Burn Notice‘s third season finale opens with Michael running from the police and FBI, having just watched Gilroy die in a bomb blast, courtesy of the even more dangerous Simon. Drawing Michael into an electronics store, Simon (Garret Dillahunt) reveals himself to be responsible for most of the nastier activities on Michael’s falsified dossier, which caused Michael to be burned in the first place. Simon is actually the “client” this episode, threatening to detonate a bomb in a Miami hotel unless Michael helps him lure Management (John Mahoney) into a trap.
Like its past season finales, Burn Notice‘s Season 3 finale felt like a high-action roller-coaster ride. Viewers just had to hang on and see where the ride ended. Michael asked Sam and Fiona to track down and diffuse Simon’s bomb while he tried to orchestrate the meeting between Simon and Management.
As fans remember, Michael initially turned down the offer to work for Management by jumping out of a helicopter at the end of Season 2. At times in Season 3, the show didn’t seem to have much direction. Michael seemed to shift his focus away from the people who originally burned him, trying to get back into the intelligence community with help from people like Tom Strickler. The finale brought the show back to its roots.
While Michael, Sam, and Fiona all had their hands full, an FBI agent (Al Sapienza) was interrogating Maddie, trying to convince her Michael did all of the terrible things on his record. At the emotional core of the episode, when it came down to it, Maddie trusted that she knew her son and that the dossier was all lies.
Also following the pattern of previous finales, Michael departed from Sam and Fiona into the final confrontation on his own. Of course, Michael trusted neither Simon nor Management. I’m sure he would have liked to see them both go down. In the end, he could have taken them down by killing Simon, but Michael stopped short of choking Simon to death. Did he stop because he’s not the type to kill anyone indiscriminately, or because he wanted to find out what Management had in store for him? Probably a little of both.
In the final scenes, Michael was helped out of FBI custody, led to a secret location, and finally into what looked like a private library. We’re left to wonder where the show will go next season. If Michael goes to work for Management, he may not have time to help out underdog clients. How will his work for Management affect his relationships with Fiona, Sam, and Maddie? We’ll find out in June.
What if Michael were extraordinarily rendered (ala Patrick McGoohan’s character, a former spy in “The Prisoner”) to The Village?
Michael: Where am I?
Number 2: In the Village.
Michael: What do you want?
Number 2: We want information.
Michael: Whose side are you on?
Number 2: That would be telling. We want information… information… information.
…
Number 2: You are Number 6.
Michael: “My name is Michael Westen. I used to be a spy…”
I believe Michael had a gun to Simon’s head. He wasn’t choking him; he just had him in a choke-hold. The gun would have done the trick but then Michael would have never been maneuvered out of the hands of the Feds, which we are being led to believe has happened.
True, Colleen. Part of me would have liked to see Michael kill Simon and Management, but then his record would be blemished for sure.
Plus – Michael’s greatest fear is that Simon’s prediction will come true and he will become “just like him”. So he just couldn’t have pulled that trigger; he knew he would have to take the consequences for going after Simon and having Sam call the Feds. He knows he is walking a fine line between what he still is and what Larry and Simon and the others have become. That’s what terrifies him; not where he might end up physically. (In fact, being in Federal custody would probably be a relief. Protected from everything that has been hammering at him for however long 3 seasons is in Michael-world. He’d lose his freedom but at least he still wouldn’t be such a target!)
(sigh)How sad that my life is so mundane that this stuff is actually important!
And here I am, back from choir rehearsal, with no Burn Notice to look forward to in 9 minutes. Thanks for being out there so we can chat from time to time, fellow fans!