Burn Notice (TV Series) Reckoning (2013) User Reviews

A Perfect End for Michael Westen

[realtvhrdbfq-1 · 10/10 · 14 September 2013]

I really can't remember when I started to watch Burn Notice. It looked like snacks to me, comparatively to "main course" (you name it, series that are watched more and drew more attention). But as I watched, the characters got to me. This is one thing that makes a production good: Believable character development. Burn Notice is one of the finest examples of that.

5th and 6th seasons were kind of drag, it didn't impress me that much that some psychologist came along and toy with Michael. But, last season hit me off guard. That James fellow, he should have come 2 seasons earlier. Yet it was a nice thing to see a "good" villain in the show. Previous bad guys were just some handlers, they were just some steps in a ladder. But James Kendrick was a lot more than that. Thanks to this fresh start, 7th season was one of the greatest things I have ever seen on TV. Torture scene, relationship between Michael and Sonya, Michael's eventual betrayal, and his final choice between Sonya and Fiona, were simply breathtaking. As Michael said, in the season all lines were blurred. Even I couldn't pick a side, it was like bad guys vs less bad guys, and Matt Nix and other writers managed this mess with near perfection.

And finally, Michael made the perfect choice. He didn't choose CIA or this mysterious network. He simply did choose Fiona. He did choose love over many many things, not to mention the known sacrifice to you all. I have to say that too: I have dreamed that when all of this is over, Michael and Fi got to some tropic island, and live the rest of their lives together. Well, Matt Nix chose a cabin in the woods.

Thanks to Matt Nix, all writers, all lead and supporting actors. I know this is not the best show ever, I know it had flaws. But, who cares? Who cares while a "spy show" makes you feel like that.

About as good a way to end as you can do ......

[janajelich · 9/10 · 5 January 2017]

*** Spoilers ahead ****** Well my Burn Notice binging is done. The creators ended this about as well as I thought they could, especially as some other shows show it is not always pretty (see Castle for instance!). The Maddy ending was terrific, did not see that coming (although how many folks have C4 improv charges sitting around; oh yeah, the Westins do). But anyway, tying up a full season story arc, major league explosions, and leaving a possibility of a future project, not bad at all. Tying in the several lines from the beginning was a warm fuzzy for a finale. I'm sure the city of Miami hated this ending, no more free publicity and TV crews roaming the city..... oh well, at least I finished without going ugh. On to the next binge worthy show.

Fitting end to a classic summer show

[sdshah · 9/10 · 21 September 2013]

Was this the best show on television? No, not by a long shot, with The Wire, The Sopranos, Mad Men, Game Of Thrones, Breaking Bad, Sherlock, etc. airing during the seven-year period of this show. However, it was superb summer entertainment, and it occasionally surpassed its summer slot to become compelling prime-time-worthy character drama. I watched the show for three reasons: 1) the relationship between Michael and Fiona (one of my favorite female characters on TV, though a bit simplistic in the long run), 2) the relationship between Michael and Sam Axe (without question my favorite bro-mance on TV), and 3) the relationship between Michael and his mother, Madeline Westen. That last reason is probably the main reason I tuned in - it was so easy to see Madeline's survivor strength in Michael that I have a hard time figuring out whether that is because of the genius of Sharon Gless' performance or the writing from Matt Nix. Probably a little bit of both in the end.

In any case, the interplay between the main characters (Michael, Fiona, Sam, Madeline) rang true to an extent that I am convinced this is the reason the show lasted seven years and became the pioneer of the current USA critical renaissance. The spy and action stuff almost became secondary to this core. In later seasons, it became clear that the show had lost its creative juice - plots were recycled (Fiona's multiple ex-boyfriends), characters re-hashed old footsteps (Michael gets in too deep pyschologically and has to be brought back to reality by his support system), and the show became repetitive. This happens to most shows after year 5 on the air - it's really tough to manufacture new and innovative situations with the same bunch after a certain amount of time. Law and Order fans can suck a lollipop because the show lived on recycling ADAs, cops and yanked-from-headlines-plots after basically year 3 (of the original and all spin-offs).

