After watching the last five minutes of this episode of Burn Notice, I knew exactly why they called it “Fail Safe.” I’ll talk about that in a minute though; first let’s talk about where it all began.
This one starts with Michael and Fi deciding that they’ve had enough of Anson and his crap and they are going to end this thing once and for all. Fi sets up on her usual rooftop perch and Michael gives Anson the fright of his life when he pops up out of the blue. I figured that was it for Anson, but Michael has a change of heart and decides to spare the creep, hoping that he can still find another way out of this mess.
Michael spent a lot of time “hoping” in this episode. In fact, it feels like he’s spent a lot of time doing that ever since he found out who Anson was, what he had done to Fi, and just how screwed he and his team were. At first Michael hoped he wouldn’t have to do things that were too horrible for Anson; then he hoped he could somehow destroy the guy using all of his usual methods. None of that has worked so far and now Michael is stuck with the ultimate decision – burn a few fellow spies so that Anson can use them for his shady business, or let Fi go to jail. Here’s where Michael gets hopeful again. Ever the optimist, he figures if worse comes to worse he can always do what Anson says, then work his magic and clear their names in the future. Trouble is, Fi wants nothing to do with ruining the lives of innocent people, no matter how temporary it may be.
Remember when I said I’d come back to the last five minutes and how I felt it related to the title of the episode? Well, I looked up “fail safe” and according to Google, one definition is “capable of compensating automatically and safely for failure.” If that doesn’t describe what Fi did in the final minutes of this episode, I don’t know what does. After all of Michael’s hopes, all his plans to hold off and wait for a better idea to come along, Fi takes the decision out of his hands. As she writes to him in her letter, she needs to force his hand to make him do the right thing, otherwise he won’t be the man she loves.
We’ve had some crazy season finales on this show, featuring everything from explosions to Michael jumping out of a helicopter and even getting shot and left for dead. But none of them affected me quite like this one. That final scene was shot beautifully and though it had no explosions or gunfire, it still made me gasp out loud. It’s gonna be a long wait for next summer.
My favorite bits..
The look on Anson’s face when Michael showed up out of the blue…..and when that bullet hit the windshield.
OMG, I never, ever thought I’d say this but I sort of agreed with Anson when he said he gave Michael his life. Damn than man.
Michael dragging Anson away from Fi’s bullet.
Going into complete shock at the way Fi lost control and started screaming at Michael.
Sam screaming at both of them. Wow, I’ve never seen so much screaming on this show before. Methinks something major is afoot with this group.
“Yeah, I don’t do charts.”
“I don’t just blow things up, I have other skills.”
Michael ordering Reed to wear his seatbelt. Always looking out for his team. That’s our Michael.
“If I couldn’t work with women, I’d be dead right now.”
Wow, for a second there I thought that Michael had lost a man in the field. That was one heck of a wreck.
Jesse playing the idiot at the conference to get Reed’s attention.
Sam and Fi making themselves a door in a wall. That’s quite a trick.
Jack addressing Fi as “Crazy Lady.”
“I think I’m smarter than a keypad, Jackass!” – Um, famous last words?
Anson asking Michael to burn his new team. Can this guy be any more of an a-hole? Like, seriously?
Fi telling Michael that Pearce and the other agents deserve better.
“There is no line when it comes to you!” – Wow, that was just…..wow. It’s been a long time since this show made me cry.
OMG! Sneaky, sneaky Michael. Tricking Fi like that.
Michael putting that card in Pearce’s computer.
Holy……what the? Rebecca?
“What’s the signal?”
“When the plane explodes.” – Yep, I’d call that a pretty obvious signal.
“Mike, at the risk of getting a beat down, can you tell ME what the hell’s going on?”
Michael coming back to find Sam cuffed instead of Fi. Damn that woman is good.
That entire final scene. I loved the way they shot it, and the voiceover of Fi’s voice reading the letter she wrote to Michael.
What did you think of this episode of Burn Notice? Got any favorite bits or least favorite bits of your own? I’d love to hear from you!
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