This sounds familiar.
- Problem. Mike doesn't think he's fighting anybody. He thinks they're all dead. Considering this ALL happened off screen however fuels the next WMG
- It makes so much sense now! The pop bands, the government, Project Cadmus, everything!
- The Milk Marketing Board are involved too! Perhaps even the USDA! Who knew they had a spy division?
- Cellphone companies invented spies! Word of God says so! You see where this is going, right...?
- Horatio isn't him. Since Michael's still trying to get back in, he can't risk telling too much about himself. Horatio is the good guy-Expy of Victor and Larry — the two people who are about as close to him as possible without being him — with a few of his own quirks tossed in.
- Michael's in charge of writing, not casting.
- More evidence: I wrote that without seeing that someone had put the same theory on the Chuck page. The hints are on both sides of the fence.
They burn Michael and dump him at home. They force him to rely on his spy skills to help others for profit, but in the meantime regain any humanity he may have lost on the job. He will be a mixture of rogue spy and modern day knight.
When the time is right, they'll offer him the job on policing his former bosses and other agencies, balancing security needs with preventing them from going too far.
- Jossed. Big time. They didn't want anything to do with him.
Sam and Fiona are important people in his 'real' life, as are his family. They've been necessary for him to rebuild and remake himself, thus letting him tackle the increasingly difficult and dangerous parts of his psyche.
- The "street gang" phase of MacGyver was during an earlier burned period. He's not so patient now.
- But since Madeline is still fishing for info on him, Jesse comes clean about being a former spy who was fired when someone used his clearance to steal a file, but luckily for him, Michael was there to help. You know, when he puts it that way, it's kind of shocking that he hasn't connected those two facts yet.
- To be fair, he was lying to Maddie about that last part. Jessie actually sought out Michael because he was a legendary burned spy.
- Of course, given how it's getting to be about Once an Episode that Jesse screws up the plan of the week, it's also not implausible that he's just that dense.
- Jossed, when Jesse finally figures it out, after reviewing security camera footage from across the street from his workplace and discovers that Michael DID burn him. Cue Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
- I spent the first two seasons thinking Fiona was in on it, though it's probably not tenable now. But she's awfully eager to keep him around, and in Miami, isn't she?
- That... would actually be one of the less odd crossovers possible. Although the style of White Collar is somewhat subdued compared to the explody style of BN and the untested rookie style of CA. Yet at the same time, WC and BN pull off some really good schemes...
- Season three of Leverage has them blackmailed by someone to take down a banker who provides his services to terrorists, criminals and dictators. There is definetly potential there.
- Though Leverage isn't a USA show while the first three are. This makes it a lot easier, at least in some senses.
- Word of God says that while White Collar/Burn Notice would be pretty cool, the two shows film at the same time in different cities. This means in order to do a crossover between those two shows, they would have to give up an episode for one of the two shows and neither show would probably want to do that.
- Not if the only crossover part is the movie.
- It could potentially be done really well if the movie includes intersecting plot arcs with both casts getting to the resolutions of their respective undercurrent conspiracy plots, and the audience finding out the two are connected. Maybe it could start out with Sam introducing Mike to one of his FBI buddies up in New York - who turns out to be Agent Burke. We learn that Burke worked a case closely connected with some of the people that burned Michael. Meanwhile, Neal gets closer to one of his White Collar background conspiracies, and has Mozzie get in contact with one of thier underworld contacts - your friendly neighborhood money launderer - Barry - who happens to have some clue that Neal needs stashed someplace. Unfortunately, that someplace is overrun by bad guys and this deal is out of sight of the FBI. Fiona owes Barry a favor and turns up to run security on the job. In the end, it turns out the conspiracy was much bigger than mere art theft or international espionage, so team BN and team WC will have to join forces to bring down the Big Bad.
- Additionally the Show itself is training footage using actors that resemble Michael, Fi, and Sam (Jeffrey Donovan, Gabrielle Anwar and Bruce Campbell?), that the real Michael uses to teach certain lessons to new recruits, I.E. how to handle reluctant assets, how to improvise, and why it's better to stay single in the field.
- Darn it, I was just coming to add this one combined with the one below. Series concludes with Mike being given a teaching job at the CIA. It ends with the camera pulling back across the class as Professor Westen says "My name is Michael Westen. I used to be a spy, until..." Credits.
- Sort of confirmed. The final episode reveals that Mike has been telling everything as a story to Charlie.
