Burn Notice (TV Series)

Hot Property (2010)

Jeffrey Donovan: Michael Westen

Photos 

Quotes 

• Michael Westen : [narrative]  Any strategy based on creating fear in your target is a bit of a gamble. It's not just a matter of whether you succeed in making your target afraid. That's easy. What's a lot harder is ensuring that they don't fear something else even more.

• Michael Westen : [narrative]  When a spy finds a listening device, the last thing he does is turn it off. A bug can be a direct line into the mind of your enemy. It's delicate, but in the right hands, it's a weapon that can turn almost any situation in your favor.

• Michael Westen : [narrative]  Making fake weapons is a little-known but important art. If you don't want to put real killing power in the hands of a bad guy, you need a convincing substitute. A fake chemical weapon has to be able to pass a field test - usually a simple chemical analysis and a cruel demonstration with a small animal. Strong pesticide mixed with tear gas and diesel fuel will do the trick without killing anyone who weighs more than 20 pounds.

• Michael Westen : [narrative]  You never forget your first exposure to tear gas. It feels like you're drowning in your own fluids. There's a reason why nothing induces panic like a gas attack.

• [last lines] 

  Jesse Porter : [cellphone rings]  Yeah, Fi?

  Fiona Glenanne : Hey, Jesse. Want to grab lunch at the Carlito?

  Jesse Porter : Um...

  Fiona Glenanne : [sing-song]  I'm buying.

  Jesse Porter : Yeah, what the hell. I could go for some fish tacos.

  [Jesse arrives, spots Fi, Michael, and Madeline waiting for him like an intervention] 

  Jesse Porter : Oh, funny running into you people here.

  Fiona Glenanne : It wasn't *my* idea. Madeline wanted me to get you two together. And since you wouldn't sit down with Michael and Michael wouldn't sit down with you... oh, whatever. You know how she is.

  [Fiona leaves] 

  Jesse Porter : Look, Maddy, this is really none of your...

  Madeline Westen : Shut it! And sit down.

  [Michael looks shocked. Jesse sits] 

  Madeline Westen : I'm so tired of this crap. I know enough about the lives that you people lead to know this: if you two don't start trusting each other again, somebody's gonna end up dead. Jesse... Michael ruined your life, got you fired. He was trying to do a good thing. So get over it. Michael... Jesse shot you in the chest. He was trying to save your life. Deal with it. I'm not talking about closure. I'm talking about good, old-fashioned gutting it out. You know what families do when people lie and betray each other? They suck it up, and they move on. So if you two are good, shake on it. If you're not, too bad: shake anyway!

  [Michael, a bit fearful of his mother, puts out his hand to Jesse. Jesse shakes it] 

  Madeline Westen : I'll leave you two alone to talk.

  [Madeline gets up and leaves] 

  Michael Westen : [sighs] 

  Jesse Porter : [smiles]  Wow. Your mom's good.

  Michael Westen : [looks around]  How'd your meeting with Marv go?

  Jesse Porter : He got us the money. Call up Barry. Have him put it in the escrow account.

  Michael Westen : [leans forward, groans]  You want to, uh, stay for a bite, start planning? We have an auction to crash, Jesse.

  [Jesse smiles] 

• [first lines] 

  Michael Westen : [narrative]  National intelligence agencies and local law enforcement work together more often than you might think. Most metropolitan police stations have an office called a fusion center where classified intel is collected in one place. It's a great resource if you need information fast. Unfortuantely, it does involve breaking into a police station.

• Michael Westen : [narrative]  Because undercover cops and confidential informants don't like their pictures taken... only the public areas of police stations are kept under surveillance. So once you're past the lobby, the only cameras you have to avoid are the ones taking mug shots... Get caught with a lock-pick set in a police station, and you've got problems. A pair of cheap sunglasses is less suspicious and just about as effective. Modify them in advance, and you can use the stems as a rake and tension tool. And if you get caught, you're just a guy with some busted sunglasses.

• Michael Westen : [narrative]  The best security probe isn't necessarily stealthy. Sometimes you want to be right out in the open... With the right approach, you can march up to your enemy's front door... evaluate his defenses and personnel... without anyone realizing what you're up to.

• Michael Westen : [narrative]  Police officers uphold the chain of command as sacred. Act like you're in charge, and someone new to the force won't dare question your authority.

• Michael Westen : [narrative]  It's hard to forgive someone after a betrayal, even it was for a good cause. There's nothing more difficult to repair in the field than trust.

  Jesse Porter : You know what? Next time you're gonna pull somethin' like, um, I don't know, breaking into a fusion center, I'd appreciate a little heads-up.

  Michael Westen : Well, you're here *now*. And this is every e-mail Walsh has written in the last year. Sharing all I've got, Jesse.

  Jesse Porter : Well, I'm just sayin', whatever our past disagreements may be, I'm still your partner on this.

  Michael Westen : Right. And when did you plan on telling your partner what you just discovered in that stack there? You've read the same page three times.

