Tuesday, August 10, 2010

What I’m Watching: Burn Notice

Burn Notice: Season 4, Episode 9 “Center of the Storm” (B+)

A coastal hurricane on this show certainly doesn’t affect things in the way it does on “The Glades” or “Invasion,” but the title of this episode is still perfectly appropriate. We’re already three-quarters through the summer season of this show, and that means that things are going to seriously heat up pretty soon. Vaughn paying a visit to an unsuspecting Fiona is the build-up to something even more dramatic, and though Michael having his FBI clients threaten Vaughn probably wasn’t a good move, that should mean that Michael will in fact be sitting down with Simon sometime soon. It was interesting to see how Fiona fared against Vaughn since Michael’s new handler has been mysteriously absent for a while now. He’s certainly timed his visit well, however, now that Fiona cares so much for Jesse that she might for a second consider her allegiance to Michael (though not really, because she spills the beans to him). I love Michael’s line that he uttered when he broke his cover: “I’m Michael Westen, and I’m here to save these people.” That could be a great tagline for this show, and I really hope I’m able to find a video with him saying that for the next time I put together a TV montage. This show has always been good at managing episodic guest stars that pop onto Michael’s radar for a case or two, and Jon Seda, late of “The Pacific,” was no exception as Cole. With Vaughn back in the pictures, the cases of the week will likely soon take a backseat to the more intriguing issue of what Simon’s code means and how it will affect our beloved team.

1 comment:

Greg Boyd said...

I haven't been watching this show since my cable troubles started (unlike "Mad Men", it is online)Frankly, I'm not sure I'm going to catch up. Watching "The Wire" and "Mad Men" (darn you, AMC, for not putting episodes 2 and 3 online like you did with episode 1) has really caused me to question whether, as much as I like the writing and the characters, I really want to devote an hour every week to a procedural-type show when my tastes lean towards serialized dramas (plus the odd sitcom now and then). It also seems to me like "Burn Notice" has lately been basically recycling cases from a few years ago and giving them a slightly new twist.