So USA's Burn Notice has been back on for three weeks now, and Mike's gotten his hands on the list of the people who burned him, who's lead will he end up following, Sam's or Fiona's? [YT="Season 4 November promo..."]Iyk5P82cQKI&feature=fvw[/YT]
It can't wrap up too easily because they've renewed it for a fifth and sixth season. I'm kind of surprised. I thought Jeffrey Donovan had movie acting aspirations (and did a nice job in Changeling).
He can do movies in between. A movie can shoot in 2-6 weeks, not counting post, and the individual actor isn't needed every day (especially if he's paid top tier). So Donovan could knock off 2-3 movies during downtime. As for Burn Notice, I'm intrigued by the addition of Jesse to the mix. Kind of D'Artagnan to the original Three Musketeers. Not to mention easy on the eyes.
I wasn't caring much for Jesse early on, but he has given the team (ironically) more obvious looking muscle as well as being a kind of "moral center" for the group when the show was almost about to go off the rails in that direction. I just hope that with this new revelation about "the book" (now a flashdrive) that Michael makes solid progress toward a resolution and not just have yet another series of mysteries to solve. After all, we already know WHY he was burned. Just not all the particulars of who. I still think it would've been way cool if Fiona had had something to do with it.
Agreed. The writers seemed unsure about what to do with Jesse at first (my impression is they may have intended him to just guest star in one episode, but changed their minds and made him a regular). This is the one thing that's bothered me about this show. What should be the "A" story is strung out as a frame against endless "B" stories, some of which are interesting, some not. The device is deliberate, IMO, to keep viewers coming back for more (rather like the way soaps will string a plotline along for years, if not decades). As for who's behind it all, I still think Madeline knows more than she's letting on. (The evolution of her character from Stereotypical Nagging Mom to co-conspirator has been fun to watch.) Not saying she's in on the burn plot, but she no longer seems surprised by what Michael, Sam, and Fiona are up to, which suggests she had an inkling of what Michael's career was from the beginning. And I still think Michael's dead(?) father is somehow connected. Still holding out for Management (John Mahoney) to be, if not Michael's father, courtesy of some government-funding plastic surgery, then someone who knew him and has been watching over Michael, in his own peculiar way (including watching him jump out of that helicopter) all these years. In any case, the show is fun if you don't take it too seriously, and there are interesting parallels in the later-released In Plain Sight - the responsible older sibling/screwup younger sibling, the father who abandoned them when they were kids, the annoying mother who gradually becomes less annoying, the family secrets, etc.
I think USA has found a real talent for making good television consistently. Even for shows I did not expect. For example, I thought Piper Perado's CIA show had "loser" written all over it at first but it impressed me a great deal. Because they very quickly turned it into a real ensemble effort. As for Burn Notice, to me it is very much how a modern version of A-Team would be done on television. It is actually serious. People get killed. And our heroes kill people. Michael for example kills at least a couple of people a season directly (and usually a dozen or more indirectly).
Michael's backstory - the B plot in most episodes - is just a contrivance needed to keep Michael in Miami. Imo, while they try to keep that storyline internally consistent with past developments and sensible, I don't look for it to be particularly tight with the 'burned' storyline as portrayed in Season 1 or season 3. It's more like a hacky sack they try to keep up in the air however poor the trajectory of the last kick. Also, Dayton, imo the killings off screen do not make it "serious" - in fact, if they ever actually do begin to make the show serious (i.e. less fun), I think I might begin to tune out I've been very impressed at how well-tuned their serious sensors are to my own, and how quickly they've dialed back any seriousness that was developing just as they approached the tolerance threshold. ["Chuck" has crossed further beyond it's own version of that same line so far, in fact a couple of times, imo.]
Its a great show. I do question, however, whether Donovan can do movie acting. As far as I know his biggest role has been the jerk guy in 'Hitch'.
^Donovan's done theater as well as film/TV, so I'm inclined to wonder whether he's just been typecast in movies as "the good-looking creep" without a chance to show what he can really do. I also wonder if the show's writers didn't use some of his RL background in creating Michael: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Donovan#Films
Isn't Jeffrey Donovan also a real martial arts expert? Of course, having technical skills for your part doesn't make you a great actor. Just look at Steven Segal.
I believe he is. He'd also have a stunt double, though, because if he got really hurt doing his own stunts, it would hold up production. True...
Just watched the midseason finale. Holeeeeeee shit! That was awesome. Can't wait to see what happens now that Michael is back 'in' with the spies. I'm guessing he's going to get put in the field to 'run' Miami or something.
I see him getting out of Miami more and more. The show will be entering its fifth season next June with a sixth approved so they are bound to want to "break out of the formula" And certainly just being back as a CIA agent won't end his troubles with the people who originally burned him. There were 46 names on that list. All very powerful people. Forty five are still alive. I for one was happy to see them finally have a "happy finale" rather than yet another of Michael Weston in a dark room facing yet another bleek and uncertain future.
Hmm, I'll need to see it again, but first thought is: Yes, this really does open the story up to a whole range of new possibilities.
