Inside Television with Alan Sepinwall

Summer finale review: 'Burn Notice' - 'Desperate Times': Shoeless in Panama

Mike and the team get very close to Nate's killer

By Alan Sepinwall Thursday, Aug 23, 2012 10:00 PM

Bruce Campbell and Jeffrey Donovan in the "Burn Notice" mid-season finale.

Credit: USA

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A review of the "Burn Notice" mid-season finale coming up just as soon as I use sparkplugs as a substitute for diamonds...

I hear all the time from fans of "White Collar" and "Suits" that one of those shows has now taken up the banner as USA's best. That may well be true, but I didn't love either one at the start and stopped watching for a while; when I've attempted to pick them back up later, the connection's simply not there. Of course, I felt much the same way about "Burn Notice" at first, but for whatever reason, I stuck it out with that one over the early rough spots and could fully appreciate the transformation into something good. One of the other USA series could well be the standard-bearer at this point, but "Burn Notice" is "my" USA show, if you know what I mean.

And because it's the one I'm attached to, I was even able to get away with skipping several episodes in the middle of the season (during my adventures in California) without feeling too lost. I don't mean plot-wise — the USA shows are all designed for people to be able to drop in and out of as needed, and to never be too taxing if you've missed several (or are tuning in for the first time several seasons in) — but in terms of my level of interest in the characters. I saw what I needed to see — Nate's death episode, for instance — and the previouslies and Michael's narration filled me in on the rest, and that was enough.

The success and ongoing life of the show has given Matt Nix the problem of having to keep inventing excuses for Michael to stay connected to the spy life. First it was taking out Management, then Vaughn, then Anson, etc., etc., etc., and now Michael has the actual CIA going against him. On the one hand, I'm happy to have an excuse for John C. McGinley to stick around, as he so ably demonstrated his value in the scene where Card tries to make Maddie feel better about the son she still has. On the other, Michael's promises to Fi that this is the time he's getting out of the game, for real, no foolin', are starting to feel like all those episodes of "The Killing" where Linden kept insisting she was going to fly to Sonoma any minute now. But it's what the show is, and Michael having to go up against the CIA itself (or, at least, one rogue agent) rather than some shadow company adjacent to the real thing at least has potential to not be exactly like what's come before.

Still, "Burn Notice" tends to work best on the micro level rather than the macro these days. Put a problem in front of Michael and friends, and see them solve it — in this case with the team (plus Chad L. Coleman from "The Wire," who conveniently sacrificed his life on behalf of four relative strangers who can now fake their own deaths for a while) having to go up against Tyler Grey (Kenny Johnson from "The Shield") and his army with minimal supplies, no ground support, and a John McClane shoe situation for Jesse. That stuff was fun, even as I was rolling my eyes a bit at the notion that there's another mastermind that Michael has to take down.

What did everybody else think? Did you like this latest turn in the larger story arc? As we've talked about a few times previously, do you think the show could survive without the arcs at this point and just do Client of the Week stories? Are you hoping that Johnson sticks around for a while?

Alan Sepinwall
Sr. Editor, What's Alan Watching

Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com

Related Searches: Burn Notice, Jeffrey Donovan, Gabrielle Anwar, Bruce Campbell, Sharon Gless, Coby Bell, Matt Nix

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Jon88

Best thing about "Suits" is having Rick Hoffman's parents played by Rick Hoffman's parents. Other than that, it's a bumpy ride.
August 23, 2012 at 10:27PM EST Reply to Comment
- Brian As someone who considers these USA shows something of a guilty summer pleasure (Burn Notice, Suits, White Collar, Psych, Covert Affairs and Royal Pains are all season pass'd on the DVR), I think Suits is far and away the best of this genre.
  August 24, 2012 at 3:48PM EST
- Liz Suits took a huge step forward this season. Yes, the central premise is still dumb, and I get that some people simply aren't going to be able to get past that. But it's way, way in the background by this point, and the character dynamics and the main storylines (particularly the main one about the power struggle within the firm) are a big improvement over the rote case-of-the-week stuff from the first season.
  August 25, 2012 at 3:49PM EST
GRC

Agree with your macro assessment, but at the micro level did it bother anyone that Michael was essentially explaining how to construct an IED?
August 23, 2012 at 10:44PM EST Reply to Comment
- buckbeat I'm sure this information can be found on google, though I'd rather not log the search myself.
  August 24, 2012 at 7:27PM EST
- sepinwall Nix has said they always leave one or two fundamental steps out of any explanation of how to build weaponry. I would assume that anyone trying to make a bomb based solely on what they saw in this episode would fail.
  August 25, 2012 at 4:22PM EST
Scott Rosenberg

I feel bad that you missed out, between Fi's time in jail and the wrap up of the Anson story, this season has felt like something of a renaissance for the show, consistently good and interesting in comparison to the past two seasons.

