Burn Notice continues its juxtapositions of the "Burn" storylines, as Michael Westen tries to find out who burned him from his position as a government spy, at the same time as some well-meaning person clues him in to the sad story of the week, and gunfire and explosions ensue.

SF fans have the chance to delight in this show of late. Not only does it sport Bruce Campbell of Army of Darkness fame as aging spy Sam Axe, who alternately spies on or helps Michael (Jeffrey Donovan), but this season has seen Battlestar Galactica's Tricia Helfer sign on as Carla, the potential candidate who may have burned Michael. This episode added Stargate SG-1's Michael Shanks as Victor, one of Helfer's employees.

Victor describes himself as a "wrangler," while Michael categorizes him as "rodeo clown," as they meet, which sets the tone for their association.

Under threat of harm to Michael's loved ones if he won't comply, Victor dictates to Michael the terms of a heist where they will steal a box from one place and take it somewhere else, but Michael is not allowed to know what is in the box.

  As quickly as a small child will put a bean up his nose when told he can't, Michael devises a plan to build a portable emergency X-ray machine inside his trunk, powered by a tazer, just so he can find out.

Michael gets Sam to stay with Michael's mother, Madeline (Sharon Gless), just in case.  Madeline, in turn, finds Ricky, a brother of one of Michael's old buddies, who has a problem: He's been set up at his job working for Valentine, a hip-hop mogul; two million dollars is missing from a charity account, and he knows it's one of Valentine's other employees, Eddie, who's taken it.

Exhibiting enormous patience as he's dragged from one mission to the other at Victor's whim, Michael manages to fulfill Victor's demands with a minimum of bloodshed (though a maximum of explosions), and gets Ricky off the hook for the theft, in a particularly "Oh-my-God" moment. It's not good to cross a gangsta.  No ma'am.

In the end, Michael turns down the 10K Ricky had offered, just taking enough to cover expenses, including the new Valentine's shoes Fiona had lusted after the whole episode.

She earned the shoes, for sure, her usual hot-tempered bullet-ridden response to most things hard to corral through the episode, except the one scene where she accomplishes exactly the desired result--without a shot being fired.

Michael Shanks was delightful as the mystery operative, almost maniacal, a real departure from Daniel Jackson. This is the first of several episodes where he'll appear in this story arc--can't wait to see how he develops.