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DVD review: Burn Notice Season 2
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Burn Notice, Season 2 - Available now on DVD
Last week, season two of the USA Network television series, Burn Notice was released on DVD. I more or less stumbled upon this DVD set and I must say, I was pleasantly surprised.
I jumped on with this season two DVD as opposed to doing what most would do, start with season one, but as with most shows each episode starts with a nice little "here's what's happened so far" recap so I didn't feel too lost. The premise of the series is that secret agent Michael Weston (Jeffrey Donovan) has been "burned" (essentially been fired and wiped off the grid) due to an operation that was botched for yet-to-be-known reasons; he now resides in Miami, FL where the Government has stripped him of his entire identity.
Weston takes on jobs as a spy, body guard, mercenary, and private investigator to those willing to pay in order to make ends meet and fund his own investigation into why he received his burn notice. He also has the help of his ex-girlfriend, Fiona Glenanne (Gabrielle Anwar) who herself is an ex-IRA agent and explosives expert; and Sam Axe (Bruce Campbell), who is a retired intelligence operative and Navy SEAL, and Weston's last semi-connection to the government, or as Axe calls himself, "The guy who knows a guy."
The series follows an "adventure/job of the week" format all while still keeping the theme of Weston trying to solve the mystery of why he has been black-listed as an agent. Burned Agent Michael Weston is a great cross between a poor-man's James Bond and MacGyver with a splash of bonafide badass. Jeffrey Donovan plays the smirkey, confident role well and is entertaining as hell to watch and listen to. Burn Notice is narrated by Weston in first person throughout each episode, explaining what he's doing and his reasoning behind it; this might seem uneccessary or pandering, but it's funny, insightful, and it just works. The character of Michael Weston is your typical know-it-all secret agent who knows how to do pretty much anything, but without proper funding and equipment, he is forced into coming up with solutions and similar gadgets by inventing them on the fly with pieces from his environment. This aspect really reminded me of the old MacGyver series, which translated into a huge guilty pleasure aspect of this show.
The two main supporting characters of Burn Notice fit the show well, but Weston's ex-girlfriend, Fiona, fell a little flat for me. While she is quite the hardened-agent, I just didn't find her to be terribly interesting. There is definitely a little chemistry between Fiona and Michael but it didn't come across as a main point of the series for me. Fiona serves a great purpose on the show and supports Michael well, but I would like to see her perhaps serve a bigger purpose in the show and developed a little more. Though, I fully admit that it's very possible that she played a major role in season one that I should take a look back at.
I had no clue that Bruce Campbell was currently on a television series, so the first time he came on screen as Sam Axe I chuckled out loud due to sheer surprise. Sam Axe is Weston's last connection to the government as well as his trusty sidekick. Axe is obviously the main comedic relief for the series and Campbell plays the role well. Sam spends a lot of his time helping out Michael whenever he needs it, but in the meantime since he isn't the richest guy in the world, he spends a lot of his time dating rich, older women who shower him with gifts, food, and a place to sleep. Sam is a very enjoyable character and compliments Weston well creating a very good dynamic between the two. Campbell hits some high comedic notes so much so that I would say -in comparison to some of his latest work- it's worth checking out Burn Notice for his character alone.
The Miami backdrop, fun adventures and jobs that this team takes on, and consistent plot of solving the mystery of why Michael was ultimately burned, make for some good television that I thoroughly enjoyed. I feel confident giving a cautious recommendation for Burn Notice, keeping in mind that this is a television show and like most, it's not going to be for everyone.
Season three of Burn Notice is currently airing on Thursday nights on the USA Network, so if you would like to catch up and jump on watching it, you can pick up Season one and Season two of Burn Notice on DVD over at Amazon. Both the DVD and Blu-ray versions of Season two have quite a few extras, including deleted scenes, commentary, and gag reels, details of which can be found below.
Blu-ray Disc Specs:
“Burn Notice” Season Two is presented in widescreen (16x9 aspect ratio) with English 5.1 DTS HD Lossless Master Audio and English, French and Spanish subtitles. Individual disc content is as follows:
Disc One
• Episodes:
o Breaking and Entering
o Turn and Burn
o Trust Me
o Comrades
o Scatter Point
o Bad Blood
• Bonus Features:
o Bad Blood audio commentary with Bronwen Hughes, Ben Watkins, Rashad Raisani, Matt Nix, Rob Benedict and Method Man
o Deleted Scenes
Disc Two
• Episodes:
o Rough Seas
o Double Booked
o Good Soldier
o Do No Harm
o Hot Spot
• Bonus Features:
o Double Booked audio commentary with Tim Matheson, Jason Tracey, Craig O’Neill and Matt Nix
o NIXin’ it up on “Burn Notice” featurette
o Deleted Scenes
Disc Three
• Episodes:
o Seek and Destroy
o Bad Breaks
o Truth and Reconciliation
o Sins of Omission
o Lesser Evil
• Bonus Features:
o Lesser Evil audio commentary with Matt Nix, Bruce Campbell and Michael Shanks
o Deleted scenes
o Gag reel
o Boom Notice Easter Egg
DVD Specs:
The “Burn Notice” Season Two episodes are presented in widescreen format with English and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Surround audio plus English, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles. Individual disc content is as follows:
Disc One
• Episodes:
o Breaking and Entering
o Turn and Burn
o Trust Me
o Comrades
• Bonus Features:
o Deleted Scenes
Disc Two
• Episodes:
o Scatter Point
o Bad Blood
o Rough Seas
o Double Booked
• Bonus Features:
o Bad Blood audio commentary with Bronwen Hughes, Ben Watkins, Rashad Raisani, Matt Nix, Rob Benedict and Method Man
o Double Booked audio commentary with Tim Matheson, Jason Tracey, Craig O’Neill and Matt Nix
o Deleted Scenes
Disc Three
• Episodes:
o Good Soldier
o Do No Harm
o Hot Spot
o Seek and Destroy
• Bonus Features:
o NIXin’ it up on “Burn Notice” featurette
o Deleted Scenes
Disc Four
• Episodes:
o Bad Breaks
o Truth and Reconciliation
o Sins of Omission
o Lesser Evil
• Bonus Features:
o Lesser Evil audio commentary with Matt Nix, Bruce Campbell and Michael Shanks
o Gag reel
o Boom Notice Easter Egg
o Deleted scenes
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