• Madeline Westen : This is the last of your stuff from the house. Michael, are you sure you want to go back to the loft? Your shoulder's still leaking.

  Michael Westen : [fake smile]  I'm fine, Ma.

  Madeline Westen : No, you got shot.

  Michael Westen : Yeah, but thanks to Jesse, just in the right spot.

  [long awkward silence] 

  Madeline Westen : Tell you boys what: why don't I make margaritas, and we'll work on clearing the air between you two.

  Jesse Porter : I got to run. Fi's paying me by the hour.

  Michael Westen : Fi- Fi got a job? She didn't call me.

  Jesse Porter : Maybe she wanted you to get your rest.

  [Jesse pats Michael twice on the injured shoulder. Michael puts on the fake smile again for his mother] 

• Michael Westen : [narrative]  Blackmail may be effective at times, but it's never fun. The problem is that it works best on people that are basically good. If someone's made a mistake he regrets, it's easy to make him regret it even more.

• Michael Westen : [narrative]  Scouting security from a distance is mainly just a matter of observation. You set up in a concealed place and watch incoming vehicles, personnel, and weapons... Getting additional information usually requries a more direct approach.

• Michael Westen : [narrative]  It may surprise anyone who has left on a stove burner, but natural gas is odorless. The smell most people think of as gas is actually an additive called T.H.T.

  [highlight of those initials on a bottle of "Tetrahydrothiophene"] 

  Michael Westen : which means making people think there's a gas leak is as simple as pumping T.H.T. in the air with a portable pump and some rubber hose. It's safe, effective, and easy to deploy, but it smells like you've just wandered into an open sewer. Then you just have to get the package in place without anyone getting suspicious.

• Michael Westen : [narrative]  Recruiting a source is a painful process. Threatening to ruin someone's life can put a lot of strain on a relationship and make it tough to work together.

  Sam Axe : Hello, Marv. Chuck Finley. Nice to meet you.

  Marv : Wish I could say the same. What's this about?

  Sam Axe : Well, the good news is this has nothing to do with your marital indiscretion with Sally Baker.

  Marv : And the bad news?

  [Sam points behind Marv] 

  Michael Westen : [narrative]  But sometimes a bad relationship is the best you can do.

  Marv : [turns around]  Jesse, what the hell are you doin' to me? I can't be here. I can't be talking to you. You know that.

  Jesse Porter : I know. If there was any other way...

  Marv : What, what, other than dragging my private life into this?

  Jesse Porter : I'm sorry, I really need your help.

  Marv : Help? Are you kidding? This is the second time you've tricked me into meeting you.

  Jesse Porter : You want to know what happened the first time? The help you gave me led directly to the takedown of Drake Technologies.

  Marv : The- You're involved with that?

  Jesse Porter : Yes.

  Marv : I mean- I mean, the congressional hearings are still going on.

  Jesse Porter : I know. I know, and trust me, you do not want to know the details, but you helped stop some very bad people, Marv. So I'm asking you to do it again.

  Marv : [pauses]  All right, what do you need?

  Jesse Porter : All right, someone's getting ready to auction off something really nasty. I got e-mails and some of the people attending. I just need to know the who, the when, and the where.

  Marv : [accepts file]  All right, I'll look into it.

  [Marv walks off past Sam] 

  Jesse Porter : [groans]  The guy's a good friend. I feel like a son of a bitch playing him like that.

  Sam Axe : Yup. I know how you feel. But you know what always cheers me up? Stealing a chemical weapon from a bunch of crazy South Americans.

• Michael Westen : [narrative]  Intelligence work is all about relationships. Like a romance, working with a source is more about the heart than the head. Of course, romantic relationships usually end if there's a betrayal, whereas spy relationships often begin with one.

• Michael Westen : [narrative]  There's a reason most surprise attacks are just before dawn: sleepers hit their deepest REM cycles just before sunrise, which makes it harder to come to full alertness. And anyone on watch is likely to be exhausted and at the end of a shift... Small-caliber, high-velocity bullets can pierce fragile surfaces without shattering them. If you need to knock out floodlights from a few hundred yards away, they're even better than an off switch... Spray insulation is handy for more than keeping your house cool in the summer: use it to fill the diaphragm of a siren and it will be about as noisy as a lawn gnome... Burning at temperatures over 8,000 degrees, thermal lances are used by construction crews to cut through rock and steel. They're tricky to operate, but they'll slice through a heavy deadbolt like butter.

• Sam Axe : [driving, on Bluetooth]  Hey, Mike, I'm at Watson Key. Looks like I'm free and clear so I'm headin' over there now to drop this baby off with my buddy at the base.

  Michael Westen : [narrative]  Spies are trained to be careful around road work. Too many workers for too little work: you're probably driving into a snatch-and-grab. No workers with road blocks guiding you toward a freshly paved pothole rather than *away* from one: it's a good bet you're about to drive over a bomb.

  [Sam's not a spy]