“Burn Notice”
- Airs: Thursdays @ 9pm* on USA
- Starring:
- Jeffrey Donovan,
- Gabrielle Anwar,
- Bruce Campbell,
- Sharon Gless
- First Episode Aired: June 28, 2007
- Current Season: 03 (June 04, 2009)
- Latest DVD Release: Season 02 (June 16, 2009)
Plot: Spies Don’t Get Fired, They Get Burned. Blacklisted while on assignment in Nigeria, Michael Weston (Donovan) is dumped in his Miami hometown with no money and no resources. Now, he works as a freelance spy/private investigator to help finance his quest to discover who burned him and why.
Spy shows are always fun to watch – and “Burn Notice” is no different. What is different, however, is the way it goes about doing the spy show.
Since the main character, Michael Weston, is technically an ex-spy, he doesn’t get to rely on all the high-tech gadgetry that comes with the biz. Instead, he has to use whatever is handy to help him along. Sure, he has his contacts for some stuff still (though mostly against their will), but most of the time he has to rely on his training and his knowledge of spy gear to help him along.
On first glance, that sounds like it’s the ‘00 version of “MacGyver.” While it does borrow a little bit from that show, “Burn Notice” is a bit more down-to-earth. This is partly because he walks viewers through his creations step by step, making them seem much more plausible than “MacGyver”’s bizarre contraptions from a hair and a paperclip.
The supporting cast also helps set this show apart from “MacGyver” as Gabrielle Anwar and Bruce Campbell are a big part of every show. Gabrielle’s trigger-happy Fiona (an ex-spy in her own right, although not for the US) and Bruce’s ex-military best pal – not to mention Michael’s estranged relationship with his chain-smoking mother (Gless) – really helps the show by giving it a big sense of humor, yet that humor never causes the show to lose it’s focus.
With a first season that seemed nearly perfect, it’s not surprising that Season 2 so far has been a bit of a disappointment. With a season 1 cliffhanger (Weston drives a car into a tractor trailer – leaving his friends behind – to supposedly meet the people who “burned” him) amounted to basically nothing (Season 2 puts him right back where he was in Season 1, except now he has a contact with the shady folks who “burned” him).
It’s almost as if “Burn Notice” wasn’t expecting to make it to a 2nd Season, then had to backtrack to figure out what to do when they were picked up again.
Thankfully, aside from the seeming backtracking, Season 2 has alot of the same fun that Season 1 brought to the table, so we’re still looking forward to each and every episode – and hoping the Season 2 finale will be able to better transition the show into it’s 3rd season.
Popularity: 15% [?]
Popularity: 15% [?]
