Moving into its second episode of the season, Burn Notice is no longer a show that needs to prove itself – the second season did more than enough to convince me that the show understand that works and what doesn’t, so the introduction of a new antagonist for Michael Westen isn’t something that raises any sort of alarm bells.
This isn’t the case with all shows, of course. House, in particular, is a show that insists on introducing short term rivals for its lead character, only to have them absolutely take over the show to the point of both distraction and devolution. I don’t think I can quite explain why Burn Notice does this so much better, but it’s an impressive feat: while House slows to a crawl during those sections, Burn Notice manages to pull off both tension and humour with the arrival of Moon Bloodgood’s Detective Paxson, someone who has drawn a line from Michael’s arrival in Miami with a sharp increase in explosions and the like.
(And based on the twitter responses, including one from Alan Sepinwall who discusses Bloodgood’s arrival in his own review, the humour might be a major part of how these characters work, as they fit into Michael’s world of calculated yet quippy and therefore don’t seem as contrived).
As a result, “Question and Answer” doesn’t let this new arrival slow things down, as the thing that works so well about Burn Notice is that not every episode needs to be about explosions, and that there are more than enough tricks up their sleeve to keep the show one of the most entertaining on television.
This is not a new edict for Michael Weston, or Burn Notice in general: since the beginning of the show, Michael’s greatest tip for the audience as told through his narration is to be able to spot danger before it happens, reading a situation in a way that few others can. He made his living being able to spot and avoid dangerous situations, and he has used those skills in his post-blacklist existence to find success in new areas of his life.
But moving into the show’s third season, danger is more unpredictable than ever before on the broad, serialized level the show has gradually built into its procedural frame. In the first season, Michael knew that he had been burned by someone in particular but was largely acclimating to his new existence and only occasionally interacting with the danger they represented. In the second season, Michael began to better understand that danger, even infiltrating it by using their interactions through Carla and others against them, and while they never became less dangerous he at least understood how they, as operatives similar to himself, might operate.
But now, as we open the season with Michael swimming five miles in suit pants, we discover an environment where even the observational technique of Michael Weston can’t really comprehend the dangers that could befall him on an individual mission. The show’s structure remains mostly unchanged, but more than ever before they are capable of (as we see in the premiere) spiraling into a far more dangerous situation than Michael first realized. Adhering to the old adage, the devil you know is often better than the devil which could take a multitude of forms ranging in danger and, more importantly, ranging in their approaches.
The result is “Friends and Family,” a setup for another great season, one presents another explosive and rewarding variable to the show’s already winning formula, and one which highlights some of the show’s best elements.
They’re a necessary evil: they exist in order to give us an understanding of how a show is going to work, which is an important thing to sell a network and potential viewers on before they commit to ordering, or watching, more episodes. But the result is often that a lot of character and plot development that should be given time to unfold naturally is checked off at a blistering pace. It’s possible to make a great pilot, but those people are both few and far between and definitely not working behind the scenes at USA Network’s Royal Pains.
As a critic, it’s hard to really confront a pilot as obnoxiously contrived as this one, because you run into a problem: considering that it’s our role to judge a show based on its potential, and considering that the contrivances are more pilot shorthand than inherent to the show’s formula, you can’t spend too much time complaining about something that is par for the course. And while Burn Notice has given us some fairly high expectations about what a USA Network “procedural” is capable of being, this show does not appear to have similar aspirations, and it’s not really fair to judge it as if it does.
So taking into account its contrivances, and its ham-fisted parallels, and its tendency to rush its way through storylines that should probably be given a bit more time, Royal Pains managed to do enough to convince me that as a piece of escapist summer entertainment the show might not be such a pain after all.
When it comes to integrating the Carla storyline, it is generally used in one of two things thus far in Burn Notice’s second season: either to allow Michael opportunities to show off various skills and technologies that aren’t really applicable to normal missions, and to serve as a distraction from his more pressing client obligations.
What we see in “Scatter Point” is both of these examples, along with some further answers about Carla’s whereabouts and Michael’s ability (or inability) to track her down. And yet, while it may distract Michael, it isn’t really distracting for the review; this episode isn’t quite as indulgent as last week’s, which offered a bit more to just kind of sit back and enjoy, but this remains an example of how Burn Notice can maintain its quality while delving into somewhat more serious storylines and with an extra hint of danger to the proceedings.
