Burn Notice (season 3)
The third season of the American television spy drama Burn Notice premiered on June 4, 2009 on the cable television channel USA Network. Season three consists of sixteen episodes, split between a nine-episode summer season and a seven-episode winter season.
Season overview
Season 3 picks up with Westen, having lost the protection of "Management," now under surveillance by Miami Detective Paxson (Moon Bloodgood), who has been tasked with monitoring his activities. Michael is able to secure the arrest of a major Miami criminal Paxson has long been targeting, and he threatens to reveal the true circumstances of the arrest if Paxson does not stop following him. Paxson agrees to the deal. Michael is soon contacted by a man named Tom Strickler (Ben Shenkman), a "smooth-talking, gregarious freelance spy broker", who offers to unburn Michael in exchange for his help with a potentially lethal job. It is clear to Michael that Strickler has major, if shadowy, connections, but appears to be the first person he has met capable of getting him his old job back. At first it seems to work, and Michael is able to confirm, through interactions with undercover CIA agent Diego Garza (Otto Sanchez), that movement is being made on his burn notice. In the midseason finale, however, Michael is forced to kill Strickler to save Fiona's life. The action has unforeseen consequences, including the murder of Agent Garza.