Episode 3×03 of Burn Notice was called “Questions & Answers”, and I have to say that it was another fine offering! In all honesty, during S1, I thought Burn Notice was just kind of a cheesy show that was fun summer viewing, but over the years it’s been on, it has developed into a pretty solid series. I could definitely picture something like this on a national network!

Odd Job of the Week: Fi, who apparently makes money as a bounty hunter, has another job from a past client. This woman is named Patricia, and she’s worried because her son Brandon didn’t come home after spending a couple days with dad Howard. Patricia and Howard are separating, and she thinks he might be withholding the boy as a bargaining tool. Mike and Fi agree to help get Brandon back. But once they talk to Howard, they realize the boy has been kidnapped by men who want to use him as a bargaining chip to secure some diamonds that Howard has access to.

Without any leads on Brandon’s whereabouts and with time running out, Michael decides on a very risky play: the reverse interrogation. Basically, he’ll pose as a junkie informant while Sam plays a bad cop. Sam will let Santora (the kidnapper) know that the junkie has info about a double-cross on Santora’s job. For a couple thousand, Sam the bad cop will let Santora interrogate the junkie first. This works — although Michael has to take quite a few punches to “sell it” — and the crew get the boy back safe and sound.

Burn notice progress: Nothing happens as far as the real burn notice goes, but Michael does meet a woman named Det. Paxon, who promises that she’s going to be his “worst nightmare”. Paxson says that she’s been noticing a lot of explosions around town since Michael arrived a couple years ago, and that she’ll be keeping a sharp eye on him. She even knows where he keeps his stash of explosives. But fortunately for Mike, she’s not a dirty cop, so while she’s waiting for a warrant to move in on the storage facility, Mike, Fiona, and Sam are able to sneak in first and retrieve all the C4.

Character Development: This episode was Michael’s birthday (it originally aired on June 11, but I don’t know if that’s the real date in BN land). We learn that he never had parties while growing up, and that the most Madeline ever did was order take out. This time, she cooks a meal and bakes a cake for a dinner party with Michael, Fiona, and Sam. Sam then gives Mike a “five-pack” of expensive beer (apparently he couldn’t resist testing the goods), and Fi gives him a WWI bayonet — since Madeline had earlier said that loving Mike was like “trench warfare”.

My Reaction: As I said, this was a pretty good episode. I was pleasantly surprised at how good Sam was in his role as bad cop. He totally has that look and pulled off that character brilliantly! It’s not often that he’s better than Mike during these assignments, but he was awesome here! He definitely has that look of some guy you’d go to for a used car or rv finance deal, but that totally works for him. I also have to say that I’m liking Fiona more and more. She didn’t bother me at all in this ep — even with the whole “I thought you better arm yourself” thing. Oh, and Paxon seems interesting thus far. Loads better than Carla, at least. I can’t wait to see where that goes!

Entourage 6×07 — “No More Drama”: Well, on the positive side of things, at least the episode was Ashley- and Andrew-free. It was so refreshing to get a break from those two incredibly boring characters. On the negative side of things, absolutely nothing else happened in this ep. It was just more filler that felt like a complete waste of 30 minutes. I know, I know — you’re probably wondering why I even bother watching anymore when I seem to hate every ep. It’s because it’s the summer and nothing else is on right now!

– Scott Caan? Really? There is something about that guy that makes me want to punch him in the face. In that regard, I guess he’s a good choice to play someone as arrogant and annoying as this Scott Lavin dude, but still. I just want to change the channel whenever he comes on the screen.

– More Bob Saget explicit sex talk. Sorry, but that shtick is old — and it wasn’t even that funny the first time around.

– I know Johnny Drama is meant to be this unstable guy and all, but are we seriously supposed to believe that he can’t control his temper when his job is on the line? This job that he absolutely loves? All because some asshole in a suit talks about banging Turtle’s girlfriend? It was cool that Drama wanted to defend Turtle and Jamie’s honor the first time, but this is pushing it too far. Even Drama isn’t that stupid, is he?

– I’m sick of seeing everyone and their mother on TV using an iPhone. There are other great cell phones out there, ya know! (And I’m speaking as an iPhone user, so this isn’t about jealousy at all.)

– The writers just really do not know what to do with Vince, do they? All he does is hang out at home all day. That’s supposed to be the exciting life of a movie star? How boring! I miss the days when his career was in disarray and no one would even hire him to do so much as a late-night infomercial. Now that he’s got money again, there’s absolutely nothing going on in his life.

– Hey Ari and Vince were in a scene together! Sure, it only lasted a minute and was about something inane, but we have to start somewhere, right?

Moonlighting 4×08 — “Los Dos Dipestos”: This episode was another brutal entry in the Season 4 canon. Once again, the main characters were largely absent from the action, and once again, viewers were reminded that Agnes and Bert, thought fine supporting characters, simply cannot carry the entire show on their shoulders. David was in bookend scenes at the beginning and end, but Maddie didn’t appear at all. What a huge letdown in a season full of letdowns.

– The one good thing about this episode was that it actually featured a case. Ok, so there wasn’t a heck of a lot of investigating, and most of the time Agnes and her mother were completely unaware that anything untoward was even happening, but still… at that point any semblance of a mystery was welcome.

– I thought it was kind of funny how Mrs. Dipesto kept calling Bert Mr. Violin instead of Mr. Viola. I mean, it sounds kind of dumb writing it out here, but the timing and delivery by the actress made it funny.

– I wish Mrs. Dipesto had kept those emeralds for herself. Sure, the reward might have been substantial, but there’s no way it would have been more than the jewels were worth. Moonlighting always did go for the pat, predictable endings, though.

Man, I hope these episodes get better soon. There has been a definite dry spell this season!