When I was a guest on the /Filmcast on Monday night, at least for a brief period, I gave Burn Notice a qualified compliment in my discussion of Mad Men’s season premiere with Devindra Hardawar: I said that it was a fun show, and one with a lot of potential, but that Mad Men is simply in a different league. I stand by this statement, no question, but I want to make sure that this isn’t seen as a slight to this great show.
I’ve been slow to watch Thursday’s episode, but I am glad I finally got to it. “Comrades” is an extremely strong episode of a show that has been playing to its strengths all season. It’s worth hammering home, even though I’ve mentioned it the last few weeks, how great this balance is: even in an episode that adds extra helpings of Michael’s family to the equation, the balance between the normal clients and the ongoing serialized Carla storyline is in perfect form.
And when all of the various elements are working together in this type of comradery, it’s hard to beat Burn Notice for a more escapist (but still “great”) show.
We’re running Carla free this time around on Burn Notice, which means that the scent of normalcy is in the air. This is, really, the prototypical Burn Notice episode: it’s got your client of the week, it has Michael looking for answers in dangerous places to discover who burned him, and it has a storyline that integrates Michael’s mother into the story in a way that’s still heavy-handed but certainly not overly intrusive.
I won’t have too much to say about this one, because it just worked: there wasn’t any shocking twists or new characters introduced, but it was just solid television that deserves some attention.
With all of the Emmy hooplah, and then The Dark Knight over the weekend, it leaves less time for a show like Burn Notice. I didn’t blog about the show last summer not out of spite but out of design: the show is just solid, fun summer entertainment, not bothering with complex emotions or anything else. And, while that makes it a lot of fun to sit down and watch late Friday night, it makes it somewhat less fun to blog about.
However, I don’t want to do the show a disservice by ignoring it: there was still talk of the show somehow taking a nose dive in its first two episodes of the season, and I think this put that to rest. While the stakes are certainly higher this time around, the show still gives Michael more control than chaos, and his adept skills and reverting to a controlled state are some of the show’s finest moments. This week’s episode even seamlessly integrated the ongoing Carla narrative with one of Michael’s traditional clients, something that I feel gives just the right level of balance when all is said and done.
USA Today’s Robert Bianco, having seen the first two episodes of Burn Notice’s sophomore season, has fairly harsh words for what he views as the show’s shift in tone with the arrival of a more serialized plot development:
So what’s gone wrong? Like so many series today, Burn Notice has overburdened a fragile structure with a weighty continuing story…Unfortunately, the added depth has made the show less interesting, not more. And the time spent on the continuing story means the episodes’ capers are woefully underdeveloped.
However, after watching the premiere, I don’t really understand where he’s coming from here. He seems to argue that the tone of the series has been irrevocably changed from its previous standards, but the show was well within its comfort zone for the entire hour. Burn Notice is a show built on its clever set pieces, its charming interaction between Jeffrey Donovan and his wingpeople (Gabrielle Anwar and Bruce Campbell), and a tone that maintains humour while retaining consequence.
And if anything, the latest bump in the road for Michael Weston does all of these things – even if his trips to see his mother remain as pointless as they’ve ever been, Michael being held hostage by Tricia Helfer’s Carla is no more or less dramatic or grave than last season’s various individuals hired to kill our protagonist. For him to completely skirt the obvious danger that a burned agent as himself would be in would be much too unbelieveable.
The show has never been all about accuracy or tonal consistency, rarely proving a slave to what Bianco calls “comedy-tinged mystery.” And while I won’t argue the point that there are dangerous roads to be followed, I will argue that Burn Notice has not taken that exit: it’s still a fun and enjoyable summer series.
Dave over at the /Filmcast (Download the Episode or Subscribe in iTunes), which I was lucky enough to be a part of this week as a last-minute discussion fill-in, has often pestered me about not catching up on shows like The Wire, or The Shield, in favour of watching lighter fare. While I would tend to agree, and will eventually complete both shows, I think there is certainly a place for a show like In Plain Sight, and the network that airs it and its similar programming.
The USA Network has been on a roll as of late, with critics and viewers alike. Only recently, they were the network that aired Monk and Law & Order reruns, with the additions of the charming Psych, the engaging Burn Notice and first run episodes of Criminal Intent, it’s a network on the rise in terms of providing engaging characters within a procedural setting (well, I don’t care for Criminal Intent, but let’s forgive them for that).
