We've probably said it before here at CinemaSpy, but if you're not watching USA Network's Burn Notice, you're denying yourself the pleasure of a truly smart and entertaining show that almost never fails to impress on every level. Jeffrey Donovan plays Michael Westen, a "burned" (read disenfranchised) spy trying to figure out who ousted him and why, even as he attempts to eek out a living in Miami doing good turns for people in trouble (reminiscent of the '80s series The Equalizer, for those who remember that far back).

The series, which also stars Gabrielle Anwar, Bruce Campbell and Sharon Gless, has received critical and popular accolades for both it's cast and writing, and is poised for a fourth season, even as it completes a slightly extended run of 16 episodes for Season 3 (the first season ran 11 episodes, the second 15—shorter runs are typical for most cable skeins).

During an interview with journalists Wednesday afternoon, creator/executive producer Matt Nix fielded questions about the series, from the participation of guest star Carlos Bernard (you might remember him from a little show he did called 24) in next week's episode, to his thoughts on Michael and Fiona's "relationship."

One thing we'll clear up straight off: Don't expect Sam and Madeline to ever hook up. Nix says they're just friends and will likely remain such for the duration of the series.

Here's what Nix had to say about a variety of things...

On 24's Carlos Bernard (remember Tony Almeida?) guest starring in Season 3:
Well certainly in the finale, we have Garret Dillahunt coming and doing a pretty amazing bad guy. Let’s see, the guy who played Tony Almeida on 24. I’m completely blanking on his name. In any case, he is in the episode after this week’s episode and he is playing a bad guy who Fiona has a real connection to. Oh sorry, Carlos Bernard, yes playing a bad guy who is really sort of only removed from the characters on the show by—under other circumstances he could have been one of the team, but he is willing to do certain things that they’re not willing to do and that’s a divide that they just can’t cross. But he’s a guy who’s really committed to what he’s doing, really cares about what he’s doing. It’s a pretty devastating performance.  He’s pretty awesome. I’d say Garret and Carlos Bernard are the ones that are upcoming that really jump out at me right now.

On satiating fans' desires to see Michael and Fiona hook up:
It’s certainly important to us that that’s something that fans respond to.  One of the things that we’re interested in in that relationship I’m particularly interested in is just the idea that in life, people have complex relationships that remain unresolved all the time.  That’s a really common experience.  That there are people that you can care for deeply and be romantically involved in who for one reason or another, having a conventional relationship with them, no matter how much you might want it, is extremely problematic.  

What’s emerged for us is that Michael and Fiona are two people who have a really hard time being with other people and at this point, there’s no question that they’ve acknowledged how much they care about each other.  They’re not really built for stable romantic connections.  So really what we’re playing with is the idea that they have this unstable romantic connection.  That it’s something that they can’t really settle into and they can’t leave alone.  

It’s something that comes up a lot when people talk about relationships on television.  It’s always the Sam and Diane model, which is that there’s romantic tension between two people and then that romantic tension gets released and then it’s all over, right.  We’re sort of doing the exact opposite of that, which is nothing get released.  When people get together, it is not necessarily true that suddenly everything becomes simpler.  Often times everything becomes more complicated.

On Gilroy's shelf life in the series and whether Michael will encounter someone even more diabolical:
The fun thing actually about Gilroy’s character is this sort of snuck up on us in the execution. He’s a really, really bad guy and it’s fairly clear he has a sort of flirty energy with Michael. I guess what’s fun about him for us is he never stops being a bad guy and his relationship with Michael in the penultimate episode takes a really unexpected turn. It’s actually one of our more touching moments in the season, but we didn’t think of it that way, it just sort of worked out that way. So he’s a villain who over the course of his arc comes to have an odd affection for Michael.

On Michael's future as a spy versus helping people week after week:
You kind of have to work backwards in a way like you’re making a television show but like, why does Michael help people every week. You obviously don’t get to say he helps people every week because he’s aware that he’s on a television program and that the television program needs a story every week. So you really have to think well, what kind of person really does this?  

When I think about it, Michael has been kind of coming to terms over the course of the last three seasons with the fact that there is a part of him that has to do this, and that if you look at the first season, he tends to take this attitude of this very reluctant hero. He doesn’t want to take cases but he does. That’s sort of evolved at this point because in our conception of the character and I think, if I can talk about him like he’s a real guy, in Michael’s mind he has come to realize he is self aware enough to know yeah, there is a reason I do this every week and it’s related to why he got involved in the spy business in the first place. He’s doing dark deeds for a noble purpose and that’s kind of the gig and just because he lost his job doesn’t mean he stops doing that and he is sort of a guy who is willing to use the dark to save the light.  That’s sort of a pretentious thing to say but it’s true.