"Burn Notice"

Speaker 0 00:00:00 Don't get fired. They get burned. We are the SPFI guys, and this is burn notice. Hello, and welcome back to the SPFI guys. Recover spy fact spy fiction and everything in between I'm Zach Speaker 2 00:00:19 And I'm Christian. Speaker 0 00:00:20 And today we are back with our rerun summer where we've been looking at TV show pilots for the most part. And this time it was very much a summer show with burn notice from 2007. Speaker 2 00:00:37 Yeah. And this was a show that I, I watched as it came out. I remember loving this. This was like, I think it's the same year that Chuck came out as well. And it was also post casino, real, so spies were back and it was just, it was a great year for spy action. And I remember this, I was just so hyped for this show. Speaker 0 00:00:55 So I was really into the show for a while. I didn't make it through the entire run because it went on for so long. Speaker 2 00:01:02 I mean, seven Speaker 0 00:01:03 Season Speaker 2 00:01:04 Were great. It's not as many seasons as they Archer. Speaker 0 00:01:07 Well, we'll talk more about why I got out of it later, but similar to why I never started the Americas. Speaker 2 00:01:12 Fair enough. Do you have the synopsis from I M D B Speaker 0 00:01:15 Michael Weston, a contract agent for various agencies, including the CIA finds that a bird notice has been issued for him stranded in Miami. He takes the case of a caretaker accused of stealing millions from his boss. Speaker 2 00:01:29 So we start with a man in a gray suit in an African nation. We find out later, this is Southern Nigeria. Now this man of course is Michael Weston. And we are introduced to him via narration. And there's a lot of narration in this show. Speaker 0 00:01:43 Yeah. But the first episode has more than most. Speaker 2 00:01:46 Hmm. When we go back to that, because I think there's constant narration in this show. It's not just not just, you know, just here. So I think, I don't know. I don't agree with that. Speaker 0 00:01:55 It's been quite a while since I've seen it. But what I recalled from your average episode is he would only do a voiceover when he's doing a MacGyverism, which will get more of that later. Speaker 2 00:02:07 Well, no, I, no, Speaker 0 00:02:09 That's what you remember. It's been a while since I've Speaker 2 00:02:11 Say that, I will say because, and Ms. May giveaway how I felt about the show. I ended up watching a few more episodes after this, too, a Mercedes pull up and some guys with guns, step out of the Mercedes. He goes with them, there's a super cramped backseat. Here's where gets sort of he's a little Quy, he's more Quy than say James Bond. Speaker 0 00:02:29 I mean, quippy is one way to put it. I would put it as he's more of a snarky asshole in this than I remember him being in the show in general, Speaker 2 00:02:36 But not to the level of say Archer, Speaker 0 00:02:38 Well, no, no, one's the level of Archer. But in this episode, he gives off this vibe of like, I'm too cool for school. And I kind of put down the people around me, which is really not the way I remember him being in the show. It's almost like he's a character and character change, like in a TV show. Speaker 2 00:02:55 So this was on USA where characters are welcome. That was their catch phrase. <laugh> Speaker 0 00:02:59 Oh, I remember very well. Speaker 2 00:03:01 Yeah. People he's with think he's CIA. He's not technically, he's a contractor who works with CIA. He meets with Boris wannabe war, Lord. And it's the first of many title cards. This reminded me, but in a much better way of the longest day with all the title cards. Speaker 0 00:03:17 Yeah. The title cards here comes sliding in with a funk sound. Speaker 2 00:03:20 Yeah. And it's fun. And also they're not just person rank all that sort stuff. This is actually all right. Short description of who they are, but like kind of Quy. Speaker 0 00:03:29 Yeah. And it's often kind of funny. Speaker 2 00:03:31 Yeah, exactly. So Michael is there to pay Boris to guarantee security for a bunch of oil fields, a a basically pay him off to so he stops bombing them. Yeah. Speaker 0 00:03:45 You might call that, uh, appeasing, terrorists negotiating with terrorists. Interesting. Speaker 2 00:03:50 Right. So as he's calling for the wire transfer and giving the ABA number, that's when he finds out that he has a burn notice on him. He's blacklisted. As this goes south, he gets beat up by Boris's man. He lies and says that he was actually gonna steal the money and blame it on them just so he can get out of there. Speaker 0 00:04:08 Yeah. I felt like that was a pretty good explanation for why they didn't just immediately murder him, which if he were not the main character, I feel like probably would've happened. Speaker 2 00:04:16 Yep. Bo men take him downstairs. He spits out a bunch of blood and tells him that he's gonna get sick in the car. So they take him into the bathroom and where we have a bathroom fight. This is post casino. Royal's bathroom of fight, but obviously pre fallouts bathroom fight. Speaker 0 00:04:33 Yeah. Every time I see a bathroom fight, I think of this scene, Speaker 2 00:04:36 This scene. Speaker 0 00:04:37 Yeah. Well actually I'm gonna give away one of my favorite lines here, which is whenever someone starts fighting in the bathroom, I always think of his line. That lots of hard surfaces Speaker 2 00:04:46 <laugh> Speaker 0 00:04:46 Usually cuz someone's face is about to go into a urinal Speaker 2 00:04:50 Or the sink or yeah. There are a lot of hard surfaces, so yeah. Good. So here's the thing I did not remember from this is that he actually shoots both of them and kills them, but