History BurnNotice / TropesAToH

* FiveManBand
** TheHero = Michael
** TheLancer = Sam
** TheBigGuy = Fiona
** TheSmartGuy = Jesse
** TheChick = Madeline
** TagalongKid = Nate, Barry and Sugar

* BackToBackBadasses: Inverted (Front To Front Badasses) then played straight in "Better Halves". Twice in "Better Halves" if you count the dance scene for an atypical varient.

* ExactWords: When Vaugh asks Michael how he got Simon to talk, Michael replies that Simon asked Michael to kill Vaugh and Michael agreed. Vaugh asks if he has anything to worry about and Michael replies "I just told a psychopath what he wanted to hear."
* ExpectingSomeoneTaller: When Michael approaches a Libyan security agent working at the Miama consulate and introduces himself, the spy says that he was expecting [[FamedInStory Michael Westen]] to be taller.

* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Whenever Madeline's hair is down, so is she.

* FireForgedFriends: How things get worked out between Michael and [[spoiler:Agent Bly]] after the latter shows up a second time. They're preparing to ruin one anothers' lives when they wind up in the midst of [[spoiler:a bank heist]]. After that they part ways amicably.

* GoodCopBadCop: Played with. Team Westen captures an assassin, and she says they can't torture her, which she demonstrates by slamming her own head into the table. Jesse stops her, and Mike angrily drags him out of the room. Jesse says he did the right thing...and Mike calmly agrees. Then they paint Jesse as the underappreciated, vulnerable, subvertable "good cop" and use it to manipulate the assassin.

* {{Homage}}: It's a testiment 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 ingrediants, 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.]]

** Also from the pilot, Michael's repeated assertion that he's not with the CIA, but is rather some sort of contracted operative or something who doesn't "work for anyone directly." Come Season 5 when he finally gets back in with his former agency, it turns out that yeah, it's the CIA [[RetCon and it always has been]].

** In TheTeaser of [[Recap/BurnNoticeS1E9HardBargain "Hard Bargain"]] Michael calls the police on a guy from the Central Security Services (part of the UsefulNotes/{{NSA}}) he's supposed to meet with. In this case he's actually just trying to get a read on the man to make sure he isn't an assassin sent to kill him.

** The season five midseason finale, "Dead to Rights," ends with a major one. Let's just say that [[spoiler:what should be a satisfying moment in-universe and out (Larry's death) goes terribly wrong, killing two security guards, due to a massive, extremely clever {{Plan}}]]

*** The same episode gives a series-long arc about Michael's Father something of a bittersweet ending ([[spoiler:When Anson reveals that he'd spoken extensively with Michael's father, and that the man felt remorse for what he'd done, and wanted to apologize. He was never given a chance, after he was cut down by a heart attack. Sad. Oh, and Anson "arranged" the heart attack]])

** [[spoiler: Just a few episodes into Season 6, Anson is apprehended with the help of Nate, and Fiona is released from prison, but both Nate and Anson are gunned down by an unknown shooter, hitting Michael and friends twice as hard. Anson doesn't get brought to justice, and Michael lost his brother both at the same time.]]

* BluffTheEavesdropper: Michael often does this when he knows he is being bugged.
* BluffTheImpostor
* BluffWorkedTooWell:
** "[[Recap/BurnNoticeS1E8WantedMan Wanted Man]]" provides the page quote. Michael pretends to be a black market dealer trying to purchase a stolen diamond brooch from a CorruptCorporateExecutive. He plants the suggestion that other buyers might try to get a FiveFingerDiscount, then the team starts triggering alarms around his house to make it look like somebody's casing the joint. [[spoiler:The thief calls him back and it turns out he's been torturing the fence who got Mike the meeting, thinking he was in on it. The fence quickly gave up Mike as having been trying to find the brooch, forcing Mike to run for it.]]
** "[[Recap/BurnNoticeS2E7RoughSeas Rough Seas]]": Mike, Sam, and Sam's service buddy Virgil approach a gang of RuthlessModernPirates with a fake proposal for a heist in hopes of finding where they're storing drugs they stole off a ship. The pirates instead decide to keep Mike with them for the duration, forcing Sam and Virgil to set up an actual boat for them to rob.
** In "Partners In Crime", Michael tries to obtain information on his burn notice from Polish Intelligence and he tries to approach a local member by pretending to be a Russian spy out to bribe him for useless facts. The Polish spy pretends to fall for Michael's faked bribery long enough to go someplace private, draws a gun on Michael, and makes clear that he's a hard-core patriot (he's half-Russian and has had to struggle with proving it all of his life, [[BerserkButton so Mike just made him a bit angry]]) and he's going to interrogate Michael for intel [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique in a very painful fashion]] and then eliminate him. [[BigDamnHeroes Fiona ends up having to save Mike's ass as a result]].

