Michael Westen

Michael Westen
"Burn Notice" character
First appearance	Pilot
Created by	Matt Nix
Portrayed by	Jeffrey Donovan
In-universe information
Alias	Michael McBride
Gender	Male
Occupation	Ex-spy, private eye
Family	Frank Westen (father, deceased) Madeline Westen (mother) Nate Westen (brother)

This redirect is about the fictional Burn Notice character. For the actor, see Michael Weston.

Michael Westen is a fictional character portrayed by Jeffrey Donovan in the television series Burn Notice. Michael Westen is an international spy who suddenly finds himself blacklisted. Dumped in his hometown of Miami, Florida with an FBI surveillance team assigned to him, Michael struggles to put his life back together and find out why he's been cut off. In the meantime, Michael uses his unique skills and training as a freelance spy, usually helping downtrodden people with unique problems. LA Weekly described him as "Jim Rockford and MacGyver filtered through Carl Hiaasen."

Overview

Michael leaves home after graduating high school and joins the U.S. Army (he joined the military at the age of 17 when his mother forged his father's signature so that he would have permission), and joins Special Forces. He then served his country for 15 years working in Europe and the OPEC countries as a covert operative who freelanced for the CIA. While in the middle of a mission in Nigeria, he receives a burn notice from his superiors - documentation he recovers later shows it is a part of operation "Cold Sunshine". After shooting and stealing his way to an airport, Michael is dumped in Miami, with Fiona Glenanne, his ex-girlfriend.

As per the conditions of his burn notice, Michael's assets are frozen, his line of credit is destroyed, and he has no job history with which to seek employment. He is free to move about in and around Miami, but any attempts to relocate outside of the city will result in his immediate arrest. Now Michael has to try to find work that suits his unusual skillset and knowledge. He counts on old friends like Sam Axe (who was informing on him to the FBI until halfway through the first season) and Fiona to do such odd jobs, while fighting with his mother Madeleine Westen and trying to find out who burned him and why.

Michael lives in a cheap, low key loft over a nightclub, with a bed, workbench, some weights, a punching bag, no air conditioning (a challenge in South Florida), an oven (used to bake explosives in one episode), a few chairs, a mid-90's era computer, and a fridge filled with yogurt and beer (drunk by Sam). He obtained the loft in the pilot, when he helped the Russian landowner and club owner out by taking care of the drug dealer who also lived on the premises. He also spends time at hotels in Miami and his mother's house.

Bruce Campbell comments on Michael Westen: "Well, the idea is being a CIA agent, Michael Westen can take his skills, you know, MacGyver-ish type skills and make a shotgun out of a twig."

The Season 2 finale revealed that Michael was burned in order for him to be recruited by Carla's mysterious organization. After Fiona assassinated Carla, he was offered her position by a man referred to as the organization's "management." Westen refused the offer while in a helicopter over the ocean, when it is revealed that the security detail and personal restrictions he has been under were to protect him from the countless enemies he made as a CIA operative. He declined once more, and upon being offered "the door" by management, he promptly jumped out of the helicopter, free from the organization's hold.

However, revealed in the 3rd season, the organization was also protecting him from the rest of the world who were hunting the name Michael Westen; in order to stop them Michael approaches an active agent, Diego Garza, to become his point of contact. Working with Strickler, an "agent to the spies", he slowly works towards dislodging his burn notice, until a job has Strickler attempt to remove Fiona from Michael's life, something he wouldn't accept as a cost, and kills Strickler. This sets off a chain of events that kills Diego and introduces Gilroy.

It is hinted in the Season 3 finale that the method by which he was burned was that his profile was switched with that of Simon, a homicidal serial arsonist that used to work for Management.

Michael has many tools at his disposal, such as knives, guns, cars, cell phones, and power tools.

Family

Michael had an abusive childhood. His father beat him as an obedience measure, and his mother, Madeline Westen, did nothing to prevent it. His father also took advantage of him, for example, having Michael fake a seizure inside a Mr. Goodwrench store so Michael's father could steal some spark plugs. The last thing Michael's father said to him was, "I'll see you in Hell, boy." Eight years ago, Michael's father died, and only recently did Michael visit his grave, after persistent persuasion from his mother. Michael's younger brother, Nate, is a compulsive gambler who has a history of stealing from Michael to fund his addiction. However, after helping Michael out and almost dying he has turned his life around, which Michael seems to have difficulty believing. After a brief quarrel with his brother, Michael rightfully receives his father's black 1973 Dodge Charger.

