael are going to have it out, and Jesse and Michael are going to have it out. That’s three amazing actors having a chance to show us what they can do, not even counting the rest of Burn Notice’s stellar regular cast. (If Sharon Gless doesn’t win that Emmy, I will be upset.)

Speaking of the acting: how much do I love this cast? It’s easy on an action-centric show to just get pretty people who can act tough and not much else. As a film critic once said, it’s very easy to get someone who can turn the furniture over and look vicious. It’s a whole other thing to be able to credibly suggest malice and be legitimately intimidating. This whole cast can really act. It was one heartwrenching thing to see Maddie plan to cut ties with Michael (however temporarily) because she’s calling him out for what he’s had to do to Jesse. It was another to watch Coby Bell finally explode and have Jesse confront the reality that the people he trusted the most are the ones he never should have trusted at all. Yet a third great moment was that utter fear, grief and even self-loathing in Gabrielle Anwar’s performance when she honestly believed that Jesse was going to kill her where she stood. These actors have been bringing their ‘A’ game all season. For those of you who’ve doubted Coby Bell, that one scene is a sterling example of why I absolutely adore him and his character. The man broke my heart, made all the worse by the fact we all knew it was coming. That’s the brilliance of it: we all knew that what we’re about to see was coming. It’s all been laid out. It would be easy for us to get inflated expectations or maybe even get bored. Yet Burn Notice continues to be amazing even when it’s not necessarily surprising, because it’s just that uniformly good in every aspect.

I am thankful that after next week, we only have to wait until November to see the second half of the season, because it may just be the best yet.

Recap - Burn Notice 4.11: "Blind Spot"

There are a lot of things I’ve learned from watching Burn Notice: how to make explosives, how to escape a parking garage, how to spyproof my office…and that Garret Dillahunt may be the best actor to play bad on television today. He’s done it on Deadwood, The 4400, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and most recently this show, so I’d been hoping he’d come back as the villainous Simon Escher all season long. Add him to a regular cast without a weak link, and how could this episode not succeed?

As we know, Michael is preparing for his face-to-face with Simon, arranged by Vaughn last week. He can’t possibly prepare enough for dealing with that psychopath. At least Vaughn arranged it at a pretty swanky place (and brought security). Michael goes to meet Simon, who appears to be auditioning for the role of Jesus with his new look. Rather than play nice, Simon decides to tackle Michael through a window instead, but very quickly gives Michael some information about locating an audiotape that he has buried. Obviously, he wants to know who’s after his Bible just as much, or he wouldn’t have bothered. If these are people Simon is concerned with, I’m more than a little bit scared of them.

After that fracas, Michael passes this information on to Fiona and Sam, the latter of whom is not thrilled. He needs their help to find the tape since Vaughn is now watching his every move. Sam, however, has to go to help an old friend named Juan who is now in prison and fearing for his life. Seems he declined the offer to steal money from a gang account, and the guy that offered him the deal has decided to kill him instead of letting that information get out. Sam ditches a gang tail and pitches the case to Michael and Jesse, who point out that prison is a scary, scary place. Michael has an equally scary idea: get himself locked up, using his new FBI ‘friends’ Lane and Harris to help him out. Let me just say that in the course of obtaining my Criminal Justice degree, I spent a few hours on a jail tour – jail, not prison – and I wanted to go home pretty badly by the end of it. I wouldn’t last an hour in prison, so I have all the more admiration for Michael trying to last a week in one. He meets Juan, meets the bad guy Cruz, rolls through some more bad Spanish, and it’s on. Your next lesson is how to defile a ton of hardcover books in order to make instant body armor. Now I have a use for that old set of dictionaries from twenty years ago!

Cruz sends a few guys to Michael and Juan’s cell to start a fight. Predictably, Michael makes short work of them, which only means Cruz is ticked off and going to make an even bigger second attempt: starting a prison riot.

