Since everyone takes their big family vacations in the summer, it’s easy to see why most good TV programs end in May and begin again in the Fall. For those of us still at home though, there is a new hope besides reruns of The Office and Lost. USA network has a big summer hit on its hand with Burn Notice. With the third season just starting a few weeks ago, Season 2 was released on DVD on June 16th.
The whole gang is back right where we left them with hero Michael Westen (Changeling’s Jeffrey Donovan) being taken off to an unknown fate in the trailer of a big rig. Burn Notice has a simple enough plot: an ex-spy is trying to find out why he has been burned and disowned by the US Government with no money, ID, or contacts and stuck in Miami. Westen enlists the help of longtime friend and drunk, Sam Axe (Sam Raimi’s go-to man, Bruce Campbell of Evil Dead fame) and his beautiful, trigger-happy ex girlfriend Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar) to aide him in making some money on the side to try to solve the mystery of what happened. Each episode continues in the Season One method, where Michael accepts a mission as a special favor, helps someone in need in the process (almost like a My Name is Earl meets Alias) and learns a clue that brings him one step closer to finding out what happened to him.
Jeffrey Donavon is still brilliant in the role of Westen, the emotionally detached, and viciously deadpan, spy with his soft spot for his friends, his guilt trip-inducing mother, and a fridge full of yogurt. In season two, the stakes are higher, and Westen is still just as adept in making homemade weapons and spy equipment in a “Macgyver-for Dummies” kind of way while Aloha-shirt wearing Sam drinks anything he can get his hands on and Fiona wants to solve all her problems with gunpowder and C4. It sounds like a USA original movie, but strangely enough, the formula works in a very endearing way and will have you hooked in no time.
The Season Two DVD comes with a few bonus features which seem to be there mostly because someone higher up said they had to have them. The gag reel clocks in at a whopping 10 minutes (about 8 minutes too long) and features a normally stoic Jeffrey Donavon dancing and giggling way too much, and way too many clips ruined by Miami air traffic overhead. I usually like the gag reel, but this one just drags and could have used some music. There are two deleted scenes which are about 20 seconds long each and makes you wonder if that was all they actually cut out of the show. It seems like they could do better! The commentary on the season finale includes Bruce Cambell, show creator Matt Nix, and villain actor Michael Shanks. Nix is pretty dull for the most part, and Shanks doesn’t seem to talk much, but Campbell dominates the conversation and pops in with some great facts and random trivia. We learn all about why he hates Cap’n Crunch, his ideas on a total US invasion by Canada, and how hot and sweaty he actually gets during filming. It’s definitely a commentary for the die-hard fans of the show.
The last special feature was a good idea but was very poorly executed. Someone gave the camera to the wrong people and let the film crew become the actors of “Boom Notice,” a spoof of the show where the Boom Mic Operator gets to fulfill his fantasy of being the lead in the show for a mind-numbing 8 minutes. Don’t watch this unless you have a family member who is actually in it or something.
Regardless of the Special Features which bring nothing special to the table, Season Two of Burn Notice is great television and a must-have for everyone sweating out the hot summer months with nothing to watch.
