Burn Notice Summaries

Fiona once told Michael Westen: "Don't look at me like that, It's unsettling when you're this sincere"; which is doubly true now that Fiona has impulsively turned herself over to the FBI. More unsettled than we've ever seen him, Michael has become almost an entirely different character: moody, sullen, edgy, uncertain, impulsive – which is how Sam found him, sitting in his charger on a side street re-reading the "good-bye letter" that Fiona had left him.  Mike grabbed him by the back of the neck and demanded "How is that possible? She knocked you out?" Obviously reacting as someone carefully handling an unstable and possibly dangerous crazy person, Sam replied: "Maybe I could have fought her off. But did you ever consider that she was right? You were loosing yourself, selling out everything you've ever fought for!" "I was fighting for her," Michael screamed. "By burning spies?" Sam … Read full summary

A slow look around Michael Westen's loft will tell you that without Fiona's presence it is returning to its wild, natural state. The froufy-ness is gone and the workbench is back by the yogurt… where it belongs in a spy's house. That is where Michael finished reading a letter from Fiona, which Sam had pulled strings in Homeland Security to obtain for him; and that is what went crashing to the floor as Michael vented his frustration over his helplessness! He pronounced Fi as "close to giving up" when she had written that her present condition seemed identical to the last time "she lost him (in Ireland)." He said Pearce had struck out trying to obtain help for Fiona and Sam simply reminded him that he had contacts very well placed; who, now that he was "back in," could help – "if they had a reason to." In voice over, Michael told us: "there are certain people in life you get … Read full summary

Michael and Jesse were awaiting their appointment with Pearce and soon discovered the reason for the clandestine meeting. Without any small talk she played them an answering machine message from Anson who "wanted to be friends" by giving her the name of the guy who had killed her fiancé, Jansen (Jay) Tunberg. Mike immediately knew that it was merely a plan by Anson to get Pearce to ruin her career in the agency by going after the guy, Ahmed Damour; who, by a convoluted method was now selling the CIA the info that had been stolen from Tunberg and therefore under the agencies protection. Mike jumped in rapidly and convinced her to accept their help in getting the information away from Damour which would "deactivate" Damour in a way that would still keep her in the agency and therefore still able to help Fiona (which is what Anson wanted to disrupt.) She agreed, … Read full summary

With the new-found openness in this season's writing it is uncertain why Michael Westen seemed to be stonewalling Madeline about Fiona's condition inside the prison, but he was. He seem annoyed that she was asking about Fiona while he and Sam were "saddling up" to go interrogate Matt Sturges, a dirty guard who was hired by Anson to facilitate Fiona's death. He finally turned and told her "she's tired… she's scared… and she's not eating enough. And somebody's trying to kill her." He told Madeline they were going to the Everglades to find the guy. Unfortunately, when he, Sam and Jesse got there, they found Sturges on the floor in a pool of blood and Sam was taken hostage by Rebecca, Anson's new "apprentice." Michael got to use his duct tape to repair the shot up Charger in order to chase after her. In voice-over, Michael told us that a good … Read full summary

Michael's face showed his anxiety as he told Card, his former training officer, "you're 30 seconds late," an intolerable Faux pas for a CIA officer – especially one who had climbed all over him for the same offense years previously. "I'll make it up to you," Card said, and outlined that the agency was willing to make his "get Fiona out of jail project" a reality IF only she would first prove her "friendship" by giving up her weapons supplier, Greyson Miller. Card said there was absolutely NO other choice so Michael agreed – now all they needed to do was convince Fiona! At the loft Sam was eating his Chinese takeout on the steps because Rebecca was inside – in a mood. She was refusing to even help find her brother, Trent Lang, claiming it was "too sensitive." Michael had to back her down and was able … Read full summary

Through the prison visiting room glass Michael told Fiona of their new lead on Anson's hiding location. He told her that "if I can put Anson in cuffs and you plead guilty to a few weapons charges your sentence will be: time served." She wasn't at all happy that he had been working with Rebecca to obtain it; but, it's Fiona and historically not much Michael ever does pleases her. When Michael left she was ushered to the warden's office by a guard where the warden, two men from the state department and a smarmy MI-6 fool, Arthur Meyers, were waiting for her. If Sam were there, he'd be the one to say "it's official, he's a dick!" Unbelievably, the state department had supposedly "loaned" Fiona to the Brit for (get this) a televised "interrogation" over at the rebuilt British Consulate. With the warden and the state department in the room, he tried to blackmail Fiona into … Read full summary