* TheAlcoholic: Sam, to the point where if he's not drinking, [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness you know things are serious]]

** Simon makes Larry look sane. Say what you will about Larry, at least he is willing to listen to Michael and cut back on killing people, even temporarily. Simon on the other hand...

** Simon makes Larry look sane.

* BattleInTheRain: [[spoiler:Sam's fight with Michael in "Sea Change" to try and force him from crossing the MoralEventHorizon.]] Impeccable as the timing of the rain may seem, [[TruthInTelevision Florida weather really is like that]] (and it did in fact start raining during the shoot).

** Michael also makes contact with a Libyan operative named Anwar in one episode. (Gabrielle Anwar plays Fiona.)

** A recent episode showed Gabrielle Anwar once again getting to [[Film/ScentOfAWoman tango]].

* AgentsDating: Fiona loves Michael, Michael can't commit to Fiona... until they get into serious danger. Then they have happy-to-be-alive sex, but sooner or later, Michael has to choose between his burn notice and Fiona and doesn't choose her. She's less than happy. [[YoyoPlotPoint Lather, rinse, repeat.]]

-->'''Madeleine''': I'm asking that you trust us.
-->'''Michael''': [[AbusiveParents And when would I have learned how to do that]]?

--> '''Agent:''' How was the flight?
--> '''Fiona:''' It would have been better if we hadn't been routed through ''Turkey...''
--> '''Sam:''' And Spain. And Costa Rica. And if they'd had peanuts.

-->'''Sam''':[[spoiler:You're not just helping them, you're one of them!]]
-->'''Michael''':[[spoiler:After today, I won't have to follow orders anymore.]]

--->''"I've got a thing for lost little sisters."''

* DistractedByTheSexy: Fiona causes Michael to have a loose grip on [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything his power drill]] in an episode.

---> '''Fiona:''' ''*dangling handcuffs suggestively*'' Where have you been hiding these?

** For fairness' sake, there's plenty of shots of Mike and other muscular men stripped to the waist as well, and the fifth season even has a prolonged hand-to-hand fight between Mike and a Russian bodyguard in a steam room where they're both clad in nothing but short towels, with all of the shots emphasizing how totally ''cut'' they both are.

* FauxAffablyEvil: Brennen is the embodiment of this.
* FeedTheMole

* FruitCart

* TheGovernment

* TheHandler: A new one [[OnceASeason per season]].

* HardWorkMontage: In preparation for bringing down the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Villain Of The Week]], usually involving the construction of explosives.
** Bonus points for times when Michael and Fiona manage to make building an improvised bomb look like ''foreplay.''

* HoistByHisOwnPetard

* DrinkOrder: Sam's mojitos. Beer, too, but mostly mojitos.

** Also from the pilot, Michael's repeated assertion that he's not with the CIA, but is rather some sort of contracted operative or something who doesn't "work for anyone directly." Come Season 5 when he finally gets back in with his former agency, it turns out that yeah, it's the CIA [[RetCon and it always was]].

** Also from the pilot, Michael's repeated assertion that he was not with the CIA, but was rather some sort of contracted operative or something who didn't "work for anyone directly." Come Season 5 when he finally gets back in with his former agency, it turns out that yeah, it's the CIA [[RetCon and it always was]].

** Also from the pilot, Michael's repeated assertion that he was not with the CIA, but was rather some sort of contracted operative or something who didn't "work for anyone directly." Come Season 5 when he finally gets back in with his former agency, it turns out that yeah, it's the CIA and it always was.

** Also from the pilot, Michael's repeated assertion that he was not with the CIA, but rather was some sort of contracted operative or something who didn't "work for anyone directly." Come Season 5 when he finally gets back in with his former agency, it turns out that yeah, it's the CIA and it always was.