you don't see it. You just hear two very, you know, silenced bullet shots. Speaker 0 00:05:03 Yes. That's a good point. I did not remember that either. Speaker 2 00:05:06 Yeah. So outside he steals a dirt bike from a guy, says he, you know, leave it at the airport for him to pick it up. And this chase is very Skyfall. Like the beginning of Skyfall. I mean, he's even in a gray suit, he's going through markets. He's being chased by another car. Speaker 0 00:05:21 I mean, certainly Ethan honk gets into plenty of motorcycle chases Speaker 2 00:05:23 Too. Yeah. But specifically like looked like, I mean the gray suit, the dirt bike going through markets. It was very Skyfall. You know, even though it predates Skyfall by about what five years or so mm-hmm <affirmative> so he's driving through the open air markets, um, and chased by the Mercedes and it crashes and everyone in the market pulls a gun on each other because apparently Southern Nigeria is like, what the world's leading gun runner. Speaker 0 00:05:50 He calls it like the gun running capital of Africa or something like that. Speaker 2 00:05:54 So Michael manages to get on the plane and subsequently passes out. Here's where I noticed that the airplane that he gets on and the one that's shown in stock footage taking off are two different planes. Speaker 0 00:06:06 Very nice. I did not notice that. Yeah. Uh, I also was kind of curious, this is maybe a bit of a nitpick. Speaker 2 00:06:12 Yeah. Speaker 0 00:06:13 There's a lot of shots in this pilot that get replicated in these series. Opening credits. Yep. And one of 'em is of him running past a guy in the airport, holding some paperwork, like a passport. And I was like, well, why did that work? I guess they do kind of explain it later that the agency told this plane to go to Miami. Speaker 2 00:06:32 I mean, he's burned. Yes. But he, oh you mean that part? I don't know. I wasn't sure if he actually, if he got on that plane to where it was supposed to go and the, and then the airplane, another plane took him back to Miami cuz they have a bunch of other passengers on it. Speaker 0 00:06:49 Well presumably their computer systems just aren't all up on the changing developments. It just kind of undermined the whole thing of like him having absolutely nothing. But it does kinda get explained. So it's fine. Speaker 2 00:07:00 Like, so he's burned, but he's not like on a most wanted list or anything so he can still travel. Speaker 0 00:07:05 Uh yeah. For now Speaker 2 00:07:06 He wakes up in a cheap motel in Miami. There's a woman in a chair next to the bed who we find out is Fiona. The ex-girlfriend what I noticed here is that her Irish accent is super strong in this episode. It is much stronger than in the other episodes I watched. Speaker 0 00:07:22 Yeah. I remember there's a part where she says, I can't be, sounded like a lepro con now can I, I thought that was in this episode, but apparently it's not. No. I also noticed in this scene there's jaunty music. Like very happy music. Do you notice Speaker 2 00:07:36 This? No. Speaker 0 00:07:37 And then also they have an Archer, Alana dynamic sort of where I think Lana calls him or not Lana. I think Fiona calls him a bastard. Yeah. And, and said something like she never wanted to see him again, but she had to do you remember this? Speaker 2 00:07:52 Okay. I'm not gonna label every single ex you know, relationship with, with Xs as Alana, Archer dynamic. Cuz that, that is a very specific dynamic. That is not, I don't see here necessarily. Speaker 0 00:08:02 I suppose. That's true. It's not like they start immediately shooting zingers at each other. Speaker 2 00:08:07 No. Yeah. It's it, their exes. And although they're, you know, at least fair, like the fact that she actually came because apparently she's still his emergency contact. The fact that she came at all says that. Okay. Yes, they may have had a bad breakup, but there's still something there. Speaker 0 00:08:23 Well, I'm gonna have more to say about this later. So stay tuned. Speaker 2 00:08:27 Yeah. So we find out here that yeah, the air flying was instructed to fly him there. So it's unclear if it's the same airplane or a different airplane. Mm-hmm <affirmative> also, she called his mom who was thrilled to find out that he's home. Cuz apparently he's from Miami Speaker 0 00:08:40 Mm-hmm <affirmative> Speaker 2 00:08:41 Also, there's a surveillance team of FBI agents outside Michael asks fi to run interference for him and distract them while he goes somewhere else. Speaker 0 00:08:50 Yeah. That's a recurring theme. So this part is the first example of the burn girls or the burn notice girls. So I remember back in the Speaker 2 00:09:00 Day. Yeah. I was like, there's really only Fiona for Michael, but yes, no, it is all of the bikinis. Speaker 0 00:09:07 Right. So I remember back in the day I watched a behind the scenes or maybe a director's commentary. Yeah. So little flashes of memory came back to me while I was watching this about what they had to say. And one of them was how much fun they had finding what they called burn girls or Burno girls. Cause it's constant. And it's every episode. I think this one has more than normal though. