Burn Notice "Pilot" (2007)

My best friend and I have started a new tradition. Each summer we each get to pick a show for the other to watch to catch up before the next season. I picked Reaper for him and he picked Burn Notice for me. I must say I really glad we made this new arrangement because I am loving this show from the start. The premise is pretty straightforward a spy, Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) is given a burn notice while on assignment in Nigeria which blacklists him and exiles him to Miami, his hometown that he has spent his entire life trying to get away from. The lead character is suavely and glibly (a good combination) portrayed but what makes the show really gel is the excellent supporting cast which his character must now turn to after being cut off from all his professional ties. Bruce Campbell plays former spy Sam Axe with smarmy world-weariness who now bilks sugar mommas for money to feed his need for alcohol. Fiona Glenanne (Gabrielle Anwar) is his sexy and feral IRA ex-girlfriend who travels to Miami as she is still listed as Michael's emergency contact. With smouldering sensuality she is more than capable in handling herself in a physical fight and is also a professional when it comes to espionage. Rounding out the regular cast is Michael's nagging and manipulative mother Madeline (Sharon Gless) who couldn't be happier that her son is now back in Miami and wastes no time in trying to reconnect.

We're introduced to the main premise of the show where Micheal, who has had all his assets frozen, must resort to taking odd jobs around Miami to finance his investigation of his burn notice while dealing with the friends and family he was more comfortable having an ocean between previously. He takes a studio apartment over a nightclub which is owned by a former Russian intelligence officer and sets out to discover how he can get back into field work. His first case is a home robbery where over $20 million of artwork has been stolen. His client, the caretaker who is looking like the prime suspect, is desperate to clear his name so that he will not end up in jail and leave his son all alone. Michael tries to maintain a professional distance, as he has had with mostly everyone is his life, but finds himself becoming increasingly involved with his client and protecting them from the man who set him up. There is a nice quiet scene where he teaches the caretaker's son some fighting moves to use against the bullies picking on him at school. Later while watching the boy use the moves against his tormentors, Michael lets a smile of pride slide across his face. Looks like he won't be able to keep himself detached from everyone.

We get a sense that Michael's home life while growing up was less than ideal and he has no interest in reestablishing contact with his mother, but thanks to Fiona he is forced to drive her to a doctor's appointment. Gless shines as the sympathetic mother tyring to reach out to her son that she has not seen in so long and the scene where she pleads with him to contact his brother so they can all spend Christmas together is heartbreaking. It even affects Michael who has still not found a way to overcome his mother crying. He also discovers that he may not be able to trust his friends when he discovers that Sam is informing on him to the FBI agents assigned to keep tabs on him. Sam assures Michael that he would never sell him out to the feds, but the episode ends a little uneasily about how much Michael can exactly trust Sam. Michael even has his hands full with Fiona who's looking to re-establish her own ties with Michael after dinner containing a bit of sake. Michael avoids spending the night with her but his reaction after she storms off is ambiguous in we're not sure what the exact reasons for his decision were. Is he just not interested in Fiona anymore (is he crazy?) or is he trying to keep everyone at arm's length as usual?

Favorite moment: Hearing that Michael when he was six, in his determination to see Star Wars and being forbidden by his father, climbed out through the hearing vent. While obviously highlighting his natural skills as a spy at such an early age, I also admire his determination in seeing Star Wars. I'm also a huge fan but I don't think I would even go to those lengths to see it. Although when I was forced to take my sister to see The Phantom Menace I did make her sit all the way at the other end of the row away from me. We Star Wars fans are an unusual bunch.