With the introduction of In Plain Sight, I honestly question whether the well will ever end. I enjoy the series, and there’s a couple of strong comparisons that make it a great addition to the barren lands of summer television. With “Characters Wanted” as the network tag line, you have all of the elements here: a tough as nails female U.S. Marshal who oversees witness protection, her wacky and distracting family, her messed up personal interactions with those around her, inner emotion hidden by a cold exterior, etc.
The result is a series that seems a smart pairing with something like Burn Notice, especially considering the work of Mary McCormack in the lead role, although there’s a few growing pains that pop up in the first pair of episodes.
[In Week Three of Cultural Learnings’ 59th Annual Emmy Awards Nominations Preview, we’re looking at possible contenders for the Lead Actor awards in both drama and comedy. Today, we present our second set of candidates. For complete listings for the Supporting candidates from the past two weeks, check out our For Your Consideration index]
Lead Actor in a Comedy
Tony Shalhoub (Adrian Monk)
Monk
For the past two years, Tony Shalhoub has won the Emmy Award for Leading Actor in a Comedy. And every year, arguably, someone else probably deserved it more. I am not sure if the same will happen this year, but I want to make something clear: despite believing that Shalhoub perhaps isn’t better than some of his other candidates, he is an adept comic actor who infuses Monk with 90% of its charm. As a procedural dramedy, ostensibly, Monk is entirely reliant on Shalhoub’s performance of OCD-riddled, paranoid, uncomfortable and brilliant Adrian. While the show can be uneven, Shalhoub’s performance is always incredibly strong; very rarely do you ever become annoyed by his antics, even as the show sometimes loses sight of its proper goals. Considering his long string of nominations, Shalhoub is clearly a man who gives consistently great performances. And, while I might not select him to win, it’s hard not to consider his portrayal of Adrian Monk for Emmy Awards attention.
In the hands of a lesser actor, I believe that Monk would be an insufferable pain in the ass that we couldn’t imagine anyone actually liking. However, Shalhoub gives him an everyman quality: disconnected from society in so many ways, Monk is much like any other social outsider struggling to find his place in the world. And as he solves crimes in his brilliant fashion, it’s hard not to be charmed by his simple ways and genius mind. What Shalhoub does is make the comedy more pointed, the drama more humorous. Even as the show fails to live up to its potential through stupid stunts such as Monk chasing after a fighter jet (And catching it), Shalhoub always gives a performance that makes you keep watching. And that, although maybe not worthy of beating Steve Carell last year, is worthy of Emmy consideration.
Episode Selection:Mr. Monk Gets a New Shrink (Aired August 11th, 2006)
This episode features the best of Adrian’s qualities in one episode. Faced with the thought of his long-time therapist Dr. Kroger (Stanley Kamel) ending, Monk has to face his own personal problems in an accelerated fashion. Desperate for guidance, he goes to his house and attempts to solve the murder in Kroger’s office in order to bring him back to work. It features most of Monk’s best qualities: his feud with fellow patient Harold, his insecurity about his mental health, his reaction to a new therapist with only one arm (Not symmetrical), and his broad comedy. It is a tour de force comic performance, highlighted by his speedy trip through the stages of grief that is basically an Emmy reel in itself.
I was somewhat surprised to see that Veronica Mars’ Enrico Colantoni had submitted in the Lead Actor category, as I really never saw his performance as being on that level. Sure, I love Keith just as much as the next fan of the show, but he’s being classified a lead actor purely due to his acting pedigree. In reality, I’d call Jason Dohring more of a lead actor this season than Keith was, but I have to go with what was submitted. It’s really not that hard, however, to make a case for Colantoni’s Emmy worthiness. Keith is a memorable television father whose love for his daughter faced many challenges over three seasons but never waned. As the show comes to an end, it is unlikely that it will be garnering Emmy attention as it doesn’t seem to write Emmy bait episodes like other series. However, there is something about Colantoni’s performance that simultaneously portrayed Keith as kind, concerned, protective and pretty darn cool: and that’s worthy of Emmy consideration for the Veronica Mars actor.
Lead Actor in a Comedy
Lead Actor in a Drama
Cultural Learnings 