I have to admit: The only reason I didn’t voice my agreement with Bob in his and Debbie’s most recent Quibbling Siblings column is because I was holding out some hope, based on last episode’s capture of Kendra (Navi Rawat), that the Burn would get better. Which is also the reason I agreed to cover for Debbie this week. But I can say this now without any fear of misrepresenting my own position — Burn Notice sucks this season.
Okay, maybe not sucks … but it’s definitely lacking the ability to capture my attention in any meaningful way. And I’m not quite sure why.
Jesse does suck; that much I can say. He’s bored me from the moment he stepped foot on stage, and I find his entire story line to be a terrible departure from the main theme of the show: Michael finding out who burned him. Weaving Jesse into the very fabric of the series, from working with Sam and Fiona to living with Madeline, has left me with the distinct impression that someone thought Michael wasn’t man enough to handle the job on his own anymore.
True? I sure hope not. Because Michael Westen continues to be one of the better character creations on TV today. So why the lame, second-stringer? I have no idea. But setting him up last night as the weak link in front of Kendra was appropriate.
The structure of each episode itself remains the same — case-of-the-week mixed with the pursuit of a greater goal, served with a side of the characters’ lives — but the clients are less sympathetic fathers trying to get medicine for their kids, and more doubting, annoying doctors who refuse to accept the fact that going to the police repeatedly won’t get rid of those pesky drug dealers (and Billy Walsh!) who’re slinging dope on their corner.
And I have no idea where we are in the Michael burned/now Jesse burned plot. Not entirely the show’s fault, because I started to lose interest when Michael’s plot started to really get wild and crazy sometime in season two, but still … it would be nice to see some linear progression on that end.
And the explosions? My God! Enough already! Somehow the series has reached a point where there must be some minor or major explosion once every few minutes. So that what? Fiona can get her testosterone up? Burn Notice always excelled because of its subtly. Big booms lose that for them.
At the same time, this is still a USA original series, and I’m still watching because I do get some enjoyment from the show. Like I said above, I find myself bored … but this isn’t In Plain Sight; it hasn’t gone all bad. There was some good stuff last night, too:
The best part of the night turned out to be a commercial, but so it goes at times. Who else stopped fast-forwarding when they caught a glimpse of Michael and Fiona sitting in that restaurant? Even when Peter Burke walked up and asked Fiona about her grenade, I still thought it was part of the show … it was only the “Characters Welcome” in the lower left-hand corner of my screen that burst that bubble for me. But while the illusion of a crossover lasted? Sweet.
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Jul 16, 2010 @ 09:00 EST5EDT