The last time we saw Mike he was restraining his mother Madeline in order to keep her from slugging him. Now, she's nowhere in sight and won't return his phone calls, despite him leaving her increasingly  more pleading messages. He knew they all needed to keep on task and not waste the narrow window of opportunity they had to locate and capture the fiend who killed Nate… and, oh yea, Anson; but, he sat having a heart-to-heart on the beach with Fiona. He told her "I missed you Fi" and her response was merely: "good. Let's go find the bastard who killed your brother." Rebecca, they knew, had some answers… and crap, may have even been the shooter, but as Sam said: "she's not answering the 'bat-phone' and she knows to always answer the 'bat-phone'!" When they went to Elsa's high-rise, where Rebecca was … Read full summary

Michael Westen's new semi-restored status as a CIA operative was absolutely NO help to him in negotiating the FBI bureaucracy surrounding the killing of his brother Nate and Anson Fullerton. It had been a month and Agent Sexton had completely ignored his many calls so Mike went to "visit" him after hours in a bar outside its restroom. Sexton said he knew who Mike was and clamed up; until Mike merely held his gun in his hand pointing at the floor. He then revealed that "the case was closed… no explanation… brass just said 'end the thing.'" Now being stonewalled at least as effectively as he was when he was burned, Fiona suggested that they start their own investigation. Sam said he had an FBI agent who had agreed to give them a copy of the file, IF they would help on another case he was failing at. Pearce offered to follow up the file leads … Read full summary

The company, the Pryon Group, having security that "makes the Pentagon look like Disneyland," Michael decided that they should go after the CEO, Jack Vale, instead. When he asked Sam if Elsa could help them with "props" to make them look like super-wealthy military buyers, Sam replied: "I hate this so much already." Mr. Kruger and Charles Finley looked the part but Vale absolutely refused to reveal any specifics about their "snipers who can shoot the tail feathers off a hawk from two miles away." The Next best thing was to have Andrew Thompson, the regional manager, show them through a training facility in South Carolina and Mike declared "that is acceptable," because he saw Thompson lusting after the Rolex he was wearing. The idea now was to try to con Thompson into an ultra-high-paying job with Kruger in … Read full summary

The "previously on Burn Notice" scenes weren't any easier to watch in this episode than when we saw them for real in the last episode. We saw Michael screaming at the freshly killed Jack Vale "Who's Tyler Gray"; then segway to standing passively buttoning his shirtsleeves musing in voiceover about being careful who you shared any new information with. In came Fiona, in yet another of her all-to-tiresome rages, flailing and ranting about what an idiot Michael was to bring the CIA into it. After putting up with her tirade, Michael finally pushed back with the edict "I'm not going to let the man who killed my brother get away. I don't care who I have to work with." He explained that he was meeting Card who had called with information he had already found. In a self-aggrandizing, rapid-fire litany, Card blurted about: using all his tech geeks – entire Tyler … Read full summary

Neither Tyler Grey nor Michael Westen looked all that happy as they talked in an abandoned warehouse in Panama. Grey had already told Mike, Sam, Fiona and Jesse (all of whom were together in Panama) that Tom Card was the person behind both Anson and Nate's death as well as the three failed assassination attempts on all of them. Now Mike was upset that Grey wouldn't admit that Nate wasn't part of the deal and also didn't seem to be able to read Card's mind about what was going to happen next. Mike put the handcuffed Grey over the edge of a ledge and only Sam's physically pushing him back kept Mike from shooting. "Where I come from we do not execute prisoners," Sam told him "he's gonna get what he deserves but you're not killin' him in cold blood." That set Fiona off and it became a screaming argument between her and Mike and … Read full summary

