‘Burn Notice’s’ Michael and Fiona sizzle amid the explosions

USA Network’s popular spy series, “Burn Notice,” specializes in combustible pairings. Watch any episode and see how everyday items like light bulbs, vodka, microwave ovens and silverware can combine to go boom at the hands of the show’s good guy covert agents. For the really big jobs, there’s always C4 and a detonator.

That kind of volatility extends to “Burn Notice’s” characters, with hero Michael Westen ( Jeffrey Donovan) taking a bullet in the chest from a fellow spy during a cliffhanger episode that aired in August. (There was a noble motive behind the shooting, and it’s no real spoiler to say that Westen lived through it.)

But there’s perhaps no more explosive mix than Westen and his trigger-happy ex-girlfriend, Fiona Glenanne ( Gabrielle Anwar), whose on-again, off-again love affair provides the Miami-set drama with some of its most spectacular fireworks.

Fans of the series — which is midway through its fourth season and was the top-rated scripted show on basic cable this past summer in the18- to 49-year-old demographic — have been clamoring via message boards and blogs for more quality Michael and Fiona time. Some even want the former spook-turned-private-eye and the weapons expert, who have a long and sordid history that involves the IRA, gun running and betrayal, to settle down together.

Show creator Matt Nix promised recently that the beautiful and contentious lovers will grow closer in upcoming episodes. But fans shouldn’t expect a diamond solitaire or bridal bouquet this season.

“Can you imagine if Fiona Nitro and Michael Glycerin got together like that?” Donovan said by phone recently. “Carnage would ensue!”

Anwar called their relationship “deliciously unconventional” and said it reflects real life in its poor communication, hot-and-cold spells and general messiness.

“You can’t put a label on it — it’s not a fairy tale — yet it works in its way,” Anwar said. “Fiona’s goal is not a ring. Her goal is to be his priority. She wants to be first, before his work.”

A girl can try.

“Burn Notice,” based loosely on the life of former covert agent Michael Wilson, who serves as a consulting producer, looks at the personal ramifications of being a spy, Nix said. The extra wrinkle is that Westen has been blacklisted — the “burn” order referred to in the title — leaving him to deal with the fallout from having his profession and identity yanked away. USA’s already ordered two more seasons, with the next set to premiere in summer 2011.

The prickly romance is one draw of the successful series, which drew an average of more than 7 million viewers this past summer for live, on demand and DVR airings. (It pulled in 6.6 million viewers for its fourth season launch in June — a 10% bump from the prior summer, according to Nielsen.)

Another is an ensemble cast that includes Sharon Gless, who was Emmy nominated this year for her role as the super-spy’s mother, Madeline Westen, and fanboy favorite Bruce Campbell, who will get his own Sam Axe spinoff movie on USA. (The project, shooting early next year, will be set before Axe’s former Navy SEAL became part of Westen’s private-eye posse.) Coby Bell joined this season as another burned spy, Jesse, who helps the gang solve the dilemma of the week and puzzle over the larger question of who kicked Westen to the curb and why. (He’s the one who shot Westen, but forgiveness may be in the air).

Nix said he empathizes with an unrequited love like Michael and Fiona’s, calling himself “the world’s biggest torch carrier” in his younger life, before marriage and kids.

“You’re longing for the kind of closure and resolution you can probably never have,” Nix said.

There are plenty of TV series past and present that revolve around lead characters’ sexual chemistry and/or unconsummated love. ABC’s “Castle” has its mystery writer and homicide detective duo, and Fox’s “Bones” centers on an FBI agent and a forensic anthropologist. Fans, even the ones old enough to remember Sam and Diane on “Cheers” and David and Maddie on “Moonlighting” and their jump-the-shark moments, often say they want a tidy bow on these relationships.

Nix said he’s tried to keep the sexual energy in “Burn Notice” while allowing occasional hook-ups between Michael and Fiona, which might be considered a creative no-no. “Afterward, Michael is still Michael, Fiona is still Fiona, and none of the old issues went away,” he said.

“Burn Notice” fans acknowledge on Facebook and message boards that the yearning between Michael and Fiona keeps them coming back for more, but some still hope for the storybook ending. As one post proclaims, “They are the only ones who truly understand each other — can’t wait for it all to work out in the end.”

Not likely, but Nix said the show will “dish up serious red meat for Michael and Fiona fans,” by the end of this season’s two-hour finale on Dec. 16. “It’s a really emotional and intense expression of what their relationship is.”

Anwar had a snappier description: “It’s another version of ‘I do,’” she said, “but with explosions.”

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