History BurnNotice / TropesAToH

** In 3x15, she threats a bomb maker by mentioning that he's working in her turf and she could get him killed by contacting the bikers he worked with and having them drag him from Florida to Jersey. It's impossible to tell how much of this, if any, is a bluff.

* CIAEvilFBIGood: [[spoiler: Started alluding to this in the later half of Season 6 with Tom Card and Olivia Riley, but is shaping up to be this in Season 7, especially with Strong's actions. For the other half of this trope, the two FBI agents in the earlier part of the series were not bad at all and were Michael's allies(albeit temporarily) when they [[TheBusCameBack showed up]] after their [[PutOnABus departure]] during Season 1.]]

* AdultFear:
** Michael's living one. He's lost his job. His credit is shot. His bank accounts are frozen. He's being followed and/or spied on regularly. Because of all the above, he can't get a new (legal) job. And to top it off, ''nobody will tell him why''.
** Most of the clients that hire Team Westen are going through this -- Someone stealing their life savings, framed for a country, family member (usually their child) kidnapped, etc.

* [[spoiler: CIAEvilFBIGood:]] [[spoiler: Started alluding to this in the later half of Season 6 with Tom Card and Olivia Riley, but is shaping up to be this in Season 7, especially with Strong's actions. For the other half of this trope, the two FBI agents in the earlier part of the series were not bad at all and were Michael's allies(albeit temporarily) when they [[TheBusCameBack showed up]] after their [[PutOnABus departure]] during Season 1.]]

* BurnerPhones: ''Everyone'' in the show uses burners constantly.[[note]]Ironically, the name of the show actually has nothing to do with burners--it refers to a notice sent to intelligence agencies stating that an operative has gone rogue and is not to be trusted.[[/note]] It's probably impossible to identify a single episode in the seven-season show that ''doesn't'' have at least one shot of someone throwing away a cell phone. {{Justified|Trope}} in that almost all the main characters are spies, or were spies, or were trained by spies, or just spend way too much time around spies. In "Trust Me" (S2E3), the client-of-the-week is so down-on-his-luck that all he can pay with is a bunch of cell phones from where he works, and Michael responds with a pleased nod, saying, "Yeah, I can find a use for them."

* AssholeVictim: The crew ends up blackmailing a Cayman Island banker to retrieve an obscene amount of money under threat of alerting some of his dangerous clients regarding some shady banking behavior. It escalates to the point where the guy has to use their help to fake his death and go on the run. If they didn't make it clear the guy was sleazy to begin with it would be a HUGE MoralDissonance.

* {{Expy}}: The show generally likes to cast actors in roles that are [[ActorAllusion appropriate to their acting history]], but this really hits home when [[Series/{{Scrubs}} John C. McGinley]] is cast as Tom Card, Michael's CIA mentor. Tom has so many of the same mannerisms as Dr. Cox (the "attention whistle" and the way he rants) that you almost expect him to call Michael a girls name or "newbie."

* EvilMentor: (Dead) Larry Sizemore, Michael's former mentor, who faked his own death in Bosnia and is now a PsychoForHire ProfessionalKiller whose solution to ''[[MurderIsTheBestSolution everything]]'' is [[KillEmAll Kill 'Em All]]. Larry also likes to invoke NotSoDifferent in regards to himself and Michael. Particularly notable in the season 4 finale when Larry wonders where all the darkness and anger Michael had went. On par for being the evil mentor, Larry also laments that Michael is losing those things that made him do bad things with a smile and so good at his job.

** Larry ([[RunningGag yes, dead Larry]]) gives a NotSoDifferent speech to Fiona ''about how hard it is to be in a relationship with Mike'' and how he needs the things they both have to offer.

** Notably, in 4x05, Jesse is never in the same room as Sugar (a drug dealer) likely because the PowerTrio knows that Jesse would as soon arrest Sugar as work with him (which the plan requires).

* CasualHighDrop: This is lampshaded when Michael's narration explains that only someone very badass or very desperate will jump off a building to avoid pursuit. If you do jump off and don't get seriously killed, you are usually in the clear since an average pursuer is not going to be badass or desperate enough to follow you. It is then subverted right after when we see that while Michael indeed escapes by jumping off the roof of a building, RealityEnsues and he hurts his leg in the process.

* CerebusSyndrome: The show stayed pretty steady in (relatively lighthearted) tone and feel up until [[spoiler:Nate's death]] in season six. Most comic aspects were gone at that point and the show straight-up feels like a different series in season seven. Even the end credits show the change, with a swap from a bright and up-tempo keyboard-driven piece to a droning percussion-led theme that evokes seriousness.

** Many of Michael's inner monologues begin with "As a spy..."

* BashBrothers: Michael and Jesse exhibit traits of this, as they have the same skill set but go about things in different ways. Specifically, Jesse admitted that he tends to go after ''any'' bad guy he comes across, while Michael will maintain a cover no matter what. Likewise, Jesse tends to be much more hot-headed and impulsive compared to Michael's cool collected composure. This winds up slowly switching off in later seasons as Michael finds himself more emotionally involved in his missions, and Jesse is in a better position to view things objectively

* BashBrothers: Michael and Jesse exhibit traits of this, as they have the same skill set but go about things in different ways. Specifically, Jesse admitted that he tends to go after ''any'' bad guy he comes across, while Michael will maintain a cover no matter what. Likewise, Jesse tends to be much more hot-headed and impulsive compared to Michael's cool collected composure.

** She's called out on this by Larry in "Enemies Closer" by comparing her to himself and talking about how Michael needs someone like that. [[FoeYay Like him.]]

* {{Homage}}: It's a testament to the writing of the show when it takes you until [[FridgeBrilliance the next day to realize]] that Simon is a modified version of [[Film/TheDarkKnight Heath Ledger's Joker]]. Simon's actor (Garrett Dillahunt) isn't playing him as a carbon copy, but it is impossible not to catch on to several cues: setting up bombs using store-bought incendiary ingredients, nuzzling his head against the barrel of a loaded gun being held by someone willing to pull the trigger, [[spoiler:the casual way he shoots Management's bodyguard and the way he laughs hysterically when his arch rival ultimately refuses to kill him.]]

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Or, perhaps more accurately, [=MildEarlyInstallmentTweaksToTheFormula=]. Mike's voiceover narrations, which quickly developed into more abstract spy tips related to the scene at hand (Fi sneaks into a guarded house, and Mike's voiceover talks about the difficulties of breaking into a guarded compound), actually feature some first person discussion. They also commonly take place on freeze-frames. Also, there are some (very) mild profanities in the early episodes ("tits," "goddammit," "bitchy") that never made it past episode four or five.

** Even justified once with incendiary ammunition (hot like wow) and barrels full of highly flammable sealant.