With Michael on the inside, Fiona and Sam are left to dig in the cemetery where Simon’s stashed his tape. By which I mean, Sam’s doing all the digging. However, it’s Fiona who notices the box is booby-trapped. Their job is interrupted by Michael using the FBI’s drop phone to tell them that they need to re-enact Prison Break, and to lean on the corrupt prison guard. Sam and Jesse go to shadow the guy, who’s being blackmailed already by Cruz – so blackmailing him again is not an appealing option, but their only option. They coerce him to tell them everything by promising to eliminate his problem.

Fiona and Michael have a nice visit in prison (with her doing an awesome Southern accent). She passes on the information that Sam and Jesse have obtained from the guard, and lays out their rescue plan…before she practically sucks his face off in order to pass him the lockpick he’ll need. Then she recruits Madeline to help her back in the cemetery, where she’s busy playing with chemicals in order to defuse Simon’s booby trap. Inside the box…is another box. Madeline provides an excellent distraction by playing the “grieving family member” and reading the groundskeeper the riot act while Fiona loads up the box, and the two women make their getaway. No one on this show can BS better than Sharon Gless.

Back in prison, the escape plan gets a wrench thrown into it when two guards come for Michael and Juan – walking them right into Cruz’s clutches. The subsequent fight is ugly, and leaves Juan injured, making him wonder if they can get him out at all. “If you’re staying here,” Michael says, “then Cruz is gonna have to leave.” He changes the plan, trying to manuever Cruz to the infirmary instead. That’s where he heads himself, whipping up one giant fireball. The moment Cruz and his thugs show up, he greets them with a big bang. Sam and Jesse turn up just in time to help him deal with the fallout, and Michael calls Harris to help set up Cruz in what looks like an attempted breakout. He’s met by a good dozen of his closest friends with badges, and Sam later finds out that Cruz has been dealt with once word of his attempt at stealing money from his own gang was exposed. It’s not pretty, but as they say, all’s well that ends well?

Of course, what we really want to know is what’s going on with that mystery box. I’m pretty sure there’s not tickets to a comedy club in it. But there’s all sorts of other stuff, including high school yearbooks(?) and that audiotape. What’s on the tape? A chat Simon had with Vaughn, in which Vaughn tells Simon that they preferred Michael as his replacement – meaning that Vaughn is involved in getting Michael burned in the first place. Simon and Michael meet later, with Simon still impersonating Jesus. Simon tells Michael that the guy who tried to steal his Bible is someone named John Barrett – the CEO of an important technology corporation. He tells Michael to take the Bible to Barrett, let him decode it, and let Barrett wipe out Vaughn. He’s even more angry about being burned than Michael, and determined to see Vaughn pay for it.

Unsurprisingly, Michael takes this information to Vaughn, just to see what he’ll say to it. He asks Vaughn what the next move is, and of course it’s complicated. When is anything on this show not complicated?

This is a good, solid episode and I’m not surprised, given that it was written by series EP Alfredo Barrios, Jr. who knows the show probably better than anyone not named Matt Nix. I’m surprised that Michael and Simon didn’t really have it out, but I think that’s more the fan in me that wanted to see a showdown. The information that Simon revealed is interesting, if not entirely surprising, and I am surprised that Michael took it straight to Vaughn. Things on this show just get more and more interesting, and any show that can do that without being too full of itself is doing a great job. It would have been interesting if the show had let Bruce Campbell go and put Sam in prison, but then I suppose the question is what do you do with Michael on the sideline for most of the episode? I didn’t even complain about there not being a lot of Coby Bell this week either. It was just that much fun.

But you know what the most awesome thing is? Robert Patrick is John Barrett. I am not kidding. One of my favorite actors of all time, and probably one of the best character actors of all time, is our next bad guy. He plays bad so deliciously well (see Terminator 2, The Unit, and his guest spot on Chuck) that I know this will be amazing. I absolutely cannot wait. Burn Notice knows how to cast its guest stars, and it knows how to build a story – we’re going to see an amazing final two episodes before the midseason finale. I just know it.

Recap - Burn Notice 4.10 "Hard Time"

Will putting Michael in prison give him the push to tell Jesse the truth or will it make him a more harden person?

First off, Garret Dillahunt is back to play Simon once again. I really love this character and Dillahunt plays him great. The scenes with Simon and Michael (Jeffrey Donovan) are always great. It's nice to have Simon back. I hope to see him at least finish off this half of the season.

