*** BURN NOTICE airs on the USA Network which is on Channel 5 on Columbus Insight Communications and Channel 29 for Columbus Time Warner Customers ****
Wow. Sorry for the delay in this. I've been wanting to discuss this for a while but alas, things got hetic for the release of my little podcast's Christmas Show... so where did I want to begin? Oh yes.
I greatly enjoy Burn Notice. I want to start this review off with this. But overall, the Burn Notice Season 5 finale felt very flat, despite being typically good for a Burn Notice episode. The episode, entitled ‘Failsafe’ finds just how far Michael will go to stop Anson from ruining Fi, who Anson framed for a bombing in the beginning of the last half of the season.
Personally, my complaints are minor ones. Mainly, BurnNotice is beginning to just feel like it’s showing it’s age. It’s not star Jeffrey Donovan who plays Michael, nor the wonderful Bruce Campbell and Gabrielle Anwar as Sam Axe and Fionna Glenanne respectively. No, their work is top notch. But even though the finale ends with Fionna turning herself in and getting arrested, finally, while yes it raised the stakes, it also felt either forced or too little too late. Burn Notice is one of those shows that quickly retreats into it’s hole, no large dose of consequences usually, when it deals with it's own main characters. And maybe Nix and company are wanting to show Michael going for a slow burn (no pun intended) on just ‘what’ will make Mr. Weston snap into the full blown killing machine we know he could be.
Rarely in the show have we seen Michael kill someone directly, and rarely have we seen a main or supporting cast member killed. For a show with spies, while they did kill Sharon Gless’s boyfriend, who was a mole for Anson, it begs the question, what will it take for Michael to snap or let someone just kill Anson? And I think that is what makes Burn Notice show it’s age a bit. While the episode itself was quite entertaining, I never feel bored by it, but as a viewer, it doesn’t challenge me. While Burn Notice has some comedy in it, it’s merely a pop-corn based show. And it fluctuates constantly between being beyond a popcorn show, and well, a pop-corn show.*
* - Meaning that it’s more spectacle than anything. Sleek actors and actions, some comedy, but mostly a quick way to kill an hour. Substance.
And again, this is going to come off like a back-handed compliment, I’m sure, but it just bothered me that Michael stopped Fi from shooting Anson. So she kills him, then what? What was his failsafe, then, really? Let’s see it happen. Let’s see Fionna or Sam do something that trips Michael up. But instead, Burn Notice goes to the basics, which is, we need Michael to do something for Anson, so OF COURSE he is going to fall in line. Ansom might plan ahead, but where have we established, besides the bomb in the warehouse, which makes more sense, that if Anson doesn’t appear somewhere on time, that there are real stakes for Micahel's girl to be arrested? And that’s just it. There isn’t any. Or at least, none that I find justifiable upon rewatching the episode again and stewing a few days on that thought.
But, Burn Notice seems to redeem itself usually, and as a whole, works nicely as a series. With that said, it feels like Nix, or I’m hoping that it feels like creator Matt Nix has thrown down a challenge or gauntlet, showing that it’s about time we see 'Micahel Weston', the one that Mike doesn’t like to show, make an appearance; The one that is a cold-hard killer, a Punisher-version of Michael Weston. The one that looked rough and rugged and exhausted from killing, like he did in the movie Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe. While it was never said in that he was, it looked like he was worn for wear; so seeing that Michael would be nice. We've had hints about how bad-ass Michael was in the past, when he was ordered to kill. And maybe see Jesse (Coby Bell) and Sam try to reign him in and maybe constantly fail at it until Anson is dead. Because beyond Anson, I’m sure there will be a few more twists and turns but who is left beyond him?
We won’t find out, and while it left a weird and not great taste in my mouth for a finale, this season finale is a very important one. As for me, despite my qualms with the episode as a whole for the series (re: showing it’s age), it won’t truly be judged until Season 6 begins in 2012. Will Burn Notice pick up the gauntlet it has thrown down? I’m hoping yes, it will. But we’ll see.
But what do YOU think, examiners?
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