Review of 'BURN NOTICE'

BURN NOTICE - first three episodes.

MICHAEL WESTEN, the main character of the series, is a spy for an unidentified USA agency and has just received a 'burn notice': his former employer dumped him in a city, canceled his credit cards, emptied his bank account, and blacklisted him. In addition to Michael, recurring characters include FIONA, a lover and former IRA terrorist, MADELINE, Michael's super-manipulative bitchy mother, and SAM, an ex-operative who helps Michael find contacts but who also reports to the FBI on Michael's activities.

The individual episodes are by and large stand-alone and follow the same pattern. Michael expends some effort to find out who burned him, but spends most of the hour helping some innocent being persecuted by bad guys. In the first episode, a caretaker is framed for robbery; in the second, an elderly widow is beaten and robbed, and in the third, a waitress is threatened by drug dealers. In each case, Michael either volunteers or is nagged to provide help, and provide help he does with a variety of legal and illegal moves, quick thinking, and physical prowess.

In a few ways, the series is reminiscent of Dexter. Both series take place in Miami, both have David Zayas as actors (Angel in Dexter and Javier in the Burn Notice pilot), both have a lot of violence and both have humor. However, the humor is quite different. Dexter has a subtle, ironic humor, whereas Michael's humor is more direct and slapstick. Michael continually gives funny suggestions about how to do covert operations, though I wouldn't recommend anyone try to follow his advice. Example: duct tape is better than a gun because duct tape makes you smart but a gun makes you stupid.

The basic premise is annoyingly unlikely. The best way to make an enemy of a trained spy is to give him this 'burn notice' treatment.  Michael's superiors would have done much better either to leave him with a bank account, job and the opportunity to live quietly, or to kill him outright.

Perhaps my biggest problem with Burn Notice is the predictability.  At least in these first three episodes, the plot is so similar that there is no suspense.  Yes, it's fun seeing how he helps those innocents, and the wisecracking is also enjoyable in a superficial way, but there isn't enough to interest me. The scenario would have worked better as a movie in which he is simultaneously finding out who burned him and helping out two or three hapless victims.

If I watch the second disk, I'll give a followup.  For now, as plain entertainment, it's strictly mediocre. As a workout disk, if you aren't easily bored by repetition, there's enough action to give it ++++ - it will get your pulse up to a run.