The side story this week was subpar to me. Yes, it involved Michael going to prison, but I didn't get my hopes up because it was only for a job. The acting of  the gang leader was not that good. I cringed at moments where he tried to intimidate Michael. Also, I sensed no real danger for Michael in the prison job. He was an international spy and we are supposed to expect that he won't be able to hold his own with some prisoners? As for the story, it could have been better. It was a semi bland story that didn't get me interested until the fight at the end.

Now the place the episode was great was in the overall season story arc. As I said before, Simon is always great when with Michael and this is no different. I sense that a major battle may be coming from the words exchanged between the two men and I'm patiently waiting for the next episode. With the fall finale only 2 episodes away it will be great to see how the season will develop. The only thing I missed was getting the Bible cipher cracked, but a part of me feels that the Bible will have a huge part if not this half of the season then the next.

With a bland story and a creepy villain, this episode had me split down the middle. I really hope the fall season ends much better. C

Burn Notice 4.10 "Hard Time" Review

If there’s an actor who knows how to win me over, it’s Coby Bell. I was staunchly prepared to dislike the idea of a new character on Burn Notice, until I saw him take the role and do more with it than I ever expected. As burned spy Jesse Porter, Bell is shaking up the series and showing some amazing talent, and I’m happy to say he’s changed my mind completely. After admitting I was wrong about him, I sat down with him  to talk about his future on Burn Notice, the return of his series The Game, and his career-making role on Third Watch.

I feel the compulsory need to apologize for being so opposed to your character in the beginning; I have to admit that I was totally wrong about you. What’s it been like for you, as far as the reaction of the fans?

Coby Bell: Thank you so, so much. The fans have had the same opinion as you – I can understand that. They’ve had their Burn Notice the way they like their Burn Notice for the last three years and why mess with it? I knew I was jumping on to a moving train and I was going to have to learn quick and figure out what was going on. That’s really great to hear that I could change your mind.

Obviously, the audience knows and you know that Michael (Jeffrey Donovan) burned Jesse and there’s a showdown coming. Has it been difficult or frustrating for you playing his arc when you know more than he does?

I knew Michael was the one that did it, but I didn’t know how they were going to play it out. It has been frustrating – I know when the big showdown happens. Hardcore Burn Notice fans might be a little pissed at the character again.

Speaking of frustrating, please tell me we’re done with the idea of Jesse having an interest in Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar). I could do without that.

I think they wanted a little jealousy going on with Michael and Fiona, but let’s just say Jesse and Fi aren’t getting married.

I heard you say that you knew Matt Nix from reading for another project of his. Was that The Good Guys by any chance? Were you reading for the Colin Hanks role?

Yes, I was.

That would’ve been awesome, but I like you on this series, so I can’t complain.

Neither can I.

Do you know yet if you’ll be back beyond this season? I know you’re still a series regular on The Game. Selfishly, I’d love to see you stay a regular on both shows.

I’m technically on The Game as a recurring [character]. They said “You can do as many episodes as you can squeeze into your schedule.” This season Burn Notice will end and The Game will start up. Next season when Burn Notice starts up, I’ll jump back on.

In regard to that series, any hope that Jason and Kelly (Brittany Daniel) get back together?

I don’t know anything yet. I don’t know where they’re going with the story. I’m looking forward to getting back to that show as well. The Game is a really special place to work. It was nothing but fun to do.

I just spoke to Aldis Hodge (who played the original Derwin in the backdoor pilot for The Game) at Comic-Con while covering Leverage and he told me to tell you that he’d really love to work with you on that show. I wholeheartedly second that idea.

Leverage is great. I’m so happy that Aldis got on a successful show because he’s such a talented guy. He actually worked with my dad in the mid 90’s, so when we did The Game, it was a trip.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask you about Third Watch. How on earth did you handle all that running? I’m surprised you or Jason Wiles didn’t just faint at some point, considering every episode one or both of you was chasing someone.