That much being said, I liked the finale, and the way Matt Nix managed to work in the intro lines for each character - Fiona: 'Shall we shoot them?', Sam: 'You know spies, ...', and finally 'My name is Michael Westen, I used to be a spy...' at the very end. I would have liked to have seen Jesse get a chance to say 'That's how we do it people', but he gets a great sequence in the middle of the episode telling Maddie how he's found a new family. I teared up during that scene, and during the last convo between Michael and Maddie, and Maddie's last line: 'This one's for my boys.' What a perfect way to exit, stage left, for one of my favorite maternal characters on TV, ever. Some things about the ending weren't surprising - you had to figure Michael and Fiona would end up together (especially after Carlos was almost unceremoniously dismissed a couple eps prior), and in a remote location (I guessed beach, we get snow-covered cabin). Frankly, I thought someone would die, but I guessed Sam Axe making a sacrifice (a la pseudo-Chewbacca style) to convince his best bud Mike to end things for good. Maddie blowing up a few guards struck me by surprise (and I'm not the only one, it seems).

Sharon Gless' joke at the end was that there were no spin-offs in Maddie's future - and in a cynical way, it's hard to argue. Frankly, any spin-off / reunion TV movie is better served with her absence and the presence of the main core (Michael, Fiona, Sam) than any other variation. It's just that her presence grounded the whole endeavor - she was always the savvy civilian in the whole fiasco, and her real-world sensibility always acted as an anchor to the covert-craziness suggested by the others. Now we have no balance / check for when Sam or Fiona wants to go off half-cocked to bust some heads. Well, anyways, I'll be first in line if a reunion movie happens and Sam / Jesse gets reunited with Mike / Fiona / half-grown Charlie on some crazy mission to reunite the Dalai Lama with the long-lost Zen Spear of Chaos. I don't like that the finale split the team apart, and I suppose that's the sign of a good finale - the quoting of Emily Dickinson: 'Parting is all we know of heaven, and all we need of hell'.

Blech. I will now be drinking some whiskey to wash that out of my head... darn these emotions.

Great

[aaaaaron-frannnnnnnn · 9/10 · 6 April 2021]

Pretty stinkin good!

Only reason it's not a 10/10, is because the episode seemed rushed. The reason why so much of the world like Japanese shows is because the 2nd to the last episode is usually the final resolution, then we get a whole episode of recap/epiloge which shows a long "sail into the sunset". This helps us feel the closure we deserve.

For American shows, as fantastic as they are, the final resolution happens when there is 5 min left in the last episode, and we only get 5 min of epiloge.

Wonderful quirky fun to start and serious ending

[criscrossin · 8/10 · 4 May 2020]

I started loving this series because of it's pop american style with fast cuts, jump sequences of editing, humorous quips and sassy dialogues, and the great filming of the locale. It became monotonous after 2-3 seasons. Season 4-5 were particularly drab and the characters became routines, conservative, rehashes. Seemed forced. Again from 6th season onwards things started moving up. Season 7 was a fantastic one, but it totally deviated from it's main theme. Probably that's for the better. It became serious. Lots of grandstandings, moral ethical dilemmas for the main leads. Fiona's character changed drastically to being choirgirl almost, from a funloving trigger happy girl. That and Sam also turning into a homebody, changed the scenario of the series. It hurt it. Anyhow the final season , though different in essence , recouped a lot. Lot of us shed tears for the sacrifices. Michael became sterner and his mind was tortured so much that he couldn't find the right way. This inevitably went towards finishing off the series. There was no way forward after this. They always had a small side story taking the show forward in between the starting bigger story and ending with it. The smaller story took the characters forward which somehow could adjust and settle the characters in our mind. This stories became repetitive, which was bound to happen. So probably it was required to put in a big black mission in the middle of the whole season and finish it off. Finally difficult to believe that these group being divided now will remain so forever. I want them seriously to have a get together again and lots of new adventures.

Season 7: Enjoyable in its darkness and unexpected tone, but it is a big (mostly misjudged) jump away from why we watched this show for so many years

[bob the moo · 7 January 2014]

Having spent five seasons providing glossy light entertainment in a polished and disposable fashion, the sixth season of this show decided to get a bit more edgy, more dramatic and took a noticeable step away from being throwaway fun for everyone to enjoy and being more focused and seemed to be taking itself more seriously. At the time I felt that generally it had worked but that it had changed the nature of the show a bit too much. In hindsight though this was nothing compared to the changes coming into the final season – a season which is noticeable for suddenly being darker, violent, taking itself very seriously and, while still enjoyable, is a lot less "fun" than it has been in the many years prior.

