Burn Notice (TV Series)

Past & Future Tense (2010)

Jeffrey Donovan: Michael Westen

Photos 

Quotes 

• Michael Westen : [narrative]  When you're being hunted in a crowd, your biggest advantage is your opponents can't maintain visual contact with each other. The key is to move without drawing attention to yourself. When you can, you disguise your actions as something else.

  [Michael takes down one, shoves a funnel into the guy's mouth, and sits him down] 

  Michael Westen : Sergei's had way too much to drink!

  Michael Westen : [narrative]  When you can't, you strike fast and hard.

  [Michael taps another on the shoulder, punches him in the eye when he turns around] 

  Michael Westen : [in Russian]  Sorry, big fella.

  Paul Anderson : Boris.

  Argyle Polo Russian : Huh?

  [Paul punches him, shoves him into the wall, and Sam shoves him through a doorway] 

  Paul Anderson : They *always* answer to Boris.

  Paul Anderson : [to Sam]  You were right: it is more fun without the guns.

  Michael Westen : [narrative]  Then you calmly move to the exits and get the hell out of there.

• [first lines] 

  Michael Westen : [narrative]  Psychiatrists have nothing on spies when it comes to overanalyzing their friends' behavior. As a covert operative, you routinely trust your coworkers with your life, so you tend to notice when they start acting strangely.

• Michael Westen : [narrative]  International conferences are good cover for run-of-the-mill diplomatic spooks and black-bag operatives alike. One way to tell them apart: their luggage. You don't bring a high-speed film camera to an event where nobody wants their picture taken unless you want to bypass the x-ray machines at the airport. Telephoto lenses are a great place to store the illegal silencer you're smuggling in.

• Michael Westen : [narrative]  Under ideal circumstances, a good interrogation unfolds slowly. But circumstances are not always ideal. If you're operating on a clock, sometimes you have to get right into your enemy's face and turn up the heat.

• Michael Westen : [of Banana Fish Bar]  Do you know where this bar is?

  Sam Axe : Uh, yeah. It's a bar. I'll drive.

• Michael Westen : [narrative]  Spies and politicians tend not to get along very well. Politicians see spies as vitally important in the national interest right up to the point where they deny ever meeting them and abandon them entirely. It makes for a tough working relationship.

• Michael Westen : [narrative]  If you need a microphone but you only have a speaker, you don't have a problem. Both have magnets and coils that conduct sound in roughly the same way, so you can just plug a pair of headphones into a stereo's auxillary jack and crank the volume. It's not quite good enough for karaoke, but you'll be able to hear even faint noises, like the discs in a safe's locking mechanism clicking into position.

• Michael Westen : [narrative]  As dangerous as a high-speed chase can be, there's nothing quite as treacherous as a no-speed chase. If you get pursued into bad traffic, your operating paradigm has to shift. Your car's no longer being pursued, you are. Just because your car can't move doesn't mean you can't.

• Michael Westen : [narrative]  Every country emphasizes slightly different tactics with their elite troops: the Chinese Special Forces learn to shoot with either hand, the German DSO teach their men to rappel from helicopters... and every Russian Spetsnaz team is trained to seige secure locations by surrounding, advancing, and synchronizing their attack. Their discipline makes them hard to escape, but easy to predict... An all-out coordinated breach has its advantages: maximum force, the element of surprise; but there are drawbacks too: if everyone goes in at once, you can find yourself locked inside before you realize your target has already left.

• Michael Westen : [During a standoff with Russians]  I'm Michael Weston... Yeah, that one.

• Fiona Glenanne : Where do you suppose ol' Marvin's hiding?

  [a frisbee hit's Marv's wife and she takes umbrage] 

  Michael Westen : Well, if that was my wife, I know where I'd be.

  [drinking at the bar, "Marv" / "Jesse's Old Boss"] 

  Michael Westen : Maaarv.

  Marv : I'm sorry, did we...

  Michael Westen : Michael Westen. Yeah, *that* Michael Westen. Probably don't want to be seen with me. Not with him either, huh?

  [Marv looks to where Michael points. Jesse waves] 

  Marv : What do you want?

  Michael Westen : Jesse hasn't stopped working is last assignment. I've been helping him. There was a failed bank heist a couple of months ago here in Miami. We want to know which bank it was and what they were trying to steal.

  Marv : [shakes head, gets up to leave]  I can't help you.

  Michael Westen : Sure you can. The bank kept it out of the news but they would have had to report it. Call a friend at the Treasury, hell, the FDIC might even...

  Marv : No. I mean, I can't help you. Or Jesse. Not after what happened.

  Michael Westen : Jesse is not guilty of what he's accused of. Trust me.

  Marv : I never believed what they said about Jesse, but I'm *not* about to do any favors for a couple of burned spies. Sorry.

• [last lines] 

  Michael Westen : Uh, Fi...

  [Fiona slaps Michael across the face, hard] 

  Fiona Glenanne : You know what I did tonight? I destroyed evidence that would have led to Jesse finding out that you burned him.

  Michael Westen : [looks to the door Jesse left by, then back to Fi]  Thank you.

  Fiona Glenanne : [whisper-soft]  "Thank you." Huh.

  [Fiona swings to slap him again, but Michael catches her arm] 

  Michael Westen : Fi. Fi! What we're doing is worth it. This is bigger than one person's career. There's so many people out there-!

  Fiona Glenanne : I can't stand this! I can't stand lying to Jesse. I can't stand watching you keep this secret like it's nothing! I can't stand what you're turning into.

  Michael Westen : Which is what?

  Fiona Glenanne : Someone who only cares about the *idea* of people, who doesn't give a damn about the ones who have his back every single day.

  Michael Westen : [swallows back the hurt]  You know me better than that.

  Fiona Glenanne : I used to think so.

  [Fiona walks out]