Burn Notice Season 3 DVD Review

Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) is back with friends Sam and Fiona as his trusty sidekick. Using the backdrop of Miami’s heat and nightlife, Season 3 does not disappoint. It takes awhile to get used to Westen’s character and moods but once you do…you are hooked.

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The series follows the same formula each week but the action doesn’t get stale. The opening few minutes deal with the ongoing arc-storyline, usually involving Michael trying to piece together clues in order to gain enough information to take down a Level 5 Boss. The meat of the episode then deals with a “client” who needs Michael’s help to get rid of a particular drug lord, con man or bad guy.

Season 3 begins with Westen determined to get his job as a professional spy. Fiona, like many of us, raises the question why would he want his job back? Now that the mysterious “Management” behind the burn notice have put Westin back on the grid it’s easy for friends and enemies to find him. Such is the case with Harlan (Brian Van Holt), an old spy buddy of Westen’s who comes to him under the auspices of sharing a job. Things go awry, as they often do, and Westen has to use his natural ability to be a super McGuyver to get through unscathed.

Over the past two seasons Westen has come closer and closer to discovering who had him burned – those known as Management. This group had been protecting Westen during his burn by keeping his enemies at bay. Not interested in the line of work Management wants him for, this season has revolved around the fallout of that decision, not having any protection and now showing up in every law enforcement database making it increasingly difficult to investigate who had him burned.

Westen still tries to help those in need doing his ‘side missions’ while trying to find any asset he can to edge closer to the people that had him excommunicated from the spy community. In this season he has been under surveillance by the suspicious and sexy Detective Paxson (Moon Bloodgood).

After the two strike a deal when Westen delivers her a big arrest, he is out from under her thumb only to be contacted by a man named Tom Strickler (Ben Shenkman), who is very heavily connected in the spy world and offers Westen the chance to regain his old job but only if he does some work for him. After this relationship turns to tragedy, Weston hooks up with another mysterious agent known as Gilroy (British spy) who also promises to help clear his name. This relationship, like so many others, ends up with deception and death.

In the season 3 finale, titled “Devil You Know” Westen comes face to face with Simon (played very well by Garrett Dilahunt), the man who double crossed Gilroy in the episode before, but also ruined Westen’s reputation as a spy leading to his burn notice.

In the episode Simon uses Westen as a way to get back at “Management” (the same guys who want Westen) who had him put in a hole after being a little too much of a liability. Michael is caught between a rock and hard place with the feds conducting a man hunt on him as Simon reigns hell on Miami stringing Michael along the way.

The relationships of Fiona, Sam and Westen’s mother offer comic relief throughout the season. Although they have their conflicts throughout the season, in the end Westen wants to protect the people he cares about.

The finale leaves you wanting to know what will happen next season. Stay tuned.