Burn Notice

Well my own prediction happened. Felt that Micheal faking his death is the only true way for him to get away from everything and bring this to an end.

Seriously? ....That's The Talk? They're gonna quote the opening narration to his nephew?

"Y'ee, son, when daddies get burned, they've got nuthin'..."

A decent nough last hurrah, though the "Dark Michael" plot bored me spitless, given the extreme circumstances... and especially given the token villain of the week. I could buy Larry as a terrible glimpse into Michael's future, but not this yahoo.

The ending felt off to me. The showdown with James felt rushed. I'm glad Sam and Jesse got away, and I know that the only way for Michael and Fiona to get away is fake their own death. But the scene with them in the cozy winter house with Charlie was weird. Did they just kidnap a kid and take him up north?

CALLED. IT. Right down to the Sam/Jesse We Help the Helpless stuff! DAMN I'M GOOD.

Had they killed off Maddie at the end of Season 1, I'dve been happy. Now.....crying still. Not even joking. That hurt. As all endings do.

Seven years, 100+ eps, a prequel movie, explosions just about every ep, Fi being all "blow shit up", Bruce Campell being cool, Jesse being slightly cooler (at times), Barry, Seymour, Sugar....and an abused kid growing up and making good.

I will miss this show.

Michael: "What will I tell him when he gets older?" Fiona: "Start at the beginning. 'My name is Michael Westen. I used to be a spy...'"

Right in the feels, man. Right in the feels.

...also, a Sam/Jesse spinoff would be freakin' amazing.

edited 13th Sep '13 2:55:39 AM by Ryusui

There's two ways that went down, and I'm sure it was left ambiguous on purpose: 1. The CIA's deal was for this mission only (I don't recall the show saying otherwise) and they allowed Michael to be reported as dead so he could start a new life without being chased by enemies who might have lived. They'd taken the kid from Jesse and Sam and decided to leave him with family, so Michael got custody without question. 2. Michael hooked up with Jesse and Sam long enough to get Charlie in the hours before their capture, said his good byes, and left.

Real spies and government agents have enemies. It's just a fact. That's why their names are usually kept out of the papers, and it's a big deal when they aren't. Michael's name and face have been compromised big time thanks to the CIA's impatience and stupidity, so he is no longer an asset to start with. I think they'd be willing to peacefully get rid of the thorn in their side that he's been from the very beginning. And Sam and Jesse might have known for sure that Michael and Fi lived, but they also might have just figured it because they knew what sort of people Michael and Fi were.

Well. At least Larry finally got what he wanted. Michael is like him. Dead Michael!

(sorry. Had to get that out of my system)

Remember, Fiona and Michael are barred from Ireland after being outed as American agents by Harry Dresden.

I guess that's why there was no subtitle reading Ireland. Maybe they're only in Hackensack.

Michael and Fi are waiting in a remote location to be picked up for a new agency that they're both going to be working for. All they know right now is that a) the place has great daycare for Charlie and b) the guy they're meeting is Phil Coulson

That made me smile, if only because that WOULD be awesome and appropriate.

You know what? It's going on their WMG page.

''There's two ways that went down, and I'm sure it was left ambiguous on purpose: 1. The CIA's deal was for this mission only (I don't recall the show saying otherwise) and they allowed Michael to be reported as dead so he could start a new life without being chased by enemies who might have lived. They'd taken the kid from Jesse and Sam and decided to leave him with family, so Michael got custody without question. 2. Michael hooked up with Jesse and Sam long enough to get Charlie in the hours before their capture, said his good byes, and left. Real spies and government agents have enemies. It's just a fact. That's why their names are usually kept out of the papers, and it's a big deal when they aren't. Michael's name and face have been compromised big time thanks to the CIA's impatience and stupidity, so he is no longer an asset to start with. I think they'd be willing to peacefully get rid of the thorn in their side that he's been from the very beginning. And Sam and Jesse might have known for sure that Michael and Fi lived, but they also might have just figured it because they knew what sort of people Michael and Fi were.''

I understand that any kind of happy ending is going to require Michael and Fiona to disappear. I also understand that any happy ending for Charlie is going to require him staying with his family. My problem is that the happy ending seems out of place. Maybe I'm just used to season cliffhangers, but having everything settled so neatly feels rather flat. There's also the the final confrontation with James that lasted about ten minutes before everything is fixed.

edited 14th Sep '13 3:32:42 PM by JBC1187

(Well, that's Burn Notice. The story had gotten very very dark by this point, and any happy ending would need a pragmatic approach)

edited 21st Nov '13 8:53:33 PM by johnnyfog

I was wondering why John Pyper-Ferguson, the guy who played James, looked familiar.

Turns out he played this guy:

Fine, they're in Scotland. The background music was Celtic. You were supposed to draw the conclusion that they went back to Fiona's homeland. All we saw was them inside the house. It's entirely possible they snuck in with assumed identities and Michael spends all his time in the secluded cabin while Fi or a neighbor does all the errands.

Ireland might be small, but I'm sure there's places Fi can get without running into old enemies/friends.

ETA: And Ironside's one of my favorite actors, so YMMV on that.

edited 14th Sep '13 8:24:54 PM by Journeyman

He also played Stanton Parish in Alphas

And I believe he played a psychiatrist on Smallville. Still had the hair and beard.

I can't believe it's over. I spent most of my angsty teen years with this show, now it is gone. Anyone have a tissue? :(

• hands Rainbow a tissue*

Just had a Fridge Logic moment regarding the finale. Namely, what Sonya, a known associate of James, was doing at the intercept site that was about to be swarming with trigger-happy CIA operators?

Started watching season 7. On ep 5 now.

You know, I never realized how dull this series could feel without all the slice of life problem solving shenanigans.

Take away Michael's We Help the Helpless stuff, and yeah, the show can kinda grate.

The secret is Burn Notice never did CIA action very well. It worked in small doses because we never saw Michael's old jobs and he was intended as an exaggeration of real spies. To let the spy stuff dominate the show was a blunder in my opinion, and I said so, over and over and over and over and ov

edited 21st Nov '13 8:55:06 PM by johnnyfog

Just finished ep 5. I gotta say, the way Sam and Jessie got away from the police station was bloody brilliant.

Heh, here is something amusing.

I started watching Person Of Interest. So far I watched 7 episodes, and while it is a very, very cool show, something was missing. This episode reminded me what it was:

Explosions.

What made Burn Notice excel was the fact that Michael was overqualified to deal with the small town situations he found himself in. The few occasions he had to deal with people just as smart and skilled as he is you can see him struggling more. Like a lot of things, that worked great in small doses as it made Michael out to be among the most elite spies with only a few people able to keep pace with him. The last two seasons didn't have the contrast of local bad guys and Michael facing against elite spies had a diminishing returns effect, dealing with them more often does not make him more badass but makes his enemies seem weaker.

In addition the show had a fairly firm formula that dealt with the various characters being able to, in effect, Jedi Mind Trick whatever enemy they have to. It got to the point that no matter how dangerous or psychotic they was, plot armor in the form of tricking/manipulating them to a certain action was in effect and almost mandated in order to get out of a corner. Jesse convincing the psycho drug dealer to not kill him in the DEA/Tom Card episode was one example. Thus again the show locked itself into a certain pattern that didn't gel quite right even as the status quo changed over the seasons.

Still, the series as a whole is an excellent example of how you can do a CIA thriller as a television show. The scripting required both heroes and villains to constantly be observing the situation and changing plans as things get out of hand. I am going to miss the show.