Burn Notice Season 3 Finale

Car chases? Check. Spycraft? Check. Double-triple-quadruple crosses? Check. Great lines? Check. An opportunity for Michael to act out? Check. One hell of an ending? Mega super duper check. Burn Notice ticks off all the boxes with this summer-season finale. Why are all the good shows ending just as the new TV season is just getting started?

Michael is finally set to figure out what the heck is up with Carla and her evil overlords. But first, a minor distraction: Fi's boyfriend Campbell treated a guy who was beaten to a pulp, and he wants Fi and Michael to help him out. Michael reluctantly agrees. Henry, the client, works for a private security firm. He was approached by someone demanding details about the bodyguards. When Henry tried to back out, one of his friends died. When Henry still refused, he got the crap kicked out of him.

Lasher, the crap-kicker, is planning a kidnapping. The most likely target is the daughter of a Venezuelan oil family. Michael makes up a fake bio for himself that involves a recent divorce and a drinking problem, making him the perfect guy for lasher to recruit. The idea is he'll make the security look much better than it actually is -- using Sam and his brother Nate to pose as supplemental security guards -- and thereby scare Lasher off. It's a good plan, but apparently this isn't a run-of-the-mill kidnapping -- there's some sort of multinational oil concession in the balance. Curses.

Michael continues to try to dissuade lasher, but Lasher finally snaps. He announces that Michael will be the one doing the kidnapping. Michael tries to make it look like he's falling apart, but Lasher still thinks he can make it work. So Michael calls lasher at 3 a.m., pretending to have a drunk-bed conversion. He's accepted god into his life, and he no longer fears death. Crap! There goes that leverage. Lasher says fine, they'll call it off. But Henry hears something different -- Lasher tells him to distract the new guard. Lasher and his muscle will kill the guard and snatch the girl. So Michael has no choice but to t-bone Lasher's car with an SUV, preaching fire and brimstone and leaving a list of sins on the windshield. That works.