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(S03E04) That pesky Detective Paxson of the Miami PD continued to be a thorn in Michael's side, to the point that Michael decided it was time to extract her from his life. To get Paxson -- one royal pain in the butt who doesn't believe that Michael's one of the good guys -- Michael concocts a plan to help her close her case against Rick Matheson, a real bad guy.

Matheson was a one-note Rock look-alike, without Dwayne Johnson's charm. Mostly Matheson was a scumbag who deserved to be brought down.

Tommy, on the other hand, wasn't really a nasty moke. He was broadly hammed up by former NYPD Blue star Nick Turturro, and turned out to be Michael's way into Matheson's organization.

Tommy wrangled Michael and the "crew" -- Sam and Fiona -- into knocking off a dry cleaners. The look on Michael's face as he tried to follow Tommy's idiotic leadership was priceless. He was clearly the Fearless Leader of the title, more than the demonic Matheson, and for those who remember Rocky and Bullwinkle, the title was a good in-joke.

Sam's IRS auditor turned out to be immune to the Axe charm, including his colorful shirts, calypso music and pink cocktails, because Stacey was a he, not a she. The twist that Stacey and Sam had a history -- Stacey's mom was one of Sam's lady friends -- was unexpected. Even more unexpected, though, was the notion that somehow Sam's fuzzy navels and lessons in how to order a drink were going to get him off the hook with the IRS. But then, whatever made Sam think that spa treatments were a legitimate deductible?

Serving up Matheson to Paxson on a silver platter earned Michael a modicum of freedom. As he explained to Fiona, he was at a moment he had been waiting for since he was burned. The fact that Michael's where he wants to be -- available to rejoin the spy game and resume his career -- was crushing to Fiona.

He may want back "in" but she doesn't. Her dream was to keep on working with Michael in their quasi-Good Samaritan detective business ... and hopefully she had become a priority in his life. The truth is that Fiona is a priority, just not the top priority. Her tears touched his heart, but they probably didn't change his mind. It was perhaps one of the most bittersweet scenes in Burn Notice's run.

So, I put it to you, now that Michael's at this moment in time, will he get back into the business before someone from his past comes after him again, like Management? The way I see it, something is going to prevent Michael from getting what he thinks he wants. Frankly, if he were to rejoin the FBI, CIA or NSA, he would be more vulnerable than he is now. At least in Miami, he has the crew -- more like family really -- that he can trust. Take this poll and share your thoughts -- oh, don't forget, it'll be two weeks till the next new episode.