Relationships

Michael's romantic relationships are a significant source of subplots in Burn Notice. It is revealed in the episode "Sins of Omission" that ten years previous, Michael was engaged to a professional thief named Samantha, but they never married and separated. Around that time, Michael met Fiona Glenanne, an IRA bomb maker and weapons expert while under cover in Ireland. Their relationship also ended when Michael was extracted, though Fiona became aware of Michael's real name and position as a US intelligence operative. Fiona now helps Michael with his various cases and his investigation in Miami, and they still have a close, if strained, relationship. While Fiona plays coy during most of Season 1, during Season 2 it is apparent to many that they are moving toward a reconciliation. When Fiona investigates a bomb makers home and a fire erupts that consumes the entire building, Michael believes that she had been killed in the fire, and discovers her alive and well at his apartment, albeit without a cellphone that was destroyed. Realizing that Michael was on the verge of a breakdown over her possible death, the two make love.

During Season 3, while Michael begins working harder towards being recalled to active service and working for a mercenary, Fiona grows more and more distant. Michael strikes Fiona as part of maintaining a cover identity. Fiona claims that doing this work is changing Michael, and that she can't stay and watch it happen, and plans to move back to Ireland. In the following episode, these plans are curtailed when Fiona's brother and an exiled Irish mercenary arrive who kidnaps Fiona, and Michael's original Irish cover is blown. When Michael and Sam attempt a rescue, Fiona is shot in the arm when she jumps off the pier to escape the gunfire. Michael panics when he sees Fiona float to the surface unconscious and quickly pulls her out and is relieved when she comes to. Fiona's brother tells Michael that Fiona, now associated with a foreign intelligence operative, will almost certainly be killed if she returns to Ireland, though he tells Michael that he is proud to know his sister chose well. This incident strengthens their bond again, and soon thereafter they make love at a hotel.

Michael's family is also a source of strain in the show. His mother in particular is at times demanding and a valuable asset, and has recently been used to conduct initial surveillance. She's also revealed to have a deep understanding of psychology and interrogation, after she manages to coerce information out of a smuggler within minutes of Fiona and Sam having given up. Despite being left in the dark for much of the series, she is now much more involved and aware of Michael's operations, though she seems to accept this as a matter of course.

Ask A Spy

The official website for the show has a collection of short videos where Michael dispenses advice for certain problems people have, such as how to evade an ex who's been following them or how to get a table at a restaurant that's booked solid. Michael even explains how to break out of a prison in Turkmenistan, although he gives the camera a look before starting. In general, the "advice" is theoretically possible but nevertheless impractical for most people. For instance, the explanation on how to break out of a prison in Turkmenistan ends with Michael telling the person to swim across the Caspian Sea.

Other tips, however, are not so impractical. This includes things like tapping into CCTV footage, and shutting down streetlights with a mobile phone; the instructions given for these types of tasks are both accurate and technically feasible. Other times, Michael provides insights into the world of intelligence, with surprising accuracy.

Personal facts

• Michael appears to favor the SIG Sauer P228 (9x19mm) as his primary sidearm, which is noteworthy because the P228 was discontinued after SIG began offering the P229 in 9mm; perhaps the P228 is a holdover from his days as a CIA operative. He also favors Emerson knives, using an Emerson Karambit in the episode "Double Booked".

• Michael's trademark sunglasses are an Oliver Peoples Victory, which he claims to have picked up off an Algerian operative who "no longer needed them". The lens are in a discontinued color, cognac, and are a discontinued size, 55. These glasses were likely made custom for the show.

• Michael is highly trained in various forms of martial arts, such as Sambo, which he uses when pretending to be Russian.

• Michael is fluent in at least five languages, including Arabic ("Turn and Burn"), Russian ("Comrades"), Persian ("Devil You Know"), and possibly Czech ("Old Friends"), and has learned French and German just recently. He also appears to have some knowledge of Urdu but has limited knowledge of Spanish.
• Michael is highly skilled in first aid. In the Episode "Bad Breaks", Michael easily convinces a group of bank robbers that he is a medical doctor. In other episodes he frequently administers emergency first aid to either himself or others, and in the episode "Old Friends" he explains that he gained a basic understanding of combat medicine by being in countries without hospitals or readily available medical aid.

• Michael has a fondness for yogurt (particularly blueberry). He is often seen talking about and eating it in various episodes. In the episode "Broken Rules", he blackmails an agent by showing him multiple embarrassing photos, one of which shows the agent breaking into Michael's apartment without a warrant and eating his yogurt. To date, "Family Business" is the only episode that features no appearance or mention of yogurt. Jeffrey Donovan explained in an interview that yogurt was picked as Michael's food of choice because it's a good "spy food" - full of protein and nutrients and easy and convenient for a spy to eat during a long surveillance.

• In a promotional spot for the USA Network series Royal Pains, Michael sends a package to Dr. Hank Lawson, the main character of that show. It contains a few things Michael thinks Hank may need: a bottle of sunscreen, a pair of sunglasses, and a block of C-4 ("because you never know when you'll need a stable plastic explosive").

External links

• USA Burn Notice: Michael Westen Character Bio at USA.com