TV Verdict

This week’s episode of Burn Notice is much more focused on one situation than in previous weeks. At first it actually seemed like it would be less focused, but as the episode progresses, everything comes together. Typically, the show is broken into “case of the week” and “investigation of the week.” Michael’s day starts out in that exact formula. He’s working with one of his contacts to investigate a bank account number tied to the people pulling his strings. Then an old foe appears from out of the woodwork to make Michael’s life miserable. Finally, a friend of Michael’s Mom’s needs help with a stalker which adds in the case of the week. At this point, I started fearing that the writers had included too much in the episode to make any part of this episode intriguing. In a clever move all of the plot threads come together in a private, by appointment only, bank.The woman Michael being stalked works at the bank. The stalker is a bank robber siphoning information from her, and the government agent seeking to crush Michael shows up in the bank at the same time Michael is there to confront the stalker. So, obviously the bank heist begins and Michael and the agent must work together to protect the bank employees and bring down the thieves.

This episode is extremely fun as it’s one of the most MacGyver-ish in the series so far. Michael pretends to be a doctor after the agent gets wounded. He’s able to patch up the agent and sabotage the efforts of the thieves all at the same time. Sam and Fiona have to work together on the outside to help Michael with very little input from Michael as he gets limited opportunities to call them. Rather than just using guns, Michael truly uses items around him to mess with the thieves or hurt them. Then, as the doctor, he has to help them get patched up, and make things worse for them. It is slick and fun, truly modern day MacGyver!

Sam and Fiona don’t really like each other very much and it shows when they have to work together without Michael between them as an arbitrator. They bring the comedy relief for the episode and it never disappoints. The high point for comedy relief comes when Sam has to deal with a woman he is trying to date while helping Michael deal with the bank robbery. Fiona could have used a bit more to do this week, but she did manage to get a few great scenes. Her typical “Fi” pose sipping coffee and watching the explosion she created is classic Burn Notice.

Burn Notice this season is actually getting a little boring to write about because it’s just so consistently good. Each week the show offers up a solid hour of action and entertainment more consistently than many other popular series on larger networks. The only real complaint that I can lodge against the series is the sprinkling of information about the burn and the mysterious Carla. The answers need to start coming because this story arc is starting to feel drug out. Other than that, Burn Notice is just good fun.