Burn Notice: "Devil You Know" Review

In the explosive Season 3 finale, Michael takes on a mad bomber as a client.

March 7, 2010 - With the split in most cable shows' seasons, it gets a bit difficult to take in/absorb an entire season as a whole. It's only now, in the Season 3 finale of Burn Notice dvd season, that we actually got a callback to the very beginning of the season last summer when Management (John Mahoney) left Michael a friendly calling card. Burn's Season 3, which can separated into its Summer/Winter clumps - the Strickler story and the Gilroy story - was still pretty much about Michael getting "unburned." What the Season finale, "Devil You Know," did so well was show us, and Michael, definitively that heading back to work for The Prisoner dvd release the government, whatever the role, will only lead to a moral breakdown. Michael was already warned about this back in the Season 2 finale, "Lesser Evil," with Victor (Michael Shanks) supposedly playing the unhinged sociopath that Michael will turn into if started working for the government again.

Whether or not we actually needed this entire theme re-addressed, or replicated, "Devil You Know" was an effective and exciting episode that provided some much-needed action and a great set up for Season 4. Even Madeline (Sharon Gless) had a chance to shine in this one, even though she, essentially, had no scenes with the rest of the gang at all. All her work was done in single rooms with the hot-headed Agent Callahan. And she proved to be strong and loyal to her son - even getting arrested for obstruction of justice. It was great to see her character fully commit and support Michael's extracurricular espionage. It was a nice arc for her even though I still don't think she needed to be present in every single Burn episode. It was also a relief to me that she didn't wind up buying all of the trumped up atrocities in Michael's file.

- USA
As you can tell by all the blood, business has picked up for Michael (Donovan) and Fi (Anwar).
This episode had a few nice twists on a few old Burn Notice dvd box set conventions, but in the end we still had to watch Michael jump through hoops and prove himself to an all-important "mwahahaha" psychopath. That seems to be so much of Burn these days; Michael having to run skill errands and time tests in order to earn the trust of a villain. Fortunately, IGN MVP Garret Dillahunt (Deadwood, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) as Simon proved to be a worthy, grandiose adversary. He was more of a mirror-self to Michael than anyone else has ever been in the past. He got to even scream out "I want my life back!" But when Simon said it, he actually meant that he desperately wanted his life of evil back. While there really seems to be no way in hell that Michael could ever turn into someone as cold and murderous as Simon, it was still great to see the two of them, towards the end, with their faces down on the concrete and Simon smiling - telling Michael that he'll be just like him one day.

One of the most interesting elements in "Devil You Know" was Michael actually becoming a full-blown government fugitive. Sure, he's had to escape Police dragnets before, but this time his name was out there and he was actually being tied to the Gilroy crimes. Sam (Bruce Campbell) and Fi (Gabrielle Anwar) had been warning him, for four or five episodes now, to stop tagging along with Gilroy in order to thwart him at the absolute last second. Michael had to find out the hard way that cutting things that close can completely endanger your operation and everyone around you. Burn Notice dvd always has great ending to their seasons, but here's hoping that they don't kick off Season 4 with Michael simply escaping from that very inviting, secret den and just picking up a new client. After the fallout of this finale, I really don't know how they could just bring the show back to the gang hanging out in Michael's loft and taking on jobs for money, but who knows? It might just take a few lines about Management getting all the charges dropped to take us back to the slightly-stagnant formula of the series. I suppose if they keep Michael twisting and turning through adventurous corridors it leaves more opportunities for great character actors to pop up and act malicious and/or suspicious. I already can't wait to see whose lovely house that is that Michael finds himself as a "guest" in at the end.