Geesh. Does Michael Westen ever get a moment’s peace? Hah, never! Such is the life of a spy guy. Burn Notice ended its summer run in typical explosive fashion last night. Surprise, surprise, Mike’s status with the Agency is still in limbo; thanks in large part to him icing the sleazy Strickler, and Diego being chucked out of a Miami high-rise by the person or persons dispatched to “clean up” Mike’s mess. So, when the winter episodes are rolled out, Mike will have a brand new foe to play cat and mouse with. That’s fine and dandy, but did the finale measure up?
Mike’s biggest problem is that he wants it all. Getting his old gig back isn’t enough to keep him satisfied. He also wants his inner circle to stay intact. In particular, Fiona. His favorite Irish gal’s intention to leave Miami, and Maddie’s decision to sell her house, didn’t sit well with Mikey boy. For a dude who has spent the better part of his life dealing with unsavory characters, you would think he might realize there is no such thing as the best of both worlds. Vacillating between good guy and bad guy finally, well, burned him.
It took close to three years, but we were finally treated to a Fiona back-story. The writers shed some light on her days in Ireland by revealing that she has a dead sister and five brothers. She also racked up quite a long list of enemies, all of whom are eager to acquire a piece of her lovely self. It was nice to see Fi given a larger role in the last couple installments. Let’s face it, she’s been sexy window-dressing for the majority of the past two seasons. Yeah, she’s part of the team, but Michael, Sam, and even Maddie on occasion, have out-shined her.
Until now, Fi has been the tough chick who blows stuff up and is madly in love with Mike. She’s either been severely underwritten or shrouded in mystery on purpose. I think the latter, only because the series has been filled with wonderfully written characters, besides Mike, Sam and Maddie. Carla, Brennen, Barry and Seymour are all lesser personae who have stolen scenes and entire episodes. Perhaps the scribes have held back on digging deeper into Fiona’s background. Maybe that will change since she can’t return home. I sincerely hope it does.
At any rate, Fiona isn’t going anywhere. Does this mean we will get a resolution between her and Mike? I’m tired of these two dancing around their feelings. Fish or cut bait, please. Mike’s endless journey to discover who burned him has kept my interest much more than the romantic subplot. I don’t care whether they get together. I just want them to come to some sort of understanding.
For me, this finale was good, not great. Mike screwed up his future, big time; to such a degree that he’s further out in the cold than ever. The ultimate question is still unanswered: Did killing Strickler get Mike any closer to those responsible for revoking his spy license? I guess we’ll have to wait until the snow flies to find out.
Clacked by Scott Tunstall 
on Aug 07, 2009 @ 09:00 EST5EDT
I don’t get the whole “your file is under review” part of the current story. AFAWK – Mike was burned for a reason. Somebody knows what that reason was. Mike’s mission used to be – Find the people that burned him and figure out why. It never was – Get back into the spy business by going through a bunch of bureaucrats to get your file reviewed.
I don’t think that Michael necessarily messed up his future more … he just forced it into a different direction …
Before being killed, Diego was quite upset that Michael had gotten himself involved with Strikler … so I think that in that regard he is better off …
We’ll see though … glad it didn’t really end as a cliff hanger though … usually those are more frustrating and annoying than fun.