What I’m Watching: Burn Notice

Burn Notice: Season 3, Episode 4 “Fearless Leader” (B+)

This is a stellar installment of “Burn Notice” for a number of reasons, the main one being that it delves headfirst into all three main characters (sorry, Madeleine!) in one fell swoop and does them all justice. Michael’s decision to insert himself into Detective Paxson’s life is highly amusing, and actually quite effective. Their interactions are quite terrific, and I’m continually surprised and impressed with Moon Bloodgood’s acting. I hope that, even though their situation has been temporarily resolved, she won’t be gone for long and will soon return either as a thorn in Michael’s side or as his unexpected partner-in-sort-of-crime on some mission. That would be cool! What is already cool, however, is the usage of Fiona in the case this time. Maybe my memory isn’t serving me right, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard her do an accent (I only started from season two). It’s a lot of fun, and her being left out in the cold by Michael at the beginning of the episode was also amusing. The funniest part of the episode was, of course, Sam. He prepared to woo IRS agent Stacey and discovered that not only was he male, but he was also the impressionable son of a woman Sam once dated. Their episode-long interaction was thoroughly entertaining, and I enjoy very much seeing Sam like that. His cocky, careless demeanor is unparalleled. This show is great, but can you really classify it a drama? I’d certainly call it a comedy, and a tremendous one at that. One more thing – I couldn’t place who played the head honcho who Michael took down. I finally found him on IMDB - Erik Palladino - but cannot for the life of me figure out where I recognize him from, even after reviewing his resume. Maybe it's because he looks a bit like Desmond Harrington? Any thoughts? Do you know him from somewhere?