Hava

I don't like the implication that Guillermo did something wrong by firing Nandor. Yes, Nandor is his friend, and he didn't want to fire him. But Nandor genuinely did suck at the job and doesn't rely on it the way that Guillermo relies on a job for income. I don't know. I'm glad that Guillermo did it--he needs to look out for his own interests, too.

I am watching the show for the first time, and I'm basically stuck at the beginning of season 7 because I find Spike as a main character tedious. Spike as a minor character was great, and James Marsters is charming as hell. But I'm sad to say that I probably won't finish the show because of Spike. I'll probably just start back at season 1 again.

Did anyone else think that, despite being in their early 30s, the Oxford 5 felt like they were starring in a teen or YA drama? Their part of the story didn't feel sophisticated or adult at all. I wish the series had instead focused on Clarence investigating the scientists' suicides, which was the most intriguing plot point in the first episode that quickly dissipated with the reveal of the aliens.

I completely agree with this. Susan and Mike's relationship really lost its charm after season 1. I started to prefer Susan with her other boyfriends--Dr. Ron, Ian, and, especially, Jackson. I didn't care for Mike and Susan, so I never got into the whole "they were meant to be" thing the show kept pushing.

And why is that? Raylan is a fictional character. His type is basically whoever the writers decide is his type. Raylan never came out and said that he is only attracted to a certain type of woman. Even if you were to say that he only hooked up with skinny, white, blondes during Justified, you still don't know his history of the types of women he hooked up with previously. Also, people change--there are 10 years between the end of Justified and this. Sorry, I just think the fixation that some viewers have on Raylan's type and how Carolyn doesn't fit it is beyond weird and questionable.

I just finished watching The Shield for the first time after hearing such rave reviews, and I didn't really like it as a whole. It started off strong, but, by season 4, it really started to drag for me. I didn't care about any of the characters, other than Claudette.

It seems to be unpopular among fans, but I loved season 5. I really liked how Michael and Fiona moving in together was not a throwaway shipper moment, but something that actually had plot significance because it upped the stakes for Michael. I also actually enjoyed watching Michael being selfish and willing to cross moral lines to save Fiona--I think it was an interesting development because, up to that point, he was such a Boy Scout that it became kind of boring for me. I also really enjoyed how Jesse was finally fully integrated into the cast, and he became one of my favorites this season.

I was mistaken. They didn't cite "creative differences" but "creative reasons" for letting Donovan go. Meaning, Donovan wasn't the one who had a disagreement about something, but the producers had a reason (creative or otherwise) for letting him go. I think that may be a small but important difference.

I know Donovan was making like $150-200k per episode of Burn Notice, so maybe they weren't able to match or exceed that.

What does "creative differences" normally mean? Like, Donovan was unhappy with the way his character was written or something?

I would love to interview the writers to ask them what the hell they were thinking in the writing of Fiona in season 7. It makes absolutely no sense, and I've tried really hard to make sense of it!

Burn Notice A lot of the criticism of the final season focuses on the season's darker tone and more serialized storytelling. For me, that wasn't the issue. I actually welcomed the change because, while I very much enjoyed the more lighthearted fare and fun in the earlier seasons, I wanted to see a more serious version of the show. My problem with the final season was with the story and the execution of it. My understanding is that the writers wanted the final season to be more about Michael vs. Michael instead of Michael and the gang vs. [insert enemy here]. So, in order to achieve that, Michael needed to be physically and emotionally isolated from his friends and family. The problem is, the show couldn't fully commit to this conceit because the other characters/actors still needed to be a part of the season and, due to budgetary reasons, the show had to be filmed in Miami. So, while the show is telling us that Michael is all alone, we're watching something completely opposite to that--not only is he back home, but he has Sam, Jesse, and his mom there for him. Another consequence of this conceit was breaking up Michael and Fiona since, I guess, the audience wouldn't buy Michael "losing himself" if he had Fiona to go home to every night. Fine. But in order to achieve this, the show ruined its lead female character by making her irrational and angry, which left a bad taste in my mouth. Then, after a season of grittiness and angst and darkness, the show tried to go back somewhat to its roots in the final episode. But it just felt rushed and unearned.

To be fair, in that episode where Fiona breaks it off, Michael has a voiceover where he basically states that he misses her scent when she leaves the room. And when they hook up in season 2 (after Michael thinks she may have died in the fire), he's the one who wants something more and Fiona is giving him the cold shoulder. Although I was a huge fan of Michael and Fiona, I will agree that Michael was a terrible boyfriend. I kept waiting for Fiona to break up with him in season 5 when it became clear that he wouldn't put the work in to spend quality time with her outside of jobs and life/death situations. But she just kept sticking around. Also, season 7 pretty much wrecked their relationship and the final episode couldn't really salvage it.

I just binged Burn Notice, and I am now obsessed. What a fantastic show. I wonder why they haven't had any follow-up movies like Monk or Psych. While there were a few episodes I enjoyed in the final season and while I appreciated the show's ambition in going for a darker and more serialized final season, on the whole, I don't think it was successful. For one thing, the pacing was off for the story they were trying to tell--Michael's turn and then sudden reversal were too rushed to be believable. For another thing, this season ruined Fiona's character. I know that Fiona is not too popular of a character, but since she was one of my favorites in the first 5 seasons, the writing for her in the final season was really disappointing. Her actions made absolutely no sense. Why was she angry with Michael--he didn't choose to work with the CIA again, he had to do it as part of a deal to keep everyone out of prison? How the heck did she move on so quickly from Michael--you're telling me that the woman who was willing to die by Michael's side in the season 4 finale is now able to fall in love and move in with somebody else after only 9 months? Even if she was able to inexplicably move on, why was she acting like an unsympathetic asshole to Michael, who it was clear to anyone was really struggling with this mission and needed support?

With a few exceptions, I thought this episode was pretty terrible :(