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:09:30 I will say, have you been to Miami? Speaker 0 00:09:32 Uh, maybe a long time ago and I don't really remember it I've been to Orlando. Speaker 2 00:09:37 No, I've been to Miami more than 10 years ago. But around the time that burn notice was still on the air actually mm-hmm, <affirmative> go to the red parts of Miami and there are always just, you know, women walking around in bikinis. I see. So it's not inaccurate, but it is gratuitous Speaker 0 00:09:54 Characters. Welcome. This is USAA Speaker 2 00:09:56 <laugh>. He goes into a nice hotel. He asks for a room facing a wall, no windows far from the elevators, close to the a exits his card is declined. Finds out that his account is frozen. He's cut off. Apparently you know, the agency or any of the agencies using it, can't take away his skills or what's in his head. So they instead take away his resources. Speaker 0 00:10:18 Yeah. I like the sense of building dread in this Speaker 2 00:10:21 Part. So he gets a free hat from a woman, advertising some new development in Miami and asks her for where the payphone is. That's a Relic. Speaker 0 00:10:31 Well, she doesn't know what it is. They make a point at that. Speaker 2 00:10:34 Yeah. So even in 2007, payphones are on the way out. Mm. So he's trying to get in touch with his case. Officer Dan CBIS person who answers the phone says, there's no one here by that name. And he's like shouting in a public place about his case officer and like all these details about him. Speaker 0 00:10:51 Yeah. I felt like Michael was kind of slow to get the message here. Like does he not know what a burn notice is? Or is he just in denial? Speaker 2 00:10:57 It's more that he's in denial because he, he didn't expect it to happen to him cuz he was literally doing nothing wrong. Speaker 0 00:11:03 Well, he doesn't have time to be in denial. Speaker 2 00:11:06 So he decides, all right, I can't get into this nice hotel. So I'm gonna go somewhere cheaper. And he goes to stay somewhere where he says that the surveillance will stand out. You go to an average business hotel, you know, the FBI can blend in. You go to a party hotel where everyone's pretty much drunk all the time. They'll stand out. Speaker 0 00:11:25 This was great. This is a lot of the best parts. It was really smart. And it was really funny. Speaker 2 00:11:29 And so he is on the phone trying to find the address for secure core. He tears out a page from the yellow pages for a uniform store. Mm-hmm <affirmative> and here's a knock on a door. He thinks it's a threats where he like gets a lamp, takes the lampshade off and he prepared to use his weapon. It's just two girls who are knocking on his door, who have the wrong room, apparently looking for some other guy. And one of them like even pauses, like, eh, you know, he's cute. Speaker 0 00:11:55 Yeah. That reminded me of Ethan Hunt. Also, this is a very, very lower stakes version of Munich when Speaker 2 00:12:02 <laugh> Speaker 0 00:12:03 When Eric van is in his hotel room. Like going nuts. Oh yeah. But's not paranoia if they really are out to get you. Speaker 2 00:12:09 Okay. Let's rewind back to the why that reminds you of Ethan Hunt Speaker 0 00:12:12 Because random women will be like, I marry him. Speaker 2 00:12:15 Oh I three. Okay. Fair enough. I was like, so he goes to secure a core dressed as a messenger where we meet Lucy, who's an ex spy. Speaker 0 00:12:25 This would reminded me of a part. And I thought again, I thought it was in this episode, but apparently it's not the support where he says, all you need is a clipboard and you can get Speaker 2 00:12:34 Anywhere. It's another episode, but it's similar idea of anyone in a messenger outfit can get past security. Speaker 0 00:12:41 Yeah. You just act like you're supposed to be there. Speaker 2 00:12:43 Yeah. So she says that he can't be there. He's flagged on every government list. She hasn't heard any details, but she just knows that he's out Speaker 0 00:12:51 Full disclosure. I quite like this episode, but this is where one of my complaints began. There we go is wasting audience time. We know that he's burned. We know that he's out and they keep reiterating it over and over and over Speaker 2 00:13:05 Except in 2007, the idea of a burn notice is completely unknown to your average public. They need to have that nail hammered in. They do Speaker 0 00:13:16 I disagree, but we've been over this too much. Speaker 2 00:13:19 No, I think that the audience average middle America, your USA viewers have no idea what a burn notice is. Don't have the concept of it. So they needed hammered in and Hey, even me in, in 2007, I didn't really know. I know what being disavowed was. I did not know what a burn notice was. So looking back, you know, now 20, 20 or 2020 or two vision, bad joke. Um, mm-hmm <affirmative> yes we can he say, oh yes, they're hammering it. But we, we didn't know at that time. Speaker 0 00:13:49 Okay. This is from like a filmmaker perspective though, that I like things that are efficient. Speaker 2 00:13:54 Your audience is an idiot and needs to know things and needs it hammered in Michael's broke and is, you know, asking for any help that you can give. She says she doesn't have stacks of cash lying around, but she might have a job for him and says, she'll call Sam a who? Michael knows. Apparently he's been sponging off of rich divorcees and Lucy will throw him a job every so often. Speaker 0 00:14:16 Yeah. This part was also a little bit inefficient where he has start to Lucy so he can talk to Sam. So Sam can give him the job. Why can't Lucy? Just give him the job Sam later. Well then why not just have him meet Sam and skip Lucy? Because this is the only scene she's Speaker 2 00:14:31 At because Sam is on the outs already with any agent. Ah, and we need someone who's still connected to the spy world. Speaker 0 00:14:40 I suppose. I don't think you do, but it's Speaker 2 00:14:42 Fine. Wow. You don't in the long run, but here establi, can you do Speaker 0 00:14:47 What I'm getting at is this episode feels a bit padded and we'll have more about that later too. Speaker 2 00:14:52 