One of the problems, however, is that if Michael is back in good with the CIA, logic dictates that Michael would get back his frozen bank accounts and promptly be deployed to befriend a manager at a petroleum factory in Syria, leaving Sam to retirement, Fiona to good ole-fashion smuggling, and Jesse to the private security job with an extraordinarily permissive stance towards absences. With the "The A-Team with spycraft" episodic format long gone, they now have to stack redundant and progressively more ridiculous excuses for Michael to be a legitimate spy while still getting to hang with his buddies in Miami.

Whatever the latest excuse was going to be, it was necessarily going to induce some eye-rolling. But having Card turn into the latest mustache-twirler seems particularly bleak for the show because, in essence, Michael has just been burned all over again, and the worst points in the shows creative run were due to how tried and convoluted the premise journey had become.

As noted, I've been very satisfied with this season, so I'll try to hold onto that feeling for a few months and see if they find a way to turn this around. But the ending itself? Completely expected and thoroughly disheartening.
August 24, 2012 at 12:11AM EST Reply to Comment
- sepinwall I saw a good sampling of Fi in prison, kicking ass and taking names. That stuff was fun.
  August 24, 2012 at 11:31AM EST
berkowit28

Blah. Both White Collar and Suits are better than this irritating show.
August 24, 2012 at 12:58AM EST Reply to Comment
JD

I gave white collar a healthy 8 episodes before I bailed. it just failed to keep my attention, even as a burn notice replacement, which is just a light, easy show you check in on every once in a while.

I have also heard that white collar is the better show from a few people around. so ok, gonna give it one more chance. to the white collar fans - whats the allure to it? and which episode would you recommend to people as a perfect cut in point?
August 24, 2012 at 2:59AM EST Reply to Comment
- svetlana I like white collar better than burn notice these days. I think the so called crimes they investigate are more interesting and fun plus Matt bomer is very easy on the eyes so that doesn't hurt. To answer your question I think the first two seasons were the best after that all the cases get somewhat repetitive. Overall its an easy breezy show to watch when there isn't much else on during the week in the summer.
  August 24, 2012 at 3:35AM EST
- Mike I personally quite liked the third season of White Collar best. Initially I felt, like many people, that the Kate storyline really bogged down the show, whereas the story of the stolen treasure in S3 was a more interesting storyline, and made the Bomer-DeKay dynamic, which is always a highlight, particularly interesting, given that neither really could trust the other in the same way after Peter suspected Neal of taking it. I also liked the integration of Hilarie Burton that season since she (like mostly everyone with Matthew Bomer, to be fair) and Neal had pretty great chemistry together.
  August 24, 2012 at 10:20PM EST
- svetlana Mike...I liked the stolen treasure story also but hilarie Burton is the reason it was my least favorite season. I found her character almost too serious and kind of a downer. I was hoping that neal and Alex would get together because in my opinion theyre chemistry was off the charts. Unfortunately they haven't brought back the actress who plays Alex since the end of season two.
  August 25, 2012 at 1:04AM EST
Justme

I've watched Burn Notice from the beginning; and while I shall still watch, I enjoy the micro so much more than the macro. I enjoy the hardcore spy rig toys, the McGyver James Bond portions.

All of this, "oh no, there's yet another super-secret person behind the curtain" is like in the show, "24" - oh no, there's a mole at Division (again).

I prefer the simple "Michael's Mom's Hairdresser's daughter was scammed out of money by the local hood, and watching the team fix that."

(Sam's voice: Viewers...bitchy little Viewers)
August 24, 2012 at 3:49AM EST Reply to Comment
- bettyd I agree. Give up the CIA stuff. I loved it when they were the fixers. They still did the B-plot as the fixers this season, which is still fun. I just love the Jesse character.
  August 24, 2012 at 11:53AM EST
mrbilliam

Didn't we basically have half a season without ongoing stories? I think the first half of last season (right before they introduced Ansen) was basically that way, if I am remembering correctly (there might have still been some framing sequences at the beginning or end, but nothing too serious was happening for awhile). They were fun episodes: I'd prefer them to bad ongoing plots (like season 3) but not to ones like this last half season.
August 24, 2012 at 9:24AM EST Reply to Comment
stevehbk

I've been with Burn Notice from the beginning. It is what it is. Like Alan, I prefer it on the micro level. It works best when it's Rockford Files on steriods rather than a global conspiracy show. In reference to USA's other shows, I'll admit that Suits has become far and away my favorite. Last night, Burn Notice was my space filler / time killer for the main event, Suit's season finale. We need to see an episode where Michael Weston has to hire Harvey Spectre to represent him on terrorism charges or something.
August 24, 2012 at 10:08AM EST Reply to Comment
Ed G.

