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Rating: Country: USA Release Date: June 6, 2009 Distributor: Fox Cast: · Jeffrey Donovan · Gabrielle Anwar · Bruce Campbell · Sharon Gless Related Sites: · IMDb: Burn Notice Grade: B-

While it would be easy to dismiss a show like Burn Notice for its episodic formula template, hammy acting, corny dialogue, cheap sets and dreadful lighting, it would be a disservice to overlook the addictive chemistry of lead characters and fun, MacGyver-like tidbits of tech-savvy information sprinkled through every episode. It is visibly a USA Network series, with an unintentionally ironic Canadian television aesthetic that relies on sarcastic zingers, tight dresses and the occasional explosion to appease a mostly blue-collar demographic. Does this make it bad though? Not necessarily, as there is a pulp charm and self-consciousness that makes the many production flaws and copious exposition far more palatable than it realistically should be.

The premise is standard, with Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan), a former CIA-operative, coping with omniscient villains whose agenda gradually unfolds as the series progresses. Trapped in Miami, given his “burned” status, the process wherein a spy is left alone and with nothing rather than getting killed or simply fired, Michael relies on his bomb-expert ex-girlfriend Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar) and sarcastic buddy Sam (Bruce Campbell) for help with the many perils and plights that stumble across his path.

Season Two finds Michael squaring off against a particularly clever CIA-handler (Tricia Helfer) and an idiosyncratic assassin (Michael Shenks), while protecting his mother (Sharon Gless) and brother (Seth Petersen) from likely harm. Interspersed with this over-riding battle and season arc are one-off blowouts with local Miami hoodlums in the form of money launderer’s, bank robbers and con artists. Each episode follows a similar template with the introduction of a bad-guy, requisite stakes involved, some snarky banter between the leads and some creative uses of gadgetry, as battle is done.

With the villains having more motivation and nuance than most series of this nature, season two proves entertaining for its 16-episode run, offering some answers to questions, while raising others. There is little to the show beyond its glossy surface, as it is little more than your standard “wronged man at the centre of a conspiracy” ordeal, which can occasionally represent political ideologues, but doesn’t seem to here. Resultantly, ones appreciation for the show will have much to do with how much they enjoy sarcasm, spies and Bruce Campbell’s particular shtick.

Presented in 1080p High Definition in a 3-disc Blu-ray set, Burn Notice suffers technical flaws aplenty, with severe contrasting issues, consistently grainy footage, unresolved blacks and colour bleeding. While some of this stems from budgetary limitations and the overblown production aesthetic, the rest seems to come from compression, as six episodes are crammed on each disc. Some episode fair reasonably well in colour and depth, but mostly the transfer disappoints. The sound here isn’t much better, with the many explosions and gunshots coming off as minor thuds rather than booms.

Three audio commentaries are offered in the set on the episodes “Bad Blood”, featuring Matt Nix, director Bronwen Hughes, Ben Watkins, Rashad Raisaini, Method Man and Rob Benedict; “Double Booked”, again with Nix, director Tim Matheson, Jason Tracey and Craig O’Neill; and “Lesser Evil” with Nix, Bruce Campbell and Michael Shenks. While the first two commentary tracks are busy and chatty, with much “day of” anecdotes and panegyric banter, the last track with Campbell and Shenks proves more amusing, as the season arcs are dissected in a fairly sarcastic manner.

“Nixin it Up” is a brief production supplement, with creator Matt Nix discussing his approach to directing the “Do No Harm” episode, while “Boom Notice” is a lame comedy parody of a series boom operator suffering the titular “burn notice” plight. Also included are many deleted scenes and an amusing gag reel.