I will try to limit specific spoilers for this episode and the series but I will mention names/lines/moments that I feel are pertinent. Also, this gets a bit "rambley" I just felt like I needed to get my thoughts down somewhere.
There are a lot of great episodes of Burn Notice (BN) out there, many of them great because of incredibly shot and ingenuously planned action sequences or the resolutions of narrative arcs built over the course of entire seasons. However, this episode is great because of how it highlights the unique narrative structure of the show. It commits neither to being a procedural or a serialized show but rather exists in a limbo of genres and this allows the writers to create extremely compelling characters and relationships. During this episode, like the vast majority of BN episodes, we follow the "client arc (CA)" and the "burned arc (BA)". We begin with a scene that sets up both of these arcs in a snappy way. The CA follows Michael helping washed up spy Paul Anderson deal with a Russian wet work squad while BA follows Jesse and Fi trying to get info out of Jesse's old boss. In the CA the main narrative is focused around Michael and Paul throughout the episode Michael is compared to Paul and even Paul himself says, "It was like watching a younger version of myself cutting through those Russians, you know?". It is clear Paul is meant to act as a foil to Michael: Mike is young, Paul is old. Mike has connections, Paul has none. Mike has friends, Paul is alone. To me Paul represents a possible future for Michael. Paul has stood where Michael is and through some series of events has ended up where he is. When Mike jokingly asks about if Paul "wakes up three or four times a night" Paul responds, "I could tell you it gets better, but I'd be lying. After a while, you just start collecting ghosts.". At the end of the CA which I will avoid spoiling Mike asks Paul about the story behind an old key which seems to be from Paul's spy days. But, Paul can't seem to remember at which point it is all but confirmed that Paul has some sort of memory loss as it was alluded to earlier in the episode. Paul then says what is in my opinion one of the best lines from the shows when the context is considered, "all you really have in the end are your stories". It is such a bittersweet goodbye to a character that like most others in BN we never see again. But that is Paul's ending, alone with his story ever fading away. What makes this so important for me is I think it is a firm reminder to Michael of what path he is on. A life of solitude with no friends and only fading memories of better days and grand adventures left. Now while the BA and the CA never cross paths after the beginning of this episode like they do some episodes, narratively they are intricately tied. Due to the events of the BA this episode being rather sparse and in the interest of finishing this post before 3am I am only going to talk about two scenes in the BA. The first of when Fi is talking to Jesse about his attempts to get back in. When she tells him to leave it in the past he says, "Fi, that all sounds... really healthy. But I can't just walk away". At this point in time Jesse is exactly what Micheal was like during season 1. He is aimlessly searching for revenge in the service of getting back into an agency that doesn't care about him. So now in this episode we have 3 "stages" of a burned spy's life represented in Paul, Michael, and Jesse. These cross arc connections are what makes BN so interesting for me and what allows for the final scene of this episode to hit as hard as it does. In the last scene Fi confronts Michael about what she believes he is becoming relating to Jesse. She says, "Someone who only cares about the *idea* of people, who doesn't give a damn about the ones who have him back everyday." It is this side of Michael that is truly scary to me. Not the super assassin, but the person who is willing to drag himself, his friends, and his family into whatever hell awaits him at the end of this journey. The performances and dialogue are what allow this story to shine but it is the structure itself that allows it to be told in an effective way.
I wrote this extremely tired and on my phone so I apologize for the likely many grammatical errors. If anyone actually read all of this I just want to say thank you for letting my experience with this show and my thoughts live on in you. I hope you have a great day/night.
There are a lot of great episodes of Burn Notice (BN) out there, many of them great because of incredibly shot and ingenuously planned action sequences or the resolutions of narrative arcs built over the course of entire seasons. However, this episode is great because of how it highlights the unique narrative structure of the show. It commits neither to being a procedural or a serialized show but rather exists in a limbo of genres and this allows the writers to create extremely compelling characters and relationships. During this episode, like the vast majority of BN episodes, we follow the "client arc (CA)" and the "burned arc (BA)". We begin with a scene that sets up both of these arcs in a snappy way. The CA follows Michael helping washed up spy Paul Anderson deal with a Russian wet work squad while BA follows Jesse and Fi trying to get info out of Jesse's old boss. In the CA the main narrative is focused around Michael and Paul throughout the episode Michael is compared to Paul and even Paul himself says, "It was like watching a younger version of myself cutting through those Russians, you know?". It is clear Paul is meant to act as a foil to Michael: Mike is young, Paul is old. Mike has connections, Paul has none. Mike has friends, Paul is alone. To me Paul represents a possible future for Michael. Paul has stood where Michael is and through some series of events has ended up where he is. When Mike jokingly asks about if Paul "wakes up three or four times a night" Paul responds, "I could tell you it gets better, but I'd be lying. After a while, you just start collecting ghosts.". At the end of the CA which I will avoid spoiling Mike asks Paul about the story behind an old key which seems to be from Paul's spy days. But, Paul can't seem to remember at which point it is all but confirmed that Paul has some sort of memory loss as it was alluded to earlier in the episode. Paul then says what is in my opinion one of the best lines from the shows when the context is considered, "all you really have in the end are your stories". It is such a bittersweet goodbye to a character that like most others in BN we never see again. But that is Paul's ending, alone with his story ever fading away. What makes this so important for me is I think it is a firm reminder to Michael of what path he is on. A life of solitude with no friends and only fading memories of better days and grand adventures left. Now while the BA and the CA never cross paths after the beginning of this episode like they do some episodes, narratively they are intricately tied. Due to the events of the BA this episode being rather sparse and in the interest of finishing this post before 3am I am only going to talk about two scenes in the BA. The first of when Fi is talking to Jesse about his attempts to get back in. When she tells him to leave it in the past he says, "Fi, that all sounds... really healthy. But I can't just walk away". At this point in time Jesse is exactly what Micheal was like during season 1. He is aimlessly searching for revenge in the service of getting back into an agency that doesn't care about him. So now in this episode we have 3 "stages" of a burned spy's life represented in Paul, Michael, and Jesse. These cross arc connections are what makes BN so interesting for me and what allows for the final scene of this episode to hit as hard as it does. In the last scene Fi confronts Michael about what she believes he is becoming relating to Jesse. She says, "Someone who only cares about the *idea* of people, who doesn't give a damn about the ones who have him back everyday." It is this side of Michael that is truly scary to me. Not the super assassin, but the person who is willing to drag himself, his friends, and his family into whatever hell awaits him at the end of this journey. The performances and dialogue are what allow this story to shine but it is the structure itself that allows it to be told in an effective way.
I wrote this extremely tired and on my phone so I apologize for the likely many grammatical errors. If anyone actually read all of this I just want to say thank you for letting my experience with this show and my thoughts live on in you. I hope you have a great day/night.
