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Burn Notice – Did Fiona burn Michael?

fiona-burn-noticeAfter watching the first two episodes of the second-half of Burn Notice‘s second season, I’ve come away with this odd feeling that everyone’s favorite trigger-happy Irish lassie, Fiona Glenanne, might have had something to do with Mikey getting his spy license revoked.

Now, before you start pelting me with expletives or potatoes (remember the famine?), allow me to explain myself. The evidence, as subtle as it may be, is there to build a convincing case against the sultry ex-IRA hitwoman. Who was the first person Michael wakes up to after being burned back in the pilot episode? That would be Fi. Her being listed as Michael’s emergency contact seems a little too convenient of an explanation as to why she’s there to greet her ex-lover after he’s  dumped in Miami.

Not satisfied? I don’t blame you. I’ll channel the ghost of Ben Matlock to further strengthen my argument.

Rather than blather on endlessly, I’ll get to the crux of the matter. Here’s why I think Fi could have burned Mike:

  • She is a jilted lover who has never forgiven Mike for leaving her in the lurch. She didn’t get an answer as to why he left. Fi doesn’t like rejection very much.
  • She’s an explosives expert. The current story thread has Mike pursuing those responsible for trying to blow him up. The mysterious Carla gives him a list of Eastern European suspects. Fiona is on the list.
  • Continuing along those lines, it’s Fi, not Mike, who tracks down the bomber he is seeking. Then she enters the bomber’s house and clumsily triggers the place to go up in flames. So you want me to believe that an explosives aficionado is going to get duped so easily? Not likely. Fi is too smart for that.
  • If she is faking the whole bomber story, having Mike believe she was almost killed in the fire is a great way to keep him in the dark. Mike is so distraught, when he finds her alive, he kisses her and presumably sleeps with her.
  • Here’s Fi’s fabricated fortune from a fortune cookie she reads to Mike: “The one who burned you may be closer than you think.” Hmm?
  • Finally, Fi is in love with Michael and wants to be close to him. A spy can’t have any attachments and moves around too much to settle down. Burning him guarantees some alone time. As Michael Westen always says, “Until you found out who burned you, you’re not going anywhere.”

Alright, call me Oliver Stone if you must, but I feel I’ve presented enough clues to support the possibility that Fiona may have something to do with Mike being blacklisted. She might not be acting alone, but she could very well be in cahoots with whoever is. I realize all you naysayers out there will ask, “If she loves the guy, why would she try to blow him up?” I say she knows Mike pretty well, and knows he’s clever enough to escape an exploding door.

Agree or disagree with my theory? Could Fiona be behind Mike being burned? Or am I just reaching?

Photo Credit: USA Network

20 Responses to “Burn Notice – Did Fiona burn Michael?”

January 30, 2009 at 10:16 AM

Damn, those are great theories. I haven’t seen last night’s episode yet, so after reading this I’ll have to keep an eye out. Totally makes sense; I wouldn’t bet money against you on it.

January 30, 2009 at 11:47 AM

I remember reading something somewhere that the producers promised that it wouldn’t be *that guy* (as in… “oh it was THAT GUY!”) I guess it still leaves open the possibility that Fiona did it, since she’s not a guy, but if it were anyone who is already a part of Michael’s life then I would put money on Michael’s dad.

January 30, 2009 at 12:24 PM

I kind of got the impression that her fortune cookie may have been planted for HER to read, and that it was real, but she was able to save the moment, being a good spy herself.

Wonder what happens if they find out who burned him. Will they do that, and then change the direction of the show? Or will they keep it going until the final eps?

January 30, 2009 at 12:44 PM

We have to assume that, once Mike finds out who burned him, that he’ll want to try to get reinstated as a spy. I guess we could follow him in that direction, or we could see it work and have him back as spy, possibly helping other spies who’ve been wrongly burned, thus keeping the title of the show applicable.

January 30, 2009 at 1:07 PM

First off, it’s Fi, not Fee. Normally I don’t care, but since fee is an actual word it was driving me nuts.

Secondly, I understand why some people are coming up with this conclusion, but I just don’t buy it. For one, I don’t see Fiona having the clout to Burn him. Someone doctored his official file and then had the BN ordered, which was carried out by the US government. Nothing we’ve ever been told indicates that Fiona had anything even resembling that kind of power. Second, I don’t see Fiona being that underhanded. She a straight forward, make things go boom, punch people when they piss you off type of person. I don’t see her wanting to even try pulling off a long con. It’s not her style, it doesn’t fit with her character.

As to your specific points about her being on Carla’s list and investigating the bomber…well duh. She’s an explosives expert and was long before she met Michael. Seeing Michael with a sniper’s rifle doesn’t mean we should start assuming that anytime someone get’s shot Michael’s behind it. She was investigating it because she’s good at it and knows that world well. And she triggered the place to burn because, as the Michael VO explained, that kind of trigger, a pressure plate hidden under the carpet, is completely undetectable. We saw her expression of surprise and fear when she was trapped. If she’d done it one purpose why exactly would she have reacted like that, it’s not like anyone was around to appreciate the performance.

January 30, 2009 at 1:08 PM

Well, I would hope that Fi wouldn’t do something like that (i.e., burn) to Michael; however, your theories are very plausible. Perhaps Matt Nix is using it as a distraction and giving us clues somewhere else for the “real” bandit, but we’re not picking up on it yet. OR I could be completely off my rocker and am making stuff up b/c I don’t want it to be Fi.

Maybe Nate did it? No wait….