Well, it's also a pilot episode where they basically need to introduce every single aspect of what the show will be. So you, I Speaker 0 00:14:58 Dunno about every single aspect, Speaker 2 00:15:00 Pretty much that that is what a pilot's job is because they need to sell it to the network. So they need to show exactly what the show will be. So they it's basically a blueprint for everything going forward. That is a pilot. Speaker 0 00:15:13 Yeah, I know, but I'm just comparing it to things like Archer. Not every character in Archer was introduced in the pilot, not everything they did or would do, but Speaker 2 00:15:22 Sorry. The job that, uh, she has is talking to an operations manager for in a, in Miami beach. Apparently the place got robbed and he's in some sort of trouble. And then Lucy gives him some cash to get himself cleaned up, get some new clothes. So we meet Sam by <laugh> by his reaction to a woman walking in a bikini, walking by, we find out that he's not eligible for clearance anymore. So it doesn't really matter who he hangs out with because he's just a drunk. Speaker 0 00:15:49 I also remember Bruce Campbell saying in the future at how strange of a role this was for him, cuz he lives in the Pacific Northwest. Oh <laugh>. And this character was a sun lizard who just is tan all the time and is in the sun all the time. So it was definitely a change for all Bruce. Speaker 2 00:16:07 Yeah. So he also might know a place for Michael to stay. So Michael goes to the estate, which is very fancy. He meets Javier the caretaker. Yes. Apparently there was 22 million worth of property stole, including art. Speaker 0 00:16:22 Javier is played by one of the cops from Dexter. If you ever watched Dexter and his boss, whose name is Piman or something like that. Speaker 2 00:16:34 No pine yeah. Speaker 0 00:16:35 Pine. So the guy who plays him was the devil in this show called Reaper. Yeah. Which I think came out around this time. Speaker 2 00:16:41 A lot of stuff he's in, uh, agent Carter he's in so much stuff. Speaker 0 00:16:46 Yeah. But isn't obviously always a bad guy. Speaker 2 00:16:48 Yeah. Pretty much. The reason that Javier is under suspicion is because his code was used to disable the alarm, which is the master alarm code Speaker 0 00:16:58 Classic inside job. Speaker 2 00:16:59 He's all that his son has. So he really can't afford to go to jail. Speaker 0 00:17:04 Okay. So again, the son reminded me, we get a little bit of Michael, we being unnecessarily kind of an asshole. Like there's a part where he was like, yeah, I know. Please help me please. Don't meet my son in orphan yada yada, yada. I get it. Do you remember that part? Speaker 2 00:17:18 Yes I do. Speaker 0 00:17:19 I was like, Michael dude, come on. I mean that's not the Michael West and I know Speaker 2 00:17:23 Yes and no <laugh> cause the Michael Weston we know is built over, you know, years of that and we see his softer side, but here off he's coming right back from being in the agency the whole time or not in the agency, but working with spies and other people like that. Not necessarily with your average citizen. Speaker 0 00:17:41 Yeah. That's why I would expect him to act like that towards the spy or criminal or someone else that's in the biz. Not just some random person. It's just surprising. Speaker 2 00:17:51 I mean, it's also to show us how desperate he is and he's just in it for the money at first. Speaker 0 00:17:55 Yeah. He doesn't have to say that though. <laugh> Speaker 2 00:17:58 Okay. I mean, you know, he's a key being a character and character's welcome. <laugh> Michael goes to talk to the boss, Mr. Pine. Who's the rich guy. Uh, Javier apparently has been with him for years. The artwork that was stolen was, uh, English impressionist, but an irreplaceable Mr. Pine says, okay, that Michael can talk to Vince. Who's head of security. He asks Vince about any enemies, but Vince is very sure that it was Javier Speaker 0 00:18:27 Viz should have played FLA in Batman begins Speaker 2 00:18:31 <laugh> oh God. Yeah. Speaker 0 00:18:34 What been perfect casting, Speaker 2 00:18:35 Except we need a different kind of FLA as opposed to the kind, the one who was in the not gr novel versus the one who was actually in the movie. It was characters. Speaker 0 00:18:44 I just see Jim Gordon be like, it's been a long time since I've had to take down a green beret that shows event Speaker 2 00:18:49 Watch the animated movie. Then if you want that, Speaker 0 00:18:52 There's there's that too. Speaker 2 00:18:53 Back to burn. Notice we meet Ole the landlord. So Michael's gonna pay 200 bucks a month for this place. That's right next to a club that is open basically all night loud, booms booming music. Mm-hmm <affirmative> also, there's a neighbor. Who's a drug dealer who might get in Michael's face. Speaker 0 00:19:11 Yeah. Also in this part, Ole is like, oh Michael Weston, you're a legend. It's like John w where everyone's like afraid of him. Speaker 2 00:19:19 Yeah. So it seems like Ole is former like Russian Intel, cuz he knows of Michael and says yeah, that there was a theory in uh, Russian Intel that he was actually a lot of men, not just one man. Speaker 0 00:19:31 So as you know, this is something that ly bothers me, which is the idea of a famous spy. Eh, James Bond's been doing it for forever. