Blog Spotlight: Long Layoff Does No Harm to Burn Notice

Have you ever watched a television show through all of season one, then wondered if the intrigue would still be as intriguing the second time around? In the case of Burn Notice, the answer was – and continues to be – a resounding yes.

The second half of season two, which begins tomorrow night at 10pm EST on USA Network, picks up right where we left off – the question of who burned Michael Westen now morphing into the question of who tried to kill him, and why. Then, there are more mysteries within mysteries. Was Carla responsible for the attempt on Michael's life? Is Nate really in prison? Are all these things going boom likely to cause a spike in Madeline's nicotine addiction or further damage to Sam's liver?

As it explored the shifting balance of power between Michael and his new "handler" last summer, Burn Notice also became a little more complicated and a little more complex, dropping just a hint of its comedic tone as the situations became more perilous. The arrangement, however, seems to have given series creator Matt Nix and his gifted team of writers the ultimate flexibility in their storytelling, as they chose to blow up their leading man in a clever whodunit for September's mid-season finale (have no fear, for Michael is back -- and though his ears are still ringing he's not homeless, nor confined to a hospital bed).

Indeed, everyone's favorite blacklisted spy is not only dealing with his most recent brush with death, but doing it with a reckless abandon that allows Jeffrey Donovan to steal nearly every scene that he's in. Within the first 10 minutes of "Do No Harm" he pulls Michael from a semi-conscious state into one of hyperawareness. Consequently, the look in his eyes becomes one of a wounded animal ready to strike, and even with one good arm, he's ready to trade blows and right wrongs by "any means necessary."

The main storyline, of course, continues to be Michael's interaction with Carla (Tricia Helfer) and her ever-expanding ring of thugs. Once tied to a chair in some nondescript office building, he half-derisively, half-admiringly appears to concede that maybe she hadn't been the one to plant a bomb at his loft after all. Helfer also does her best to bring a not-so-subtle instability to her role: Viewers can never quite tell if its malice or madness masking her features, though the answer is more apparent after she gives Michael a sinister stare and mocks his day job of helping all the "desperate, little people" in Miami.