USA’s ‘Burn Notice’ Returns Better Than When it Left With Great Mid-Season Premiere

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HollywoodChicago.com Television Rating: 4.0/5.0
Television Rating: 4.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Who’s ready for a summer diversion in the middle of the winter? USA hopes you are. When the very good “Burn Notice” left the air at the end of last summer, it had scored ratings that would make it the #1 scripted show on cable for the entire year in the coveted 18-49 demo.

USA Network, easily the hottest and most successful basic cable network in terms of ratings, have found a huge hit in Matt Nix’s clever series about a spy stuck in Miami. The show returns for its mid-season premiere on USA on January 22nd, 2009 and we’ve got a sneak peek at one of the best episodes in the show’s history.

Jeffrey Donovan as Michael Westen -- USA Network Photo: Justin Stephens
Jeffrey Donovan as Michael Westen — USA Network
Photo credit: Justin Stephens

In case you’re unfamiliar with this clever series, Jeffrey Donovan plays Michael Westen, a blacklisted spy trapped in exile in Miami without money or most of his resources after he gets burned and becomes a target himself. Michael takes odd jobs with the help of his friends Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar) and Sam (Bruce Campbell) while dealing with his nagging mother (Sharon Gless) and trying to figure out who burned him and why.

Jeffrey Donovan as Michael Westen, Gabrielle Anwar as Fiona Glenanne -- USA Network Photo: Glenn Watson
Jeffrey Donovan as Michael Westen, Gabrielle Anwar as Fiona Glenanne — USA Network
Photo credit: Glenn Watson

At the end of last season, Michael had actually been forced to work with the people who burned him. In the cliffhanger of the mid-season finale, Michael was blown up by an explosive attached to his front door. The premiere, “Do No Harm,” picks up immediately after that explosion. It turns out that Carla (Tricia Helfer) was probably not the one beyond the boom and now Michael and his enemy might have to work together to figure out what the heck is going on.

Meanwhile, Michael has to continue helping the needy who could use some spy-level assistance. This week’s case is a particularly sad one, after a man comes to Michael for help in dealing with some of the most disgusting scam artists alive, those who take advantage of parents with dying children. The scam is one that promises medication that might save their child’s life but will cost some serious money. After they get the cash, the fake doctor and his team skip town. Even though he’s injured and trying to figure out who’s trying to kill him, he can’t turn down an opportunity to take down someone that purely evil. Who wouldn’t want that kind of scam artist in jail or dead?

At first, it kind of feels like the “case of the week” in the mid-season premiere is taking time and attention away from what we really want to see - development of the Carla/Michael situation. At times in it’s first season and a half, “Burn Notice” has let the overall arc of the series take a back seat to too many lame one-off cases, but that’s not the situation here. The case and how it impacts Michael, Fiona, and Sam is actually very well incorporated into the continuing story of the series.

And, perhaps most importantly, “Do No Harm” is a blast. Donovan can sometimes err on the side of playing Michael too cool but he’s fired up and great in this episode. But what’s truly spectacular is the major amount of screen time given to Anwar and Campbell and how effortlessly great they are. Sam has a couple of fantastically entertaining interrogation scenes and we even get to see Fiona try to babysit. Sam and Fiona also have a great set-up scene, trying to entice the scam artist.

And Fiona not only plays a major role in the case but we finally get some focus on what the writers definitely need to spend more time on - her relationship with Michael. Why does she always come to his rescue? It looks like that may finally be a focus of the show. She’s great in this episode and gets to play the perfect mix of sexy and sweet that makes this character interesting.

Of course, any episode of any show is helped by more screen time for Tricia Helfer. She’s great here too in an increasingly intriguing role.

Overall, “Do No Harm” is intense, well-written, quickly paced, clever, and very rewarding. It’s not only a good start to the final seven episodes of season two of “Burn Notice” but one of the best episodes in the history of the show.

‘Burn Notice,’ which airs on USA, stars Jeffrey Donovan, Gabrielle Anwar, Bruce Campbell, Sharon Gless, and Tricia Helfer. The premiere airs on January 22nd, 2009 at 9PM CST.

HollywoodChicago.com content director Brian Tallerico

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

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