History BurnNotice / TropesQToZ

* RatsInABox: Subverted/Inverted when the second rat is ''Michael'', trying to get some information out of the baddie by pretending to be a previously-unknown colleague.

* RealityIsUnrealistic: The rare in-universe example -- when Fiona's brother shows up, he, having previously known Michael under an Irish cover identity, thinks Michael's American accent needs a little work.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: In the Season 4 finale, Michael gives Larry an epic reason why the phrase "[[NotSoDifferentRemark Not So Different]]" doesn't apply to them.
--> You want to know the difference between you and me? I really do know you. You only ''think'' you know me.

%%* RedOniBlueOni: Jesse is red, Michael is blue.

* RefugeInAudacity: Sometimes, when Michael's cover risks getting blown, instead of panicking and dropping it, Michael just ''gets more in character'', which is often enough to convince his targets that he's legit. At one point he ''shot at his friends'' in the season 2 premiere, to which Fi replies "I think we just got drafted into Michael's cover".
-->"Inexperienced operatives abandon a cover ID under pressure; experienced ones just play their roles harder."

* RememberThatYouTrustMe
--> '''Nate:''' Jesus, bro. [[AbusiveParents Dad's dead]]. You're not in Afghanistan anymore. I mean, when are you gonna learn [[YouAreNotAlone there are people you can trust]]?
** Counts as a CMOH as unlike in many instances during the show where Team Westen calls each other to check up, Nate shows up in person because he was worried about Michael.
* RetiredBadass: Sam, in the pilot, who un-retires pretty quickly.
** Paul Anderson from season four is another example.

* ReusableLighterToss: In the second to last episode of ''Series/BurnNotice'' Fiona tosses a Zippo lighter like it is a simple match [[spoiler: to burn down Michael's mom's place.]]

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: [[spoiler: Victor]] against Carla's organization, and unfortunately Michael fell into that category. Michael himself said that it isn't helpful holding grudges because the guy who hit you with a baseball bat yesterday could be a valuable ally today.

* RunningGag: Whenever Michael's cover is about to be blown and if he manages to defuse the situation, as soon as the bad guy turns around Michael often gives some sort of exasperated expression, either a "whew" or an "OhCrap."

* SacrificialLion: [[spoiler:Michael's Charger]] gets exploded in the season four finale, just to make sure you know [[DarkestHour just how bad things have gotten]].

* SafetyInMuggles

* SarcasticConfession: Michael once played a "spy hunter" while being the spy he was hunting for, and he essentially explained his entire plan to the bad guy. It was a method of psyching him out.
** Funny. One British spy in Russia during the revolution actually did that.

* {{Satan}}: Michael dresses the part in "Friendly Fire".

* SeenItAll: Incidentally, you ''know'' the excrement's hit the cooling-device when something comes up that neither Michael, Sam, nor Fiona have ever encountered in some form.

* ShooOutTheClowns: The long-running FunWithSubtitles gag is nowhere to be found in the final season, the darkest and most serious of them all.

* ShootTheFuelTank: Subverted. Turns out that shooting a car's gas tank mostly just results in an empty gas tank. Shooting a gas tank with plastic bags full of acetone peroxide taped to it, on the other hand....

---> [[spoiler: Anson]]: (confident) You don't want to do this, Michael.
---> Michael: (demonic smile) Oh, yes I do.

* SpiritualSuccessor: It's pretty much a modern day ''Series/TheATeam'' or ''Series/{{MacGyver|1985}}''. It bears the most resemblance to ''Series/TheEqualizer'', except that Mike was kicked out instead of retiring.
* SpoilerOpening: The list of guest stars in episode 7x11 "Tipping Point" quite needlessly threw out [[spoiler: Garrett Dillahunt's]] name, so anyone with a memory of the earlier seasons knew that [[spoiler:Simon]] had returned. We couldn't guess what the nature of [[spoiler:his]] return would be, of course, or that [[spoiler:he would end up dead with his own knife in his chest after trying to kill Michael]]..... but there was no reason not to save the star's name for the end titles. Nice job breaking it, Matt!!
** Near the end of Season 2, Michael Westen is looking for information on the man who almost killed him. [[spoiler: Michael Shanks' name appears in the opening credits. With five minutes left in the episode and no appearance so far by Victor (Michael Shanks' character), fans of StargateSG1 probably already know who Michael Westen's going to bump into at the storage facility.]]
* [[SpoilerOpening Spoiler Recap]]: The "PreviouslyOn ''Burn Notice''" recap at the beginning of the Season 3 finale [[spoiler:shows clips of Management from the end of Season 2,]] thus spoiling the surprise when, [[spoiler:after an entire season of not being mentioned at all, Management suddenly pops up again later in the episode.]]

