TV News and Reviews

*SPOILER ALERT* Wow. Burn Notice offered an explosive finale tonight, both figuratively and literally. The whole story of Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) has been turned upside down, and we’re left on a cliffhanger–standing on the precipice of the new chapter in Michael’s life.

Tonight was a good, solid episode, one of the finest Burn Notice has offered, and that’s saying a lot. After kidnapping Victor (Michael Shanks), the man who’s tried to kill him several times, Michael attempts to get information from him on Carla–adopting the whole mentality of “My enemy of my enemy is my friend”. In a startling revelation, we find out that Victor is not unlike Michael himself–only with a far more tragic story. Turns out Victor was burned as well–and his wife and child killed. After being recruited by Carla and working for her, Victor later discovers that Carla is the one who actually killed his family. So after that he’d been working from the inside, killing operatives, trying to bring the whole organization down piece by piece.

All this made it clear to us, and Michael, why Victor is the insane killer that he is. When Fi (Gabrielle Anwar) questioned this excuse, and Victor’s trustworthiness, pointing out that Michael hadn’t turned out that way, Michael said he himself hadn’t lost everyone he loved. Victor had nothing left to lose anymore, and it made him far more reckless.

We saw a different side of Victor, however, when he realized Michael wasn’t going to sell him off to Carla. The two worked together to try and escape Carla’s operatives, but it was only a matter of time before they were outnumbered and outgunned. In an incredibly powerful scene, the gravely injured Victor compels Michael to shoot him and take the credit–to save his own life and possibly take down the company in future, and to spare Victor the torture he’d be put through if caught alive. It’s the only solution, and Michael does as asked, but the look of sheer agony on his face as Victor’s blank eyes stared back at him was heartbreaking.

Another solid moment in the episode was when Sam (Bruce Campbell) went to retrieve Michael’s mother Madeline (Sharon Gless) and get her to safety. At first she was her usual stubborn self, refusing to see the serious danger they were in until it was almost too late. With the show’s typical humor, she finally realizes the gravity of the situation when Sam says no to a beer–an unheard of scenario. Rigging an explosive out of Christmas lights to blow the operatives out of the way, Sam and Madeline escape out the back and in a neighbor’s car. The best part came, however, when Madeline ordered Sam to pull over in a crowded beach area where she told him she could blend in with all the other bleached blonde ladies–and then she told Sam that Michael needed him more than she did. It was a great scene, showing us where Michael gets some of his cleverness from, and also the love of his mother to leave herself in danger to help him.

With Fi and Sam helping him out at every turn (including Fi happily shooting Carla), Michael manages to get out alive–for now. The big boss of the organization that Carla worked for informed Michael that they’d been protecting him all this time from the enemies he’d made as a government spy. Thinking Michael would rather work for them than have every bad guy out there suddenly after him again, the big boss dramatically held the door of the helicopter open for him to leave by.

He was rather surprised when Michael leapt right out of it into the ocean water below.

So we leave Michael, Madeline, Sam, and Fi in a whole different world of trouble now, and it’ll be interesting if the shady organization really does leave him alone. And we’re not entirely certain that Carla’s dead, either. It’s a long way from the beginning of the series, when Michael was just living a life in Miami, trying to find out who burned him. As Victor said, one name leads to another name, to another. It always just goes on and on with no end. But this might be the end of one very frustrating chapter in Michael’s life–sure he’s still in danger, but it’ll be danger on his own terms. I’m looking forward to where the show goes from here.

And I’m always looking forward to Fiona blowing up more stuff and looking stylish and cool while doing it. You go girl!

The latest round of action, drama, and adventure on Burn Notice starts up again in June, on USA.

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PHOTOS: Fiona and Michael (Gabrielle Anwar and Jeffrey Donovan) in last week’s Burn Notice, “Sins of Omission”, c2009 Fox Television Studios, USA Network.

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