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:19:39 And I mean that presumes that probably he never got sent against the Russians if they knew about him. Speaker 0 00:19:44 Yeah. Maybe, but then also he actually went by Michael Weston cuz his mom's name is Weston. We learned that later, whatever. I don't care Speaker 2 00:19:53 <laugh> so he gets a call from his mother who apparently got his number from Fiona and she's demanding that he drive her to the doctor. Now he doesn't have a car. So he steals a car to take his mom mad. Speaker 0 00:20:05 Yeah. But before that, yeah, she screams into his pillow. Oh yes. We've never seen a reaction like this and you know what? His mom really isn't that bad. I don't doubt what the reaction is. Speaker 2 00:20:16 It's Speaker 0 00:20:18 No, I get it family. They know how to exploit your weak points. Like I, I get it, but it is just kind of like, whoa, what's up with that Speaker 2 00:20:27 Again? It's a pilot. So not all the characters are like fully formed yet of how they're going to be. For example, Speaker 0 00:20:33 Actually funny you say that Speaker 2 00:20:34 She fully pillow and her accent. Speaker 0 00:20:37 Yes. MEIA fully formed. So the bomb in the next bit is wearing a wig. Yeah. I remember them talking about this. Okay. At the future rat. And they were like, we tried it with the wig and it didn't work. Yeah. So she gets rid of it pretty quickly. Speaker 2 00:20:49 Yeah. In the next episode. <laugh> but yeah. So I like how he says that he doesn't like the steal cars, but he'll do it in a pinch. You know, he'll always try to return it. And especially if it's a Workday, he'll try to return it by five. Speaker 0 00:21:00 Yeah. That does not work out later in the episode spoiler earlier. Speaker 2 00:21:03 But that was, he was borrowing it, but also the guy was still in it, but we'll get there. <laugh> Hmm. As he's driving made into the hospital, he sees his FBI surveillance and purposefully drives bad, makes some wrong turns to try to confuse them and lose them, which he does. Speaker 0 00:21:20 Yeah. I like the part where he's like, it's not about driving fast. It's about driving stupidly and waiting for them to screw up. I thought that was cool. Speaker 2 00:21:28 His mom was also screaming him saying, you know, why are you making this turn? What are you doing that, you know, watch out for that car. And then also says that he, he should see his brother, Nate. We also find out that his mother is a hypochondriac. Speaker 0 00:21:39 Yeah. This reminded me of a DM dropping little plot threads. When you're walking around in a D and D game, we got the mom illness, we got issues with his dad. We got issues with his brother and I guess issues with his mom too, besides that. Speaker 2 00:21:52 So they get to the hospital. Michael doesn't go in, but calls Dan again gets no answer. So Michael goes home and he has to get through the V I P line at the club to try to get home. This Speaker 0 00:22:03 Is one of my favorite parts was him getting through. It was just like, excuse me, excuse me with the suit. <laugh> words. Like whatever Speaker 2 00:22:10 He is building a fake pipe bomb to send to Dan a pipe bomb with has zero explosives in it. Mm-hmm <affirmative> so he goes to see Javier and meets his son. David Speaker 0 00:22:21 He's like psycho. Speaker 2 00:22:23 Oh, because he keeps asking if he's gonna shoot the bad guys Speaker 0 00:22:25 Shooting, the bad guys is one thing. Cause I get that. But the drawing of him shooting someone is a little bit over the top. Speaker 2 00:22:31 Yeah, yeah. A little bit. He says that he will finish what he starts and that has to do it his way. No questions. Ask Michael goes to see Sam for some Intel on Vince. We find out that Vince was a ranger washout and the PMC in Iraq. And now he needs to go find the buyer sets up a meet with Barry. Speaker 0 00:22:50 Yeah. And I remember Barry from other episodes. He isn't just in this one. Yeah. He sticks around. Speaker 2 00:22:54 So Barry is a money launderer. And so Michael asks him to find an art dealer. Someone who might deal in hot paintings. Barry says he might know a guy. Speaker 0 00:23:04 Yeah. All these conversations about art and this and that is a little bit high brow for me. I find it kind of hard to follow, but it definitely gives you the impression about what the show is, which is like a detective show as well as some spy Speaker 2 00:23:16 Action. What it kind of reminds me of a bit is, uh, it's a bit of Magnum PI in there with like, you know, the guy and his friends who are all help out, like will do like PI cases Speaker 0 00:23:27 There. I have never seen either version of Magnum PI. Speaker 2 00:23:31 I've seen a few of the original I've seen, uh, most of the first season and some of the sex season, some of the second season of the reboot. But yeah, that's basically gist of it. Speaker 0 00:23:41 It does sound similar to this Speaker 2 00:23:43 By stuff. There's no overarching story about spies. Speaker 0 00:23:46 Oh, Speaker 2 00:23:47 Okay. Going home. He has an encounter with some people who are waiting for sugar, the drug dealer, but he tells 'em to get outta the way. And he gets a call in the morning. He thinks it's his mom, but it's actually his Dan, the handler who says that he spent a long time talking to the FBI about why Michael sent him a pipe bomb without any explosives in it. He says he doesn't know much about the burn notice, but whoever did this wants him on ice. And if he leaves Miami he'll heat up. Speaker 0 00:24:12 Yeah. I also seem to remember at some point they say that if you kill people, then they also will bring the police down on you. But that's never mentioned to you. I always thought that was like why he doesn't kill people on the show? Speaker 2 00:24:23 Well, I mean, mostly also because dead bodies leave a trail. Usually Speaker 0 00:24:29 I also think he doesn't like to, I don't remember whether that's said explicitly or not, but it comes up. Speaker 2 00:24:34 He meets with Walter, the art dealer