- Well now that Nate has a kid, maybe it'll be a Time Skip. The final show will be from the perspective of Nate's kid at a young age playing with a friend. All sorts of Running Gags will be used - the kid will eat lots of yogurt, play with duct tape, have fancy shades, etc. The final scene will be the middle of some Noodle Incident and have Team Weston Pet the Dog before walking out of the house. The friend will be all in awe and ask who that is. The kid will say "That's Uncle Michael. He use to be a spy." as if being a former spy (and doing crazy things on a daily basis) is the most normal thing in the world.
- Alternately, (and this is especially possible to make something of a Bittersweet Ending if Michael dies in the series finale) the epilogue will feature another Time Skip of 5-7 years, at an elementary school class presentation where each student is presenting what they want to be when they grow up. And the series ends with the line, "My name is Charlie Westen. I want to be a spy."
- Well, it's not the end of the series, hopefully, but we've finally gotten the official line drop tonight in Dead or Alive.
- Finally? This is at least the second time.
- And not hopefully since they were given two more seasons some time ago. So there's at least until season six to figure something out.
- Confirmed.
- Well kinda Jossed. Barrett is a Big Bad but not Michael's Big Bad and -is- a rival of Vaughn. He had information that would take down Vaughn's group. How all that plays out is the basis of the second half of season 4.
- Think about: despite numerous situations that could have resulted in her arrested,injured or killed...nothing happens to her.
Why does this happen in this manner?Because she has been assigned by the group that burned Michael to "handle" him while he is in Miami.
- Actually, a quote from the narration of pilot episode really seems to support this: "My mother would have made a great NSA communications operative. Drop me in the middle of the Gobi Desert, bury me in a goddamn cave on the moon, and somehow she'll find a way to call me and ask for a favor." That's pretty much the short definition of "handler."
- Hilariously enough, it turned out that Madeline's counselor is the Big Bad of Season 5. There might be something to it.
Some possibilities:
- Dexter will mistakenly identify Michael as just another Miami murderer and begin hunting him. Michael will become aware of Dexter and have to work to thwart him.
- A family member of one of Dexter's victims will ask Michael to find the killer. In the course of tracking the killer Michael will meet Dexter in person, not realizing he is the target. The two of them will "team up" only Dexter will be secretly working to stall Michael's investigation. In the end Dexter will lead Michael to the wrong conclusion but the final shot of the episode will be Michael stumbling on some small factoid or inconsistency that makes him suspect Dexter was behind it all.
- This makes the most sense as it would fit with Michael's "Sometimes you have to let bad people do good things... good people do bad things..." phrase. Yes, Dexter is a killer... but he only targets other killers. Michael may not be very happy that Dexter is killing people, but he's not likely to go out of his way to stop him either. It would also lead to the situation where Michael would have to help the client -and- protect the 'villain' -and- somehow come up with a happy ending.
- One of Michael's clients will hire him to expose a known killer who escaped justice. Coincidentally, Dexter is also tracking this same killer to be his next victim. The two of them will run into each other by accident while both are casing the killer's house and the story will unfold like a superhero crossover. The two of them will briefly come to blows, then reach an understanding and team up. In the end Michael will be conflicted over whether to let Dexter go free to continue killing, and Dexter will be conflicted over the wisdom of exposing himself to Michael.
Scorpia is a former IRA terrorist with a love of random violence and overkill, who has a record of double-crossing her employers and making people who annoy her dead. And her real name? Fiona.
It seems very convenient to me that Frank Westen died shortly after his son Michael became a spy and that no specific cause of death is given, you would think that the Westen family would have found this a very odd coincidence. Also the Westens never seem to mention what Frank Westen did for a living so it seems probable to me that he may have been a spy and he disappeared so that his enemies wouldn't figure out about Michael being his son and compromise both of their lives. From there Frank Westen may have been observing Michael Westen's career and saw the interest that all these hostile organizations had in his son and decided to put a burn notice on his son to protect him from them and so that he could find a semblance of normalcy back home with his mother and brother. The burn notice was meant to help Michael, but Frank can't reveal himself or both of them might be killed.
- Highly unlikely — especially from the "helping Michael" angle. I can see this making sense to an occasional watcher, but Frank has been established from day one as a no-good, abusive drunk with a history of chronic unemployment and criminal activity. Think of the recent episode where Maddie posed as a nurse and Michael had to shout at and abuse her — they were both shaken because Michael was channeling Frank, and was a little too convincing for comfort. Michael fled home and joined the army at 17 to get away from him. As for whatever caused Frank's death, given his lifestyle, he'd have to have been hit by a meteor for it to count as surprising. Given the above, if Frank was a former spy, he would definitely not be one of the good guys — any protective instincts would have revolved around himself, not his wife and children.
