After just one season, critics are raving about Burn Notice, which is already being called one of the most underrated shows today.  As it debuts its second season on Thursday, July 10, the USA Network action comedy may not be as under the radar than it was when it first came out.  Already, television fans are raving about it online and their raves may just catch fire soon.

When we left Michael Westen, masterly played by Jeffrey Donovan on Burn Notice's season 1, he was as good as dead, his family and associates thought he was, at least.  He was issued a burn notice, basically an official statement from intelligence agencies disenfranchising a spy, declaring him unemployable and unreliable for one reason or another, freezing his assets, and being under threat of being killed if you leave one predetermined location.  It's a fate almost as bad as death, Westen finds out.

As hard as it is to believe, however, things actually turn worse for Westen, as he literally walks into a gun fight, surrounded by dead bodies with police sirens blaring in the distance.  Then he gets a call from a mysterious woman explaining what his assignment was to drop his burn notice.  The ensuing sequences prove the critics' point about the show's soundness in terms of mixing action and comedy, as well as a bunch of reliable actors who make the show really work.

Other than Westen's oddly satisfying blend of boy-next-door and bad-boy aura, the other stars shine as brightly. Bruce Campbell is, of course, perfect in playing former Navy SEAL and agency pal Sam; Gabrielle Anwar plays a tough, emotionally conflicted and dangerous jack-of-all-trades and Westen's ex Fiona; and Sharon Gless fits her role as the Westen's neurotic mother who lets him show off his tender and funny side.  As if that wasn't stellar enough, Battlestar Galactica actress Tricia Helfer joins the cast of Burn Notice as the woman who either burned Westen or working for the people who burned him.

-Glenn Diaz, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: UGO
(Image Courtesy of USA Network)