Burn Notice: Turn and Burn
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- July
- 18
Last night provided some classic Burn Notice moments, not least of all the counselor who looked remarkably like Michael’s mom. (C’mon, you laughed out loud when they first showed her, didn’t you?)
As a matter of fact, let’s start there, with Michael reallyreallyreallyreallyreally not looking forward to, basically, couples counseling with his mother.
They both got more than they bargained for.
Madeline Westen realized that she wasn’t going to be able to just bitch about how incommunicative Michael was (he missed her birthday one year when he was being held at gunpoint, for example) without having to answer some questions of her own (Michael wondered why his mom never asked how he got the crap beaten out of him when he returned home with some groceries one day when the family had no money).
Michael realized that he could actually ask his mom these questions, let her know that it wasn’t a one-way street and that the reason he became a spy and disappeared for a good, long time was because he just couldn’t freakin’ deal with his chain-smoking insane mother, missing dad and criminal brother.
OK, lest we lead the uninitiated to believe Burn Notice is some psychological family drama, let’s get to another classic moment — a line of dialogue, really.
When Michael returns to his “apartment,” Fiona’s sprawled on his bed and Sam has just opened a beer. I love how these two have actual lives of their own, but never seem to live them. Sam’s girlfriend must have a job and I guess Fiona hasn’t had as much to do with the IRA ever since the Good Friday accords.
Anyhow, Michael announces that he needs some C4 and a sniper rifle.
Fiona: “Oh, I like where this is going.”
Sam just gets upset because Michael takes the beer away. He has to work, after all.
The main storyline involved an undercover FBI agent who solicits Michael’s help in bringing in some bad guys. Of course, the FBI agent, when she first approaches Michael, does so in the guise of a damsel in distress, trying to fend off a stalker. He’s kinda pissed when he finds out she was lying to him, but he helps her, the bad guys get in trouble, she gets the collar and they’re friends at the end. I wonder if he’ll have cause to call in a FBI favor at some point in the future?
As for the mystery of who burned Michael and why, well, we didn’t find out much more.
Carla really wants Michael to want to work for them. He didn’t take the money offered him, but she’ll “hold onto it” for him. I can only wonder if she purposely spoke Arabic with a Kurdish accent to make him think she was stationed there or if she wasn’t thinking about that when she responded automatically to his question.
Very little happens by “accident” on this show, however, and every time Michael has thought he’s been on the trail of those on his trail, he’s been unpleasantly surprised.
Carla is an excellent addition to the show, however, and not just because she’s played by Tricia Helfer. Helfer is the most underrated actress of her generation and has starred as the sultry Cylon Model No. 6 on Battlestar Galactica for the past few years.
Her character fits right in with the rest of the cast. Humorous when she needs to be, she can turn deadly — and I mean deadly — serious in a heartbeat. She’ll be an excellent evil foil to Michael; a good counterpoint to Fiona, I think.
Photos courtesy of NBC Universal.Â
This entry was posted
on Friday, July 18th, 2008 at 3:07 pm by Amy Vernon.
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We’re huge fans of this series. Totally agree about Helfer
I absolutely loved the scene with Michael and his mom at the counselor. So funny how the counselor looked EXACTLY like his mom. Good times.
oh, yeah. it’s exactly the kind of stuff that makes BN so much fun…
I too am just thrilled that Tricia Helfer has been added to the cast the season. She is indeed an AWESOME actress!
I know this is way late, but I really just ‘discovered’ BURN NOTICE a few weeks ago. Well, I was aware of it, but had never seen an episode. The more I read about the show, however, the more intrigued I became. Then I rented the first disk of the first season and it was all over. I love this show. I love the characters and I really enjoy the stories.
Thanks for writing about the goings-on in Miami. I’m off to catch up with Season 2.