They have been five years of adventures in a curiously non-brown Miami, but this season things seem to be changing–at least a little.
We like Burn Notice. The original concept of the “spy in exile in Miami” was a little goofy even at the outset, and it’s all but forgotten now, but how can you not like a bright and shiny show with so many explosions, so much harmless gunfire, so much advice on mayhem from a “real” spy…and Bruce Campbell? It’s irresistible.
Still, the show has always had a problem with Latinos. (We talked its strangely white version of Miami–and the other “Miami’s” on TV at the time–back in October, right here. Though it has been specifically, even emphatically based in Miami (the city’s even mentioned in the every-week intro), there has never been a Latino in the regular cast and precious few of them even as guest-stars. And, unfortunately, when they do appear they inevitably seem to be stereotypes: South American drug lords, dictators, or the pathetic victims of same, all of whom are defeated or dispatched by the end of the episode.
Now, finally, that seems to be changing, if only a little (and perhaps temporarily.) For those of you who don’t always follow the series, Gabrielle Anwar’s character Fiona was sent off to prison at the end of last season, and is still in the clink as of the new season’s premiere…and now, a few episodes in, she is being helped by Latina actress Zabryna Guevara (3 lbs., Marley and Me), a relative newcomer to TV (one-shots on Blue Bloods, Person of Interest, and a few others over the last couple of years) and plenty of stage experience. Zabryna plays a tough fellow prisoner and unlikely ally…and even better, this week’s episode feature Hemky Madera (Rango, Weeds, and the upcoming film adaptation of Bless Me, Ultima) guest-starring as Zabryna’s husband. Taken together, that’s more Latino presence on the series than we’ve seen the previous 7 years.
More, please!
