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Every television season is a crap shoot
when it comes to quality and originality.
And honestly I can give up the originality
if the quality is up to par. Take “Burn
Notice”, which is enjoying a third
season on the USA Network is just such an
animal. It’s not necessarily original…
you have a character whose reputation is
besmirched and is trying to find out who
threw him under the bus, all while trying
to build a new life outside of his chosen
profession.
In “Burn Notice”, our protagonist
is Michael Weston (Jeffrey Donovan)…
super spy. Well, super spy until he is hit
with a ‘burn notice’…
the spy’s version of a pink slip.
Only much, much worse. Michael has been
‘outed’ as a spy and when that
happens you’re cut off from everyone
you’ve ever known. So Michael finds
himself out on his own trying to find out
who ‘burned’ him.
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Fortanately, he does find aid from his ex-girlfriend
Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar) who also happens to be
an IRA operative and Sam (Bruce Campbell) his
former partner. The first season of this show
was terrifically fun and the second season just
takes it a step further. I had so much fun watching
this season that I’m ready for the third
season’s release (so I don’t have
to watch it on TV and put up with commercials
and all those annoying scroll advertisements).
I’ll have to admit that most of what makes
this such a great show is the casting of Bruce
Campbell. (If you’re asking yourself who
that is right now… shame on you). He is
THE B-Movie icon of our time thanks in part to
the “Evil Dead” film series. He is
a cult figure to thousands of fans worldwide (myself
included) for his stature in the B-Movie industry.
He is simply, the BEST B-Movie actor in the business,
though it’s not necessarily fair to pigeonhole
him in that acting arena. He’s actually
had roles in numerous TV shows like “Ellen”
and “Homicide”, was the lead in the
unfortunately short-lived “Adventures in
Briscoe County” and “Jack of All Trades”,
and has done a bit of directing. He’s even
a bestselling author, whose book “If Chins
Could Kill” is a great read that I highly
recommend. And to top it all off, he’s an
all around nice guy. His presence in this series
adds to its greatness.
The second season takes the series into greater
directions with the addition of Tricia Helfer
(“Battlestar Galactica”) as Carla,
Michael’s new handler. You initially get
the impression she’s there to help…
but you never really know who you can trust in
the spy business do you?
The Blu-ray release of “Burn Notice: Season
2” both adds to and detracts from the show
overall delivery. As far as sound goes, you can’t
miss. The mixture of sounds effects, music and
dialogue are extremely well balanced so I have
no complaints there. But visually, having it in
HD is actually a little bit distracting as the
show has a gritty look to it on purpose and you
can’t really clean it up without making
it worse. It’s still very enjoyable, but
here the DVD version would probably look better
overall.
You’ll find several special features on
this addition, including commentaries for three
of the episodes by various members of the cast
and crew (missing is Jeffrey Donovan for some
reason. The best of these is on the season finale
as the comments come from Bruce Campbell and if
you’ve ever heard his commentary on anything,
you know it is always hysterically funny. Such
is the case here. There are a bunch of deleted
scenes; these are only good if you’re into
that sort of thing.
The best two features are “Nixin’
It Up” in which Matt Nix discusses what
it is like to direct an episode of the series,
and one of the better “Gag Reels”
I’ve ever seen.
“Burn Notice” is well worth checking
out. It is a great series, with a great cast.
Starring: Jeffrey Donovan, Gabrielle Anwar, Bruce
Campbell, Tricia Helfer
Extras: Commentaries, Deleted Scenes, Nixin’
It Up, Boom Notice, Gag Reel
Specifications:
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: 6/16/2009
MPAA Rating: NR
http://www.foxbluray.com
We'll give Burn Notice: Season 2 (Blu-ray) a
B.
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