Burn Notice

While on assignment in Nigeria, covert operative Michael Westen learns that he's been "burned", the spy equivalent of being fired. This inconveniently happens in the middle of an operation, and Michael barely escapes Nigeria. He makes it on a plane out of the country and wakes up, battered, in a Miami motel. To his great astonishment, he has company, his ex-girlfriend Fiona, a former IRA operative.

His worst fears are soon confirmed. Asking where he is, Fiona informs him, that he has been dumped in Miami, his hometown. Checking in at the bank, he learns that true to form, his bank accounts are frozen and his credit is trashed. In order to survive and fund his own personal investigation, Michael enlists the help of the only two "friends" he has: Fiona and Sam, a washed-out military intelligence contact, who the feds have keep an eye on Michael. Agent Harris and Agent Lane don't know why they are even keeping an eye on Michael, they're simply following orders. He's also forced to deal with the family he went halfway around the world to get away from - particularly his mother, who couldn't be happier to have her son back in town. In fact, she immediately demands he drives her to a doctor's appointment, undaunted by the fact that he doesn't own a car. He steals one, noting to himself to have it back before five.



Through a former associate, Lucy, Michael gets a lead on a small investigation job: a caretaker of an estate, Javier, has been accused of stealing valuable art from his employer, Graham Pyne. All evidence points to it being an inside job and Javier, with very little money to offer ($4,600), has nowhere else to turn, fearing he'll be arrested momentarily. Michael first talks to the washed-out Army Ranger and Pyne's head of security, Vincent, who's less than forthcoming. Michael contacts Barry, a money launderer, to try to track down an art dealer, that might be selling the stolen artwork.



However, when Michael connects the dots, he quickly discovers, that it was in fact an inside job: Pyne orchestrated the robbery and framed Javier in order to collect insurance. Michael shows his ingenuity, when he breaks into the state-of-the-art safe easily, circumventing the electronic scan of the owner's thumb print by noting that few people actually wipe their print off such a scanner. He lifts it, applies it to a prosthetic and opens the safe. The proof of the inside job is there, and Michael copies it all.



Keeping the feds off his tail is a challenge, though. He checks into a motel catering to teenagers on spring break, knowing the feds will have trouble blending in. Needing to evade them completely, he bribes two skateboarding kids to tell a beat cop, that the federal agent in the car tailing Michael asked them to sit on his lap. The beat cop jerks the fed out of the car, and Michael slips away.



Michael confronts Pyne with the incriminating evidence. When Pyne and his bodyguard come after Javier and his son, Michael is already a step ahead of them and has set up a trap at Javier's house. Michael gives the son some advice on fighting back against bullies (or Afghan war-lords). After an ingenious trap is set by Michael, Pyne has accidentally shot his bodyguard, and Michael has enough evidence to send both of them to jail for conspiracy to commit kidnapping, along with some not-so-minor insurance fraud. With the mounting evidence hanging over his head, Pyne agrees to clear Javier's name and provide financial support to Javier and his son.



Michael finds an apartment, with Oleg as his landlord. While the rent is only $200 a month, he's forced to live right outside Club Warehouse. The noise doesn't bother him, but the drug-dealing neighbor, Sugar, is not only a problem for his landlord, who seems to recognize Michael, but the illegal activities so close to home cannot be tolerated. Michael educates us on the proper way of "evicting" a neighbor, mainly involving supplies from your local hardware store and a bit of violence.



Meanwhile, Michael keeps trying to get in touch with his old government handler, Dan Siebels, who won't accept his calls. Deciding to get creative, Michael resorts to mailing Siebels a fake bomb in order to get his attention. The ploy works, and Michael finally gets to confront Siebels about the burn notice. Siebels believes Michael's probably been framed, but there's nothing he can do to help him. He tells Michael not to leave Miami, unless he wants an FBI manhunt after him. To top it all off, Michael returns home to find his door open and the floor covered with surveillance photos. It's not the FBI, because pictures of them tailing Michael are included, but whoever it is, they've been tracking his every move. And they've left a message: Welcome to Miami.