"A hitman is like a plumber, a dentist or a mechanic. Everybody's always looking for a good one."
Er. Um. I sort of forgot I had the first season of Burn Notice in my Netflix queue, and now that I've watched the first three episodes, I think I may be juuuuuuuust a bit addicted. Like, not to the point where the speed of Netflix isn't enough for me, and not (yet) to the point where I want to hunt down fic, but it's very funny, there's just enough of a serial element to keep my attention, and the characters are intriguing.
I like that while the characters are definitely recognizable types, there are just enough differences to make it feel fresh. For example:
Michael Westen is definitely cut from the same cloth as Harry Dresden, in that he's basically making a living as PI with a soft spot for the downtrodden little guy, and he's often rather hapless. He's just an ex-spy who can construct bombs out of cell phones and chewing gum rather than a wizard who can call up fire with some fake Latin. Okay, and he's also much more morally ambiguous than Harry. But the show uses a lot of freeze frame + voiceovers from Michael, and those voiceovers could be pulled straight from a Dresden Files book, with the same witty and self-deprecating explanations for how/why he's doing something.
Fiona Glenanne reminds me a whole lot of SG-1's Vala, only she's an ex-IRA gunrunner rather than...whatever the hell Vala was. But she's also an independent operator who sees violence as foreplay, schemes all the time except for when she's shooting from the hip (or, perhaps more accurately, throwing Molotov cocktails from the hip), and basically has no brain/mouth filter. Plus she's snarky. Gotta love that.
I like that while, yes, there is an element of will they/won't they to Michael and Fiona's relationship, it's complicated by the fact that they once had a romantic relationship and it ended due to some pretty fundamental reasons (she's trigger-happy, he's not so much; not to mention the fact that he does--or did, anyway--his spy thing legally and she's always worked for bad guys). It's refreshing.
Sam Axe is...well, he's Bruce Campbell doing what he's had twenty years to perfect, so he might be a little predictable, but he's always entertaining. (Actually, Michael is something like the kind of character Campbell would've played about ten or fifteen years ago, heh.)
Madeline Westen, Michael's mother, would apparently have made an excellent mob boss, but chose to go into housewifery instead. You just know she has secrets, and I bet she probably was involved with the mob at some point in her life and just hid it from her son. (Also, she's played by Sharon Gless, aka Cagney, which they totally gave a shoutout to in the second episode by having Fiona and Sam impersonate detectives using those names! I, um, may have had to look that up at IMDB to get the joke.)
I also very much approve of location shooting, and Miami is an excellent location to shoot in. It's so colorful! And there are beaches! And excuses for lots of Samba music! Although I do think the city's skyline is kind of ugly. It looks like most of it was built in the 1960s, and a lot of the buildings have that relentlessly functional Vierendeel truss tube-frame structural system that I really hate. I have seen pictures of Miami's extensive Art Deco district, though, so perhaps the show has filmed/will film there at some point and I will get my fix.
(rowdycamels, after you come off your Fringe bender, you might consider taking this one up. It feels like your kind of show.)
Downside: There are some plot holes you could drive a truck through, but in its defense, I only noticed them after the episodes were over.
*
A meme and questions from kungfuwaynewho:
Comment with "Come at me, bro!"
* I'll respond by asking you five questions so I can get to know you better.
* Update your journal with the answers to the questions.
* Include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions.
1. What is your dream job?
Achievable: Editorial staff at a university press. Getting to read scholarly writing all day and punch it into shape = awesome. I actually like editing more than I do writing.
Not achievable: Showrunner of my own awesome sci-fi TV show. But I know I'm way too much of a control freak over my stuff, and I write way too slowly, for that to work out.
2. Favorite breakfast food?
Belgian waffles. Mmmmm.
3. You're on a road trip, driving at night - what song do you roll down the windows and blare while singing along to?
I haven't ever rolled down my windows and turned up the volume on my car radio, but there are many choices for singing along. At the top, maybe, are Patty Griffin's "Rain" and "Useless Desires."
4. Favorite flower?
I'm partial to daffodils.
