Review: Burn Notice, Season 4 Premiere

Starring: Jeffery Donovan, Bruce Campbell, Sharon Gless, Gabrielle Anwar
Score: 10 out of 10

Fans know the lead in all too well: "My name is Michael Weston. I used to be a spy."

Last night, Michael, Fiona, and Sam Axe returned to TV to begin the fourth season of 'Burn Notice', a show I'm sorry to say I didn't discover until late into the third season. Thank goodness for iTunes!

The fourth season opens as the third ended with Michael having chosen to help the mysterious Management and waking up as a prisoner in a posh sitting room. Quickly Michael finds out why he's being held: these are the people who burned him and they need his help. It seems the sinister figure who released the devilishly-fun, but murderous Simon from prison last season did so to distract from his gun-running, war-inciting, and generally bad guy activities. Needless to say, Michael can't just walk away.

While this may sound like the 'Burn Notice' fans have come to know and love, something is different--for the better. While '24' occasionally liked to hint at Jack Bauer becoming a changed man, but always returning him to his torturous and tortured ways, Michael Weston has been slowly evolving over the last few seasons and the biggest evidence of that change comes in the fourth season premiere. Appropriately one of the show's most touching and effective scenes happens between Michael and his mother, Madeline (Sharon Gless). Played by Jeffery Donovan, you can feel Weston's fatigue and fear that he will become just like Simon.

Of course, this wouldn't be 'Burn Notice' without the case of the week, but  there are changes on that front too: Fiona and Sam find a case and begin it together without Michael proving that, while they're better together, they can survive without him. This week's hapless victim is a lawyer who crosses paths with a big, bad motorcycle gang. Unlike most of the Burn cases, though, this one is light on back story and used most significantly to highlight the changed dynamic.

Like most 'Burn Notice' fans I couldn't be happier that the show is back with the entire cast on board (love that I've found a place to check in on Bruce Campbell weekly!) and the subtle changes this season suggest that the writers knew they were on the verge of jumping that proverbial shark.  I like the fact they aren't screwing with the format, but looking at enhancing the characters. At the end of the day, 'Burn Notice' is formulaic, but what makes people tune in week after week (and a lot do--it's the most watched episodic show on cable) is the dynamic between Michael, Fiona, Sam, and Madeline. Keeping that growing is the key to continued success for 'Burn Notice' and I, for one, hope to see it going for a very long time.