and he asks about British impressionist paintings. Like the ones that were stolen, although he doesn't specifically call out that the ones that were stolen mm-hmm <affirmative> well, cause there's nothing on the market right now. But there were several on the market about six months ago from some condo developer, apparently when no one was interested. That's the price. Speaker 0 00:24:53 Yeah. And this seemed is the first example of not exactly gay panic, but gay something. Speaker 2 00:25:00 Yeah. I wasn't sure what was going on. Like it ends with the, uh, Speaker 0 00:25:04 The guy basically propositioning him. Yeah. Him just laughing it off, which is okay. But there's another one later that I think is worse. If I remember if the notes come Speaker 2 00:25:13 Up. Oh, I think I know what you're talking about. We'll get to that. So he breaks into the estate. This is the first setup of like his obsession with yogurt. When he gets home, he meets sugar. The drug dealer Speaker 0 00:25:25 Who looks like m&m Speaker 2 00:25:26 <laugh> or vanilla ice. Yeah. Mm, white bleached short hair. Yeah. Uh, Michael gets punched in the gut, but Michael gets him in a wrist lock, which I was like, I, that I recognize that that's like almost a hop keto move. Speaker 0 00:25:40 Nice. I'd like to go Speaker 2 00:25:42 Tells him to SCR. So he goes to break into the estate. Uh, this is the, before we get his first, uh, mention of his obsession with yogurt Speaker 0 00:25:50 <laugh> yeah. He says the reason for that is that if you get caught, you can explain like you just wandered in. And I was like, what? Speaker 2 00:25:57 Well, his reason for not like wearing like a balaclava and all black, although he may also still be wearing all black. But you Speaker 0 00:26:03 Know, I think he mostly is, but I'm like, well, you could take the baklava off when you get in, uh, whatever, I guess he he's saying like, it's not gonna work, but at least you can say something. Speaker 2 00:26:16 Yeah. Yeah. So he grabs a yogurt from the fridges, eating it. He uses like putty to fake the fingerprint access on the vault. Speaker 0 00:26:23 Yeah. We've seen this a million times in various movies and crime movies and such really Speaker 2 00:26:28 Just twice that we've covered, this will be like the second time. Speaker 0 00:26:31 Right. But in other ones, yeah. Speaker 2 00:26:33 Yeah. Uh, gets into the vault and takes pictures of all the documents and he goes to see Javier again, Speaker 0 00:26:40 He takes pictures with his ancient flip phone. Speaker 2 00:26:44 <laugh> Speaker 0 00:26:44 And you thought the zoom and Hanen taken was bad. Speaker 2 00:26:47 No, this is still no, that was still worse. Speaker 0 00:26:50 It oh, sure. It's worse. But this is up there top 20 maybe. Yeah. I just like the flip phones. This is funny. Speaker 2 00:26:57 He goes to see Javier again tells him that pine stole from himself and it is collecting on the insurance money. Javier is set up as the fall guy and pine probably had Vince do the actual robbery, but Michael says that he can fight back if Speaker 0 00:27:10 They want. Cause he always has to get too involved. That's our guy. Speaker 2 00:27:13 Yeah. So Michael meets with pine again, gives him an update, shows him the photos that he took from the vault says all of that, you know is probably something you don't want to come out. But if Javier is arrested, he, he might say something. So little blackmail. Speaker 0 00:27:29 Yeah. And this is the other gay stuff. Cause he says to Vince, does that? Sure. Come in Matt. Yeah. Reminds me of Spiderman one. When he tells bones on these outfit, did your husband make it for you? Right? So what if he did Spiderman? What do you care? Speaker 2 00:27:42 The alternative is because it was so tight. It was like a boy's shirt. Speaker 0 00:27:47 I don't really know what to say about this, except that I don't think they would make it today. I'm not sure why it's problematic, but it does. Speaker 2 00:27:52 Yeah, no, there's something. It did strike me as well. Although I do remember, and here I'll be the one going further into the future episodes. Like it's at one point where Sam makes fun of how tight mic shirts are. Uhhuh boy, small shirt. Speaker 0 00:28:08 Well, it's definitely a daring look. Yeah. For Amanda to wear a tight shirt. But speaking of problematic things right after this is a very prejudice line against pit bulls. Now I'm not one of those people who reacts when people portray pit bulls as like violent mm-hmm <affirmative>. But apparently that's something the internet has a bug AOO about. Speaker 2 00:28:25 Yeah. And what I will say about this is that yeah, no, it's never the pit bull it to blame. It's always the owner or Speaker 0 00:28:34 The trainer or whatever. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:28:35 Well pit bulls on their own are perfectly good animals. They just need a lot of training as do a lot of dogs Speaker 0 00:28:42 As do a lot of humans. <laugh> yeah. Like Michael Westin. Speaker 2 00:28:45 Wait. So I don't remember this line about pit bulls. Speaker 0 00:28:48 He says something like blackmail is like a pit bull. If it's on your side, it's very helpful. But it can turn against you and tear your arm off or something like that. Speaker 2 00:28:56 Right. I mean, that makes sense for the line. Not for the actual. So Michael goes to buy a bunch of cell phones to make a bug. He grabs like the cheapest phone, which is like this bright pink glitery phone. The hello, sweetheart. Speaker 0 00:29:09 Well, he says something about how you can use this. If the purchasing office won't spring for a real bug. Yeah. I was like budget cuts. They're