* SpyFiction: Michael is stale beer in a more martini situation while trying to get back to stale beer.

* StateTheSimpleSolution: "Why don't you just shoot him?" is more or less Fiona's CatchPhrase. They usually give a HandWave at least as to why they can't do that, usually because they won't get back the stolen money that way. Or because it would throw away their only lead.

* StealthPun: Drug dealer 'Sugar' returns in episode 3x12, where its revealed his real name is Raymond. Which would make him "Sugar Ray".
** In the first season, Michael takes a job working for Sam's Seal buddy Virgil. The name Mike takes for his persona is Homer.
* StealthHiBye: Some kidnappers pull this on Michael while he's getting a massage.

* StormingTheCastle: About every third episode, Michael (with or without the assistance of Fi, Sam, or both) have to invade a bad guy's lair by force.
** And then in 4x02, they have to fake one.

** "Wait, Dead Larry?" "Yes, Dead Larry."

* StatusQuoIsGod: While it does advance the characters and the {{arc}} slightly, most fan frustrations are from the lack of definitive change in the individual episodes.
* StrappedToABomb: In his first appearance, Anson claims he is being forced to work with Larry because Larry has strapped a bomb to his wife. There is a woman with a bomb strapped to her, but exactly who she is becomes less clear as the episode goes on.

*** And in a later episode, he was dealing with a South American drug dealer. When the dealers car didn't start, he immediately got out, since, as the narration pointed out, he knew that in his line of work, a car acting up may mean a bomb. There wasn't; [[CallBack Michael had removed the spark plugs.]]

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Common across the series. Michael is frequently referred to as one of the most talented operatives employed by the U.S. government, and his reputation is such that foreign agencies, including the Russians, have attributed his actions to a whole team of operatives instead of just one man. But from the beginning of the series, Michael makes clear that ''"as good as you are, sometimes they're better."''

* SwissBankAccount: In the episode "Friends and Enemies":
-->'''Michael Westen:''' Who do you work for?\\

* SwitchToEnglish: When Michael pretended to be a Russian spy, he began talking to a contact in Russian, who suggested switching to Spanish, because his Russian was rusty. They settled on English instead. (Michael doesn't ''habla Espanol''.)

* TakeThat: Larry (yes, [[RunningGag dead Larry]]) makes a wry remark while pulling up security footage that there hasn't been anything that good on at 10 PM in a long time. Guess what time Burn Notice airs?
** The above is ironic in the second half of season 5. For some reason the show was shifted back to 10 PM from 9, and the ratings have taken a noticeably hard hit.
** An affectionate one, but Sam's aforementioned pitch-perfect [[Series/CSIMiami Horatio Caine]] impersonation.
*** Sharon Gless (Maddie) mentions in one interview that she likes the smoking aspect of Maddie since it allows some sense of impact sort of like how some people use glasses.

* TechnicalPacifist: In place most of the time. Michael will avoid killing whenever possible, but does say that you should be willing to kill or allow someone to be killed when the situation requires it. The general impression the show gives is that the characters ''are'' willing to kill but they prefer manipulation because it avoids legal ramifications coming back on them. So far, the only people Michael has killed casually are a few [[{{Mooks}} mob thugs]] in the pilot episode (and as [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness it's the pilot]]...). Later in the series when he does kill someone personally it is presented as a very desperate situation.

** The fact that [[spoiler:Jesse]] has no problem causing a bomb to detonate early, killing the person who set it, shows a completely different kind of agent.
* TemptingFate: You would think Michael and friends would eventually learn to stop telling each other how easy the latest job of the week is going to be, but no, they never do. You've got twenty minutes left, Michael, calm down.

