20th Century Fox | 2008 | 682 mins | Not rated
A burn notice is an official statement issued by one intelligence agency to other agencies. It states that an individual or a group is unreliable for one or more reasons or purposes. Such is the case for Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan), he has been wiped off the grid and according to the opening narration of each show, as a burned spy he has no work history, no money and in essence, no identity. Westen has no idea just exactly how he got burned but he’s determined to find out why and get his life back.
Relegated to Miami, Michael works day and night to find the person or persons responsible for having him burned. He has few friends and allies but his slightly annoying, chain smoking mother Madeline (Sharon Gless) and his friend Sam (Bruce Campbell) a retired, womanizing former Navy Seal and F.B.I. informant who seems to have friends everywhere live right in Miami. Michael has also teamed up with his former girlfriend and ex-IRA operative named Fiona Glenanne (Gabrielle Anwar), to take on freelancing jobs that involve people who have been conned by the Miami’s rough underbelly–mobsters, drug kingpins, hit men, gang lords, etc. Like a MacGyver for the 21st century, Michael uses every trick in the book to fight for the little guy, while trying to get his own life back.
Things are tough for Michael and his cohorts throughout the second season. The plotlines from the first season are continued; Westen continues his work as an unlicensed private investigator and spy for hire. He needs to earn money in order to continue his investigation into why he was burned. Throughout the season, Michael is also forced to do jobs for a mysterious woman known as “Carla (Tricia Helfner),” who apparently had burned Michael so that he would work for her organization. She coerces him into working for her by threatening the people he cares about, including his mother and younger brother Nate (Seth Petersen), with violence.
On top of all that, Michael and friends are forced to outwit the Russian mafia, capture a master thief, avoid an assassin (Michael Shanks) with some sort of connection to Carla and woo a con-woman (Stacy Haiduk). By the time Burn Notice’s second season wraps up with its surprisingly bloody finale, Michael’s world is left in shambles and viewers will be left to wonder what’s in store for this once infallible superspy.
Burn Notice is fun to watch. Creator Matt Nix effectively combines action, crime and humor with the bright and sunny Miami locale to create an atmosphere that sizzles with anticipation and excitement. Further, the unforgettable characters, sharp dialogue and pulse quickening gunplay breathe life into a series that might have otherwise have been dismissed as a simple MacGyver rehash. Donovan, Anwar, and Campbell are all superb and play their characters with a believability and flair that makes them a joy to watch. And though veteran actress Sharon Gless really plays a supporting role here, she adds a wonderful spice to the ensemble.
Though Burn Notice can be a bit predictable at times, it is still a great show. Season two was even better than the first, so fans should be more than happy to have the second season on Blu-ray. If you’ve never watched the show, now is the perfect time to start; Burn Notice is truly one of the best shows on cable television today.
Sadly, this 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer is a disappointment. There is an overwhelming sheen of grain in almost every shot. Further, Burn Notice: Season Two is plagued with a myriad of technical issues: aliasing, noticeable edge enhancement and general noise. None of this is stuff you like to see in an HD presentation.
Skin tones are noticeably off; skin appears washed out and the colors of Miami are completely oversaturated. Explosions show some pretty noticeable macro-blocking artifacts. Since Burn Notice is shot almost entirely in Miami, it’s a shame that this transfer couldn’t take advantage of the beautiful scenery and colors that part of South Florida has to offer.
The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 underperforms as well. For all the action featured in Burn Notice, the sound is rather muted and unimpressive. The front channels give off most of the sound while the rear channels stay silent much of the time. Even during the explosions, there isn’t a feeling of being immersed in the action.
The front channels do their job well. Dialogue has some good directionality, but the lack of any real immersive surround effects only increases this soundtrack’s rather lackluster performance.
Burn Notice: Season Two does have some special features:
• Audio Commentaries: “Bad Blood” includes a rapid fire chat with series creator/executive producer Matt Nix, director Ben Watkins, writer Rashad Raisani, and guest stars Rob Benedict, Bronwen Hughes, and Method Man; “Double Booked” gets an informative once over from Nix, director Tim Matheson, writer Jason Tracey, and writer/supervising producer Craig O’Neill; and “Lesser Evil” finds Nix, co-star Bruce Campbell, and supporting actor Michael Shanks taking an amusing look at the season’s various characters and story arcs.
• NIXin’ It Up (SD, 14 minutes): Nix discusses the production of an episode he directed (“Do No Harm”), his style and approach, his work with the cast, his penchant for storyboarding, location scouting, the show’s humor and charm and his young son’s first screen role.
• Deleted Scenes (SD, 11 minutes): A dozen deleted scenes — cut from “Breaking and Entering,” “Trust Me,” “Comrades,” “Double Booked,” “Do No Harm,” “Truth and Reconciliation,” and “Lesser Evil” — spread across all three discs.
• Boom Notice (SD, 9 minutes): A tongue-in-cheek parody of the show in which a burned boom operator attempts to help an actor out of a jam.
• Gag Reel (SD, 10 minutes): An solid batch of crack-ups, line flubs, missed cues and production gaffes.
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