back. Speaker 2 00:29:17 <laugh> back from long Kiska night. Speaker 0 00:29:21 Yeah, Speaker 2 00:29:22 It was, it was either that or Hudson Hawk, but I think it was long Kiska night. <laugh> Speaker 0 00:29:27 Yeah. And then he better get a receipt for that cell phone from a guy in Munich. Speaker 2 00:29:32 So what he does is basically uses the better microphone of the cheap, cheap phone, but the better batteries of the other phones and like hot wires it together. Speaker 0 00:29:40 It's funny because it looks nothing like a real phone. Like it looks like someone's obviously tampered with it when we see it later. Yeah. Like if the idea was that he was trying to get people to believe someone dropped their hot pink. Hello, sweet hard phone in the back of a limo. Uhuh, that didn't work. Speaker 2 00:29:56 I think it's just there to listen. I don't think it's there to be discreet. Speaker 0 00:29:59 Why not? Both. This is a SP show. Speaker 2 00:30:02 You can actually fit it. Well, the thing is the bigger battery is you really can't fit in that smaller phone. That's that's the trick. Speaker 0 00:30:08 That's the problem. <laugh> Speaker 2 00:30:09 Yeah. He's at dinner with Fiona asks for her help to be just back up on the job. We found out that she was robbing banks for the IRA. Speaker 0 00:30:17 So this comes back before, when she gave the impression that she didn't like him mm-hmm <affirmative> in this scene. She just will help him for no reason. It's just like, okay, I'll help you. Sure. I thought she didn't like him. What? But then later she talks about their relationship, which again, this shows a little bit dated. Like all the women always wanna talk about relationships. It's a very stone age way of thinking the way, create a woman character Speaker 2 00:30:43 With your ex. And especially if it was a bad breakup Uhhuh, I feel like you would want to talk about it. Speaker 0 00:30:50 Yeah. But he could be the one to initiate it at her. Speaker 2 00:30:53 Fair enough. Except people. Well, but we're given that he's the one who left her. Speaker 0 00:30:57 That's true. But he could have been like Fiona. Here's why I left you. It's not, you it's me. It's the job, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, whatever. Speaker 2 00:31:04 Wow. We wanna talk about cliches. That was the worst cliched pick up in the history of cliches. Speaker 0 00:31:10 Hey, whatever. I'm not a writer this time. Not of this episode, Speaker 2 00:31:15 Uhhuh <affirmative> we find out apparently that she was like the closest that he ever got to a real relationship. Also, while this is happening, there are three FBI agents who are watching the meet mm-hmm <affirmative> so they go back to Michael's place. Sugar sent a goon to threaten Michael with a gun, but Fiona takes him out with ease. Speaker 0 00:31:32 Yeah. And she's kind of psycho about it. She's like, yeah, this waiting's got me going. All right. You kinda see why they broke up. Speaker 2 00:31:40 She's all ready to, you know, go inside. And Michael says something to the effect of, you know, violence is a Speaker 0 00:31:47 AESC Speaker 2 00:31:48 AESC for you. Not for me. And then goes to a hardware store to grab some gear, to deal with sugar. Speaker 0 00:31:53 So he is gonna take out sugar once and for all. So this part, Speaker 2 00:31:57 Yes and no. Speaker 0 00:31:58 Well once and for all I suppose is relative. So this part he's like, don't fuck your words with guns. Fight your words with duct tape. Speaker 2 00:32:05 Like, whoa, Speaker 0 00:32:06 Sorry, but this is important because he uses tape and then two minutes later he does use a gun. So it's like, what are you talking about? You are shooting people. Speaker 2 00:32:16 He uses one gun and a bunch of hardware, as opposed to a lot of guns, I think is the difference. Speaker 0 00:32:22 It was silly, but I liked it. I thought it was cool that he uses the tape to measure off where the, um, beams are the internal beams. So it's easier to shoot through. That was cool. Speaker 2 00:32:33 I, I also like that he, you know, he any, you know, goon worth their salt has a Bulletproof door, but the wall next to the door is just plaster or you know, just wood. Speaker 0 00:32:43 Yeah. People don't think about that. It's thinking laterally mm-hmm Speaker 2 00:32:46 <affirmative>. So he shoots through the wall and then goes through the back, like through the dry wall. <laugh> Speaker 0 00:32:53 Yeah, basically. And he threads sugar and he is like, get out town. It's like an old west. Speaker 2 00:32:58 So Michael has a perch is watching Fiona. Who's ready to provide support. Sam is there too. Speaker 0 00:33:05 Yeah. There's some dialogue here that dates the show a little bit. When Sam says now it's all about oil and religion. Yeah. It's not like it used to be. What do you think you would've said if they had made that today? I would've had him say something about now. It's all about computers. Speaker 2 00:33:20 Yeah. Something like that. Speaker 0 00:33:21 Now it's all about these crazy guys. Live in a basement. Speaker 2 00:33:25 Yeah. Crypto <laugh> Speaker 0 00:33:27 Sure. Now, now really? What a day today, Speaker 2 00:33:29 Uhhuh. So apparently Sam's got a cab driver, buddy. Who's gonna punch him out to cause a distraction. While Sam plants the bug into a PI's car Pine's car. I keep calling a PI <laugh> they cause a nice big distraction. Almost have kind of a car accident. Speaker 0 00:33:46 This is classic bird notice. Yeah. By the way, they can get huge scene and then slipping something in. If you what ire driving Speaker 2 00:33:53 It's classic misdirection overall. Yeah. So the next day they find that they can hear