1.01 Pilot

Summary and spoilers

Michael Westen is a covert operations agent who has been burned – cut off, wiped off the grid, no one answers his calls, and his accounts are frozen. Unfortunately, he discovers this while in the midst of negotiating a local peace accord with a violent gang lord in Nigeria. One beating and a quick escape later, he stumbles onto a plane and wakes up in bed in Miami, Florida. Seated next to him is his ex-girlfriend Fiona. Michael is trapped in Miami with no money and no car while FBI agents track his movements. This might be someone’s way of making an example out of him, punishing him, or prepping him for another job, but for now, all he can do is pick up work where he can. He takes a job as an investigator to track down a batch of painting stolen from Mr. Pyne, a rich real estate developer. The main suspect is Javier, a seeming honest caretaker. Through the course of his clever investigation (some of which involves breaking, entering, and safecracking), Michael discovers that Pyne stole the paintings himself for the insurance money.

Comments

My prime motivation for watching and reviewing Burn Notice is what I call actor loyalty. In this case, the actor is Bruce Campbell (Sam Axe), the crown king of cult. My first exposure to Campbell’s chiseled Hollywood-star looks and nonchalant line delivery was in the Evil Dead trilogy, with my favorite being the third in the series, the very loosely coupled and much lighter Army of Darkness (1992). Bruce has put on a little weight, and, in the first episode at least, it’s hard to tell if he’s a bit disinterested or if that’s just the character he is playing, but he also manages to deliver some great lines in his inimitable way. I’m looking forward to him growing into the character.

Likewise, I think the entire cast will improve as they learn their characters and get used to playing off each other. It’s a tough ask for a group of actors to come together and make believe they have known each other for years. Those first few episodes of a television show are always a little choppy in this area, and most shows will improve after about a half-dozen episodes. A clever writer will script the early episodes to give the characters some time to get to know each other. This was done here (perhaps purposely): although Michael has known many of these people for years, he has also been away for years – so if they are a bit uncomfortable and stiff around each other, it makes sense.

Jeffrey Donovan (Michael Westen) brings tremendous poise and charisma to the role. He has to, as he is on camera about 80 percent of the time (at least, in the pilot episode, he is). His swagger, everyman good looks, and cheeky James Coburn-like smile make his perfect to play the role of a spy with a strong moral streak.

I’m not sure how much veteran TV actress Sharon Gless (Cagney and Lacy) will bring to the show as the stereotypical, cloying, annoying, chains-smoking hypochondriac mother.

Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar) is an interesting casting choice. She plays the ex-girlfriend who is also an ex IRA terrorist. Michael was aware of this and was not accepting of her violent side, although I suppose he put up with it in exchange for the passionate sexual relationship that was also part of the deal. It looks like Fiona still has feelings for Michael, and he for her, but he has enough problems to deal with now. Of course, with Michael stuck in Miami indefinitely, there’s no way for him to fully escape from his mother or his ex-girlfriend – or the brother that threw a phone book at him when they last met.

Burn Notice Quotes

"Southern Nigeria isn’t my favorite place in the world. It’s unstable,  it’s corrupt, and the people there eat a lot of terrible-smelling preserved fish."
- Michael

"Point is, blackmail is a little like owning a pit bull. It might protect you, or it might bite your hand off."
- Michael