EponymousKid
Since: Jan, 2001
01/16/2011 00:00:00
...I'm confused, personally. Season 4 was my jumping on point; I'd seen a few episodes here and there but nothing much. The point is that the show hadn't impressed me until I started with season 4.
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Ruin good shows in a single bound: It's Super Jesse.
Burn Notice hooked me instantly. It's exactly what a modern TV series is expected to be: movie-style camera work, snappy post-Whedon dialog, and season-spanning story arcs. None of that Macgyver fluff where the hero never takes a life or faces any consequences. Season 3 is criticized as the weakest. I admit they didn't do enough with the "back on the grid" angle. Michael should have been attacked on all sides, forcing him to crawl on his hands and knees back to Management. Instead, he walked back into their arms willingly. But the episodes were still good, and even the dubious casting of Moon Bloodgood was satisfying.
Then came season 4....and Jesse Porter. This glorified Special Guest Star's chrome head is enough to tank a scene all on its own. He's a sanctimonious, macho bore, precisely what this show didn't need. Next, the writing took a nosedive. The villains became dull and predictable, and Michael began cooperating with the people who burned him. Why? Because a creepy bald man assures him that they've mended their ways: they're "good" now. Works for me! Nevermind that Michael has watched first-hand as they fund terrorism and slaughter entire families. Victor? Who's that?
Burn Notice also has this infuriating tendency to kill off its best characters before we realy get to know them. Sometimes, they just step onto the screen, and a hail of bullets turns them into hamburger (Because it's still shocking the third time it happens). It's sad that the one episode in that I liked was the Prison Break ripoff. Jesse doesn't talk much in that one. A coincidence I'm sure.
The show runner blamed the clunky story arc on not knowing whether he'd be renewed. Now that he's got his 3-year pickup, maybe the series will improve. I hope it can recover from this, though with Jesse sticking around, I'm not exactly euphoric. He has no chemistry with Michael, and yet the series is trying to mold them into Back To Back Badasses. It's a logical fallacy.