The first two seasons they really ran me a lot. I was 23 when I got that job, so I guess they figured let the kid do all the running. And I think it was a rookie thing. The rookie just wants to chase after anyone who’s done anything wrong. Jason’s character Bosco never got over that. Jason’s actually really fast. We were doing a scene where we had to chase some guy together, and I was like, “Dude, you need to slow down a little, you’re making me look bad.”

You two seemed to work really well together. What was that like?

Our characters weren’t partners, but we got to do a lot of stuff together. Jason’s a great guy. I haven’t seen him in awhile. I miss him.

Last question: how do you fit all of that 6’3” frame in the back of that Dodge Charger without hitting your head into the ceiling?

It’s not my head hitting the ceiling. It’s my knees hitting the seat in front of me.

Coby continues his role as Jesse Porter on Burn Notice on USA. Don’t miss it. He just might surprise you – he did surprise me!

Interview with Coby Bell (Burn Notice)

Can hurricane damage keep Michael from a job this week or will old “friends” be able to slow down progress?

To begin, it was nice to see some old faces re-appear this week. We were first greeted with a visit by Vaughn. I have to say that he is played greatly by Robert Wisdom. His chilling exit from Michael’s apartment shows why Vaughn is someone who should never be messed week. The second re-appearance was actually by two men. For those who have followed the show since the beginning, you should remember the two FBI agents tailing Michael for the first season. Well, Lane (Brandon Morris) and Harris (Marc Macaulay) are back and this time they need help from Michael. It’s funny to see the tables turned on the men who made Michael’s life hell.

The help the FBI need are actually what pushes the story along this week. A man witnessed a murder by a crime syndicate and is now being tracked by a hit man. This story is nothing new and the writers didn’t add much fresh material to make it seem original. The hit man Cole () was somewhat of a nuisance. At times I found him annoying but I guess it was appropriate for his character. He has got to be the first person I have seen go against Michael’s tactics.

The season story arc is revving up for the August 26 mid-season finale. The bible from last week makes a quick appearance but we get nothing from it. However it doesn’t matter as Michael was able to cash in a favor against Vaughn and this favor will most likely be an explosive one that comes to head next week.

A few faces return, a hurricane damages Miami, and we are one step closer to the finale. This week’s episode was able to keep my attention and has really got me on edge for next week. However, with an unoriginal story I was a little disappointed in the writers. B-

Burn Notice 4.09 "Center Of The Storm" Review

What happens when one of the team becomes part of a hostage situation? Can the crew come together to save one of their own....and for that matter give the episode good ratings.

I was once again disappointed in the way the writers are using Jesse (Coby Bell). Bell has some decent acting ability and Jesse's character should be utilized much more. I know the writers have spent 3 years building the main team of Michael, Fiona, and Sam, but I think it's time to bring Jesse in as more than a sidekick. Maybe the writers are keeping him out of bigger things because they want the reveal of Michael being the "burner" to Jesse to be a big deal. I do have to say Jesse really stood out this episode when he argued with the client for making a deal.

As for the episode, it was great. Fiona being kidnapped allowed for less explosions but we still got enough action out of the episode. We are starting to get a better feel for the Michael/Fiona relationship and the writers are amping it up my hinting at a possible love triagnle soon with Jesse. However, a love triangle still can't save Fiona's (Gabrielle Anwar) acting ability. Her dialogue this episode was presented horrible in my opinion and I think the writers should stick to her being used for explosions and quick one-liners against Sam (Bruce Campbell).

Michael (Jeffrey Donovan) and Jesse (Coby Bell) talk with the kidnappers.

The story  was decent this week. Nothing really out of the ordinary for the Burn Notice team but it still seemed fresh. The kidnappers were a little to easily conned into losing but then again they were up against a team of spies. I was however disappointed in the character Mr.Atkins. The way he just decided to pay up was a little rushed and a little devilish. It even had me thinking he was part of the kidnapping. Luckily we don't see much of this character after the first half hour.

The season story arc has finally got back on track and it seems like we will be getting great episodes now till the fall finale (August 26 is coming up quick). With out spoiling too much, let's just say the Bible in this episode may do more than teach the Burn Notice team about Jesus. As for Michael's influence in this, his lie to Jesse may come back to haunt him in a nasty way, especially if his mother sees what he lied about.