And it is not just in one way, the change is across the board and is so definite that it can only be by design and I really am not sure why this change was made. If I had to guess then I would say it is because it is a show that has run for 7 years and, while throwaway plots, funny lines and general clean fun is all well and good, after seven years maybe they wanted to feel that they had done something more worthy – by which I mean more "serious". On this front mission accomplished. We pick up the story after the end of the last season with Michael working for that bloke from Heroes at the CIA, going undercover to infiltrate the organization of that other guy from Heroes in order to make him inform on those higher up the tree. By doing this we see Michael as we haven't really seen him before; we have seen him be resourceful of course but here it is really "whatever needs to be done is getting done" which includes killing in cold blood and standing by as others take the blame for his undercover work and get killed in place of him. On top of this he acts out in other ways including losing himself emotionally, being broken down in torture sequences and killing out of rage rather than necessity.

This serious material is not balanced out with the usual gloss; it still is disposable in a way and polished, but it is polished to look gritty and dark, not bright and sunny and slick as it always has been. In season 6, where this started, we had lots of in-jokes, gag material and a sense of fun which more than retained the strengths of the show. In this season we really have nothing – barely a joke about chins, not a comedy sub-plot, nothing, indeed I think "bald guy and the chin" is about the height of it. Everything is deadly, everything is urgent and we are never allowed to relax and enjoy the show as light entertainment. Suffice to say that this season is not Burn Notice, this is something else; but this is not the same as saying that whatever this season is that it cannot also be good but in a different way.

To view the season on its own merits and for itself, it is still a decent story but it is mainly this because it feels so different that it keeps the viewer on edge wondering what will happen next, what will Michael have to do, what consequences will come about to him or others? It is dark but being Burn Notice it isn't dark as deeply as it thinks it is; so it is still kept moving and polished and this superficiality does hurt the material a bit because of how hard it pushes to be taken seriously and be dark. But for events and action it moves forward well enough and breaks it down into entertaining episodes that breakout well around the commercials (which like it or not is a skill TV writers need). It does get a bit tiring though and, as someone who has enjoyed the bubblegum nature of the previous seasons, I did generally find it disappointing that the final season would suddenly want to give viewers something else – particularly since we're still watching after seven years, so we're probably totally OK with more of the same or we would have stopped watching.

The cast don't cope particularly well with the change. Donovan is great as part of polished slickness because that is what he is, however to have this dark and complex (albeit superficially) he is asked to do more and, while he can do whatever you want in any given scene (sexy, relaxed, confident, authoritative) he is not as good when it comes to making a character and blending through that character. Of course he is much better than Anwar who looks weaker and weaker the more she is asked to do. Gless throws herself into her serious material and does OK which just leaves Campbell and Bell. They seem out of it. They do their "helping out Mike" stuff well but it is very prescribed and although they are still fun as actors, the material is not there as much for them – both do well but compared to previous season you could rely on these guys to bring fun and puncture any sense of self-importance in the show; not the case this time.

Season 7 just about works but not as the seventh season of Burn Notice, but as a spin off that is more serious, darker and not as much fun to watch. The actual conclusion has aspects that work but mostly it feels too much like the series finale of Dexter with illogical parts which seem too tidy to accept. It works for what it is – but it is a long way from where the show was at its glossy, fun height.

Fantastic ending...

[tarascopablo · 10/10 · 9 September 2023]

I have always stated that Burn Notice had its best seasons from 1 to 3. The characters used to be funnier, smarter and the plots seemed more coherent. Then the level dropped drastically for seasons 4 and 5 only to gain back momentum during S6. Season 7 feels completely different, with arcs basically having nothing to do with the whole series. New characters are introduced and the main villain is really evil but the Sonya character is fantastic, likeable and actually well written.

The dynamic for the titular characters has changed with Michael gone for over a year and Fi with a new boyfriend and yet, every episode brings each of them closer as they are trying to salve themselves from themselves.

The ending is satisfying for a quick paced season and for the series as a whole.

Things could have been done differently but this ending still works.

Good ending?

[cudax · 8/10 · 30 October 2021]

I figured it out before hand, or I predicted the way it would end, although I didn't predict that Maddy was going to die to save the others and especially little Charlie.

I found it interesting that Michael, Fiona and Charlie in a picture postcard English cottage is the same one used in the movie "The Holiday"

It's over..FINALLY! Michael Turns Back from the Dark Side..