I've also been with Burn Notice since the first episode. It is what it is, and I'll be with it 'till the end, but I wish they had better Michael-ivers. The old days of thermite and cathode ray tube x-ray machines were waaaaaaaay better than the stuff they do now, which seems to be Fi brings C4. This weeks big thing was running up a ramp?!?

I like White Collar too, although last week's episode basically blew. I like Covert Affairs and Psyche, and I liked In Plain Sight (not so much the last season).

Never watched Suits or that one with the sports shrink because I can only devote so much time to USA.
August 24, 2012 at 10:13AM EST Reply to Comment
Garrett Rogers

If Tyler Grey could be another character like Victor, then I'd love to see him stick around for at least half a season especially since I think Victor died too quickly. The only problem that I see in this is that since I haven't seen The Shield(yet), I don't know if Johnson could do as great of a job as Micheal Shanks did on the show. On a final note, hopefully Dr. Cox marks the end of the video game like stage bosses.
August 24, 2012 at 10:14AM EST Reply to Comment
Robinson

As much as I love Kenny Johnson, I figured his character was kept alive to give the show options for the next season premiere (they can interrogate him to learn about Card, they can have more discussion and drama about whether to kill him in cold blood, he could have some way to get out of Panama that they exploit...)

The only things I can imagine happening to Tyler Grey by the end of the next premiere are 1) death (probably not at Michael's hands, even though Mike has killed before and this guy would *really* deserve it), 2) imprisonment (at which point, he'd probably be off the show as much as Robert Wisdom or Garret Dillahunt are, able to come back for guest spots if neeed), or 3) escape, and they've already done a plotline about hunting him down.

I guess they could end up in some situation like Victor or Anson, where he or some other enemy gets some leverage on the group and Grey becomes their contact. Again, it's pretty repetitive...
August 24, 2012 at 10:44AM EST Reply to Comment
- DaveMB I missed the episodes between Nate's death and this one. How convinced are we that Grey killed Nate? At least some of the evidence came through Card, whom we now know to be unreliable...
  August 24, 2012 at 8:10PM EST
- They actually figured out the name Tyler Grey entirely independently of Card: they brought in the CIA only at the start of this episode (as emphasized in the narration). The evidence for the name was sound and led to a sniper killing one of their leads. (Also, saying something like "We were fooled into thinking it was Tyler Grey" would require the audience to remember how they tracked him down, which goes against the USA formula for painless serialization!)
  
  They did get the picture through Card, and I guess it's technically possible that this guy's name isn't Tyler Grey, but that sounds unlikely. Besides, this episode worked to set up Grey as an evil, heartless operator: see how he kills his own men to escape from them. Even learning that he didn't kill Nate wouldn't clear the slate or anything like that.
  August 24, 2012 at 8:23PM EST
- DaveMB Thanks!
  August 24, 2012 at 8:55PM EST
NeoGeo12

Hopefully Kenny Johnson is around for at least 5 episodes. Both The Shield and The Wire cast are both very underutilized on TV.
August 24, 2012 at 11:10AM EST Reply to Comment
- Mike This is definitely true, particularly of The Shield. Outside of Shane, and Vic (provided Vegas works out) almost none of them have prominent roles these days. At least with The Wire, Omar, McNulty, Lt. Daniels, Michael(hey, a paycheck is a paycheck), Mayor Royce (ditto), Stringer and Carcetti (not to mention Cool Lester Smooth and the Bunk if you count David Simon using them again) all have regular roles these days, but it's still a travesty that Avon and D'Angelo, not to mention Prop Joe, have been criminally underused.
  August 24, 2012 at 11:21PM EST
chuchundra

I'm still watching. My interest waxes and wanes, but I've been reasonably happy with this last portion of the show.

