Burn Notice, "Do No Harm": Bikini girls with machine guns

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Spoilers for the return of "Burn Notice" coming up just as soon as I cut my thumb...

"I want my brother out of jail! I want answers! I want my life back!" -Michael

As I said in today's column, "Do No Harm" shows us a different side of Michael -- and of "Burn Notice" -- than we've really seen before. For once, he doesn't have an answer for everything. He's battered, he's huffing around with those busted ribs and he's sick and tired of having to dance to Carla's tune, let alone having to figure out who else might have tried to blow him up.

And yet, even as Michael's tired and angry and at a loss, he still manages to be Michael Westen -- and "Burn Notice" still manages to be "Burn Notice." There are shows where I'd be frustrated to see a big arc-driven cliffhanger followed up by an episode where the main character gets caught up in a business-as-usual procedural case, but Matt Nix and company are cooking with gas right now, and they made it work. Hell, I didn't even groan too much at the idea of Michael helping out the poor sick kid with the rare heart condition, because those scenes deliberately didn't tug at our heartstrings, or even at Michael's. He'd be helping the suicidal dad no matter what the reason, because he happened to be there, and because that's sort of what he does now.

Fi, on the other hand? She was definitely touched by her time with the boy, but that in turn was almost played for laughs, as we got to watch her teach him how to properly array his toy soldiers for a sniper attack, and as she lost her temper and took a swing at the evil con woman, leading to that splendid bikini brawl.

Plus, any extended sequence of Michael and Sam interrogating guys -- and finding creative, non Jack Bauer-approved, methods of getting answers -- is always a delight.