[eti55 · 6/10 · 13 September 2013]

After two great seasons of what was one of the most quirky, clever shows ever on TV, Burn Notice degenerated into taking itself far too seriously, sucking the life out of its main characters, falling back on tired clichés (i.e. love triangles), recycling plot lines, failing to explain certain things (the latest example being just what WAS James' organization and what were its objectives?), and generally getting darker, weirder and more depressing.

People who have been following all of this know that Michael Westen has been on a deep cover assignment for nearly a year. He has to not only see the assignment through, but succeed, or else he and his family and friends will all go back to prison for shenanigans which occurred in previous seasons. Trouble is, he's become more and more sympathetic with his targets, James and Sonja (Michael has been sleeping with the latter..hey, Fiona had gotten herself a b/f so fair's fair). Then Michael discovers that the CIA guy pulling his strings is willing to use one of Michael's old enemies on the op, a murderous sociopath named Simon. Michael seemingly switched sides, briefly, before Fi, Sam et al "rescue" him (Michael got flakier and flakier as the series progressed...or regressed).

All that's the setup, bringing us to this, the finale, which really started in the previous couple of episodes. First, you find out (spoiler!) that Michael does not stand by and let Sonja blow away Fi (which is where the previous episode left off). No surprise. Even with as much as the producers compromised the characters, there's no way they could take it that far. Nonetheless, things do get ugly. There's the final showdown with Michael's latest nemesis/svengali, James. And yes, one of the main characters doesn't make it out alive. The ending is a happy one, albeit bittersweet, but the road there was not only really dark and grim, but longer than it needed to be.

One thing Burn Notice had going for it early on was its sense of humor, which got lost along the way. Even the occasional attempts at levity seemed forced. This was especially true of Sam Axe, who went from being this wisecracking drunken washout ex navy seal to being being serious, brooding, and generally no fun. Fi was always a pain in the ass, but early on she was interesting and sassy. Later not only was she less fun, but she wasn't even so "trigger happy" anymore. In fact, in an earlier season 7 episode she's extremely judgmental over Michael for allowing a guy who left her to die to get killed in front of him. The old Fi would have had no qualms about wasting him herself.

The bottom line is that by the end I didn't like the people in Burn Notice nearly as much as I liked them in the beginning, and as a result didn't care nearly as much about what happened to them (although the finale got me to care a bit more again, so in that sense it succeeded). When Burn Notice first aired, the show seemed to have a twinkle in its eye, which, alas, it subsequently lost. But I still have seasons 1 and 2 on DVD to watch, back when the show was as funny as it was gripping.

Poor conclusion

[TankerToad · 5/10 · 28 June 2020]

After 7 years, I said you know what, I never finished burn notice.

Yikes. Entire tone changed. Not a solid conclusion. In the 10th or 11th episode of season 7, I was like , oooh, they're not gonna be able to wrap this up properly.

I wish shows realized that 3 to 5 years is the better model. It seems that a season 8 was planned and then didn't happen. Very terrible fan service for a show that had done very well.

Take care Burn Notice.

Should Had Been a Two Parter

[shelbythuylinh · 7/10 · 5 December 2021]

In.the series finale. As Michael must win back the trust of those he betrayed. And that he is forced to shoot James who vows revenge.

In addition to trying to get to choose between Sonya or Fiona there. Aka Fi. As now that the CIA handler must cut off deals to his loved ones there. As his own career is in jeopardy now.

Thrills all around. And really wished that it would had been two parts not just one. Like one reviewer says it was indeed forced.

You will find out the exciting ending.

Daft ending

[tapgsp · 4/10 · 25 September 2021]

Michael's sudden switch from the dark side to the light in the final two episodes was just unbelievable.

Also, time characters took to complete straightforward tasks when under threat was ridiculous.

Overall, Donovan seems to regard shouting as good acting but it's just painful to watch, also Donovan can't do accents so he should stick to US accents or do some accent classes.

Also, too many episodes meant that many of the plots of the week were too weak.

Binged watched it but I'll never go back and watch it again.

Soap Opera Trash

[drexmaverick · 6/10 · 6 March 2021]

The entire last season was destroyed by writing Fiona with a another man, making her character a double minded hypocrite, and justifying Weston sleeping with the enemy. Its bad story writing! Fiona had to be dumped to go back to him. That's so sad!