The thought that "Nothing ever ends!" undoubtedly was driving Michael's obvious melancholy as he sat on a secluded beach with Fiona and resignedly told her: "do you ever wonder what it would be like to actually get to enjoy an afternoon like this?"  "I'm sorry," she replied looking astonished "who are you? I came here with my boyfriend Michael Westen." They were in the middle of discussing that they had been getting as much sleep as a POW when Tyler Grey appeared on the path through the trees. Then, he was startled too by Jesse following after him, weapon drawn, as "backup." Grey said that he wanted to meet because Card was thinking the F-18 had incinerated their bodies and had just ordered him to search the loft and incinerate it too. After viewers endured Fiona's usual tirade, Michael finally asked: "do you want to hold on to all our old stuff or do you want … Read full summary

What Michael had done seemed to have left him completely stuporous and incapacitated. It was bad before Sam ran down the hall from where Michael had secluded him and when he got there it got worse. What has often seemed to be the only link Michael had with a moral center this whole season burst through the broken door, saw Card's gun in his holster and went ballistic! "I was right down the hall, why didn't you come get me before you made that call, huh?" Sam demanded. "Because you know damn well I'd have something to say about it!" To top it off, Card's team was coming from the elevator and - unbelievably - Mike decided to move a table in front of the door before they both climbed up to the next floor from the balcony. They counted on at least a few minutes before the building was completely sealed but didn't count on Agent Olivia Riley running the show and her lightening-fast lock-down. Neither … Read full summary

All laid out on the table were new IDs, fresh from the forger. Brad Larson, DOB 17 Apr 1973; Cole Tamblyn, DOB 19 Jul 1976; and Erica Hobar, DOB 14 Nov 1978 to be used by Mike, Jesse and Fiona respectively. Fiona handed Sam his new passport and he hit the roof – "Randy Weemes! What the heck kinda name is that? What happened to Chuck Finley – my lucky name?" And he demanded that absolutely no one call him "randy" until they were out of the country.  They would shortly be on their way to "a hut in the Dominican Republic"; but when Elsa arrived with some "supplies" for Sam, they saw that they were already being boxed in by Riley's troops. Sam borrowed Elsa's car and told her to tell Riley that she never knew Sam and he had stolen their car. Mike was driving and … Read full summary

Madeline sat nervously on the playground park bench waiting for Michael and terrified that all the funny looking people surrounding her were undercover spies. Michael appeared from out of nowhere and his mother told him that she had bought a "day at the spa" pass and sneaked out using side streets. This park, she reminisced, was where Nate used to like to come and swing. She was dumbfounded that Mike asked her to connect for a favor with Barry and protested only to be told "meet him in the ladies room of your lawyers office." He gave her a list of countries that Barry should transfer money to from their flagged accounts in order to divert attention from their real intent. She renewed their code for a future meeting (an "X" on a park bench) then, despite a breech of cover, she reached over and touched Mike's hand saying "you’re the only family I have left – if they catch us, they catch us!" … Read full summary

We watched over a full minutes worth of scenes for "previously on Burn Notice" before we got to see Michael and Madeline standing before a fire in the kitchen sink burning every document of their soon-to-be "former life," every shred of evidence they ever existed. Mike was throwing the whole "kitchen sink" of their lives into oblivion and demanded Madeline even give up the life's work of her address book she had started before she was married. Mike thought he was being consoling by telling her "I know what it's like to leave without saying goodbye, but it has to be this way." He had rationale against all her protests: "what if in an emergency we need to call someone," "what will everyone think" and "Nate's little boy shouldn't have to grow up without family"; and she reluctantly dropped the book into the fire herself. Sam and Jesse were right then trying to buy the … Read full summary

Up to his same old habits, Michael sneaked out on a sleeping Fiona for a clandestine meeting with his "old friend" Jason Bly (CSS agent) at a roadside diner. All of his team had told him NOT to make contact, then NOT to meet with the guy, but he did it any way. After test sparing a bit, Bly revealed that he had been tasked with investigation into Card's murder and so far he had discovered that Card wasn't as good as the CIA thought and that he needed Michael's cooperation so he could offer a "deal." At least that's what he called it; but, it was nothing more than Michael turn himself in and Bly would see if he could maybe do anything. His only rationalization was basically "do a favor for your friends and family" and told him that Olivia Riley had already captured Sugar and secreted him away somewhere unknown from even the CIA. The police that Bly had called (to protect his ass) sounded … Read full summary

Nix is going to write and direct this one - we'll see what kind of episode he thinks he can direct.