* TermsOfEndangerment: Michael, Victor, Brennen, Larry, and Gilroy do this whenever they meet each other. Presumably because HoYay can actually throw people off; [[NotThatTheresAnythingWrongWithThat even someone who has no problem with homosexuality itself]] can get antsy when ''their'' sexuality comes into question. Or maybe they just like to needle people.

* TheyWereHoldingYouBack: Larry. Frequently to Michael. He believes that Michael keeping Fiona and his "wet towel " of a friend, Sam, around is keeping him from his true, more fun (read: murder-happy) self.

* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: The CIA assassination team tasked with killing Dexter Gamble does this by spraying his safehouse with at least five heavy machine guns on full auto.
** Somewhat [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in the scene itself - they don't know exactly where in the room Gamble is, but the walls are just sheet metal, so they just rake the entire building horizontally. They go at length to explain where Michael's code-phrase basically meaning "get down and don't get up until it's over" comes from to make it work somewhat safely.

* ThanatosGambit: [[spoiler: Ian, the client in "Acceptable Loss". He was SecretlyDying and wanted to bring the VillainOfTheWeek down by any means necessary.]]
* ThoseTwoGuys: FBI agents Lane and Harris, recurring [[ButtMonkey Butt Monkeys]] and occasional [[ChekhovsGun Chekhov's Guns]].

* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: Too Good For This Sinful Company: Poor, poor [[spoiler:Max]]. He appeared to be a genuinely, unambiguously good man working for the CIA. He helped Michael dismantle the company that burned him, and was willing to go out on a limb and risk politics (and his job?) to help out one of Michael's clients.

* TookALevelInBadass: Mama Westen might just be the poster child for the trope. She's slowly become more accustomed to Michael's lifestyle; occassionally being asked to leave town or have Sam stay with her at first. Starting in the third season she begun taking care of herself and participating in missions by doing surveillance or some (fairly safe) infiltration. It has built to the point where a phone conversation between her and Sam went like this:
-->'''Sam''': I need your help to kidnap a congressman.\\

** In a later episode, she helps Fi, Jesse, and Sam search a house for information. She ends up finding the information needed before the other three. And then gets in a little gloating over the fact. In the same episode, Jesse and Sam have to pass a coded message to Michael over the radio. When Jesse later is about to explain the code to her, Maddie preempts the explanation by de-cyphering the code right back at him. In "Last Stand", when she [[spoiler: lies over the phone to Michael when Vaughn's goons have guns to her head, and then spits in his face for good measure]].
** Finally comes to the breaking point in the sixth season premiere, [[spoiler: she manages to hide from a psychopath sent after her by Anson and when Jesse is about to get killed by the guy she shoots him from the attic down into the main floor of her house with her shotgun... effectively shooting ''blind''. It should also be noticed that several episodes have shown her with that shotgun but so far she has never had to use it in a conventional way]].

-->'''Jesse''': [[spoiler:Sometimes you gotta put the rabid dog down.]]

* TortureIsIneffective: One of Michael's {{Internal Monologue}}s in "Comrades" provides the page quote. Mike narrates on the futility of torture or enhanced interrogation very frequently. He has even gone so far as to let himself be tortured as a means of feeding false information to his adversary. Other successful techniques have been a HighAltitudeInterrogation (dropping a guy out of a window with a cable to arrest his fall, in order to get the ''other'' prisoner to talk from the screams), and Madeline Westen very calmly and sweetly talking the information out of a prisoner over a cigarette after a beating from Fiona doesn't work.
** {{Defied}} in the same vein in "Friends Like These" when money-launderer Barry Burkowski suggests using ElectricTorture on one of the people who they think stole his records.

* TragicVillain: Victor's backstory, which is part of what explains his evil choices.

* TriggerHappy: Fiona. Even the opening narration acknowledges it:
--> ''"A trigger-happy ex-girlfriend..."''

--> '''Michael:''' The ultimate Trojan Horse is a shackled prisoner.

-->''Sam'': Yup. That's how we roll.