This epsiode seems to mark the turning point for the summer season. If the rest of the summer episodes follow suit, the fall finale should be great. B+

Burn Notice 4.08 "Where There's Smoke" Review

Burt Reynolds as a spy? Does "The Bandit" have enough star power to lift this episode to a great level or should this episode be sent "East Bound and Down"?

This episode had everything and then some. With Burt Reynolds and Richard Kind making appearances, this episode had high star potential. Both men did excellent jobs. Reynolds, portrayed old spy Paul like he had been a real spy himself. Kind, who played MArv, did fine in his character but I would have liked to see more. Coming from a comedy background, I really think the writers should have used Kinds character for lightening the mood then as just Jesses old boss.

The Jesse story arc is shaping up nicely. Jesse (Coby Bell) is finally getting deaper into the mystery of who burn him. I love that we are getting more Jesse in these episode and Bell does a great job of making Jesse a character worth rooting for. Even though it will most likely bring turmoil for Michael and the gang, I find myself wishing Jesse would get the truth on his burn so we as viewers can see what happens. I have my fingers crossed that it will happen before the fall finale.

As for the Paul/Michael/Spetnaz/Congressman (Yes they all are part of one story) it was dealt with much better and at a decent pace, rather than last weeks episode. The dialouge between Michael and Paul was great, and it gave us a sense of how Michael may be in the distant future. After all Paul did say Michael reminded him of when he was young. Bringing the Spetnaz team over to the USA really gave the story purpose and allowed for a semi patriotic story to develop.

Finally, I have to comend the writers on the final scene between Michael and Paul. With just the two men sitting there sifting through Paul's belongings, the writers were able to give Burn Notice one of the best heart-to-heart moments I have ever seen. I have to admit I felt sad for Paul when Michael realized that Paul was losing his memory from more than just drinking. This episode was able to be great from opening scene to the rolling of the credits. A+

Burn Notice 4.07 "Past and Future Tense" Review

Burn Notice is back from its week hiatus and it has not lost track of any of the story. But, was this week off worth it or should Michael and his team gone without a break?

First off, Jesse (Coby Bell) has become more of a leading man for the group. With more cases being left to Michael and Fiona, it really allows Jesse to gain his footing. He has really become a good agent, and it really is evident with his interrogation of Kendra (Navi Rawat). The way he has handled things with the class of Michael (Jeffrey Donovan), it shows that maybe Jesse might eventually find out Michael burned him.

Story wise, the side story felt rushed. The job of helping a bootleg merchant is a fresh idea and the way the plot progressed was great. Like I said however, this story line progressed way too quickly. It seemed to jump from a burning building to quick call to Michael about some information to another burning building. On top of that, the villain of this week Ms. Slippery was caught in such a record time, that it brought down the excitement of the story a tad.

As far as the season story arc, it is shaping up to be good thus far. With the capture of Kendra, we were able to get a few answers, even though it took some time and a self-inflicted injury on Kendra’s part. It would have been nice to get some more from Kendra but it looks like we may have seen the last of her.

Lastly, this episode did an excellent job with its choice of a guest star. Alan Dale (Charles Widmore of LOST), was a great fit for the no nonsense curator. It some way he was channeling Charles while being in character. I am glad to see that actors from Lost are starting to pop up elsewhere.

All in all, this episode was able to tie up Kendras presence and give some lead into a bigger villain for the team. However, this was over shadowed by the fast paced side story and over use of explosions. Let’s hope next week can deliver (it does have Burt Reynolds as a guest star) on being a better episode story wise. B -

Burn Notice 4.06 "Entry Point" Review

If you missed last weeks recap on "Breach of Faith", you can find it here.

We open with Michael trying to get the info off the tape drive that he received from Kendra’s home. He finds that no one in the Miami area has the old technology to even open the info. Fiona is very upset about this. She tries to throw it away but Michael stops her, saying that this could get them close to Kendra. Fiona believes that he just wants to see Kendra regardless. At that moment, Michael notices that Kendra has been watching him and Fiona the whole time. Over at a local bar, Sam receives a phone call. It’s Michael calling. He asks Sam to meet him and Fiona. Michael tells Sam that they need to trap Kendra so they can capture her. Fiona decides to get something out of this plan and has Michael pay for her shopping.

