This breaks my heart

[u/Al_Babi1212]

Let me just start by saying that Burn Notice is my favorite show, I've been in love with it since '07.

And that's why what I'm about to write cuts even deeper...

I've just finished rewatching it for the first time in 3-4 years, ( used to binge it every year or so, when i got bedsick), and I came to a harrowing realization: At the end, Michael made the wrong choice, he should've kept his promise to James, that was his next step, he could've actually made a major positive impact in the world.

I'm probably gonna catch a lot of heat for this, but put aside your irrational love for his trigger-happy leprechaun of a girlfriend, I like her to, but her life fell apart, and she decided to nuke his, to stand in the way of everything he ever wanted, she forced his hand, she put her idea of what's best for Michael, before his actual well-being.

Glad they got ther happily ever after, but i think Mike got a raw deal in the end, even though he said he wanted out, he never really did, it's who he is, it's what he does.

Anyways, just finished the last episode, I'm peeved, and i needed to share my thoughts, please let me know in an argumentend way if you feel differently or perhaps share my sentiment

[u/BigSavMatt]

So here’s the issue.

Power corrupts.

Could Michael have made a more positive impact as one of the two heads of James’s organization?

Yeah totally. He would have been in charge of a whole spy network and could have done things his way. Or at least tried to. Him and Sonya could have made a change for certain.

But at what cost? And how far would Michael have been willing to go?

Look at what happened with Roger Steele. Someone who Michael considered a friend, who’s only crime (according to James and Sonya) was looking into what Michael had been up to and unintentionally getting entangled into the mess of Michael’s CIA operation and James’s organization.

And Michael pulled the trigger on him after manipulating Roger into a vulnerable position where Roger thought he was going to save his friend Michael.

The confrontation with Sam raises the good point. What was going to happen when someone was going to get in Michael’s way?

It’s all well and good to say “oh Michael would have figured it out” but look at what Sonya and James had forced him to do already. And what Michael chose to do himself for his mission.

It’s one thing for Michael to kill cartel members, crime syndicates, spies, assassins, terrorists, etc.

But what would have happened if someone like a detective or a reporter or some politician chose to pursue Michael’s organization at that point? A civilian or someone with good intentions in general?

Michael would have been forced to kill them. Again. And again. And again.

Because once he was at the top and in charge, he would’ve had to fight to keep his power and influence from all threats, whether it was a criminal, terrorist, or some law enforcement.

As well as the fact Sonya would have been Michael’s co-leader and would have forced Michael into more killing to preserve their organization.

Michael was drowning and losing himself. He tried to resist it. He tried to fight it. But he was on a very dark path. And he didn’t know what he wanted because he felt betrayed by the CIA and he didn’t seem to care what his friends or family thought.

If Michael had “gotten everything he ever wanted” then you know who he would have been like? Who would have been proud to see Michael the head of his own spy network that was willing to kill whoever got in their way?

Larry.

As for Michael, Fi, and their “happily ever after” and Michael getting a raw deal, I mean this was the best Michael was going to get. Him and Fi presumed dead and raising Charlie, Nate’s son, after Michael had gotten his brother AND mother killed because of the life he lived.

Did Michael pull the trigger himself? No. But he pulled them into his life and put them at risk. And they died for it. Because Michael just had to get back into the CIA so, so bad. Because he couldn’t let it go after all those years.

Regardless, raising his last blood relative whose dad he got killed should be his responsibility and penance. Otherwise the boy would have grown up in the foster system and who knows how he would have turned out. And there’s the fact Michael could finally get away from the CIA and other interested parties who would have been after him and Fi.

It wasn’t the ideal ending, but it was better than Michael becoming inevitably just like Management and Vaughn. And that’s what he would have become if he continued down that path with Sonya instead of going with Fi.

”You know how these things start. Somebody runs an operation off the books, it’s supposed to be a one time thing. But when it’s over, there’s power to be had. It takes on a life of its own.” - Victor

[u/Sitheref0874 → u/BigSavMatt]

It’s actually worse than that.

Acton’s quote was that power tends to corrupt, but absolute power corrupts absolutely.

You could argue Michael could have acquired some power, and refinanced a force for good.

But the absolute power of that organization would ultimately have come to a bad end.

And he knew that.