Procedurals with Pedigree: Burn Notice

Regardless of how consistent a show stays creatively, its always nice when the creators are still able to end it properly. One of the earliest shows in the "Characters Welcome" light-hearted drama rebrand of USA, Burn Notice is one such show that has kind of lost itself in recent years, but is now only a couple episodes away from wrapping up its seventh and final season on its own terms. In fact, although Burn Notice was one of the shows that pioneered the USA-procedural model, it has now become a heavier more serious serialized story, critically altering the fun spirit that made it so uniquely enjoyable in the first place. However, seasons 1-4 (and some of 5) are generally the perfect mix of wry humor, intense action, and intriguing storylines that make for an excellent procedural.

The basics of the plot is CIA operative Michael Weston (Jeffrey Donovan) is suddenly "burned" (aka blacklisted for suspicious activity etc.) during an op and then wakes up in his hometown of Miami after talking us through his tactics as he escaped. Yes a key part of the shows formula is that Michael narrates for the viewer, explaining the strategies in effect and providing recipes for various make-shift explosives, as something is blown up in pretty much every singe episode. This is one of the shows key charms, as it provides insight into the mind of a field operative, while demonstrating interesting how-to-be-a-spy tips using everyday objects, as Michael ends up working sort of as a spy-for-hire. Which brings us to one of the shows other key charms: the wonderful Bruce Campbell as ex-Navy SEAL Sam Axe, an old acquaintance of Michael's who sets him up with his "new job" helping everyday people and quickly becomes his loyal best friend (Sam is such a favorite, he even has his own special movie, a prequel revealing how he ended up in Miami himself). He also provides much of the comic relief, in addition to other recurring acquaintances and some of the criminals too, with his deep appreciation for a good drink and generous woman, as well as his strong moral conviction. Rounding out the core crew is Michael's Irish ex-girlfriend (she drops the accent in the second episode for a more plain one however) Fiona Glenanne (Gabrielle Anwar), who he originally met while undercover and is the driving force behind the majority of the series' explosions. Michael's mother also provides a regular dose of comedy in the earlier seasons (a particularly grim storyline late in the series ruins that a little though), however Maddie (Sharon Gless) can certainly hold her own as she often ends up fulfilling some hands-on role in an operation. The team is eventually joined by former counter-intelligence officer Jesse Porter (Coby Bell), who gets involved in the conspiracy surrounding Michael and of course serves to add some fresh blood to the show when he joins in its 4th season as well (somewhat successfully).

Like any quality procedural, Burn Notice also has a serialized element, centering on Michael's search of answers surrounding his burn notice. Michael is known rather infamously across the globe, a true expert in his craft who did some very violent things all in service of his country, a cause he is beyond loyal to. So upon his arrival to Miami, where he is also trapped for the first few seasons (another part of the initial premise, keeping a spy in one place, that was unfortunately all but abandoned in later seasons), he begins following various trails to find the people responsible. It starts small by exploiting his FBI tails, but eventually he is contacted by the organization involved who want him to work for them, and he infiltrates them long enough to figure out the extent of their reach, finally getting back in with the CIA. Now after the show does that, things go all over the place in tone as the real mastermind arises and is then messily handled, resulting in a full serialized second enemy-making of the CIA leading into the current and final season, following one mission that will finally clear him with the company once and for all. But to go back to the positive elements of the show that make it worth your time, Burn Notice does a great job with recurring characters and villains. Be it the aforementioned FBI tales that show up later on for help, or the various employees of the mysterious organization behind his blacklisting, Burn Notice casts phenomenal actors for these arcs. Helpful characters like Barry the money launderer and Sugar the drug dealer are often further sources for great comic relief, while returning villains like Brennen the arms dealer (Jay Karnes) and Michael's sadistic mentor Larry.

The real joy of watching Burn Notice is really just watching the weekly cases however, as we get to see Michael and the team put on different personas and accents to con criminals and help out the little guy. It works perfectly as great entertainment you don't have to think too hard about, like Magnum P.I. meets MacGyver meets James Bond, but not mindless either. Its was a great demonstration of how a hardened spy can come around to make a difference in everyday people's lives, and reconnect with the people he left behind (his mom, his brother, his true love) when he honorably volunteered to service his country as one of the best. And although Burn Notice often fell into a formula which each case involving a plan A that became a plan B and then a in-the-moment plan C, it was still great to watch it all unfold each week, as even similar cases offered plenty of surprise. As long as you enjoy it for what it is, and don't get too bogged down in its mythology, Burn Notice is a lot of fun and a true testament to the success of USA's model (despite eventually being outdone by White Collar and the previously posted on Suits).

