The third season of Burn Notice with Michael Weston returning from his dip in the ocean and evading the police. The arc to begin the season is that Management is no longer covering Michael's tracks. By the second episode, Detective Paxson, played by the oh so bland Moon Bloodgood, is at Michael's door and snooping. Quickly, however, the story totally sputtered and Paxson was gone by the fourth episode. The season eventually recovered, but the initial few episodes didn't sit right, especially since Paxson came and gone without any twists. The ending, too, was kind of a mess with big badass, Simon turning out to be the guy who actually did the things Michael was accused of.
The fourth season of Burn Notice with much more promise, again reseting Michael's situation with a slight modulation. Primarily, Burn Notice is always about the job Michael and company does each week, and there is some spy stuff on the side, which isn't that important--in my mind, at least. I've never thought much about the spy shenanigans and they got progressively less interesting and confusing as the plot unraveled.
This time, Michael is imprisoned but his "fan," Vaughn let him go to help the world, clarifying exactly what his organization is and why Michael should join. They're good guys, who, for the sake of the world, burn spies to force them to join. It's mean, but Vaughn knows the kind of person Michael is. He can help people once he joins up. Michael accepts and is sent to a foreign country to stop an arms dealer and into a shower of bullets from an unknown organization who is gunning for him and his new buddies.
Once that's over, Michael is tossed back into Miami and into the arms of Fi and Sam who are already working on something. They are working to stop a biker gang from killing a lawyer and Michael is just the guy they need. With no belated welcoming, Michael goes right to work and solves the problem rather easily by making the lawyer seem like a dangerous guy to mess with.
The two women in Michael's life--Fiona and Madeline--play a role in Michael's return. After receiving little more than a hello, Michael is upset, especially at Fi. I'm not sure what Michael was expecting since she is very closed most of the time, but she eventually breaks down and tells him how she and Sam went looking for him. For the first three seasons, Madeline stood by and watched things explode around her, bullets fly past her, knowing her son was up to something, but it wasn't until the season 3 finale when the fed showed up that she realized her son might not be the person who she thinks he is. The wakeup call opens a new avenue between them, one that involves mutual trust and a never before seen frankness.
I like the new angle of Michael with those who burned him in order to go after the real bad guys, and as long as the cool action stuff and schemes are still good, we should be in for another great season of television.
Score: 8.8/10
