Burn Notice: "Company Man"

Season 5, Episode 1

Can the show overcome a tired formula?

“We are so close to wrapping this up. Then I can move on.”

-Michael

“Company Man” is going to serve as something like a litmus test for Burn Notice. The show has been on the creative decline since the first half of the second season (and if you don’t agree with that statement, then this review isn’t really geared towards you), with many fans and critics checking out sometime during last season due to how route everything had become. But for those of us that stuck around, last season’s finale, which finally saw Michael coming back into the CIA fold, held a lot of promise, as it afforded to show a chance to slightly reinvent itself.

But here’s the problem with any show on USA: reinvention is not part of their business model. In fact, the network almost seems to pride itself on all of its shows following the same basic format – a case-of-the-week each episode, sprinkled with the tiniest bit of “mythology” – if its past few new shows are any indication. (It’s also evident in the fact that Burn Notice has become less serialized as it’s gone on, no doubt at the network’s behest.) So is this new season reinvented like so many have hoped? Well, it doesn’t appear so, but it has been sprinkled with enough new elements that it has sparked my interest a little bit.

By formatting the show – at least for this episode – around Michaels work with the CIA, and not his vigilante action, the show was able to both have a case-of-the-week as Michael set about hunting down Kessler, yet this case also signified a significant step forward in the show’s overall narrative. Michael finally now has his record cleared, his burn notice lifted. I don’t pretend to remember how or why Michael came to be aligned with the CIA once again – mostly because season four’s arc was basically just a series of McGuffins, another complaint frequently lodged against the show – but I don’t really think that matters. Even if the case here felt like something that Alias did better, it was at least something different, and that lent the episode a bit of interest.

The real problem, at least until I see next week’s episode, is that I’m not entirely sure if this new format is going to stick around, or for how long. Not only would this change seem like something USA would stop before any other scripts got written, but it’s not necessarily the best fit for the show. Even when everything else went south, you could usually count on the easy chemistry between Mike, Fiona and Sam to carry you through the rough patch. But this episode had to put quite a bit of effort into getting those three into the same place. (The same could be said for Jesse, one of last season’s low points, who’s still around for this season, only now he has his own private security firm. Who wants to bet that’ll come up in more than one episode this season?)

This also created some tone problems, as we were too often subjected to the idea that Michael allegiances were being torn between the CIA and his old team, and while that’s not a bad idea in concept, it wasn’t fleshed out beyond the superficial here, which made the repeated references to it all the more annoying. In truth, I was far more interested in the idea of Mike rebelling against the CIA strict protocols, and using his own, far more effective methods instead. Again, while I might be great to just have Mike (and Fiona and Sam, I guess) cutting it up within the confines of an government agency for a change, I’m not sure if the show could survive on this model for long, even if it would finally be the end to so many completely irrelevant/boring missions-of-the-week.

So what should they do? I really have no idea, but it’s got to be something different than what they’ve been doing, and the CIA certainly is different. It may not be better, but at this point in the game, Matt Nix and company have to find some way to shake things up, so they might as well hitch their show to the idea they have now until something better comes along.

Quotes, Etc:

Given the procedural nature of Burn Notice, I find that there’s not much to say about the show, so consider this a one-off review. I may review other, more interesting episode (good or bad), or I may commit to this show weekly if I feel I generates enough buzz on this blog.

“You’d be grumpy too if you had beard that looked that bad.”

“Come on, we can do this the easy way or the way that involves an ambulance.”

“Is it the Batphone?” “Yeah.” “Yeah, duty calls.”

If Michael isn’t part of the US government, perhaps he shouldn’t wear a shirt so similar to Max’s.

Michael’s people: A SEAL and his girlfriend.

“Okay, so this is what out taxpayer dollars are going towards, huh?”

“How long is this going to take Mikey? I’ve got half a bottle tequila waiting for me back in the room. What? They said not to drink the water.”

“You quiero vroom vroom, but as you can see, the car is en fuego.”

“How are you still alive?” “That’s a good question…I eat a lot of yogurt.”

“Next time Tara and Greg Winters take a vacation, you get to cover the upholstery in gasoline.”

Best bit of spy knowledge of the night: Oscillating fan + machine gun = the perfect distraction.