Friday, March 5, 2010

"Burn Notice" finale recap: The Devil You Know

Just wanted to offer a quick recap of last night's "Burn Notice" season finale. Spoilers ahead, so don't click through if you don't want to see.

I'm a little torn about this week's episode. On the one hand, the story itself was excellent. We finally met the mysterious Simon who, as it turns out, is the guy who committed all the crimes that Michael was accused of in his burn notice. Interesting, and I'm glad that the show is giving us at least a little closure on that score.
Simon, of course, was played by the great Garret Dillahunt. I say "of course," because I'm fairly certain that Dillahunt is legally required to appear on every single TV show ever. He's terrific, so I say bring it on. Can't wait for the day he pops up on "Glee" singing a Lady Gaga medley.
Dillahunt and Jeffrey Donovan had a nice, tense rapport together, and it was good seeing John Mahoney again as management. I also loved the story with Maddy and the FBI agent. Sharon Gless has been excellent this season, and she was peerless in her scenes this week, going from coy denial, to grief back to denial then on to unparalleled rage.
When she told the FBI agent that Michael had paid for her sins, so it was only fair that she pay for his, my heart broke.
But there was a lot I didn't like this week. For one thing, there wasn't nearly enough Sam and Fi for my tastes. Given Sam's speech about sticking together at the episode's start, I thought we'd see a lot more of our dream team together. But, aside from a few minutes new the beginning, it was mostly the Michael show. That's OK -- I like Mike just fine. Yet Sam and Fi are both so great, and they can be underutilized.
I also was disappointed to see yet another wrinkle in the burn notice storyline. Was anybody else hoping that when Michael's blindfold was removed, he would be standing in front of his own front door, completely free?
Instead, he's apparently been enlisted for some other "job." Sigh. I actually kind of wish they'd drop this thread and stick to the client-of-the-week stories. There's enough material in those stories, and in the stories about Michael's relationships to carry a show.
Yet "The Devil You Know" was, overall, a strong episode with lots of action, and some nice dramatic moments. So I'm torn.
Thoughts?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Micheal had to face much of what happened to draw the feds off his family, and keep the heat turned way up, Simon was wlling to kill anyone and never thought twice about Fi or Sam being "special"
He wanted Mike, to jump through some hoops, and pay for getting the credit of his jobs, now micheal faces a new challenge, that will be revealed in July, however his Mom might just moved to Vegas after all this!