Burn Notice and Leverage

[alias_sqbr]

I keep meaning to post something long and thought-out but I'm just not going to get around to it.

So:

Burn Notice and Leverage are both fun, amusing, likable ex-cons/spies-on-capers-helping-the-little-guy shows. If you like that sort of thing you should check them out.

Burn Notice is about Michael, a spy who finds himself "burned" (kicked out and blacklisted) for no apparent reason. The overarching plot is him trying to figure out who burned him and why (this plot progresses at a satisfying pace throughout the 3 seasons I've seen) while making cash in the meantime as a sort of private detective/enforcer type, using his spy training and help of his ex-IRA ex-girlfriend and retired-spy buddy (BRUCE CAMPBELL) to totally kick the ass of the local low-lives in satisfying ways. One flaw is that beyond the gratuitous random shots of bikinis it's so racist that Cam found it annoying: the characters who aren't white and american are all fairly well developed but their plots are ALWAYS(*) stereotypical to their ethnicity ie black character-> hip hop and gangs, russian-> russian mafia and people smuggling etc, and white american bad guys only pick on white american victims (and are "better quality" criminals like con artists, not thugs and mobsters etc).

Leverage is about an ex insurance investigator who ends up (in a somewhat implausible way :)) running group of ex-cons who basically go around randomly helping people using their various skills on capers to bring down bad guys the law can't touch. Season one didn't have an overarching plot so much as it introduced a loose thread in one episode and then tied it off in the finale but it is fun, and more of an ensemble show. And I LOVE the characters. Hardison is this total geek in a "the writers have met actual geeks" sort of way, you have Lyndsey from Angel with a hilariously bad haircut, and Parker is just..ah it's awesome. (Sorry, ran out of squee spoons :))

(*)With one exception(**), the spotting of which is left as an exercise for the viewer.
(**)Yes, in three seasons! Admittedly we may have forgotten one, but there certainly weren't many.

Comments

[lizbyrd.livejournal.com]

Hee, I just posted about Leverage too! The sqbr seal of approval means I probably will keep watching.

his ex-IRA ex-girlfriend and retired-spy buddy (BRUCE CAMPBELL)
I-I assume that these are two separate people.

Might check out Burn Notice too, but with over 2 seasons of Psych to go as well as Leverage it'll have to go on, well, the back burner. As it were.

[ataxi.livejournal.com]

Burn Notice is mkay -- we watched the first few eps at the very start of last year. Bruce Campbell's role is a bit of a let down, gender politics wise it's about as advanced as a Bond movie, and racial politics wise it reminds me of The Fast and the Furious (which is hardly a recommendation either). Total Cult of the Low stuff.

[ariaflame.livejournal.com]

The ex-IRA ex-girlfriend is played by Gabrielle Anwar who you might recognise as having been in Press Gang if you were a teen at the right time. Main reason I watched it to start with.

I shamefully confess I didn't even notice the stereotyping as my brain had already labelled it as 'light fluff mostly, don't worry about realism'

[alias_sqbr]

I didn't really notice it either till Cam pointed it out, but once I started keeping track it became increasingly disturbing.

[alias_sqbr]

Yes, your post reminded me. (ie I STOLE YOUR IDEA)

I-I assume that these are two separate people.

Heh. Yes :)

[capnoblivious.livejournal.com]

Aww!

[strangedave.livejournal.com]

I'm enjoying Leverage as light entertainment. Not deep, but the best episodes are really fun. And obviously written by geeks (eg all their aliases in the plane episode). And the one character you didn't mention is perhaps my favourite, Jane from Coupling as a con-woman. Though all the characters are pretty good, which is why the show works.

[alias_sqbr]

She didn't quite grab me as much, though she plays the part well.

[greteldragon.livejournal.com]

Is Burn Notice as much fun as Leverage? Because I really enjoyed Leverage though that kind of show isn't usually my thing.

[alias_sqbr]

HMM. I'd say no, though it's just as enjoyable in it's way, if you like that sort of thing. It's more spies and espionage and explosions, less cute geeky fun.

Your question inspired me to ponder what I like more about Burn Notice, so you have only yourself to blame if I wrote tl;dr meta on the subject :D

[aquaeri.livejournal.com]

Every so often Leverage reminds me too much of Hustle which I am sure was an inspiration. It does better when it's being its own thing. I've also found out that the first season was not broadcast in the true order, but some other order the network thought was better for introducing the concept. Apparently there is real character arc when you see the episodes in the right order, and at my house we're thinking about trying that.

(Haven't seen the other, not as interested.)

[alias_sqbr]

I haven't seen Hustle. But that thing about the episode order intrigues me...

[aquaeri.livejournal.com]

Remember the Bank Job, where they are smuggling that briefcase around? And how it was the second episode shown? In story order, it comes much later in the season and some of the things the characters are saying to each other, which you don't notice when it's the second episode of a new show, apparently have much more significance.

[alias_sqbr]

Ahh. You know Cam pointed out it felt like it should have been much later in the show. I watched the episodes out of order anyway so that didn't help :) (We saw the last 3 on tv before watching the rest)