5. Death is not an option - Londo or G'Kar?
(I assume this means I have to chose one to sleep with.) If tricksiness is allowed, then S1 Londo, because I could probably get him drunk enough to just fall asleep and make my escape. If I have no access to fermented beverages, then S5 G'Kar.
This entry was originally posted at http://icepixie.dreamwidth.org/786708.html. It has
comments over there.
I like that while the characters are definitely recognizable types, there are just enough differences to make it feel fresh. For example:
Michael Westen is definitely cut from the same cloth as Harry Dresden, in that he's basically making a living as PI with a soft spot for the downtrodden little guy, and he's often rather hapless. He's just an ex-spy who can construct bombs out of cell phones and chewing gum rather than a wizard who can call up fire with some fake Latin. Okay, and he's also much more morally ambiguous than Harry. But the show uses a lot of freeze frame + voiceovers from Michael, and those voiceovers could be pulled straight from a Dresden Files book, with the same witty and self-deprecating explanations for how/why he's doing something.
Fiona Glenanne reminds me a whole lot of SG-1's Vala, only she's an ex-IRA gunrunner rather than...whatever the hell Vala was. But she's also an independent operator who sees violence as foreplay, schemes all the time except for when she's shooting from the hip (or, perhaps more accurately, throwing Molotov cocktails from the hip), and basically has no brain/mouth filter. Plus she's snarky. Gotta love that.
I like that while, yes, there is an element of will they/won't they to Michael and Fiona's relationship, it's complicated by the fact that they once had a romantic relationship and it ended due to some pretty fundamental reasons (she's trigger-happy, he's not so much; not to mention the fact that he does--or did, anyway--his spy thing legally and she's always worked for bad guys). It's refreshing.
Sam Axe is...well, he's Bruce Campbell doing what he's had twenty years to perfect, so he might be a little predictable, but he's always entertaining. (Actually, Michael is something like the kind of character Campbell would've played about ten or fifteen years ago, heh.)
Madeline Westen, Michael's mother, would apparently have made an excellent mob boss, but chose to go into housewifery instead. You just know she has secrets, and I bet she probably was involved with the mob at some point in her life and just hid it from her son. (Also, she's played by Sharon Gless, aka Cagney, which they totally gave a shoutout to in the second episode by having Fiona and Sam impersonate detectives using those names! I, um, may have had to look that up at IMDB to get the joke.)
I also very much approve of location shooting, and Miami is an excellent location to shoot in. It's so colorful! And there are beaches! And excuses for lots of Samba music! Although I do think the city's skyline is kind of ugly. It looks like most of it was built in the 1960s, and a lot of the buildings have that relentlessly functional Vierendeel truss tube-frame structural system that I really hate. I have seen pictures of Miami's extensive Art Deco district, though, so perhaps the show has filmed/will film there at some point and I will get my fix.
(rowdycamels, after you come off your Fringe bender, you might consider taking this one up. It feels like your kind of show.)
Downside: There are some plot holes you could drive a truck through, but in its defense, I only noticed them after the episodes were over.
*
A meme and questions from kungfuwaynewho:
Comment with "Come at me, bro!"
* I'll respond by asking you five questions so I can get to know you better.
* Update your journal with the answers to the questions.
* Include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions.
1. What is your dream job?
Achievable: Editorial staff at a university press. Getting to read scholarly writing all day and punch it into shape = awesome. I actually like editing more than I do writing.
Not achievable: Showrunner of my own awesome sci-fi TV show. But I know I'm way too much of a control freak over my stuff, and I write way too slowly, for that to work out.
2. Favorite breakfast food?
Belgian waffles. Mmmmm.
3. You're on a road trip, driving at night - what song do you roll down the windows and blare while singing along to?
I haven't ever rolled down my windows and turned up the volume on my car radio, but there are many choices for singing along. At the top, maybe, are Patty Griffin's "Rain" and "Useless Desires."
4. Favorite flower?
I'm partial to daffodils.
5. Death is not an option - Londo or G'Kar?
(I assume this means I have to chose one to sleep with.) If tricksiness is allowed, then S1 Londo, because I could probably get him drunk enough to just fall asleep and make my escape. If I have no access to fermented beverages, then S5 G'Kar.
This entry was originally posted at http://icepixie.dreamwidth.org/786708.html. It has
comments over there.