TV Verdict

USA’s smash action hourlong is back to wrap up its third season. The premiere rolls out on January 21, but I was fortunate to snag a peek ahead of time and, the short of it: it’s Burn Notice.

I got into this show in a big way when I reviewed the second season, and followed the third installment religiously. I was, however, surprised at the sudden and not very cliffhangery cliffhanger that capped off the first batch of Season 3 episodes.

The plot had found stranded spy Michael Westen desperately trying to get back into the spy game, and pursuing all manner of shifty contact to make that goal happen. As the show’s formula dictates, in between the plot points of the season’s arc, Michael and his sidekicks Fiona and Sam take on episode-specific cases, where Michael is able to deploy his spy skills to help innocent people.

Season 3.5 opens with Michael running down his last contact to get back in, only to find that particular avenue, er, neutralized. Without getting spoilery, there’s a major player in town and he’s interested in Michael. The depths and motivation of that interest? I’m pretty sure that will govern the arc for the rest of the seasons.

Meanwhile, Fiona presents Michael with an insurance scammer case and, again, as the playbook dictates, Michael employs subterfuge and a goofy accent and costume changing to infiltrate the criminal gangs and sew discord.

This was Burn Notice from top to bottom. While the case-of-the-day wasn’t terribly exciting (aside from some decent car chases) I have hope for a cool season-ending storyline. This dude on Michael’s tail seems like a Grade-A bad-ass, and anytime Michael is matched up against an equal (or superior), cool stuff happens.

Definitely looking forward to how this thing shakes out.