At the very least, Mike and the gang aren't always taking time out from their high-level CIA ops to save some poor guy's bodega from a gang of street thugs.
August 24, 2012 at 2:29PM EST Reply to Comment
M.A.Peel

I am looking forward to the Patton Oswalt guest arc. And I caught an early morning Charmed the other day, with none other than Bruce Campbell as the baddie. So just for the continuing life of Sam Axe/Chuck Finley I love Burn Notice.
August 24, 2012 at 10:31PM EST Reply to Comment
eddie willers

At least their format gives them the perfect way to do product placement without being too intrusive: "As a spy, you need a car that is not only fast, but gets great gas mileage as well".
August 25, 2012 at 12:52AM EST Reply to Comment
- svetlana You're comment made me laugh! Burn notice and white collar both sure love their car sponsors.
  August 25, 2012 at 1:08AM EST
justjoan123

I have never thought of myself as particularly superficial, yet I find that where USA series are concerned my pleasure goes way down when the recurring villains are unattractive. Anson and Card are two who made/make it difficult for me to keep with BN. I found myself taping and storing the shows and then letting them drift down my DVR'D list. Case in point, I only watched the last two episodes this morning. I hope I find a better reason by the time the season resumes -- I hate being shallow.
August 25, 2012 at 3:11PM EST Reply to Comment
Rocket

One of the better seasons of the show. I was growing tired of it and was considering removing it from my DVR list, but this season has turned me around.
I do roll my eyes at times at how the plan always works and these guys walk away from certain death time after time. But then I think of Breaking Bad and realize that even the best shows can be guilty of that.

People say Suits is good, but I'm just not into lawyer shows. I like White Collar and Covert Affairs. I also watch Psych, but that show is beginning to wear on me. I hope that show can turn it around as well.
August 25, 2012 at 4:58PM EST Reply to Comment
David Sanders

I thought this season was an improvement over the last couple of seasons. Is it just me, but Fi does not look nearly as attractive as she did in the early seasons. In addition, it appeared Nate was shot because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The shooter was apparently shooting at Anson and Nate happened to be there. Thus, Michael should not be so motivated to get revenge on Kenny Johnson.
August 26, 2012 at 2:40AM EST Reply to Comment
goodhorse

Alan - I tried watching season 1 on DVD but it never really took and I wrote the series off as fairly rote.

Is there a better jumping on point?
August 26, 2012 at 10:21PM EST Reply to Comment
Thomas

I like John C. McGinley a lot, and this isn't really a criticism, but isn't he playing his character like Dr. Cox if he had become a spy instead of going to medical school?
August 27, 2012 at 12:08PM EST Reply to Comment
Kujo

This has been a bounce back season. The show feels somewhat re-engerized. Fi in prision was a lot of fun.

Mike's been very angry this season, even more so after Nate died. The macro, and micro storylines so far this season have been much better.

Really looking for the 2nd half of the season. Getting a handful of episodes out of side of Miami in a different country will be a nice change of pace.
August 27, 2012 at 4:48PM EST Reply to Comment
Blake

My wife announced we no longer need to watch it. I'm glad, I've been over it for a while. Too much "24"-like bad guy behind the bad guy. The character writing, particularly of Maddie, has been weak.

And from what I understand, they won't be able to shoot in Miami anymore.

The problem with "Burn Notice" is that it had no end date. It's just spinning its wheels. Some people don't mind that, but that's not what I look for in a TV show.
August 28, 2012 at 12:10AM EST Reply to Comment
Para

The one thing that bothers me about Burn Notice is how they use Sam, one minute he's this ex Navy Seal and can kick butt, the next minute he's getting beaten by everyone and their grandmother. Meanwhile Michael is superman. Michael was a Ranger, Sam was a Seal - Sam would be much better in a firefight yet MIchael always has to be the best. It annoys the hell out of me.

Other than that Burn Notice is great, as is White Collar and Suits. I like to mix up my TV watching and USA's shows are great as a balance of the more gritty cable shows.

September 10, 2012 at 9:11PM EST Reply to Comment
- NAVY Squeal Well obviously you don't know SHIT about the Military, much less Army Rangers, Navy SEALs, etc. You're the type that buys into the stereotype that Navy SEAL's, thinking that they really dominate Sea, Air, and Land. Which is BULLSHIT, otherwise they would NOT have lost the record numbers they have in Afghanistan and Iraq. They are a MARITIME unit, and everything else is simply icing on top of the cake.... BOTTOM LINE.
  November 8, 2012 at 5:13AM EST
Shahadah

i wouldnt watch suits if it was the only thing on television. i love burn notice because its interesting. however, i still want to know why did card do that to micheal?
November 9, 2012 at 4:58PM EST Reply to Comment
Shahadah

i wouldnt watch suits if it was the only thing on tv, it boring. white collar is ok but burn notice is better. i still want to know why did card want micheal dead???
November 9, 2012 at 5:00PM EST Reply to Comment

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Comments

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

Jon88 Best thing about "Suits" is having Rick Hoffman's parents played by Rick Hoffman's parents. Other than that, it's a bumpy ride.