* BruceWayneHeldHostage: Played straight and then in season 4, inverted - Michael and Sam end up being the hostage takers.
** When kidnappers show up at a party, Fiona plays out being wealthy socialite "Charlotte Finley" alongside the primary kidnapping victim. She worked to undermine their plans from the inside with a healthy dose of ObfuscatingStupidity.

* HealItWithBooze: Michael gets [[BruceWayneHeldHostage trapped in a bank robbery]] with Special Agent Bly. Bly goes cowboy and gets winged in the arm for his trouble, and Michael starts pretending to be a doctor. While treating Bly, he pours vodka over the wound both to disinfect and to punish him for being a jerk.

-->'''Michael Westen:''' [narrating] Military leaders since the city-states of [[AncientGreece early Greece]] have known that a tried and tested method for getting rid of a dangerous adversary is to provoke him into attacking another powerful enemy. Provide an ambitious adversary with the backing of a seemingly invincible army, and he's bound to go after even his toughest rivals. Making sure your adversary is eliminated then becomes about pulling that backing once he's declared war on his rival. When it's too late for him to take it all back.

* TheCavalry : Done [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome epically]] at the end of " Last Stand" [[spoiler: Vaughn's troops are closing in on Michael, Fiona, and Jesse, and have Madeline hostage. It appears the only way anyone will leave alive is if Michael sacrifices himself by going into a nearby shed and [[TakingYouWithMe detonating an explosive]]. Fiona decides to join him so he won't die alone. Right before they get the chance to detonate it, Vaughn's forces are hit with tear gas from [[BigDamnHeroes Sam and a good platoon of soldiers]], who easily subdue Vaughn and his men]]

* ColdSniper / FriendlySniper: All three are capable of either variant, but it usually ends up being Sam.
** Put to SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome / BigDamnHeroes use in "Out of the Fire" when [[spoiler: just as Larry's going to kill Michael]], a red dot appears on his chest and Sam calls Michael's cell begging to shoot the guy.

* ContractOnTheHitman: A variation, in that whoever "burned" Michael Westen wants him alive. This leads to a (badass) scene in the season one finale where [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome he successfully held ''himself'' hostage]] by threatening to kill himself if the various government agents following him didn't back off.

** One notable example is in the climax of 3x3 "End Run", where [[spoiler: Brennen]] is revealed to have a [[spoiler: daughter named "Annabelle."]] And the way he talks to [[spoiler: her]] is equal parts SugarWiki/{{heartwarming|Moments}} and hilarious.

--> [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments "What grenade?"]]

** A smart call since the thug was played by the 7', 500lb guest star [[Wrestling/TheBigShow The Big Show]].

* CharacterDevelopment: In a season five episode, Fi actually decides against placing C4 on a building, as she would risk blowing the whole thing up instead of just blasting a small doorway. Contrast that with the Fiona of early seasons, who gleefully risked massive destruction at the slightest provocation.

** The show got the honor of having the phone book bulletproof car tested on ''Series/{{Mythbusters}}''. The verdict was that it needed one additional layer of phonebooks (making it a total of two layers) to make it genuinely bulletproof against anything short of armor piercing rounds. One thing to mention is that Mythbusters stuck the phonebooks to the outside of the vehicle while Michael lined the inside of the car instead. The show specifically states that having the bullet pass through the metal of the car body helps.[[note]]The ''Series/{{Mythbusters}}'' tried using the phone books to bulletproof the windows, too, but Michael preferred to install bulletproof windows instead, because "bullet-proof glass is not the sort of thing you skimp on." Michael was aware of his attackers' preferred arsenal ([=SMGs=]), which did not include any of the high powered rifles that required the additional phone books.[[/note]]

** The show got the honor of having the phone book bulletproof car tested on ''Series/{{Mythbusters}}''. The verdict was that it needed one additional layer of phonebooks (making it a total of two layers) to make it genuinely bulletproof against anything short of armor piercing rounds. [[note]]The ''Series/{{Mythbusters}}'' tried using the phone books to bulletproof the windows, too, but Michael preferred to install bulletproof windows instead, because "bullet-proof glass is not the sort of thing you skimp on." Michael was aware of his attackers' preferred arsenal ([=SMGs=]), which did not include any of the high powered rifles that required the additional phone books.[[/note]]