Modern Classics: Breaking Bad

Another new post series, Modern Classics will call out the shows whose legacies are established, or all but guaranteed, as classic examples of the golden age of television. It should surprise no one that are first inductee is AMC's Breaking Bad, currently airings its final episodes Sundays at 9pm. Whether you've seen the show or not (and if not, it should be near the top of your list), Breaking Bad is almost unanimously hailed as one of the greatest shows on TV, stealing the spotlight from network sibling Mad Men (and numerous best actor Emmys from Jon Hamm). The basic premise saw mild-mannered chemistry teacher Walter White (Bryan Cranston, solidifying himself as one the most skilled actors working today) resort to cooking crystal meth so he could pay for cancer treatments and leave his family a nest egg when he's gone. However, as viewers know now more than ever, that barely scratches the surface of both Walt and the darkly humorous drug drama filled with so much tension that it could snap a suspension bridge. Nearly every one of Breaking Bad's soon-to-be 62 episodes features a seemingly game-changing, season-finale-caliber moment, one of those edge-of-your-seats scenes that seem to go on forever as you simultaneously want it to be over so you can relax while also savoring every delicious second, wondering how our "heroes" will make it out or continue their "work." This kind of pressure alone would be enough to render Breaking Bad must-watch television (and an especially dangerous show to binge, say goodbye to whatever else you had planned before you started watching), but what truly elevates the series are the carefully crafted artistic elements of the acting, writing, and cinematography, pulled together with painstaking detail.

Cranston somehow makes us root for Walt, from his humble beginnings through his deplorable desperation, only really giving us cause to question Walt's underlying motivations towards the end of the fourth season. Its understandable that a chemist who spent his whole life following the rules and being oppressed by inferior intellects, only to develop lung cancer from secondhand smoke, would want to take control of his own destiny and finally capitalize on his vast scientific skill. However, now witnessing more clearly the role Walt's ego had on his decision to become Heisenberg, the driving force that keeps him in the "empire business" beyond his initial calculations of what was to be his original financial goal, we remember his refusal to accept charity from a former partner who made millions off of Walt's own idea for a company. It was always his pride which drew him to the illegal drug industry, his pride and his arrogance, resolutely believing that since he could make a superior product (the only crystal meth that is over 99% pure) he should also be the one to control its manufacturing and distribution. Of course it was his DEA brother-in-law Hank (Dean Norris, who developed the character from simple Alpha-male foil to sympathetically in-over-his-head lawman) who first introduced Walt to the wonderful world of meth, leading him to establish his partnership with high school drop-out Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul, balancing Jesse's hilarious comic relief with heartbreaking depth... bitch). A former student of Mr. White, Jesse is both Walt's greatest beneficiary and his most tragic victim. Its Walt's own ego that allows him to continue to act as a father figure for Jesse, going beyond merely educating and protecting him as he ultimately seeks to control him for his own ultimate benefit, ruining any other (perhaps more healthy) relationships Jesse has the chance to develop and any innocence he has left with manipulation and greed.

In fact, Walt brings about such destruction, misery, and death to those around him that he himself could even be considered the cancer, slowly spreading the increasingly painful and detrimental side effects of his mission across an unsuspecting Albuquerque. Every time Walt goes deeper into the criminal underworld and the dark amoral outlook it breeds, his body count grows as does the number of people affected by his reprehensible actions. Whether it is inevitable, as when he and Jesse bite off more than they can chew with the violently unstable Tuco, or even justifiable, as when he protects Jesse from the dealers who killed his friend, Walt is surrounded by death and suffering. Although unintentionally, Walt is also responsible for the transition of his wife Skyler (Anna Gunn) from paranoid-but-unwitting bystander to active-but-disturbed participant, a woman whose priority was always family forced to alienate her oblivious sister and children. Then when Walt meets his match in Gus Fring (Guancarlo Esposito, quiet and controlled), a man who personifies Walt's self-image of a true professional and sees through his egotistical volatility, he eventually overcomes his imposed state of remission to come back stronger than ever and take control of the empire he feels he so entitled to. Even in the gorgeously sprawling cinematography, Walt is often the lone blemish on pure view of lush desert scenery. However, Heisenberg's greatest victim just may be Walt himself, as a decent hard-working man devolves from deciding whether or not to kill a low-level banger who threatened him with a pros and cons list to impulsively firing a gun on a retired former partner who merely chided him for acting out on his ego.

