Season 2 of Burn Notice is quickly coming to a conclusion. Only two installments remain. Many unanswered questions are still left to ponder, but we finally got a look at who tried to kill Mikey. It was bad-ass Victor (Michael Shanks), from the episode “Bad Blood.” After eluding our burned hero in a storage facility foot chase, the spry assassin chastised Mike for not being in shape. What a guy, eh? First he tries to snipe Mike, then he insults his fitness level. Is it just me, or do these spies seem extra witty?
Whether or not Mike will catch up with this familiar foe is for another time. Like Lost, this show has a tendency to leave its viewers scratching their heads after every episode. This is far from a complaint, just an observation. The main storyline last night dealt with a Haitian man seeking vengeance against the nutcase who killed his daughter. It was well-meaning, but I found it a little dry. I’d rather focus on a moment Michael shared with his mom, Madeline, regarding his father.
Michael’s long-lost, and presumed dead, father has been a kind of puzzling specter hanging over the series since the beginning. We are told he’s deceased, and that he was abusive, especially toward Mike. Other than that, not much is known about the elder Westen. A few episodes ago it was revealed that he beat-up Mike one Christmas. Madeline even took out a family photo, proving that the old man did at one time exist. It’s these types of snippets of info sprinkled throughout the season that have piqued my curiosity.
The most recent reference to dear old dad came near the end of the episode. Madeline rewired her aged car using a diagram that belonged to her husband. She showed it to Mike and said this, “You know I think your father wired the car the way he did because he thought if he was the only one who could fix it, he’d be more useful. You know, part of the family.” A pensive stare crosses Mike’s face. He loses himself for a moment. Was he reliving his forgettable childhood? Or was his spy radar sounding an alarm? I think the former, but it’s fun to speculate.
Back to the wiring diagram. It was very detailed, very intricate. It looked like something Mike would draw. In other words, it looked like something a spy might draw. Mike even compared (jokingly) the circuitry to that of a “guided missile system.” Could it be that the senior Westen was, or is, a spy? Could he still be alive? I mean it’s possible, right? We don’t know anything about the guy except that he left his brood and supposedly died. Maybe he tried to be a family man but couldn’t hack it. We all know spies have relationship issues; look at Mike for Pete’s sake. Like father, like son.
One of our fine CliqueClack readers theorized a few weeks back that it could be daddy who burned Mike. I was busy accusing Fiona, but at this point I don’t think anyone can be ruled out. What do you think? Is Michael’s father a bad memory and nothing more? Or could he be the key to solving Burn Notice‘s biggest mystery?
Clacked by Scott Tunstall 
on Feb 20, 2009 @ 10:00 EST5EDT