- Just seems to me that any man good enough for a woman like Madeline to fall in love with and have two sons with must not have been all bad. Even good men can spiral down into darkness, Michael himself is implied by Larry to have had a dark side during their time working together filled with wetwork and top secret black ops. It seems probable that Frank not making Madeline privy to his spy work wouldn't have a means to vent his frustrations like Michael does with Fiona and Sam and would hold on to those dark tendencies and emotions. I've heard all sorts of horror stories about soldiers struggling with post-traumatic stress emotionally breaking down in front of their families, its a wonder that Michael himself doesn't suffer from this. Also all the items that Michael's father left behind that conveniently help Michael in his job along with the fact that his emotional displays emulating his father give rise to the possibility that Michael is starting to realize he and his father aren't so different. Plus Michael can be seen arguing with his brother over who Frank liked more and thus who deserves to keep his car, arguing with his mother over whether Frank ever loved any of them, and visiting his father's grave which implies to me that Michael at least has a begrudging respect for his father and has a "Daddy didn't love me enough" complex. Frank's profession and moral character are up in the air since we only have Michael's word instead of a visual representation of the man himself.
- Certainly value points, but generally abusive behavior doesn't emerge until after the relationship is fairly well established. Before them, abusive people actually tend to come across as more charming and confident because they're trying to get close to someone first before they can assert authority.
- At this point, I have to ask ... just how long has the OP been watching this show? The stuff Michael's father left behind that helps Michael — it's been explicitly stated that he used those things for low-level criminal activities. Michael uses it because said activities overlap with his various con jobs. It's also been explicitly stated that Nick felt betrayed when Michael left, because Michael would draw their father's attention to keep him from abusing Nick. If there's a "Daddy didn't love me enough" complex, it's that "Daddy didn't love me enough because he was an asshole." As for Frank's profession and moral character, we don't just have Michael's word for it — we have the entire Westin family, its collective behavior and its various mental and emotional scars to vouch for Frank. We haven't been told about Frank, we've been shown his legacy. And his legacy sucks. To be blunt, "Frank was a spy and has secretly supported Michael" would completely break the show for me.
- Probably Jossed as of "Depth Perception". Michael's father was killed by Ansen. He described him as smart enough to get suspicious and too close to the truth, but that's the extent of his abilities. Which might have been a lie, but it seems unlikely.
You've just been shot. The guy you've been working with comes into the room and asks what happened and who shot you. You're going to start talking about your wife being mad? Unless.......his wife is involved somewhat. Maybe there isn't even a wife in the picture. I fully expect Michael to say to the CIA chick investigating Max's murder "How's his wife taking this?" and getting a puzzled look and a "Max wasn't married" response.
- Jossed. His wife was mentioned by the CIA agent investigating his death in Eye for an Eye.
- Well, the "if she exists" part is Jossed. Still entirely possible Max's Mrs. is in on Max's death.
- Double Jossed as of the season finale.
- Still possible Max's wife had a sex cha........who am I kidding, octuple Jossed at this point.
- Well, the "if she exists" part is Jossed. Still entirely possible Max's Mrs. is in on Max's death.
Think about it. Both of them have been screwed over by corrupt forces in the government and are confined to a particular area until their mission is over and then they can go home. They help people on a consistent basis out of the good will of their hearts but always are realistic telling their clients that they "will see what they can do" because there are never any guarantees of mission success in life. They are highly athletic and talented gun-fighters being able to take on groups of much greater size in comparison to themselves and come out on top through skill, wit and ingenuity. Are highly personable people who are quite capable of talking their way out of a situation and prefer to give people a chance to surrender or walk away before they refer to violence, not to mention that despite being fighters are deeply philosophical and articulate in the way that they talk. Both of them have a rag-tag group of friends that may seem unreliable at first but deep down they know they can depend on with their lives. And lastly both have a family worth fighting for and coming home to. All in all John Marston comes off as a vigilante cowboy that works hard for the greater good and Michael comes off as a modern cowboy soldier fighting for the greater good as well. Coincidence? You decide. (it is already in my personal fanon)
- The reason Fiona's there when Michael wakes up in Miami for the first time is because she's the contact on the "In Case of Emergency" card in Michael's wallet, which Michael failed to remove even though he left a while ago. Fi brings it up. The rest...well, it's up to you.
