'Red Widow' Gets The Axe
Comedienne's Second TV Show Canceled This Year
Burn Notice: Question and Answer
by Allison Waldman, posted Jun 12th 2009 9:40AM
(S03E02) I love Sam Axe, which is another way of saying Bruce Campbell makes watching Burn Notice a pleasure. Especially an episode like this one that was all about the chemistry between Sam and Mike when working undercover on a case with a nut job criminal intent on leaving Michael swimming in a pool of his own blood. It's not just Sam that keeps me coming back for more from this show, or the tense but compelling subtext between Fiona and Michael's "is it love?" relationship. By and large, Burn Notice is smart TV. It shows me scenes I haven't seen before on other shows or on the big screen. More on the specifics after the jump, so if you don't want to know because you haven't watched yet, be warned.
I've watched thousands of hours of film, believe me, but reverse interrogation was something new to me. So was the analysis of how to tail someone when Fiona was following Jimmy to Hibiscus Island.
But it was the interrogation that was the centerpiece, and as Sam pointed out, it was a very risky maneuver. Santora's level of violence, in fact, was borderline frightening, especially after the way he beat up the kidnapped boy's father. A lot people get turned off by scenes like this; I don't like it much either, but I think it's realistic. This guy was a kidnapper who was ready to kill the child because he'd seen his face, so he was already looking at hard time. He wouldn't hesitate to stab or shoot first.
As I mentioned at the top, it was really Sam that made the interrogation work. His improvisation about the gun and the way to kill Michael was clever and it worked. The look of the room for the interrogation was also really great -- big, airy, but lit with pools of light including one on Michael in the chair.
There was a new wrinkle in Michael's world in the person of Detective Paxson, Miami P.D. She's a stalker with a badge, determined to snare Michael for the many, many escapades that he's pulled in and around South Beach. She mentioned the three cars he blew up last season for starters. It was refreshing that she was completely unaffected she was by Michael's charm, a point that Fiona was quick to note. Paxson should be a tenacious adversary that we see more of in the weeks ahead. Michael's worst nightmare, indeed.
Did you notice the parallel between the bored henchmen watching baseball and the lame surveillance detail watching Michael's storage unit. In both instances, especially the "water saw to create a back door plan," the guards were definitely the B team.
Other points of interest
-- As comic relief, Michael's birthday party was nice. Sam's gift was appropriately sentimental, a pricey 5-pack of Belgian beer. Fiona's romantic bayonet from WWI, used for hand-to-hand combat. Even better was that she was inspired by Madeline's sage advice: "Loving Michael is always trench warfare."
-- Note to Madeline: next time, buy a birthday cake for Michael. Publix Supermarket has a great bakery that does wonderful things with butter cream.
-- Sam's cherry red Buick is gorgeous, but it's not an all inconspicuous for stakeouts.
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