Burn Notice: Season Two Premiere

I'm sitting in Southern California tonight after having watched the season two premiere of Burn Notice on USA Network. Over at AAR, we're running such a great sweepstakes that I wish I were eligible to enter. While I may have had advance access to a screener for tonight's episode, unfortunately it's sitting back in Dallas, having arrived via UPS at my house after I flew to L.A. to be with my mom this past week. Which is why, instead of taking advantage of the screener, I instead watched it like "regular people" and couldn't post my review until now.

Last summer both Jane Jorgenson (over at AAR After Hours) and I wrote enthusiastically about Burn Notice. I probably blogged more often about Mad Men, but watched both shows religiously. I hear AMC will spend $25 million dollars advertising Mad Men this year, but USA Network hasn't quite done the same for its show, although there was a full-page/full color ad in today's L.A. Times. But ad campaigns aren't the purpose of this blog entry...a review of Burn Notice is. So here goes...

Jeffrey Donovan, a 40-year-old actor and prime speciman of human male, stars as Michael Westen, an operative for the U.S. who got "burned." He received a burn notice that not only ended his career, but destroyed his reputation and marked him as a wanted man. Whoever burned him arranged to have him dumped in Miami, were his mother (and brother) live. Sharon Gless portrays Mrs. Westen, and she's substantially less obnoxious in this role than she was in Queer as Folk, but let's face it: After turning in many years of fine performances as Christine Cagney, she's become as a big a scene chewer as Al Pacino. Even so, the dynamic between the two Westens - and the actors portraying them - works to the show's advantage, as do the other primary secondary characters, Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar), a former IRA operative, and Sam (Bruce Campbell), once a SEAL and agency man, now gone slightly to seed and living off the largesse of wealthy women while maintaining contacts "in the biz." He's also a bit of a double agent, there to spy on his pal, who knows it, but not averse to feeding them bad intel to help Michael out. There's been a slight change in the relationship between Fiona and Sam since last year; they're no longer enemies...now they're sort of frienimies. The two are Michael's back ups; they grouse and grumble every time he pulls them into a case, but hey, that's what friends (and former girlfriends) are for.

At the conclusion of season one, Michael is seen driving his friend's Caddy via a ramp into an 18 wheeler where he will supposedly finally learn who ordered his "burn notice." He's already figured out the why - TPTB have bigger undercover plans for him. These are not nice people; they will allow nothing to stand in their way, regardless of the collateral damage.

In tonight's episode, after Michael has cleaned his gun 40 times in the car...in the 18-wheeler, "Carla," the woman behind his burn notice, calls him and invites him outside, where he discovers a private jet in flames, a dead guy in the dirt, and another guy, mouth duct-tape shut, hands and feet tied up. This is Michael's new "client," and if he doesn't help the guy steal computer data from a mercenary for Carla and her people, the guy's wife and daughter will die. And remember, Carla's an American, supposedly one of the good guys, and that's one reason why this show is so fun.

Another reason I like the show is for the MacGuyver-esque technology; Westen, Fiona, and Sam can build a homing device or bomb out of ordinary items such as cell phones or things you can pick up at the hardware store. While they are no match for "Q", their ingenuity is fresh and exciting. Westen talks to the audience like Magnum did in the 80s. I liked that show...I love this one.

Much of the show's success comes from its tone. The Miami setting isn't as pastel pretty as it was in Miami Vice, but we've already had that. As to the tone I mentioned, the show clearly is basic cable and not network; rarely if ever in a network show do the actual good guys shoot people in the kneecap. Michael Westen doesn't blink an eye when he does. And did I mention that our hero has a dry-as-dust sense of humor that fits him as well as his European-cut clothes? And, hey...he eats yogurt and isn't a pussy, clearly a man for the 21st century.

If I've made the violence seem too grim, I don't mean to. Somehow the show combines a sense of humor with cars and boats blowing up and never misses a note.

Carla will be a part of a few episodes this season, and I can't wait to watch it all unfold. No doubt Michael will spend many episodes (and possibly seasons) to come in trying to burn his burn notice. But a man's gotta eat, so I imagine that story arc will inch forward slowly while he takes on private cases to keep is fridge filled with yogurt. And through it all, he must cope with his neurotic mother, for whom a burnt out coffee maker is "a disaster," a trigger happy ex-girlfriend who is probably his soul mate, but, you know, bad timing and all..., and his "I've got your back even though I'm also watching you" pal Sam. Somewhat of a motley crew, but one half of it quite lovely to look at. All of which adds up to perfect summer fare.

TTFN, Laurie Likes Books

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