Prepare to get burned once again as Season 2 of this fantastic series returns to DVD. The characters are the same and this features more of the fine rapport set up in season 1 but also adds some mystery as Western starts to find out who burned him and what they want.
Michael Western (Jeffrey Donovan) was once a spy but was unceremoniously given a burn notice. This meant that his controlling agency severed all ties with him and he was left floundering on an assignment that nearly got him killed. He did escape and wound up in Miami with his hypochondriac mother Madeline (Sharon Gless), ex-girlfriend Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar), and retired agent Sam Axe (Bruce Campbell).
Western needs cash so he starts taking unlicensed private investigator work and freelance spying gigs, but he still is trying to find out who sent the burn notice and why. He does find out the who as the mysterious Carla (Tricia Helfer) inserts herself into his life and forces him to do jobs for her mysterious organization.
Carla threatens Michael’s friends and family and has him doing tasks that will eventually lead to a greater assignment. However, Michael gets wise and begins to turn the tables on her and her mysterious organization.
The reasons that you get addicted to television shows are the characters and Burn Notice offers up a wonder triumvirate of them. Well, it might be a quad-umvirate if you throw in Sharon Gless as Michael’s mom. However, it’s Jeffrey Donovan, Gabrielle Anwar, and the legendary chin Bruce Campbell that make the show with their interplay.
This season does clear up some of the mystery behind the burn notice that Michael got and adds a mysterious organization for him to run afoul of in upcoming seasons perhaps. It’s nice to see the interaction of our leads, but Donovan also gets to play cat and mouse with Tricia Helfer.
The show tends to lean more towards the mythos plotline of the organization, but there are some of the part-time bits in which Western engages in. As well as dealing with his friends and family. It’s a fun show but does offer some suspense this season. It’s all about the characters and Burn Notice is full of wonderful portrayals.
Burn Notice is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Special features on disc one include deleted scenes from “Breaking and Entering” (1 minute), “Trust Me” (2 minutes), and “Comrades” (42 seconds). Disc two has a commentary with series creator/executive producer Matt Nix, director Ben Watkins, writer Rashad Raisani, and actors Rob Benedict, Bronwen Hughes and Method Man on “Bad Blood.”
There’s also a commentary with Nix, director Tim Matheson, writer Jason Tracey and producer Craig O’Neill on “Double Booked” plus 3 minutes of deleted scenes for this episode. Disc three has the 14 minute “Nixin’ it up on Burn Notice” which sits down with the series creator to talk about the show as well as his direction of an episode. There are also 3 minutes of deleted scenes for “Do No Harm.”
Disc four has a 10 minute gag reel, a deleted scene from “Truth and Reconciliation” (30 seconds). “Lesser Evil” has a deleted scene (25 seconds) and a commentary from Nix and actors Bruce Campbell and Michael Shanks.
It must be the economy because it looks like they wanted to put a slipcover on this set but could only afford one side, so we get a cardboard replica of the case cover glued to the shrink-wrap. Seemed like a waste to me.
Burn Notice continues for a second season with its wonderful characters. The mystery of the burn notice is revealed more in this season, but now there’s a threatening organization behind it that will surely rear its head in upcoming seasons.
Burn Notice: Season Two is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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