January 30, 2009 at 1:37 PM

Everything you wrote makes sense, but I don’t think the writers will take it that direction. Fi is just too loveable to have burnt Michael. They’d have to make her a lot darker to have that pay off. Sure she’s always trying to make him jealous and she’s done bad things but overall the character is light.

January 30, 2009 at 9:53 PM

I agree that that the writers probably won’t go there. In fact, I think they’re dropping clues on purpose to make conspiracy guys like me think Fi might be involved. Also, I wouldn’t call Fi “loveable.” We don’t really know much about her past, except that she can be badass when she wants to be. She might not be the one who burned Mike, but I’m confident she is capable of some nasty shit.

January 30, 2009 at 2:01 PM

BRILLIANT theory I had never thought of. Love it!

February 2, 2009 at 5:50 AM

I dunno if it’s because this is America, but you don’t seem to grasp exactly what the IRA (until very recently) were. If she is ex-IRA then she left when they disbanded. Which means that when she was a member when they were still a terrorist group who killed thousands of innocent people in the UK in the 70’s and 80’s. People in the US seem to forget this about the IRA. Don’t believe me? Look up what happened in Eniskillen or when they decided to bomb Harrods at Xmas in 1983. Both of these atrocities were IRA bombs. Do you think here character would have been acceptable if she was ex-Al Qaeda?

February 4, 2009 at 12:26 AM

i hadn’t really thought about the possibility of Fi being the one who burned Michael, until i read this. your points and reasoning make a lot of sense, but i really have to agree with Kat, there are also a lot of really good reasons that undermine the idea of her burning him. personally i think that a lot of people are making a big deal out of the fortune Fiona made up “The one who burned you is closer than you think.” in my opinion it was just her trying to get his attention and pointing out (again) that she is annoyed by how the burn notice is his only focus when he’s doing good things in miami. in the first season finale (im pretty sure) she asks him why he wants to go back to the people who put him through all this, and she has a conversation with Madeline early in season 2 about not wanting to be the second most important thing in his life. this just shows that she knows what his focus is, not some reference to her being the one who burned him. maybe it does have some foreshadowing about someone he’s already met being that person, but i don’t think they would have her or Sam be the ones who did it. they don’t have that kind of power and they would be doing a lot more to sabotage his quest.

as for the thing about her tripping the contact plate under the rug. first off, she was emotionally involved in the job and the previous episode showed that when she gets involved she acts impulsively (punching the lady they were trying to make friends with). i think that just crossed into the sphere of the burn notice/bomber story line. she doesn’t listen to Michael’s warnings very much anyways. and i agree with Kat again that the voice over did mention it being undetectable, unless of course you were looking for it specifically. Fiona even mentioned in the scene with Michael in the loft that she let her curiosity take over and she ignored her common sense and instincts.

February 9, 2009 at 9:09 PM

I was thinking this after watching the second episode.
I seriously think that Fiona is the one who burned him. It’s kind of obvious to me. And I bet that Michael knows it too, but he’s planning something.

February 10, 2009 at 1:11 PM

Think about it. Fiona was the first one with Micheal after he was burned, she knew he was burned, and (above all) he was stuck in one area, with no way to leave. She wanted him with her, and now he can’t leave.

February 18, 2009 at 11:21 AM

The fortune cookie didn’t actually say that. Michael was not paying attention to Fi, so she said that to snap him out of it.

Having said that, Michael himself was outright telling the art dealer over and over the whole episode he was the spy. coincidence Fi does the same thing? (Que ‘dum dum dum’ dramatic sound byte)

February 18, 2009 at 11:24 AM

I wrote “Fi’s fabricated fortune.” That means she made it up.

February 20, 2009 at 6:38 PM

OMG! I google fiona burned michael just to see who else thought so. And those are the EXACT reasons I picked. I just think it’s just a little convenient that she just so happened to be there when he woke up. It really hadn’t occured to me until she said “the person that burned you is closer than you think”. Things just started to click after that. Maybe that is what the writers want you to think and Michael will start to think it and cause friction and prove it wrong later. I really love this show but I don’t want the Burn mystery to drag out forever, but I also don’t want it to be like Lost where the show gets boring after the mystery is solved.

February 22, 2009 at 11:30 AM

OMG, you guys are freaking me out! You could be right about Fi! It makes sense. But…I really want Fi and Mikey to get together, I’m a romantic at heart I guess. If he knows already, or find out that she did burn him…I guess my dreams will never come true! Ok, maybe I just want more steamy sex scenes with those two! Damn, he’s hot! :o)

February 28, 2009 at 2:58 AM

~_~ i kinda just assumed, this would be a simple plot device, to get peoples eyes off other things…

as you keep saying at the start she was with him, and no one found it odd or really thought about it, till a very basic “clue” made it very apparent, now that people will see this character this way or that way, youll start to see other planted clues, and you wont fully notice whos really doing what

Righteous Kill, used a similar pattern.. you see one of the 2 mains admitting he did stuff, you see his problems, and you see all of this, but it turns out the other guy without any of the problems was the real killer =\

May 9, 2009 at 2:23 AM

I thin Who ever buirned Mike was 1 of 4 people. number 1 Fiona….Your reasons being mine as well. Number 2 call me crazy but Sam we don’t know why or what happend to sam for him to retire maybe sombody higher up offered him his career back if he got rid of Mike…Idk. number 3 Nate Nate seems to be all innicent and a little screw up…Maybe thats just to throw people off he could actually be sitting Mike up for somthing Nate is in almost every episode where somthing big happends. The final suspect his father. Why? I get the feeling his dad was a spy and I think his death was fake and he never liked Mike and maybe Mike was gaining a better reputation than him so he taints his record by having him burned….Mike would never know cuz he thinks he’s dead.

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