On the Sorting Algorithm of Deadness, Larry's score
- Cause of death: No one could survive that: 2
- Type of show: Killed off for real: 3
- Body found: Left for dead: 1
- Reaction: Tricky to figure out
- Last words: Oh, Crap! expression: 4
- Character: Regular: 2
- When: Same arc: 1
- Came back alreddy: Let's count the prison as a "death" due to the fact that it is treated like a death from a character reaction prospective and the first fake was such a defining character trait in-universe and say 2
The biggest hint at his survival is the paper at the end says 2 were killed in the bombing, not 3.
- Jossed as of the season 6 premiere: Bly tells Fi she's going to face 3 charges of murder. Dead Larry finally lives up to his name.
- Plus, it's unlikely that the authorities would want anyone to know about the fact that there was an intruder in the building, even if he was discovered blown to bits.
- Who are you talking about? Who's the "other burned Michael"?
- When Michael says this line in the preview, someone out of frame is holding a gun on him, and all we can see is their hand. The hand is slender, definitely female, and attached to a grey suit sleeve. The holder looks to be about four inches shorter than Michael. Also, she's the only character this season who could pull off that kind of Face–Heel Turn and have it make narrative sense.
- Unless they introduce a new (possibly one-shot) female character and have Anson's mole be her. Jossed.
- Aaaand Jossed. Not sure how long the new Dragon will last.
- History suggests one episode, maybe two. (Which is probably the same amount of time Fi will stay in custody.)
- Unless they introduce a new (possibly one-shot) female character and have Anson's mole be her. Jossed.
- This might partially confirmed as of Shock Wave, as Anson and Nate :( were both killed in the presence of several CIA operatives and in public. Who would want to (or could) do such a thing? (Not) Dead Larry!
- Or perhaps Management arranged for Anson to be killed to keep organization secrets out of CIA hands.
- A little bit of Fridge Horror, too: We know Anson replaced Madeline’s psychologist during some of her therapy sessions to gain background information on Michael. John Watson has been visiting a therapist …
- Who is a woman.
- Doesn't matter, Anson wasn't Maddie's regular therapist either. He filled for a few weeks in while the regular one was on vacation.
- And what about Moriarty's strange choice of words when threatening Sherlock? He doesn't say "I'm going to kill you" or "I'm going to destroy you." He very emphatically says "I'm going to BURN you."
- To quote, "Burn the heart out of you." Not quite the same thing, there.
- Dude, he's obviously a time lord. Kids these days, no respect for tradition ...
- Perhaps he's also trying to avoid becoming more like his father than he already is.
- In the season 6 summer finale, "Desperate Times," Michael expressed the desire to retire from the CIA and his vigilante-for-hire lifestyle for good.
- Seems to be confirmed now. There's still unanswered questions obviously but at this point it looks like Card was the one who was really pulling the strings. Once it became apparent that Michael would capture Anson it would have only been a matter of time before everything came crashing down. Of course Card's death could potentially keep those questions from getting asnwered.
- It's a likely theory, seeing as he seems to be giving other agents orders of some sort. Likely he's been given command of one particular operation that will probably last a couple of episodes into season 7. After all, Status Quo Is God, for the most part.
- Certainly the possibility that he's back in deep with the CIA is strong since the suit he's wearing is the same suit he wore in the pilot.
- Jossed. He's being used to run an extremely dangerous mission, and it's obvious he's on very thin ice with the higher-ups.
- Improbable, but not impossible, as women can still be fertile in Fiona's late 30s-early 40s age range, and she and Michael had obviously resumed a romantic relationship. Not to mention her reaction at the end of the episode is especially strong. Once almost a Clingy Jealous Girl when it came to Michael, even with all his foibles, she recoils at his touch. More than likely The Reveal will be one of Season 7's early- to mid-season Wham Lines.
- Most likely Jossed. The opening of Season 7 takes place 9 months after the finale of Season 6. A baby would have been born already in that time frame, and shown on screen.
- Jossed, he's alive. Although the "used to be a spy" line was echoed.
Alternately, Michael is Jesus in Purgatory. He died in the pilot in Nigeria and is perpetually stuck in Miami (purgatory) until he has made amends for all the sins of his life. At the end Michael will finally sacrifice himself for the crimes of his friends and be at peace.
- Confirmed, kind of.
- Specifically, that he didn't die. But they decided to just let him go.
- This could eventually tie into a future TV movie. Matt Nix has expressed interest in possibly doing one down the line. This will depend on how USA and Fox feel about the idea however.