Sometime later, Sam spots Kendra in the area and tells Michael that she is traveling fast toward the alley. Michael and Fiona head to her location. Kendra enters the alley but quickly evades Michael by climbing up a fence and out a grate. She taunts Michael by calling him. She wants to know why she is being followed. Michael wishes to meet her but she is against it. When he talks about the tape deck, Kendra informs him that this has all just begun. She then quickly hangs up.

Back at Madeline’s house, Michael and Jesse are discussing Michaels call with Kendra. Michael tells him that he will use Kendra’s phone as bait to catch her. Madeline enters the room telling Michael that he should “meet” a friend of hers who is in trouble. When Jesse explains that the trouble involves drug dealers, Michael realizes that he may have another job to do. The friend of Madeline informs Michael that the clinic she works at has become over run with heroin dealers. She and her boyfriend have tried getting rid of them but more keep showing up. She is afraid the dealers are going to kill her boyfriend, as they attacked him the day before. Madeline tells the woman, Lauren, that Michael will help.

Michael Jesse and Fiona arrive at the clinic and meet with Lauren and David. David is reluctant to having Michaels group help him. He says he will just let the authorities help. Fiona states that the authorities are what are making things worse. David just wants the dealers gone. He says he won’t back down from the dealers. Michael states that David could be killed for his bravery. Michael lets David know that he will create a plan that will stop the dealers at once.

Outside the clinic, the Michael, Fiona, and Jesse talk about a plan for David. During the conversation Kendra calls again. Michael still wishes to meet and says that the tape drive will cost $50,000. After the call, Fiona thinks Michael is really flirting with Kendra. Michael says he is only trying to find out what Kendra wants. Michael then tells Fiona and Jesse to find out the head of the drug deals in the area while he works on Kendra. Michael is then left to take the bus as Fiona drives away with the car.

Fiona and Sam are seen watching a drug deal. Sam explains that the drugs and money never touch the same hands at the same time. Fiona is not amused by this. Sam tells her that this means the drug runner will be coming soon and Fiona calls Jesse to let him know. Before he buys some drugs, Jesse places a tracking device on a wad of cash. Using the tracker, Sam and Fiona trace the drug money to a strip club in Miami. They see the drug king outside taking the money. Fiona states that the only way they will get close to the drug lord is to call Michaels old neighbor Sugar. Sam is against this but it is there only option.

Sam does detail in the club when Sugar shows up. He asks sugar about big drug dealers in Miami. Sugar states that the man Sam is after is a high level drug dealer named Cutler. Sugar says that Cutler tried to kill him but he got away. Sugar tells Sam about Cutlers stash before he walks away. As he leaves he knocks over a waitress. This causes Cutler to attempt to kill Sugar. Sam stops this by faking being drunk and fighting with Cutler. Sam is able to take out Cutlers men and makes it to Fiona outside. The two drive off before anyone sees them.

Back at the clinic, Michael and Fiona turn it into a fortress. David is against this but Michael explains that since this area is used for high drug trafficking, Cutler and his men will not stop working in the area. Michael tells David that they are going to steal Cutlers drugs so he cannot pay back his supplies. David is wondering how they will do this. All Michael says is that he needs some Fentanyl for the plan.

At a bar, Sam is icing hi wound with Michael. Sugar shows up, wanting to be part of the team. Michael refuses. Sugar states that he owes Michael but he can’t get near cutler. Michael only needs sugar to call some other dealers. Sugar hesitantly agrees.

Back at the strip club, Michael assumes cover as a drug supplier. He walks right to Cutler and begins selling his “product”. Cutler tries to ignore Michael. Cutlers men try to throw out Michael but Michael keeps pitching his drugs. As he moves closer, Cutler becomes interested and tells Michael he could sell the product. Michael gives him his number before leaving and Cutler seems interested more.

Recap - Burn Notice 4.05 "Neighborhood Watch"