Of course, regardless of all the artistic depth that enhances the series, Breaking Bad offers a story that is just plain entrancing as it takes you inside a fully realized world with an abundance of unpredictable developments that are always adding new dimensions to the immense plot and intriguing characters. It provides insight into every single aspect of the drug world as we witness an amateur become a kingpin, trading not only his own soul, but the lives of every one around him. A ground-breaking show following an unfortunate, but decent antihero as he descends into the abyss and emerges the desperate monster he probably was all along. Even as we all wait with bated breath to discover the ultimate fate of Walt (and the other characters as well, Bob Odenkirk's slippery lawyer Saul actually has a potential prequel-or-sequel spin-off in the works), it seems abundantly clear where he is going when this is all over.

So, How Is: Under the Dome

This summer the broadcast networks have started offering more scripted series in an attempt to keep up with cable (finally) and some, such as NBC's underrated hour-long comedy Camp (Wednesdays at 10pm) are even proving worthwhile (not sure the same can be said of ABC's Mistresses...). CBS in particular took a big gamble this summer with an adaptation of Stephen King's Under the Dome (Mondays at 10pm), a big high-concept serialized drama that seems to contradict with the network's bread-and-butter procedural dramas like NCIS and The Good Wife. Their risk seems to be paying off, as the show has done well enough halfway through its run to warrant a renewal for a second season, thanks to the cache of King's name and a rich streaming deal with Amazon Prime (episodes are available on the service four days after they air). Of course success is all well and good, but how does Under the Dome fair creatively?

The basic premise of the series is a small town called Chester's Mill and its inhabitants are all suddenly trapped under a mysterious clear dome one fateful day. This means people passing through are stuck, people out of town are locked out, and all communication with the outside world is terminated as well. Upon realizing that they could be in this predicament for a while, local car salesman and councilman 'Big Jim' Rennie (Breaking Bad's Dean Norris, relishing the chance to get his hands dirty) seizes the opportunity to take charge and maintain order in the town, though his true motivations are not always clear, as he was also involved with some shady dealings pre-dome that left him with a large secret stash of much-needed propane. Big Jim butts heads with other well-established members of the town, as well as his sociopathic son Junior (Alexander Koch), who's attachment to summer fling Angie (Life Unexpected's Britt Robertson) is particularly disturbing. Additionally, former-soldier Dale 'Barbie' Barbara (Bates Motel's Mike Vogel) is trapped in town after burying the body of local reporter Julia Shumway's surgeon husband (Rachelle Lefevre), making for some one-sided awkwardness when Barbie is invited to stay with her and sees a photo of the man he just killed in her home. Despite this dark secret, Barbie actually fits the role of defacto hero for the series, often offering his military skills to help Big Jim or in-over-her-head local Sheriff Linda Esquivel (Natalie Martinez).

The central cast (a lot of people have died so far...) is rounded out by local teen Joe (Colin Ford) and Norrie (Mackenzie Lintz), who was passing through town with her two moms. Joe and Norrie's storyline is actually one of the most intriguing, as the two experience strange simultaneous seizures that have them muttering about "pink stars falling in lines," leading Julia to suspect that they have some kind of connection with the oddly-charged dome. With each episode comes new revelations about the dome (it cuts through the ground, its apparently indestructible) and new insights into the characters (the reason Barbie was in town, Big Jim and Junior's relationship), a formula that resembles the one pioneered in Lost, but done in a much more cursory manner. Although the characters and plot-points aren't quite as detailed as those in the ground-breaking Lost (which spawned numerous failed attempts to replicate its success with sprawling casts and mysteries), Under the Dome's isolated small town setting allows it to explore new ideas about human nature, while steadily building its own mythology at a brisk pace. Compared to the even glossier Revolution on NBC (which actually plays more like a PG Walking Dead), Under the Dome does a far better job of balancing a dense plot with interesting and more fully dimensional characters, and although it still isn't as engrossing as it probably could be, it still offers a unique narrative that viewers will find rewarding.