Burn Notice, "Trust Me": Never con a con man?

Spoilers for "Burn Notice" coming up just as soon as I renew my "Cat Fancy" subscription...

Got this e-mail from a reader a few minutes after the episode ended:

I read your review of Burn Notice- just wondering- do you not detect that season 2 has lost it�s �snap�? Your review suggested that you saw season 1. With season two, it drags in places, the lines are not crisp, stories have been hokey, not nearly as much of the �how-to� overlays, and there�s more silliness, and now even gory violent deaths. It seems to me, just an average joe (or joe ann, as the case may be) viewer, that there has been a loss of someone key from last year. Some part of the show�s essence is gone.

This isn't the first complaint I've seen that season two is in some way a disappointment compared to season one, but I'm not seeing it. Not yet, anyway.

In some ways, in fact, I'd call this year an improvement. Now that the characters and premise are firmly established, the writers have dropped the idea that Sam can't stand Fiona and vice versa, and it's been fun watching the two of them and Michael work so well together -- and take such pleasure in their work. (Dig the smile on Bruce Campbell in that picture above.) And letting Michael's mom in on his work life -- or, at least, acknowledging that she knew about it -- has made that character much more palatable and interesting.

As for "Trust Me" in particular, I don't know that I loved the way the counter-con worked out -- given all the set-up about how Michael would have a five-minute window for the money to remain in the account, I expected the scam to depend on that window -- but overall, I enjoyed the story, and particularly Michael getting the loanshark the lifetime magazine subscription to remind him not to mess with somebody's mom.

And I really enjoyed all the steps in using the Pakistani spy to get some dirt on Carla. At first, I questioned why Michael, impersonating a newspaper reporter, would be using an actual newspaper as a prop (I don't tote copies of The Star-Ledger with me to interviews in lieu of a business card), but then realized it was there to hide the stolen documents. Carla's not going to be back until later this season, but it's important that her presence hangs over Michael even when she's not there.

So, for now, I'm satisfied. What does everybody else think?