Diary of a Burn Notice virgin – In the beginning: Michael gets burned

(Season 1, Episodes 1-3)

1×01 “Pilot”

“When you fight, you have to be careful not to break the little bones in your hand on someone’s face.” – Michael

It’s lines like this that make me think I’m going to like this series. I’m not sure why, but I kind of expected the first season of Burn Notice to look like crap, production value-wise. Maybe it’s because I spent so much time watching the sadly filmed The Dead Zone, but I thought there would be way more obvious-looking sets. Burn Notice, however, looks pretty slick.

So far, I’m liking Jeffrey Donovan, although his accent slips once or twice, and the character of Michael Westen. The way the episode is structured, with Michael’s VO giving spy tips, is a lot of fun, but by the end of the pilot, they were kind of getting on my nerves. I really wanted the pilot to introduce me to the characters and give me an idea of what to expect down the line. They do not need an hour and a half in which to achieve this simple objective. I don’t like long series premieres, and this one really dragged along.

By the time we were an hour into it, I was done with the tutorials and ready for some more ass-kicking — although, not by Fiona. The scene in which she takes down that guy outside of the bar? It made me nearly shut off the TV and go read a book. It was absolutely ridiculous. She couldn’t beat down a french fry, much less a giant meat-head like that dude. Overall though, I enjoyed the episode, and I’m looking forward to ones with regular run-times.

1×02 “Identity”

I don’t know what it says about this show when the thing that made me the most excited about this episode is that they took that hideous wig off of Sharon Gless. She’s presumably rocking her real hair here, and it’s awesome. I have no idea why she favors wigs so much, having worn them throughout her run on Queer as Folk as well.

Right now, she and Bruce Campbell are making Burn Notice for me. I like Jeffrey Donovan and all, but I would totally just watch a show with Sam and Mama Westen. Donovan is great when he’s just doing a regular American accent, and not trying to get all complicated with a Jersey one, and Fiona, well Fiona just bugs me. I don’t like anything about this character or the actress who plays her. The case of the week was fine, but nothing about this show is really setting me on fire yet.

1×03 “Fight or Flight”

Lucky number three. This episode feels like Burn Notice is finding its groove. There is a nice balance between the case of the week and Michael’s over-arching quest to find out who burned him.There’s a lot of action, and the tutorials are interesting without making the story drag along.

I’m still not digging Fiona at all. BN would be so much better without this insipid storyline, mainly because Gabrielle Anwar and Jeffrey Donovan have zero chemistry together. When she keeps on asking for his key, she comes off as creepy and overbearing instead of flirtatious and daring.

In fact, I would say that overall, there is way too much Fiona, and not nearly enough Sam. Bruce Campbell is a major coup for this show, and so far they are under-utilizing him like crazy. I said before that he and Sharon Gless really make this show for me, and I can only hope that as I go along in the season, we see a lot more of them.

Clacked by Kona Gallagher
on Jun 08, 2009 @ 12:00 EST5EDT