Burn Notice
Cast & Key People
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Our Review
The smoothest easy comfort spy show ever made. Michael Westen, a CIA operative unceremoniously “burned” (blacklisted), wakes up in Miami with no money and no identity, and gets a chyron full of tradecraft: spy tips delivered as deadpan voiceover while he MacGyvers his way through helping ordinary people. Jeffrey Donovan’s Michael is cool personified; Bruce Campbell as Sam Axe, the beer drinking ex-SEAL informant, is pure joy; Gabrielle Anwar’s Fiona is the ex-IRA girlfriend who solves problems with C4 and a pout.
The formula, burned spy plus client of the week plus season long conspiracy, is easy comfort elevated by execution: the voiceovers are genuinely informative, the Florida sunlight is a character, and the leads have real chemistry. Later seasons chase the conspiracy too hard (the chase always sags), but the case of the week engine never fails. Sharon Gless as Michael’s chain smoking mother gives the show unexpected heart.
Verdict: Watch it. The TV equivalent of a mojito on a beach.
