Season 3, Episode 1 “Friends and Family”
Thank God for the recap at the top of this episode, because it’s been a long time since I’ve watched Burn Notice. When we last left off, Michael was getting threatened by Frasier’s dad, and he jumped out of a helicopter into the ocean. We start season three right where we ended season two, with Michael swimming toward shore. I said that he was a long-ass way from Miami, but apparently he’s only about five miles. Granted, I wouldn’t want to swim 5 miles to shore while wearing a suit, but it could have been much worse for Mr. Westen.
That’s not to say, however, that things are good for Michael. After washing ashore, he ends up getting thrown in jail, because “The Management” has made sure that he’s now on various law enforcement databases. It’s his old friend Harlan who comes to the rescue, and ends up getting Michael released.
Harlan is amazing for several reasons: the main one being that he is totally Bobby Cobb from Cougar Town. While I’m very excited to see him, I’m quickly disappointed by the apparent lack of Penny Can games on the schedule. Instead, he plans to double-cross Michael and capture him. It’s the oldest TV trick in the book, and I’m kind of ashamed to say I didn’t see it coming. Their fight scene is pretty bad-ass though.
Season 3, Episode 2 “Question and Answer”
Michael’s problems aren’t over just because Bobby Cobb is gone. He’s got a hot new lady cop after him, and she’s bound and determined to ruin all of his fun — including trying to take away all of that handy C-4 he has stored away. I did learn something important from this: beware shifty-eyed children. They’re just looking to bring you down.
The job of the week is a pretty fun one involving a kidnapped child. That in and of itself isn’t fun, of course. What’s fun is that Michael and Sam get to do a “reverse interrogation,” in which Sam goes undercover as a cop and Michael plays a junkie. It certainly helps their cause that they’re dealing with woefully incompetent criminals who not only lead them straight to the boy, but leave the shed in which he’s being held unattended while they watch football.
It’s a happy ending for everyone — even Michael’s mom, who gets him to come over to his house for a birthday party. There’s still lingering Fiona/Michael weirdness, which leads his mother to tell Fiona, “Loving Michael is like trench warfare.” I guess I can see her point, but I’d much prefer yogurt to mustard gas.
Season 3, Episode 3 “End Run”
Michael’s brother, Nate, is back and he’s being interrogated by Michael’s police friends. If that’s not a bad enough start to the day, it turns out that the meeting he has scheduled with potential investors in his limo company is actually a meeting scheduled with kidnappers.
Jay Karnes (aka Dutch from The Shield) is back as Brennan, the pissed-off arms dealer. He’s taking Nate hostage and making Michael perform various tasks that are all going to make him more money. Of course, Michael has Fi and Sam on the case, so they’re able to leverage Brennan’s secret family in order to get him to back off.
They also get the cops to back off — or at least one of them, by getting him suspended for grilling a mayor’s aide about a bank account she opened with Michael. Of course, there is no bank account — just a handy “bank error” created by Sam and Fiona. Of course, that’s just pissing the cop off more, so it looks like she’s going to be going after Michael harder than ever.
Clacked by Kona Gallagher 
on Sep 20, 2010 @ 11:00 EST5EDT
