Burn Notice Review: Made Man

After two solidly entertaining episodes, the fourth season of highest-rated cable hit Burn Notice took a bit of a tumble, offering a weak and transparently-constructed storyline that focused too much on new guy Jesse and Sam and too little on Michael and Fiona. There’s no B storyline, no developments with the mysterious Vaughn, just the case-of-the-week. I’m not totally against that notion in theory, but if you’re going to focus entirely on the case-of-the-week, it better be a good one. Tonight’s was not.

We open with Jesse telling the gang about how, before he was burned (inadvertently by Michael), he was working with the defense department on a series of bombings. He traced the pattern to Miami, specifically a port where weapons were coming into Florida from Algeria. He wanted to find a guy he nicknamed “Cobra” (a nickname that Sam makes fun of Jesse for), and has now made contact with a midlevel guy. He posed as a gun smuggler on the phone and wants to now go meet the guy in person on the docks.

But before they can get any information out of any of the workers, Jesse sees a security guard getting shaken down by some mobsters and interferes. It looks like everyone has their new client. But the problem is that the timing is too convenient (or inconvenient, depending on your point of view), and I for one didn’t get a real firm grasp on why these mobsters were after the security guard.

Nevertheless, Michael & Co. agree to target the head honcho, a guy named Tony whose nickname is Mr. Clean, because no matter how many times he is indicted, he always gets away clean. Michael pretends to be an FBI agent on suspension named Ned and offers to give Tony inside information on an ongoing investigation, but this doesn’t really work. Therefore, Sam has to step up to the plate and dust off his alias Chuck Finley.

From here, Sam and Jesse more or less take center stage, and Michael and Fiona seem to have very little to do for the rest of the show. As much as I love Bruce Campbell, he can’t carry the show; he is the perfect sidekick and comic relief, but he should never be the focus. And this new guy Jesse…I think the impulse to add a new element to the team is valid after four seasons, and the dangerous connection that Michael has to him is a strong choice. But, that being said, I didn’t expect Jesse to be brought into the fold as quickly and thoroughly as he has. I’m not sure I like him as a character. I guess I see what the idea for that character could bring to Burn Notice, but the actual execution I’m not sure I’m crazy about.

Most of the action this week centers on planning a dock heist of some computers worth $5 million, the goal being to get Tony’s hand caught in the cookie jar. But none of it is terribly action-packed or compelling; we’ve seen so many heist scenarios, even on the show, and after a while it all felt like paint-by-numbers to me. I felt like this episode was essentially autopilot filler, and Burn Notice is too inventive and fun to be doing that. Maybe Matt Nix is spending too much time trying to get his new show The Good Guys to take off and isn’t focusing as much on Burn Notice. I hope that’s not the case, because after watching half of The Good Guys pilot, I’m convinced that show is a loser, and Burn Notice is certainly not that.

The only good scenes in this episode revolve around Madeline: one where she ferrets out information from Jessie about his past, the other where she confronts Michael about his hand in burning Jesse. Sharon Gless is always a welcome presence, and I’m glad her role has been beefed up a little since last season. We need more of her and much more of Michael than we got in this episode. Here’s hoping next week gets back on track.

Season 4, Episode 3: Made Men (Originally aired June 17, 2010)

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Thursdays at 9/8c on USA

Photographs courtesy of USA Network and Glenn Watson.