Burn Notice Season 3 Episode 1 Friends And Family

Burn Notice Season 3 Episode 1 Friends And Family

i'm 2 seasons late to the Burn Notice party. i regret missing Tricia Helfer. Her character Carla was killed in the 2nd season finale. Fortunately for me the USAnetwork and imdb have full-length eps on line. My preference is the imdb site: better quality video from Hulu and more eps available.

Another lucky thing for others like myself who have just discovered Burn Notice is the way the show plays out---a lot of backstory is given via voice-over narrative from the main character---which makes it easy to get caught up with the characters and the current action. Also after watching the Friends And Family ep on-line, i discovered that the USAnetwork will re-televise the first season's pilot episode at 1:34am on Wednesday June 24, 2009. Firing up the vcr for that one.

A burned spy is one who has been made a non-person. Assets frozen, no social security #, or other I.D.


Fired from the spy game and deemed unreliable. In the Friends And Family ep, burned spy Michael Westen [played by hottie Jeffrey Donovan] is in a helicopter high above his native Miami Florida. He's in a meeting with one of his former bosses aka Management played by John Mahoney.

This being a show about spies, when the meeting concludes, the helicopter doesn't land, instead Michael, wearing a very nice dove grey suit, jumps out, without a parachute, into the Atlantic and swims 5 miles to shore.

i would describe Burn Notice as an action dramedy that's part McGuiver, part A-Team, part Miami Vice. Sharon Gless as Madeline Westen, Michael's mother is the perfect archetype. Even if you're not a spy, i defy anyone to say they do not recognize their own relationship with their mother in the dynamic that happens between Michael and his mother. Marion knows where all Michael's buttons are, and when and how to push them. They are devoted to each other.

Gabrielle Anwar as

Fiona Glenanne is a former member of the IRA and Michael's former girlfriend. Though they're no longer a couple, she and Michael still care for each other and she's working with him to help figure out who burned him and why.


Bruce Campbell [a fav of mine] as Sam Axe, is a former Navy Seal, and a semi-retired special ops man who's also a double-agent, and FBI informant who had ratted Michael out, but is also an old friend who's since offered to help Michael. Sam romances wealthy Miami matrons in exchange for classic cars, shelter, food, and other essentials.

In addition to jumping out of a helicopter without a chute, in the Friends And Family ep, Michael is pursued by the local police, jailed, and upon his release has his shoulder dislocated by a mob boss' muscle, is shot at, several times, punched several times and betrayed and held captive by another former spy buddy. But no worries, no matter how many times this burned spy is in the frying pan, he adeptly escapes the fire. Burn Notice airs Thursdays at 9:00pm on the USAnetwork [please check your local listings].