Download Burn Notice Episodes

Episode Number: 16   
Season Num: 2   
First Aired: Thursday July 31, 2008   
Prod Code: n/a

Introduced by Nate, Michael helps a Russian woman named Katya whose sister was smuggled into the U.S. by gangsters. However, Katya cannot afford their extortionate demands and her sister is being held captive.

Cast and Crew

Star:     Jeffrey Donovan (Michael Westen),  Sharon Gless (Madeline Westen),  Gabrielle Anwar (Fiona Glenanne),  Bruce Campbell (Sam Axe)

Recurring Role:     Seth Peterson (Nate Westen)

Download Burn Notice Comrades Episode

USA’s sunny, summery favorite hits DVD with commentary tracks and a bikini-reel

Burn Notice,” which premiered on USA last year, is a quintessential summer show. Set against a Miami backdrop that guarantees clear blue skies and writhing, tanned hardbodies, “Burn Notice” is flashy, clever and tightly paced.

As unceremoniously unemployed intelligent operative Michael Wesson and his IRA-trained ex-girlfriend Fiona, Jeffrey Donovan and Gabrielle Anwar are one of TV’s best-looking duos, while Bruce Campbell and Sharon Gless provide capable support along with a rotating cadre of guest villains and damsels-in-distress. The first season of “Burn Notice,” on DVD Tuesday (June 17) in anticipation of the next round of new episodes, isn’t anything more than bubble gum, but given its thin premise — Mike’s stuck in Miami trying to find out who burned him and why — it keeps its flavor far longer than one might expect.

Watched in a large burst — say, 11 episodes in a week — and “Burn Notice” remains diverting, but it also becomes a bit repetitive. There are only so many times you can watch somebody take apart a cheap cell phone, bug a car or mix up low-grade explosives in the kitchen and the show’s main character seems to do all three in every single episode. Also, the integration of the show’s procedural aspects — usually simple cases requiring complicated undercover hijinx — and the ongoing serial aspects — Mike only seems to gain new info in the last five minutes of every episode — is pretty shoddy.

DVD Bonus Features:

The Good: “Burn Notice” isn’t a spectacularly deep or complicated show, but Donovan, Anwar, Campbell, Gless and creator Matt Nix take the time to do scene-specific commentary on every single episode under the menu heading “Get Burned.” More involved episodes have commentary on eight or nine scenes, while some of the episodes in the middle only have three or four scenes. Campbell’s legion of fans won’t be surprised to know that his insights are the funniest and smartest, though he usually takes a back seat to the rest of the gang in the booth. At their best, the comments cover the interesting aspects of shooting on location and working off a relatively small budget. At their worst, the cast members just laugh at how funny they are, leaving viewers on the outside.

The Bad: The last disc in the four-disc set contains only one episode, the two-hour finale, so it also includes a series of mostly banal little featurettes, mostly hastily assembled montages of different familiar aspects of the show. There’s a character montage, an assortment of action scenes and a by-the-numbers gag reel. For many viewers, the highlight will be the “Girls Gone ‘Burn Notice’” featurette, a two-minute rush of bikinis and short skirts. Thrown together in a rush, they make a cohesive argument that “Burn Notice” may be the “Baywatch” of its generation. The package also includes Donovan and Anwar’s audition reels. Straight forward behind-the-scenes featurettes are usually dull, but “Burn Notice” suffers from the absence of that kind of basic doc.

“Your mission, should you choose to accept it…”

Oops, sorry, wrong spy show, but the declaration stands: Your mission is to catch up on Burn Notice by the time season two premieres—Thursday, July 10 at 10 p.m.! (Tip: The Burn Notice season one DVD came out Tuesday.)

I recommend the whole kit and caboodle of Burn Notice without reservation, and if you won’t take my word, then at least listen to dreamy star Jeffrey Donovan, who said, “It’s a summer show, there’s nothing else on, it’s got action, and there are some pretty hot women on the show.” Touché.

Stars Donovan and Bruce Campbell just took the time to chat about the season, and they were as witty and astute as their characters, Michael and Sam. Click in to find out about Tricia Helfer’s incoming character, Carla, and more inside scoop on the series…

Michael’s Old Ladies: There are two ladies in Michael’s life (his mom and his love interest), and they are simultaneously beloved and a pain in the bunda. When asked about the fiery Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar), Donovan said, “That’s a crazy relationship that’s going to have its ups and downs. It’s gonna go left, right and all around.” (Go forward! Go forward!) Jeffrey also said Michael’s relationship with his mom, Madeline (Sharon Gless), will be getting a little more settled this season: “The writers have brought her more into a personal connection with Michael Westen, so I think you’re going to see more of a true mother-son relationship.” Sweet.

Guest-Star Fiesta: Jeffrey spilled a little bit about the mysterious and dangerous Carla (Helfer), “You are actually going to meet Ms. Helfer in the flesh. She’s behind a lot of things that held Michael back, and you realize she’s actually controlling his life. She’s very evil and sexy at the same time.” Bruce: “That’s evexy.” Apparently Tricia was in and out of Burn Notice’s Miami set in a flash. (Cylons are nothing if not efficient.) According to Jeffrey , “She shot all of her stuff in one day. I wish I had her agent.” Jeffrey also revealed that Method Man guests in episode six.

Fermented or Demented? There’s no specific secret behind Michael Westen’s yogurt fetish, but Donovan and Campbell enjoy it as a gag. According to Jeffrey, “It was just something that was written into the script by Matt. For some reason every time I open the fridge, it says, ‘All there is is yogurt.’ And then when Sam joins me, it’s beer. So I’m living on yogurt and beer, and that’s how I stay so thin.” Bruce added, “Some things have been added to the fridge this year—because Sam hangs out there a lot. So pickles have been added, and there may be hard-boiled eggs coming up sometime later.” Oops, should have mentioned: Spoiler alert!

What’s to Come: “I love the second-season scripts,” Jeffrey says. “They’re even better than the first season, and I think the first season was pretty darn good in and of itself. The ratings are not up to me, they’re up to the general public, and if they go up or down we’re still going to do the same thing we did last year, which is make the show we’d watch. And that’s what we’re doing this year again.” Yay!

If you’re already a Burn Notice fan, post in the comments and tell your fellow readers what they’re missing if they haven’t given this show a shot. (That is your mission and you must accept it.)

Episode Number: 14    Season Num: 2    First Aired: Thursday July 17, 2008    Prod Code: n/a

At Sam’s request, Michael helps a waitress named Sophia who is being stalked. However, Sam and Michael later learn that Sophia is not who she claims to be.

Download Turn and Burn Episode

Michael is hired by Trevor, a former “wheelman” who’s gone straight. However, Trevor is being pressured into working an upcoming jewel heist by his old boss, Timo, and fears for his family’s safety.

Introduced by Nate, Michael helps a Russian woman, Katya, whose sister was smuggled into the U.S. by gangsters; however, Katya cannot afford their extortionate demands and her sister is being held captive.

Andy, a cell-phone salesman, was conned into investing in a fake Cuban nightclub. Michael helps Andy when the people he borrowed the money from (loan sharks) come knocking.

At Sam’s request, Michael helps a waitress named Sophia who is being stalked. However, Sam and Michael later learn that Sophia is not who she claims to be.

Michael helps a computer tech named Jimmy whose wife and daughter were kidnapped.

Star: Sharon Gless (Madeline Westen),  Gabrielle Anwar (Fiona Glenanne),  Bruce Campbell (Sam Axe),  Jeffrey Donovan (Michael Westen)

Michael must rescue Sam from heroin smugglers, who happen to be ex-Special Forces, while also evading agents who are out to get him.