Burn Notice "Breaking and Entering" (2008)

Ok, so I cheated a little. Instead of a ten month break in between seasons, it was more like a half hour between watching the rousing season one finale and the second season premiere. I think this affected how I viewed the first episode of the new season since after the action-packed season finale, this premiere came off as only being so-so in my mind. After leaving Michael who has bid farewell to family and friends in pursuit of his burn notice and on his way to meet the woman who has such big plans for him, it looks like this premiere just hit the reset button. After this episode things have sort of reverted back to how we started the series, only now Michael instead of working for himself, is working for this woman named Carla (Tricia Helfer) while he tries to piece together her ultimate goal. There's nothing really wrong with the episode, except I just got the impression that after driving Michael so far in the finale with finding out why he was burned, this episode was just used to bring back the status quo of season one except with a different twist. Michael knows who burned him but now he has to figure out why they want him and what they're after.

To further add a new twist to the proceedings, we have Fiona who tells Michael that they can't be together since he was willing to sacrifice his life to find out about his burn notice. He was willing to walk out on her without a second thought and if she can't be the primary aspect of his life then she can't continue to be romantically linked to him. I'm okay that they're not a lovey-dovey couple, but I hope this doesn't detract from the always palpable sexual tension that both characters give off in such heavy doses. I like the fact that Fiona's first reaction to finding out Michael is alive and needs her help is to throw a punch. I love that the characters obviously feel for one another without making them star-crossed lovers destined to be together. This new wrench thrown into the mix doesn't upset me in that regard because I like them they way they were in the first season: playful but caring underneath. I do hope though that this new arrangement does not take way from that as I love Fiona and Michael's see-saw relationship the most about the show.

Hopefully this season we will get to see more of Mama Weston who's told by her son after a bit of a delay that she can return home. They share a nice scene when they get home where Michael admits he stayed out of contact because he didn't want her to be a target for his enemies. While I think this in partly true, in that he does worry about her safety, I think he is once again using his spycraft to cover his true feelings. He has separate issues with his family that we have yet to see him try and work out. When his family needs him, he is there to support them, but the rest of the time he chooses to cut them out of his life. I think the "for their protection" defense is just an internal justification he uses to quell his guilt over cutting out his family from his life. He does care for his mother and shows it in those rare moments, but for the most part he'd rather be away from them and he'll continually push anyone and everyone away until he works through those problems. Maybe we'll see some of that this season.

I do like the idea of Michael piecing together what his new bosses are after by looking at the goals of his missions. This could be an interesting arc as Michael tries to stay one step ahead of Carla and her cohorts. It gives the stand-alone case of the week format a semi-serialized feel and it will create a sense of building up to something in the finale much like the burn notice investigation fueled the second half of the season last year. Now with the missions being determined by Carla, the two separate halves will be more fused which should provide for an even more entertaining show as it's not two distinct plots unfolding but one overarching one. This week got us off to a good start. I liked that opening. It kind of reminded me of a video game. Michael is suddenly thrust into a battle zone and needs to figure out quickly where to go and what to do. I also liked that Michael will be adding another car to the fleet our gang seems to be building. He already has the Charger and he really did a number on Sam's Cadillac in this episode. Now he has a Saab convertible, the same car Jerry Seinfeld drive on his sitcom. Wonder if the writers realize that. So on the whole the episode was a bit of a letdown but the stage is set for a interesting second season.

Favorite moment: The staged shoot-out between Michael and Fiona as a part of his cover for this episode's mission. Michael takes it on faith that Sam and Fiona will know that he's only doing what is necessary to maintain his cover. After disabling his escorts so he's the only one who's shooting, he plugs a few holes into the already damaged Caddy before Fiona returns some shots of her own. Of course being Fiona, she can't help but place a bullet right between Michael's legs just to put him on edge. Love hath no fury like an IRA gunrunner scorned.