Premiering this Week: Burn Notice Second Season

Posted on July 8, 2008

We just finished watching the first two episodes of Burn Notice -- and they are awesome. This is smart, funny, wildly entertaining tv. The kind that there just isn't enough of.

When we left spy Michael Weston at the end of season one, he was driving into the back of a large semi trailer as part of a deal to find out who "burned" him, making him persona non grata in the CIA and leaving him stranded in Miami.

Michael (played with deadly aplomb by Jeffrey Donovan) hates Miami and is determined to find out who burned him. With the help of his old FBI friend (played brilliantly by Bruce Campbell) and his ex-girlfriend, the lethal Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar), Michael investigates what appears to be a conspiracy to oust him. To make ends meet, he does some detective work and helps people in need. Oh, and he gets nagged by his mother (Sharon Gless). She nags a lot, actually.

In season two, Michael is forced to go back to work for the people who burned him, although he still doesn't know who they are. But they have the key to his future, so he plays along. His new handler is the evil Carla (Battlestar Galactica's Tricia Helfer). Carla wouldn't be so bad, except she keeps threatening his mom's life. The first season was great, but if the first two episodes we saw are any indication, the second season will be even better. Matt Nix, the creator and main writer for the series, keeps the dialogue snappy and smart. And there is no one who does better with snappy and smart dialogue than Bruce Campbell. Jeffrey Donovan plays it just right: he seems smart, lethal and yet he still dutifully shows up when his mother demands that he fix her coffeemaker.

Matt Nix throws in McGyver-like ingenuity, lots of action and great scenery. And Michael's droll voiceovers about everything from his favorite weaponry to how to build a bomb are priceless. Burn Notice premieres this Thursday on USA at 10:00 pm Eastern time.