In every episode of Burn Notice, the first thing we here is "My name is Michael Westen. I used to be a spy until...". Well, that doesn't apply anymore, Michael is a spy again. He's not burned, Anson and Card are dead, and it's been nine months since he started working for the CIA. What we get is a very different final season compared to the rest of the series, and it feels a bit odd.
Season 7 is pretty much about Michael being strong-armed by the CIA to infiltrate and take down a criminal organization called "The Family", led by a man named James who uses extreme methods to try and achieve peace in the world. I actually really like the antagonists of this season, James is really charismatic and Sonya's action chops are great. However, while the general concept and storyline of this "family" is somewhat enjoyable, it doesn't quite feel like this is the right show for it. With the burn notice pretty much resolved and nine months transpiring since Season 6, this entire season feels pretty far removed from the rest of the show (hey, this sounds familiar). I've mentioned this before, but it's very hard to pull off a time jump well without the show feeling drastically different and disconnected from what came before. As a matter of fact, the season doesn't feel like Burn Notice, it feels like the final season of a certain other action thriller I've reviewed, criminal "family" and all. I mean, we even have a drug-induced torture scene, albeit with Michael being the victim this time. The only problem is that while 24 manages to be tense due to its usage of countdowns and world-ending stakes, I never felt any tension with James's family. I never got the impression that they were about to do anything catastrophically dangerous if Michael didn't stop them in time.
But if there's anything I can somewhat get behind this season, it's the characters. Season 7 feels like a character study of Michael as a person, deconstructing his motivation to rejoin the CIA and explaining why it's such a bad idea, between how it alienates his friends, causes him to lose everything he cares about, and forces him to do things he doesn't find morally right. My favorite thing this season did was in the last few episodes, where he becomes so disillusioned with the CIA that he presumably joins the bad guys. However, all this great character work also means he's pretty disconnected from the rest of the cast (especially when he goes undercover halfway through), and since Michael is the main character, it means the side characters tend to get the short end of the stick this season. However, what we do get from the other characters are some of the best material of the season. Madeline is pretty great, especially her sacrifice at the end of the season, and the time she gets to spend with Fiona is great. The real highlight is Sam and Jesse, though. Sam's tension with Michael has always been really compelling, but it's really good here and lets Bruce Campbell really show his acting chops. But on the more comedic note, I also love Sam and Jesse's buddy cop routine that they have throughout the season. They have a really enjoyable and fun dynamic and helped to give the season a bit of levity.
Despite my criticisms of Season 7, though, the final three episodes are some of the best in the whole series:
Tipping Point: The decision to bring back Simon was a stroke of absolute genius. Not only was he one of the show's best yet most underused villains, but it gave some much needed energy to the season, tied things together with the first six seasons, and best of all, served as a catalyst for Michael to (seemingly) join the bad guys by showing just how immoral the CIA can get.
Sea Change: This was my personal favorite episode of the season because of just how much build up there was to it. Ever since around Season 3, Burn Notice dealt with Michael's flirting with the dark side, and this episode shows what would happen if he defected. The final third where Michael faces off with the rest of the team was amazing, and the cliffhanger was great. I also really liked Madeline burning her house, really emphasizing how the series is coming to an end.
Reckoning: This was a pretty fun and action-packed finale which had the team try to take down James while also being fugitives. The whole cast gets something to do (especially Madeline and her great sacrifice), and Michael and Fiona faking their deaths really does feel like the best ending for the characters. The recitations of the title sequence throughout the episode were a bit cheesy, though.
Overall, Burn Notice has always felt like a mixed bag for me, with likable characters and an intriguing mystery but an uneven tone and shaky focus. As a result, I think Season 7 does epitomize the series fairly well. It has some great character work and an incredibly killer ending, but even by this incredibly disconnected final season, it still doesn't feel like Burn Notice knows what it wants to be, a fun Leverage-style Blue Skies show or a darker 24-esque action thriller.
3/5 Stars
My ranking of the Burn Notice seasons is:
6 > 2 > 4 > 3 > 7 > 5 > 1
My ranking of the Burn Notice finales is:
2 > 4 > 3 > 7 > 6 > 5 > 1
Favorite Episode: Bad Breaks
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