TV Review: Burn Notice on USA

“A spy is just a criminal with a government paycheck”

In the world of spies, when someone gets a burn notice, it means they’ve been blacklisted within the industry. This is what happens to Michael Westin in USA’s new summer series, ‘Burn Notice.’ Based on the pilot episode, I can say with confidence that this show has the perfect blend of action, witty dialogue, intriguing mysteries and bikini-clad beach girls to make up a decent summer TV show.

The pilot begins with Westin (played by Jeffrey Donovan) on a job in Southern Nigeria. He’s about to make some kind of financial exchange with a bunch of criminals when he calls one of his associates to make the transaction. Instead of transferring the money, they tell him he’s received a burn notice and they can’t do business with him anymore. Westin knows what this means but he has no idea how it happened. Who would do this to him and why? This is the set up for the series.

Westin returns to Miami, his hometown, so he can figure out what to do. His ex-girlfriend, a former spy for the IRA, Fiona (played by Gabrielle Anwar), gets in touch with him, as does Westin’s mother. Trying to figure out who’s out to get him and dealing with the former women in his life proves to be a difficult task. Add that to the fact that he’s being tailed by the FBI and his accounts have been frozen and it wouldn’t be inaccurate to say that this guy’s life has been turned completely upside down.

Burn-noticing someone means all of their connections are cut off and no government agency will work with them anymore. Whoever did this to Westin successfully took away his money and his resources but they can’t take away his spy-skills. Westin finds a place to crash and gets in touch with a retired spy who is willing to help him out. He ends up taking a job doing a bit of private detective work to earn some cash. In the end, he decides that if he’s going to find who is messing with his life, he’s going to have to stick around Miami for a while.

So that’s the story. As for the actual show, the only flaw I found is that it borders on being a bit too paint-by-numbers. Westin narrates parts of the episode, which adds to the entertainment for the most part. It gives us a bit of insight into the mind of a spy. The problem with the narrative is that it occasionally dwells too much on the obvious. Chances are, most of the people watching this show will already be familiar with how the spy-world works in television shows and movies. At the beginning, some of the narrative slows the episode down a little bit. That said, it’s not totally annoying and it does eventually pass. The rest of the narrative is great and adds a bit of color to the story.

As a character, Westin is the laid-back sort of spy. He’s not Bond-like but he does manage to keep his cool even when some unexpected obstacles come his way. Westin is an easy character to like and to root for. Most of this is due in large part to Donovan’s performance. In fact, I think its Donovan that makes the show so likable. It also doesn’t hurt that Gabrielle Anwar’s sauciness as Westin’s ex-girlfriend makes for some interesting chemistry between the two characters.

I can’t say I’m totally sold on the story arc. Sure, I’m curious to see how the overall mystery unfolds but I was more intrigued by Donovan’s character and am excited to see how he gets by using his spy skills as a private detective.

The first episode of ‘Burn Notice’ will premiere on USA on Thursday, June 28, 2007 at 10:00 p.m..