Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		2.5
Audio		2.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Burn Notice: Season Two Blu-ray Movie Review

A smart, sharp, side-splitting series is hindered by a mediocre AV presentation...

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown June 19, 2009

Let me tell you about a man... a man who used a piece of chocolate to stop an acid leak. A man who cracked an egg to fix a car. A man who transformed a fire extinguisher into a weapon of suitably refined destruction. A mastermind of science and invention who single-handedly inspired an entire generation of wide-eyed children to try and cobble together a flamethrower using a pack of cheap matches and a Shop-vac. His name? Angus MacGyver. Regardless of the situation or looming threat, MacGyver came up with an answer, rolled it inside a perfect solution, and seasoned it with love. I can't even begin to describe the loss I felt when MacGyver, just seven seasons young, was viciously ripped off the air by what I can only assume was a boardroom of executives who enjoyed the taste of a young boy's tears. I suppose that's part of my attraction to Burn Notice, a positively delicious new series that follows the misadventures of a spy spurned by his CIA handlers. Granted, MacGyver used his quick wits and extensive knowledge base to get out of trouble whereas Michael Westen uses his skills to get into the thick of it, but the similarity between the two, as well as their appeal, is undeniable.

A series is only as good as its cast and 'Burn Notice' has an impressive one...

The Changeling's Jeffrey Donovan is Michael Westen, a highly trained, well-intentioned superspy working night and day to track down the person or persons responsible for issuing his burn notice (an order that effectively discredited him in the intelligence community and stranded him in Miami). Friends and allies are few and far between, but Michael has reconnected with a pair of loyal counterintelligence experts, themselves outcasts in their respective worlds: a hot-tempered former flame and ex-IRA operative named Fiona Glenanne (Scent of a Woman's Gabrielle Anwar), and a mild-mannered agency retiree and FBI informant named Sam Axe (man, myth, and legend Bruce Campbell). With Michael's assets frozen by his former employers, the trio tackle side-jobs involving clients who've been conned, muscled, or threatened by a hodgepodge of scum and villainy that includes Miami's finest gang lords, drug dealers, hitmen, and denizens of the night. Relying on every trick and tool in his oh-so-limited arsenal, Michael fights to protect the little guy, discover who betrayed him, and make sense of his sudden predicament.

Over the course of Season Two's sixteen action-packed episodes, Michael and his inseparable cohorts face tougher challenges and more dangerous enemies than ever before. They not only have to square off against a crafty CIA handler named Carla (Battlestar Galactica's Tricia Helfer), they have to keep Michael's mother (Sharon Gless) and brother (Seth Petersen) safe, outwit the Russian mafia, capture a cautious master thief, outflank a talented assassin (Michael Shanks) with mysterious connections to Carla, woo a devilish con-woman (Stacy Haiduk), deal with the arrival of Michael's ex-fiancé, and figure out who's been pulling their strings all along. Through it all, they keep their spirits up, using humor to combat fear and intelligence to stay on top of every deadly development. By the time Burn Notice's second season arrives at its surprisingly bloody finale, Michael's world is left in shambles, the threats to his life have increased tenfold, and anyone who hasn't been able to resist the series' charms will be left wondering what creator Matt Nix has in store for fans who tune in for season three.

Unlike the limp and lifeless thrillers that populate most networks, Burn Notice is a refreshing jolt to the system. Deftly combining hilarious dialogue, indelible characters, and heart-pounding gunplay couldn't have been an easy task; effortlessly infusing genuine soul and an endless stream of handmade weapons and do-it-yourself tricks of the trade into the mix must have been nearly insurmountable. Yet, despite the overwhelming odds against him, Nix pulls off the impossible and delivers the goods on all counts. It helps that Donovan, Anwar, and Campbell masterfully inhabit their characters, using every gesture and expression in their individual repertoires to become Michael, Fiona, and Sam. Donovan chews into each scene and bit of narration, transforming his cheeky spy into the sort of guy you wouldn't mind sharing a blueberry yogurt with. Anwar takes the safety off, lunging into the mix with unbridled impulse and unkempt fervor. Watching her interactions with Donovan is a joy: the two share a fierce chemistry that spills over into their every encounter. And Campbell? Campbell is far more than comic relief. A time-honored drinking buddy, a faithful friend, a slick sidekick, and a crucial part of Michael's ongoing survival... the once-and-future Ash is all these things and more, earning laughs and cheers alike in each and every episode.

Is it perfect? Not quite. Burn Notice follows a formula that can be a tad predictable at times, and Nix's editing is never as precise as I want it to be. Even so, I doubt anyone will be turned off by either. Simply put, the show is an absolute blast that's already earned a sizable cable audience and DVD fanbase. Season Two not only improves upon everything that came before, it sets the stage for what promises to be a thrilling third season. If you haven't had the pleasure of touring Miami's underworld with Michael, Fiona, or Sam, dive in and discover one of the best oft-overlooked gems on television.

Burn Notice: Season Two Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The trick to responsibly evaluating Burn Notice: Season Two's unsightly 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer is figuring out which aspects of the image are a product of intention and which should be attributed to Fox's lackluster presentation. First, the grain. Much like the studio's recent release of 24: Season Seven, every frame of Burn Notice is assaulted by an aggressive sea of persistent salt-and-pepper grain. It's not only a continual distraction, it mercilessly robs the picture of copious amounts of fine detail. Still, regardless of how off-putting the artificial texture can be, it's used by creator Matt Nix to help set the series' appropriately rough-n-tumble tone. So no problem there. Then there's the show's overblown contrast. Miami has never looked so bright (or uncomfortable for that matter): the skies crackle with white heat, skintones are frequently flushed and bronzed, and exterior shadows are unforgiving. However, compared to the second season's unwatchable DVD counterpart, artifacting and crush have been drastically (although not entirely) reduced, colors are more vibrant, and detail (while inconsistent, spotty, and soft... more on that in a moment) benefits from the inherent qualities of high definition. Again, no problem.