* {{Tsundere}}: Fiona truly cares for Michael and certain of their clients (particularly kids), but is otherwise a scary, violent individual.
** 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 what, if any, is the truth and what is a bluff.

* TwoGuysAndAGirl: Mike, Sam, Fiona.
** Now adding Jesse, another member. [[FourIsDeath Uh oh...]]
** A fact not missed (in some fashion) by the writers, what with the inevitable confrontation between them over [[spoiler:Michael actually being the guy who burned Jesse]].

* UnderestimatingBadassery: Michael notes that the Coast Guard is generally seen as not very powerful. He then explains why this is not truly so.

* UndersideRide: In "Besieged", Fiona attaches herself underneath a fuel tanker in an attempt to infiltrate a RightWingMilitiaFanatic compound. She has a harness spefically designed for this purpose.

* UnflinchingWalk / OutrunTheFireball: In the [=S1=] finale, Michael rigged the access ramp to a boat to explode because he was looking to rescue a kidnapped Sam. Once he freed Sam and they both crossed the ramp Fiona set off the explosive to distract the bad guys still on the boat. In glorious slow motion (while they are running) you see Sam freaking out while Michael is as calm and badass as ever. Makes sense as Michael knew that was going to happen and Sam did not.
** Played Straight in "Brotherly Love"
--> '''Caleb''': "What the hell did you do in there?!?"\\
'''Michael''' (as "Smooth-talkin’ Johnny" - ''again''): "What did we do?"\\
~Chop-shop explodes behind them~\\

** The Cleaner in TheTeaser of "Friends Like These" does the UF bit.
** And in 3x15, "Good Intentions", [[spoiler:we get not one, not two, but ''three'' explosions that have to be outrun.]]
** The show deconstructed even this trope: when Michael suspects the bad guy is in disguise among firefighters and rescue personnel. Michael yells that someone needs help. The bad guy, of course, is the only one who ''doesn't'' turn around.
--->'''Michael:''' Never mind.
* UnspokenPlanGuarantee: Not a guarantee either way, but it's certainly more ''likely'' that something will go wrong when we know the details.
** Interestingly, at least the current steps of many plans are spoken through a little before or while they are acted upon - it's the series trademark after all. In many cases, the explanation will already hit at the plan's success or failure, depending on whether it focuses on why it works or why it sometimes doesn't work.

* {{Vaporware}}: Fiona wears outfits that make it obvious that she isn't wearing a bra on occasion. In many cases she does it so that the people she's snooping around near will assume that she's a BrainlessBeauty who likes to flaunt her figure rather than a very intelligent spy doing recon work.

* VillainousBreakdown: Recurring baddie Brennen is a slick, smooth talking, ruthless arms dealer. However, when Michael gets under his skin he tends to lose his cool, particularly that time [[spoiler:when he found out about his daughter Annabelle]].

* VillainHasAPoint: Given the grey morality of the show, this happens a lot.
** James is the ultimate example of this. Unlike the CIA, his organization doesn't believe in working with monsters. And unlike the organization that burned Michael, all the members seem to join of their own free will.[[spoiler:It's very easy to understand why Mike briefly joined them.]]

* WarForFunAndProfit: The organization that [[spoiler:hired Simon and which Jesse was investigating before he got burned]].

* WeHelpTheHelpless: Michael's otherwise nameless business in Miami. One episode had a potential client asking Michael for help, and Michael repeatedly turned him down... right up until the guy mentions his [[FriendToAllChildren son]].

* WeNeedADistraction: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]]. Michael points out that Sam, pretending to be an irritating businessman, would make a better distraction than the attractive Fiona, because the guys would want Fi to stay around.
** And then played with in the season 4 summer finale. Fi provides the distraction precisely because she is an attractive female and needs the attention on her.
** '''Michael:''' A good trap makes people curious.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Gabriel in the third season episode "Good Intentions," who is a thinly-disguised UsefulNotes/CheGuevara: he's from Argentina, used to be a physician, and he joined a group of [[LaResistance guerilla fighters]] as part of a plan to get revenge on the CorruptCorporateExecutive[=s=] who [[spoiler: dumped toxic waste in his hometown, poisoning the locals and causing the death of his daughter.]]
** James Kendrick in season 7 is starting to become this to Michael. He created the terrorist network that Michael has to take down because he [[ScrewtheRulesImDoingWhatsRight couldn't fight and bleed for men without principle]].And it's stated that he's willing to [[IDidWhatIHadtoDo go as far as he needs to go for his cause]]

* WesternTerrorists: Fiona used to be one.

