(S03E15) Every now and then, it's fun to watch what happens when Michael or Sam or Fiona don't have the upper hand in a situation. This penultimate episode of the season was one of those with lots of flying by the seat of their pants and taking a walk on the wild side ... whether they wanted to or not.

Special guest star Carlos Bernard -- Tony Almeida on '24' -- brought the kind of hard ass edge that's typical for '24' but a different flavor for 'Burn Notice.' His whole reason for being a hard ass was complicated and more important than money. But the best part of Gabriel was that he was so scary that Fiona was actually frightened. You don't see that often. And just the prospect of losing Fiona had Michael losing his cool.

When Fiona finally got the drop on Gabriel, Sopranos dvd Canada, Miami Vice series box set, ER dvd boxset, ER dvd Australia, The Hills dvd collection, his choosing to burn himself to a crisp rather than being caught by the police was a shocker. So was Fi's insistence on saving him despite himself. Michael's rescue was just in the nick of time because Fiona would not have been able to fireman-carry Gabe out of the burning building.

As intense as Fiona's case turned out to be -- and let's face it, Monk series box set, she was in over her head -- Michael's business with Gilroy was worse. Not only was Michael being cornered into doing things he didn't want to do, Red Dwarf boxed set, Michael Jackson series dvd, like being the diversion when Gilroy secured the artillery, but he was still in the dark about the larger objective. Who was the super max prisoner? What was going to happen at the airport? Michael was a step behind and never caught up.

That's what made the ending so good. Gilroy was a chess master and had all the moves plotted out like Bobby Fischer, Xena Warrior Princess series, Smallville on dvd, My Name is Earl dvd box set, but the prisoner threw over the table and ended the game with a bullet. Didn't see that one coming, Breaking Bad complete seasons dvd, Scrub series box set, Two and a Half Men dvds box set, The Shield series box set, Grey's Anatomy series dvd, Queer as Folk tv series, did you? Gilroy actually showed some humanity for Michael; he could have let him die in the car with him, but he didn't.

Now we're set up for the big finish; who is Simon and why does he want to kill Michael so badly? John Mahoney will be back, we saw that in the previews ... Should be fun.

Other points of interest

-- Madeline's advice about lipstick was wonderful. And did you see her jumping in there with the NTK -- need to know -- business?

-- Chuck dvds Findlay is now a grass specialist. Good one.

-- Nice to see the old FBI agents who chased Michael in season one. Of course, Numb3rs dvds, Friends whole series, Breaking Bad dvd Australia, Mash dvd set, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy set, How I Met Your Mother complete series box set, The L Word boxed set, Everybody Loves Raymond box set, Cranford dvds, Monk complete seasons dvd, League Baseball dvd box set, Everybody Loves Raymond dvd Canada, Brothers & Sisters complete series dvd, they were completely useless when Michael needed help stopping Gilroy.

-- Favorite dialog: when Madeline showed up at Fiona's and wondered were Michael and Sam were going...

Michael: "Long story."
Madeline: "Whatever."

[Watch clips from 'Burn Notice' on SlashControl.]