That being said, Burn Notice: Season Two is besieged with a slew of technical issues that, quite frankly, stifle what could have been a stunning Blu-ray presentation. First and foremost, the transfer grows increasingly unstable as the season progresses (disc two and three are particularly hit-or-miss). While a handful of episodes (most noticeably "Do No Harm") look substantially better than others, others will make you wince. Whether it can be attributed to uneven contrast leveling, budgetary limitations, unyielding compression, pressing encoding deadlines, or the fact that five to six episodes have been crammed onto each disc in the set, watching the erratic season unfold is a jarring, oftentimes frustrating endeavor. Adding insult to injury, quick cutaway shots of Miami look as if they've been culled from YouTube videos, backgrounds are repeatedly afflicted with digital anomalies, and some scenes resemble those of an upscaled DVD presentation. Worse still, thick edge enhancement, banding, slight digital tearing, minor color bleeding, mosquito noise, unresolved blacks, aliasing, macroblocking, and every other mishap imaginable pop up to spoil the fun from time to time.

Ultimately, even when I look past the detail-dampening effects of Nix's grit and grain, Burn Notice: Season Two still strikes me as a mess. Its looks marginally better than the DVD, sure... but not nearly enough to earn the wholehearted recommendation I had hoped to give it.

Burn Notice: Season Two Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Unfortunately, Burn Notice: Season Two's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track doesn't improve matters much. For a show seeped in explosions and gunfire, I expected a hearty succession of full-throttle thooms and earthy booms. Instead, I found a dull, sometimes cumbersome series of pulses that struggled to inject weight or menace into the on-screen chaos. Moreover, the rear speakers are surprisingly uninvolving, burdening the front channels with the majority of the work. Action sequences spice things up a bit, but crowds sound too empty, car chases neglect some of the insanity that ensues in the streets, and the Miami locales sound as if they were created on a sound stage. Likewise, the series' soundtrack and score occasionally wax and wane at will, disappearing beneath gunfights when it should be more present, and surging forward when it should be more subdued. More distressingly, dialogue is temperamental -- full and healthy one moment, pinched and hollow the next. Whether characters speak during blazing action sequences or quiet restaurant rendezvous, lines get lost in the shuffle, prioritization is mediocre, and normalization is unwieldy. Thankfully, Donovan's narration doesn't suffer the same fate. Warm and centered, it's easily the most impressive aspect of the mix.

All things considered, Burn Notice hobbles along with a pedestrian lossless track that could use a few lessons in clarity, immersion, and sonic prowess. It isn't as detrimental to the overall AV presentation as season two's video transfer, but it certainly won't draw many audiophiles into Nix's fold.

Burn Notice: Season Two Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Burn Notice: Season Two offers a small but manageable set of special features, all of which appear on the standard DVD. Granted, a trio of audio commentaries and a single behind-the-scenes featurette seems a bit light (particularly in lieu of heftier supplemental packages on the market), but the cast and crew nevertheless provide a fairly engaging account of the show's production.

• Audio Commentaries: "Bad Blood" includes a rapidfire chat with series creator/executive producer Matt Nix, director Ben Watkins, writer Rashad Raisani, and guest stars Rob Benedict, Bronwen Hughes, and Method Man; "Double Booked" earns an informative overview with Nix, director Tim Matheson, writer Jason Tracey, and writer/supervising producer Craig O'Neill; and "Lesser Evil" finds Nix, co-star Bruce Campbell, and supporting actor Michael Shanks effectively lightening the mood with an amusing dissection of the season's various characters and story arcs. The only downside is that Donovan and Anwar are nowhere to be found (or heard as it were).
• NIXin' It Up (SD, 14 minutes): Nix takes center stage, discussing the production of an episode he directed ("Do No Harm"), his style and approach, his work with the cast, his penchant for storyboarding, location scouting, the show's humor and charm, and his young son's first screen role.
• Deleted Scenes (SD, 11 minutes): There's also a rather bland assortment of a dozen deleted scenes -- cut from "Breaking and Entering," "Trust Me," "Comrades," "Double Booked," "Do No Harm," "Truth and Reconciliation," and "Lesser Evil" -- spread across all three discs.
• Boom Notice (SD, 9 minutes): A mildly amusing, tongue-in-cheek parody of the show in which a burned boom operator attempts to help an actor out of a jam.
• Gag Reel (SD, 10 minutes): An unexpectedly infectious batch of crack-ups, line flubs, missed cues, and production gaffes.

Burn Notice: Season Two Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I desperately wanted to shout Burn Notice's praises from the rooftops in the hopes of convincing more people to sample the series. Sadly, a poor AV presentation makes that difficult to do. If you can overlook an at-times troublesome video transfer (that at least offers an upgrade over the standard DVD), plow through an underwhelming DTS-HD Master Audio track, and forgive a modest collection of special features, you'll probably enjoy the show as much as its rabid fanbase. So give it a rent, work through the Blu-ray edition's flaws, and see what you think.