* WhyWeAreBummedCommunismFell: Paul Anderson (Burt Reynolds) can't wrap his mind around ''not'' being allowed to shoot Russians.

* WoobieOfTheWeek
* WorkingWithTheEx: One of Michael's ex-girlfriends once showed up on to ask for his help, and ended up working closely with the team throughout the episode.

* WouldntHitAGirl: Subverted. Sam, in the S4 premiere, tries really hard not to hit the girlfriend of a biker gang leader, but she's kicking the crap out of him, and eventually, does lay her out with a roundhouse.

--> Brennen: [[spoiler:"This isn't you, Westen. You're capable of a lot, but you wouldn't hurt a child."]]
--> Michael: [[spoiler:"But you would, Brennen. [[IronicEcho This is your game, we're playing by your rules.]]"]]

* WouldNotShootAGoodGuy: In "Devil You Know", a police officer claims that Michael tried to kill him. Maddie follows up with the "[[IfIWantedYouDead if he wanted to kill you, you'd be dead]]" line.
** In fact, if you watch the actual scene where Michael is shooting at the person, you can see him instinctively take aim at the person before pausing and adjusting his aim to hit the person's car instead.

* WrongfulAccusationInsurance: Potentially.
** Officially, until his policy was canceled.

* XanatosSpeedChess: The "reverse interrogation" scene from "Question and Answer", a rare three-way example. Michael and Sam are trying to find out from the kidnapper where he's hidden the boy, but they can't let him know that they don't already ''have'' the information. So Sam goes undercover as "Detective Chuck Finley", a corrupt drug-addicted cop, and Michael as his druggie snitch, and Sam has to interrogate Michael and feed him information he doesn't have as well as keeping the kidnapper from just killing Michael. On the other hand, Michael has to keep his cover, pretend he knows all the details of something he's trying to find out information about, and play it well enough to keep the kidnapper interested in his info instead of shooting him.

--> Fiona: ''"You know, you were captivating over there."''

--> '''Ahmad''': "You."
--> '''Agent Pearce''': "[[PunctuatedForEmphasis Yes. Me.]]"

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler:Gilroy's]] fate in the penultimate episode of season 3.

* YouKnowWhatTheySay

* YourCostumeNeedsWork: A variant on this in "Long Way Back": Michael pretends to be Irish so Fiona's brother Sean will trust him. When he needs to pose as an American arms dealer, he drops the Irish accent, telling Sean he's pretended to be American before. Sean's response: "The accent's a bit dodgy."

** Like the time four hitmen with body armor show up at Sugar's stash house. Those would be bad odds for anyone, even Michael. Michel tells Sugar to slip out the back. Sugar decides to "go ''Film/Tombstone''". The predictable happens.

* ThreeAmigos: Michael, Fiona, and Sam.

* WelcomeToTheCaribbeanMon: In "Breach of Faith", TheTeaser involves Fi and Jesse in a suspiciously Jamaica-like Bahamas, down to the very incorrect accents, and unlikely cars, and lack of the usual coral paint on what's supposedly a government building. Strangely, the police uniforms were more or less correct by default, but [[http://www.flickr.com/groups/jamaicanpolice/ most cops]] [[http://www.flickr.com/photos/scmikeburton/4702043726/ in the Caribbean]] [[http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/cgi-script/csArticles/articles/000004/000441.htm use the same]] basic uniform in the first place. [[http://www.burnnoticelocations2.org/page23.html As it happens, it was all filmed in Florida]].

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: common across the series. Michael is frequently referred to as one of the most talented operatives employed by the U.S. government, and his reputation is such that foreign agencies, including the Russians, have attributed his actions to a whole team of operatives instead of just one man. But from the beginning of the series, Michael makes clear that ''"as good as you are, sometimes they're better."''