Burn Notice

This to me sounds like a strange thing to bring up, since no one killed on this show is an unknown; Michael Shanks, Oded Fehr, Tricia Helfer, Jay Karnes, Richard Schiff, even Jere Burns. Each one followed the other and didn't free up a spot for some up-and-coming B-lister.

It seems you're set on enjoying the show no matter what, but that's no reason to overlook its flaws.

edited 27th Aug '12 6:32:06 PM by johnnyfog

Everything has flaws deal with it.

I'm not overlooking its flaws. There is no "Anyone can Die" here. Everyone killed was a side character who had some involvement either helping or hurting Weston. The closest you get is Nate, and he was never more than a recurring guest star. Kill off Fi, Sam, or Mama Weston, then we'll talk about "Anyone Can Die." Can't kill off Mike, since he'd take the steam right out of the show.

Alright, back on up. I never said Anyone Can Die, that was some other person. I said that characters are blithely killed off. Set 'em up, knock 'em down. The only one who won't die is Larry, and he got tiresome fast.

edited 27th Aug '12 8:08:53 PM by johnnyfog

So, I guess here's the big question with Card: is he a part of the Burner Spies Organization, or is he playing his own game on the side. Naturally, one would assume the former, but Anson was saying that he had too much info about CIA activities to ever be punished for whta he did... could Card have been part of that and then tried to keep anyone from finding out about it by trying to kill Anson and squash any further investigation?

If he is part of the Burned Spies group, any guesses on his role in the organization? Mine would be the equivalent of a talent scout: being a prominent trainer of agents, he could get a first hand look at promising members for the group, have an excuse to keep track of their progress over the years, (as far as anyone legit is concerned, he's just tracking the success of people he trained or encountered when they were newbies) and recommend who to add to the network.

Random aside: recently finished watching The Wire with my fiancee's family, and got them into Burn Notice and they're up to Season 4 so far. Someone made a comment about how many people from The Wire have been showing up (Bunny Colvin-Vaughn, Rawls-Douvhebag Congressman) now we can add Cutty as the CIA agent from the most recent episode. Excellent way to do a Heroic Sacrifice.

I hope he isn't. The burned spy organization schtick is getting old. And the number of plot holes / incongruities it has doesn't exactly shrink with time.

If Card's to be a new villain (Shame, I liked him), at least it's a chance to come up with something fresh.

From what I remembered with interviews, did say moving forward from Burned Spies thing, though it probably has some bridge.

And personally, I hate the fact they kill people off tad too much at times because it leaves for unsatisfying conclusions to build up given often. Characters die sometimes and it's a necessary thing to show. But it doesn't always give the most satisfying finishes to villains with the climaxes it builds up. Counting things, there is Management whose build up became entirely pointless in the end. Second half of Season 3 with Gilroy as a showdown with him was

Counting things, there's Management, Gilroy, Brennan, and Anson. While I am happy some have been dealt with in creative showdown type of scenario, I'm just a tad tired of these characters getting all these great build ups and rising action for the showdowns to be lackluster or non-existent because another villain just killed them off and is being used to setup the next villain.

To note, won't say this is true for every one of them. Any showdown with Dead Larry is great, for example. I'll even argue that Larry stabbing Brennan, while I dislike lack of end showdown between Micheal and Brennan, does make sense and interesting route to go with things. Plus I enjoy their villain's team up there. Also, relating to Gilroy, did enjoy addition of Simon as a character & what he added, but I still feel that Gilroy's full worth as a foe after a season's worth of build up was lost.

Do still enjoy the show despite it's flaws. Just because one enjoys it doesn't mean they can't discuss what they feel are it's weaknesses too.

Well, this season's premier was entertaining, although they did it again, killing someone off way too soon. Or to be more precise, two someones. Card bit the dust just after killing Gray. Damnit, they could have really built something up there! Oh well, "Redemption is overrated" as they say. Still a good double-episode, although I don't see why they had to do it double, there's two separate parts they could have made.

Actually, I liked that they killed Card. The "working with the one who screwed them" angle has been played already...

So is Sharon Gless' situation Putona Bus or a 10-Minute Retirement?

unless I missed some Real Life stuff, Like You Would Really Do It covers it, probably a 10-Minute Retirement

edited 10th Nov '12 11:37:01 AM by 3of4

That's probably one thing I can see them playing long enough for it to not be a 10-minute retirement.

I'm just hoping she isn't sick. If this had been season 1 or 2, I'd be saying, "ABOUT TIME you wrote her unnecessary, annoying ass off this show". Now? She's too important a character to get rid of.

Maybe it's an "Ed Green on Law And Order" thing, where she has some project she needs time off to take care of, so off she goes to her sister.

I wonder if everything's totally fixed and they open up a private detective agency, or if we're gonna peel back this onion and find another Man Behind the Man?

Well, we have been thorugh the motions "find out who did it" "bring down who did it" "work with those who did it" "bring down who did it for good." and now "clean up after we got who did it"...I think the next logical step would be Michael & Co being dragged into a new arc despite not wanting back into the spy life.

Like how in the first season he didn't want to help people but then through maddy opened up and saw the he should use his powers for good.

just in reverse :)

That would be a great way to end the series.

Yeah, but USA has ordered a 7th season, so we're not getting a finale anytime soon.

well, I'd say the "don't want a new arc!" arc will be Season 7

Too bad. When the arcs were good, they were really good.

But too often they just dragged down the A plot, ruining both.

And of course, the show's most unsavory grimdark moments all arose from 'arcs.'

I was saying that Michael doesn't want a new arc, but he is getting it anyhow ;)

Oh well that's stupid. Viewers have been complaining about the arcs since season two.

The arcs sometimes dragged on because they followed the same breadcrumb pattern but when they reached their climax it turned into some of the best episodes of the series. The Simon finale of season three was especially awesome.

I totally agree, but they've shot their load. How do you raise the stakes now?