Burn Notice roared back just in time to save us from summer TV with its third season premiere. Michael finds himself under investigation but with the help of an old friend, he is freed from prison. But of course, his friend has a job for him: extraditing a thug who's kicking people off their land in Latin America.
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This sixth episode of the second season displays both how this series has become a well-oiled machine, and how it slyly transcends the mechanical, if still pleasing, combination of familiar elements.Michael has two cases to worry about this time, as usual, one rather easily worked through for the younger brother of a childhood friend, the other the overarching continuing exploitation by the mysterious cabal that has managed to burn him in the first place. Rationing Tricia Helfer's Carla, Michael gets to deal this time with the clearly disturbed Victor (Michael Shanks) instead, who nonetheless seems quite functional enough to work in criminal espionage (if there is any other kind).Ricky (Ben Watkins), an accountant, is being framed for embezzlement from a gangster rapper Valentine (Method Man) and his personal conglomerate, by a resentful, once true-believing, former manager and general financial adviser, Eddie. Happily, Eddie is easily manipulated, so that even when Victor attempts...
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Burn Notice returned tonight on the USA cable channel, at 10p and 1a...but we, and protagonist Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan), aren't too much further along in figuring out how or exactly why he was given his burn notice, or identity- and asset-destroying walking papers (or lack of papers), from the espionage agency for which he was working. After luring him into trailer of a semi with the promise of a face-to-face meeting and answers, the mysterious voice over his buddy Sam's car's emergency radio tells him to call her "Carla," and is eventually revealed to belong to actress Tricia Helfer...a fact you'd have to work pretty hard to avoid hearing about in advance.But before we see Carla, we learn that Michael's trip in the back of the tractor-trailer was just a means of getting him on site, so that he could be blackmailed into a task for Carla and whomever she might be working with, or for. Michael emerges from the trailer to see a computer security expert lying bound, gagged an...
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I've been looking forward to this season finale all week. We finally got to meet the mysterious Philip Cowan; that definitely didn't go as planned. Sam's double blackmail case gets more and more complex until ultimately it puts him in mortal danger. Michael finally understands why his mother is so needy and learns that in a crunch he can count on family. And lastly, I think we finally understand why Michael needs to find out why he was burned: His job was his family. He could count on them to have his back and be there when he needed them.Let's start at the beginning. Michael's feeling a little jumpy, as evidenced by him pulling a gun on Sam while he's working out. Cowan burned him, sent someone to kill him and is now off the grid. When Cowan calls him to meet, they start a kind of high-stakes scavenger hunt — Cowan leaves sophisticated clues that Michael must interpret and follow to get a face-to-face meeting. Michael's first mistake is taking Sam as backup. Cowan spots Sam an...
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I enjoyed the U.S. Open but I’m not nearly as passionate about tennis (well, any sport really) as I am about this show.... I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking: Stop your yappin’, Kara, and get to recappin’. Well, here I go.I enjoyed Evelyn the client turning into Evelyn the assassin. And what do you know? She’s got some history with Michael. We don’t see enough of Lucy Lawless in general (I can’t wait for her return on Battlestar Galactica next year). It was nice, if not a little strange, to see her mix it up and play a different type of character even though her facade didn’t remain in place for long. But let me back up. Michael is pulled into his latest case because he needs his friend Lucy, whom he trained in the fine art of spying, to set him up with a fake identity, or a "false flag," after an earlier plan falls through. Even though he’s not supposed to leave Miami, Michael wants to travel to D.C. to confront Cowan. Luc...
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I don't know about you, but I was very excited when I saw Michael and Fi holding hands at the beginning of the episode. I thought maybe Michael finally realized Fi's the girl (sorry, woman) for him or that he was just so tired of fighting her on it that he's giving it a chance. I wasn't too disappointed to find out their coupledom was only a cover. I think part of the fun, maybe the charm, of their relationship is seeing them apart. And at least they don't have relationship issues like Nick and his fiancée Dawn.So Dawn's been kidnapped by Reyes. I had to back my DVR up when I saw that Reyes is none other then Steven Bauer. I love me some Steven Bauer. So anyway, he's the lead bad guy. He has his man Lucio scout targets to kidnap. Once they have their victim in the hideout, they demand a ransom. He's made a lot of money from this endeavor and only one target was killed, and that was unintentional. Michael presents himself as the hostage negotiator — and gets a massage and a...
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Things are a little different this week. Michael and Fi have had their romantic encounter and Fi’s looking to play house. Michael has more interest in his dossier than her and Fi isn’t about to put up with it. When she asks Michael for help with a bounty, she turns that situation to her advantage. Fi doesn’t want to turn this guy, Thomas McKee, over to the cops. He says he’s innocent and she believes him. But more importantly, he’s attractive and maybe she can use him to make Michael jealous. In the meantime, they have to keep Thomas away from the other bounty hunter on the case, Wayne Ray. That is one big dude and he doesn’t play around.Let’s get back to the case. Thomas is being framed for the theft of a $2-million brooch. He had access to it and all circumstantial evidence makes him look guilty. The real thief, Lawrence Henderson, owns the hotel the brooch was stolen from. He’s been cleared by the police but he’s got a slightly shady p...
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I know this blog is coming a little late in the game, but I’ve been watching this show since the beginning. So whether you’ve been a fan from the first episode or a Johnny-come-lately, welcome to the party.The PlayersMichael Westen: a former spook who’s been burned. He's deposited in Miami without any money, credit or job references. He takes on local cases to make money while he tries to find out who burned him.Fiona: Michael’s former flame, who still carries a torch. Her accent in the first episode (and her name) might have us believe she’s Irish, but she can fake an American accent pretty well. She’s former IRA and met Michael on the job.Sam: a spy buddy of Michael’s forced to keep tabs on him. Sam’s living comfortably off his pension and can’t have his friendship with Michael interfere with that. When Michael discovers his duplicity, the agency sends in new surveillance.Jason Bly: the new guy. He works for a branch of the NSA and isn&...
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