Burn Notice (Season 1) (TV) [Review]
(If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS/Atom feed. Thanks for visiting! - Michael)
Mike recommended Burn Notice to me a week ago and when I was skimming through an episode, I was thinking, this show might suck.
But good news, it doesn’t!
At first glance, The USA Network’s Burn Notice reminded me of a cheesy 80’s TV show- maybe I was influenced by its formula of serious, but-not-too-serious action/drama, by the fact that it takes place in Miami, like Miami Vice, which I don’t know a lot about but knew it wasn’t really a show to take seriously, and maybe because of Bruce Campbell, Mr. “Come Get Some”.
I wouldn’t call it a super best-of-TV show, but it’s fun and entertaining. Season 2 just started last week.
It’s a mix of:
- Miami Vice
- Foxhunt (Full Motion Video PC game from 1996)
- McGuyver
- Bond, James Bond
- Bruce Campbell being sarcastic
- Pretender (the NBC TV Show that was on a decade ago)
Jeffrey Donovan is Michael Westen, the guy you see above. He used to be a spy.
From Wikipedia:
Jeffrey Donovan plays Michael Westen, the show’s focal character. Michael is a covert operative who has been “burned” (i.e., tagged as an unreliable or dangerous agent) who now finds himself in his hometown of Miami, unable to leave. With his assets frozen, Michael is forced to live off his wits and any small investigative jobs he can find while he pursues the person or persons who burned him. Highly skilled and extremely clever, Michael displays his abilities by quickly thinking on his feet, improvising electronic devices from commonly available commercial equipment such as radios and cell phones, and by using ordinary items such as duct tape or cake frosting in highly unorthodox ways in order to complete a job. Michael has two black belts (or as he put it in one episode “thirty years of karate“) and is “rated with anything that fires a bullet or holds an edge.” He believes that his unhappy childhood, largely at the hands of an abusive father, helped make him into a natural covert operative, but made relationships difficult for him. Michael presents himself as a cynic hardened by experience, but soon reveals a soft, and sometimes vulnerable, side.
Gabreille Anwar is the pretty girl (in poster) that every show has to have. She’s tough, a little crazy, but she’s a badass. She’s a weapons pro.
Gabrielle Anwar plays Fiona Glenanne, a former IRA operative and Westen’s ex-girlfriend. Fiona re-enters Michael’s life when he was dumped, half-dead, in Miami, and she decides to stay, quickly making herself valuable to Michael. Highly knowledgeable about guns and explosives, Fiona provides support to Michael on his investigations and at times, assists him in mission to find out who burned him.
Bruce Campbell, while generally overrated in life (people really seem to love him a little too much), does a good job of just being a funny but loyal partner. He reminds me of a dog in that sense, but I mean that in a good way.
Bruce Campbell plays Sam Axe, an aging semi-retired intelligence operative and former Navy SEAL. With a low amount of cash-on-hand to his name, Axe spends most of his time sleeping with rich, older Miami women in exchange for food and shelter. Sam and Westen are old buddies; Sam is also Westen’s last, tenuous contact in the official spy community. Sam presents himself as “the guy who knows a guy.”
Throw in some fun, but crazy family members in Michael’s mom and brother for some dramatic and comedic relief, and it all somehow works pretty well.
Back to the show itself:
Like I said, it’s a little bit of……
- Miami Vice: it takes place in Miami. Sometimes you see fruity shirts and white suits.
- Foxhunt: Spy comedy, a little goofy sometimes. Jeffrey Donovan does a good job as Westen, but the way he plays the role is definitely unique. He’s tough, definitely masculine, but he’s not a super serious character either, it’s not the kind of intensity you find in Daniel Craig’s James Bond.
- McGuyver: This is probably one of the most unique aspects of the show. Since Westen is burned, he doesn’t have the resources he used to, and so when he’s in trouble he’s got to make stuff up on the fly. For example, one episode discusses making a homemade sticky bomb. This part of the show is the best; Westen often has monologues to discuss the perspective and thinking of a spy, how one would look at a situation and prepare, and he’ll talk about making different types of weapons with relatively common (household) items. I don’t even know if everything he says is really true, but it sounds true, so it makes you think, “Let me write this down for later, maybe I can become a spy too”
- Bond: Well, Michael Westen’s a spy and very cool, very slick. Gadgets are home made, and Gabrielle Anwar adds the sexiness.
- Bruce Campbell: He’s what you expect. It’s kind of odd there were once rumors he could play Batman- I think this was in the Batman Forever days though.
- Pretender: Michael plays different roles, changing accents fairly well in the process. Every episode, while he’s trying to solve the ultimate mystery of the burn notice, he’s also helping some person in need, like the Pretender, for little personal reward, always keeping a cool head.
Here’s a well-rated fan trailer of the show:
