Product Details

• Actors: Jeffrey Donovan, Bruce Campbell, Gabrielle Anwar
• Format: AC-3, Box set, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 4
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• DVD Release Date: June 5, 2012
• Run Time: 779 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (186 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B004YM6IZ6
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,129 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Burn Notice: Season Five" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

In season five, Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) moves up the ranks as a CIA asset--just a step away from his old job. That means working with operatives Max (Melrose Place's Grant Show) and Pearce (Community's Lauren Stamile), who report to Raines (Dylan Baker in a too-brief cameo), but even though the men who burned him have split the scene, Westen remains paranoid, and with good reason, since he becomes a suspect in an agency murder. On the personal front, he still describes Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar), who now shares his apartment, as his "ex-girlfriend" in the opening narration, but they're definitely a couple--with all the bickering that can entail. Michael also involves his mother, Maddy (Sharon Gless), in more cases, which stirs up memories of his abusive father, but she proves an able accomplice.

During the year, Michael and his team, including Sam (Bruce Campbell) and Jesse (Coby Bell), take on a variety of evildoers--while blowing up the expected array of automobiles and buildings--including a vicious loan shark (Michael O'Keefe), a slippery war criminal (Patrick Bauchau), and a heartless businessman (James Frain). He also gains a new enemy in former psychiatrist Anson (Jere Burns), who'll stop at nothing to get what he wants. In addition, rocker Gavin Rossdale drops by for a few uneventful minutes, which seems strange, but could represent the setup for a later reappearance (he plays a figure from Fiona's past). Maddy sums up the season best when she says, "Nothing is beyond saving if you work at it." Extra features include deleted scenes, a gag reel, a featurette on the show's bad guys, and lively commentary on the Renny Harlin-directed finale from Donovan, Campbell, and creator Matt Nix, who offers these words about season six, "We're shaking it up in a big way." --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Product Description

A new day breaks for Michael Westen when he's reinstated by the CIA, but his good fortune is impossibly short-lived. Framed for murder and blackmailed by a diabolical foe, Michael and his team must do whatever it takes to clear his name and catch a killer. As the danger builds, Michael finally comes face-to-face with the man who burned him, leading to an explosive finale, after which nothing will ever be the same. Featuring an exclusive extended episode, deleted scenes, and so much more, Burn Notice Season Five will reveal more shocking secrets than ever before!

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 47 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A darker direction for Westen and Co., but it works surprisingly well. May 1, 2012

By James Donnelly VINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

This latest season of BURN NOTICE, one of the best TV shows on the air right now, was decidedly different in tone if not in execution as Michael Westen, Fiona Glennanne, Sam Axe and Jesse Porter face a much more insidious threat than they have before on this show, and this show has seen plenty of threats.

We begin with Michael being embraced once again by the CIA, under the purview of his old handler Raines (the always great, but sadly under-used Dylan Baker) and while he's in a probationary period, he's putting all of his old skills to work with his new partner Max (Grant Snow) and has a new case officer, the sharp and attractive Agent Pearce (Lauren Stamile). He's living in something resembling bliss also, with Fiona moved into his loft, desperately trying to make the place more hospitable. Sam is back down to his "fighting weight", as we saw in the tie-in TV movie THE FALL OF SAM AXE, and Jesse has a flashy job with an independent, high-profile security contractor. Madeline is also dating!

The first few episodes of the season deal mostly with Michael sliding comfortably back into working as a spy again, bantering with his pals, becoming somewhat domesticated by Fi, and outwitting the bad guys. Things turn for the worse with a shocking death that Michael is intended to be framed for, and our heroes scramble to track down the real killer, while keeping the intrepid Agent Pearce off their backs. This leads once again to another showdown with Dead Larry (the sleazy and great Tim Matheson in his recurring guest role) who is forcing Michael again to do something dangerous and traitorious (like stealing secrets from a foreign embassy), as they race to save the life of an innocent woman who is engaged to a psychiatrist named Anson (the GREAT Jere Burns) who has been kidnapped by Larry. As we find out shortly, Anson's fiance is already dead and when Fi tries to save Michael using small amounts of explosives (and as an ancillary bonus, get Larry out of their lives forever), the detonation seems to cause greater damage than anticipated and kills the small unit of innocent security guards in the building. Fi is utterly shocked and haunted by this; especially since she's never wrong about the explosives she uses. As guilt begins to bear down on Fi and the rest of the team, it is revealed that Anson is actually the man behind all of this. Anson is the LAST one of the group that burned Michael; he was the one who had Michael framed for a fellow agent's death, and he set charges in the embassy killing those guards to frame Fi, and unless Michael uses his regained CIA security to help Anson achieve his goals, he will release the evidence that will link Fi to the deadly explosion. The questions then become: How far will Anson make Michael go, and how can Michael defeat him when he proves time and again that he holds all the cards? Also, can Fiona live with Michael doing these things to protect her?

As you can probably tell from that summation, this is a considerably darker tone than any previous season has taken. While Michael may deal with psychopaths and international assassins and shadowy cabals on a weekly basis, never has a threat emerged in a more frightening and more immediate fashion as Anson. Being a psychiatrist, Anson is able to probe deeply into Michael's mind, shaking his faith in himself, and is also able to predict Michael's moves before he does them. That element of prediction is brought into shocking relief when it comes out that Madeline's boyfriend has been spying on Michael at Anson's behest. Even more shocking than that are certain truths about Michael's father.

While the primary cast members continue to work extremely well together, the biggest coup of the season is Jere Burns as Anson. He plays this part to perfection, and what's fun about him is his willingness to be in physical danger when he confronts Michael. Burns is not in any way a physically intimidating actor and he uses that as a strength during his scenes with Michael and the gang. Anson isn't afraid of Michael because Michael knows that the danger that Anson can put the people he cares about in.

As far as our primary players, Jesse is more or less persona non grata in this season, which is actually something I consider to be something of an asset. It's nothing against the character or against Coby Bell as an actor; I just don't find Jesse to be a truly necessary part of the team that showrunner Matt Nix has crafted over these five seasons to be three of the most unique and consistently entertaining characters on television. Jesse seemed to be shoe-horned in when he was introduced as kind of a sequel to Michael Westen, and his absences during this season certainly were not glaring. In the episodes he's in during this season, he plays usually a small but integral role, and that's how it should stay. Jeffrey Donovan gets to play things not quite so close to the vest this season and he really pulls off a difficult job of having to be less of the gang's stoic anchor and man of action, and it gives way to frustration, paranoia and fear. Gabrielle Anwar is still incredibly appealing and flirty and sexy (although I do think she should have a burger every now and then) and she's also dangerous as ever, but her more constant interaction with Michael does start to show and gives her character more dimensions to play at. BRUCE CAMPBELL IS SAM AXE. That's all you need to know about him. He's possibly the one person you would want backing you up for all of eternity. And most importantly, I think it's a sin that Sharon Gless hasn't been nominated for awards for every single season. Her performance and her character are the emotional core of this show, and if that goes, the whole show becomes something less, and the great thing that Nix is doing is giving Madeline more to do, which means Gless has more screen-time and we have more time to bask in the greatness of her character and her performance.

For all of the seasons of this show, I always felt that if the show got too dark, it would start to lose much of what makes the show such a breezy and effortlessly entertaining hour. This season of the show shows it at its darkest yet, and it does go to places that you wouldn't have expected it to go, but with the show's major arc (Who burned Michael and why?) inevitably coming to a close, things do get darkest before the dawn. I still think this show has a few seasons left in it, and I'm sure that Matt Nix will keep things moving and maybe allow our heroes to have things be a little easier. This season, however; they have it harder than ever before, and considering the events of the season finale, it might get harder and darker still.

46 of 52 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars No spoilers attached December 29, 2011

By Book girl Eva

Format:DVD

I am a huge fan of this show, but I don't completly agree with the other reviewers about how great the last season was. It was still very good, just not like it has been in the past. The only real standout in this season was Gabrielle Anwar's Fiona. You were able to see new depth to her character that you hadn't before. In past seasons she was always willing to do whatever it took to help their clients, but the show never explored her as a person. This season we were better able to see what she was willing to sacrifice for the greater good of those whe loved, even if it was her freedom. This was a big turnaround for someone who I always thought was a little selfish and narrow minded. Like I said she was always willing to do whatever it takes, but usually in her own terms. She relentlessly pursued her relationship with Michael, but she would always threaten to walk away if he did something she didn't like. While the changes in Fiona were good, I did not always like the changes in Michael. Too many times this season, he went too far, and sometimes it looked like the othere could never pull him back. I think the she runners were trying to show us what he was like pre burn notice now that he was back with the CIA, but I still did not like the changes. These things I could have forgiven and still given the season 4 stars, but the worst part was the shows under utilization of Bruce Campbell. I felt that Sam spent most of the season in background. I think that he is one of the best parts of the show, and I hate that he was only used for occasional comic relief. All in all, I still love burn notice, and faithfully await the next season.

53 of 61 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Burn Notice reinvigorated December 23, 2011

By Lover of English

Format:DVD

I had been getting a bit tired of Burn Notice. It was becoming too obviously formulaic and the antagonists were getting sillier and sillier. Each season the people Michael's team was fighting against became ever more powerful - they could circumscribe world governments and they became less and less believable as time went on. What new super power of evil would the team be fighting against next, I asked myself after Season Four - the Devil? I stopped buying the DVDs after Season Two - But. I can't wait for Season Five to become available. The creation of Anson as the antagonist is inspired. He really could qualify as the Devil; he is so believable that it is chilling. He has tied the previous four season together as we get glimpses into Michael's past. The use of a highly intelligent, skilled psychologist as Michael's foe, bringing the evil back to one man, makes the series believable again.

If you think of Anson as Archangel Lucifer and Michael as Archangel Michael - the two ultimate warrior foes - we could be set for an heroic battle in the next season. I can hardly wait for next summer.