Brian As someone who considers these USA shows something of a guilty summer pleasure (Burn Notice, Suits, White Collar, Psych, Covert Affairs and Royal Pains are all season pass'd on the DVR), I think Suits is far and away the best of this genre.

GRC Agree with your macro assessment, but at the micro level did it bother anyone that Michael was essentially explaining how to construct an IED?

buckbeat I'm sure this information can be found on google, though I'd rather not log the search myself.

sepinwall Nix has said they always leave one or two fundamental steps out of any explanation of how to build weaponry. I would assume that anyone trying to make a bomb based solely on what they saw in this episode would fail.

sepinwall I saw a good sampling of Fi in prison, kicking ass and taking names. That stuff was fun.

berkowit28 Blah. Both White Collar and Suits are better than this irritating show.

bettyd I agree. Give up the CIA stuff. I loved it when they were the fixers. They still did the B-plot as the fixers this season, which is still fun. I just love the Jesse character.

DaveMB I missed the episodes between Nate's death and this one. How convinced are we that Grey killed Nate? At least some of the evidence came through Card, whom we now know to be unreliable...

DaveMB Thanks!

NeoGeo12 Hopefully Kenny Johnson is around for at least 5 episodes. Both The Shield and The Wire cast are both very underutilized on TV.

chuchundra I'm still watching. My interest waxes and wanes, but I've been reasonably happy with this last portion of the show. At the very least, Mike and the gang aren't always taking time out from their high-level CIA ops to save some poor guy's bodega from a gang of street thugs.

M.A.Peel I am looking forward to the Patton Oswalt guest arc. And I caught an early morning Charmed the other day, with none other than Bruce Campbell as the baddie. So just for the continuing life of Sam Axe/Chuck Finley I love Burn Notice.

eddie willers At least their format gives them the perfect way to do product placement without being too intrusive: "As a spy, you need a car that is not only fast, but gets great gas mileage as well".

svetlana You're comment made me laugh! Burn notice and white collar both sure love their car sponsors.

goodhorse Alan - I tried watching season 1 on DVD but it never really took and I wrote the series off as fairly rote.Is there a better jumping on point?

Thomas I like John C. McGinley a lot, and this isn't really a criticism, but isn't he playing his character like Dr. Cox if he had become a spy instead of going to medical school?

Shahadah i wouldnt watch suits if it was the only thing on television. i love burn notice because its interesting. however, i still want to know why did card do that to micheal?

Shahadah i wouldnt watch suits if it was the only thing on tv, it boring. white collar is ok but burn notice is better. i still want to know why did card want micheal dead???

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Burn Notice is updated

Jon88

Best thing about "Suits" is having Rick Hoffman's parents played by Rick Hoffman's parents. Other than that, it's a bumpy ride.

GRC

Agree with your macro assessment, but at the micro level did it bother anyone that Michael was essentially explaining how to construct an IED?

berkowit28

Blah. Both White Collar and Suits are better than this irritating show.

NeoGeo12

Hopefully Kenny Johnson is around for at least 5 episodes. Both The Shield and The Wire cast are both very underutilized on TV.

chuchundra

I'm still watching. My interest waxes and wanes, but I've been reasonably happy with this last portion of the show.

At the very least, Mike and the gang aren't always taking time out from their high-level CIA ops to save some poor guy's bodega from a gang of street thugs.

M.A.Peel

I am looking forward to the Patton Oswalt guest arc. And I caught an early morning Charmed the other day, with none other than Bruce Campbell as the baddie. So just for the continuing life of Sam Axe/Chuck Finley I love Burn Notice.

eddie willers

At least their format gives them the perfect way to do product placement without being too intrusive: "As a spy, you need a car that is not only fast, but gets great gas mileage as well".

goodhorse

Alan - I tried watching season 1 on DVD but it never really took and I wrote the series off as fairly rote.

Is there a better jumping on point?

Thomas

I like John C. McGinley a lot, and this isn't really a criticism, but isn't he playing his character like Dr. Cox if he had become a spy instead of going to medical school?

Shahadah

i wouldnt watch suits if it was the only thing on television. i love burn notice because its interesting. however, i still want to know why did card do that to micheal?

Shahadah

i wouldnt watch suits if it was the only thing on tv, it boring. white collar is ok but burn notice is better. i still want to know why did card want micheal dead???

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