pine through the bug. Michael goes to see his mother. He's got some pills from her. They have some more drama about his brother. And like, yeah. Speaker 0 00:34:07 They say that Pfizer from a broken homes a lot. So this reminds me of the class heroes thing. How Harry Potter and Luke sky Walker and pre Skyfall James Bond, all either had dead parents or absent parents. Because if they had parents, they'd be like, are you crazy? You can't go fight the dark Lord and save the galaxy. You gotta save right here at home where it's safe. Speaker 2 00:34:29 Why pre sky fall James Bond. He had dead parents who died when he was a kid. Speaker 0 00:34:33 Okay. I wasn't aware of that. Speaker 2 00:34:35 That's that's the whole bit, Speaker 0 00:34:36 Were they just not around? Were they ever even talked about in the, uh, old movies Speaker 2 00:34:41 In the novels? No. Uh, yes, but not in the movies. Oh, actually they're probably mentioned in like his obituary and you only live twice, but not really. Oh no. Speaker 0 00:34:50 Maybe Speaker 2 00:34:51 <laugh> brought up in golden. I where Alex Traian says that, you know, your parents had the luxury of dying in a climbing accident and his parents are Li's COEX Speaker 0 00:35:00 Oh yeah. I do remember that now. Speaker 2 00:35:02 Yes. They have been brought up before. So it's not, it's not just something they made up for Skyfall. Speaker 0 00:35:06 Yeah. And the scene concludes with his mom guilt again, which is always very effective. Speaker 2 00:35:12 Sam calls Michael, as this is all going on. And apparently that says that pine told Vince to go after, uh Javier's kid because they need leverage of their own mm-hmm <affirmative> so Michael grabs his mother's tool backs. Right. I pronounce that weird. Michael grabs his mother's toolbox, grabs some zip ties and other tools and then stands in the middle of the road. And he is looking for a big car with no airbags. Speaker 0 00:35:36 Does remind, be a part of Dr. Who, where he is like standing around and he's thinking it's not really clear what he's thinking about. And then he does something cool. Excuse me. Speaker 2 00:35:44 So he basically carjacks a guy <laugh> Speaker 0 00:35:46 Even though he no, basically he does. And then he smashes the dude's car and then doesn't even say, sorry. And is just like, see ya, I'm outta here. Speaker 2 00:35:53 He smashes the car into Vince's car. Speaker 0 00:35:56 Right. Speaker 2 00:35:57 But yeah. And gives some shun, the guy whose car he, he, you know, stole it and destroyed and Speaker 0 00:36:03 Wrecked. Speaker 2 00:36:03 Yeah. I said that Speaker 0 00:36:04 Probably totaled. Speaker 2 00:36:05 Yeah. So gives him the cash that it was in Vince's wallet, as well as S's Rolex, which will cover all of that. Having Rolex, he Speaker 0 00:36:12 Gives him stolen property. <laugh> no way you can't just sell that Speaker 2 00:36:17 A Rolex. Yeah. Speaker 0 00:36:18 Maybe in 2008 when paper trails were not what they are. But I think Vincent would put two and two together. It's not like, was, is he gonna wait for the cops to show up? I guess he told them not to. Speaker 2 00:36:27 Yeah, we had run. Yeah. Speaker 0 00:36:29 This scene wasn't the most well thought together. Speaker 2 00:36:31 That part maybe. But the reason why he was looking for a big car with no airbags was that Vince got knocked out by his airbags. Speaker 0 00:36:40 Yes. Speaker 2 00:36:41 And gave him enough, enough time to cable for Michael to cable, tie him to the steering wheel. And Speaker 0 00:36:46 He'll never have to deal with him again. In the whole episode, Speaker 2 00:36:50 He takes David back to his place. He asks David about the black eye. Apparently he is being bullied at school. Speaker 0 00:36:55 And I was like, oh no, this, this pilot. So up until this point, actually not this point, but for much of this episode, I was prepared to give it a nine out of 10 Speaker 2 00:37:06 <laugh>. Speaker 0 00:37:07 Cause I thought it was very good, but there's way too many plots. There's five plots in this one hour of television. Okay. There's getting his life together, finding out who burned him, dealing with the drug dealer, helping with Javier, helping this kid with his bully and then the mom. So it's actually six, six plot lines. Speaker 2 00:37:30 I don't think those are all actual plot lines. Like the David thing has one setup and one resolution. And that's it. That's not a plot line. That's really trying to get into Michael's head to see, okay. What kind of guy is he actually? And that's so you see the hints of who we see him later in the series, caring about the little guy and the stuff like that. Speaker 0 00:37:50 Well, what's the horror, like why does it all have to be right here in the pilot? He's helping Javier Speaker 2 00:37:56 Because they need to show all of that. Like I said, in the pilot to sell it to the network. Speaker 0 00:38:01 <laugh> that's, Speaker 2 00:38:02 That's why it's called a pilot. Speaker 0 00:38:04 No, I, I get that. This is too much too fast. Speaker 2 00:38:07 Well, we didn't even, I didn't even finish what I was saying about that is that Michael actually shows him a few moves on how to right. Fight bullies. Speaker 0 00:38:14 Mm-hmm <affirmative> plus bully psychology. Speaker 2 00:38:17 Take out the leader first. Yeah. Speaker 0 00:38:18 Et cetera, etcetera. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:38:20 So Sam is having coffee with the two FBI agents. He's not, I don't know much, you know, he's just one job we're doing together. And then Michael pops in and introduces himself to the FBI agents. So he finds out their names asks if you know why they're following him. They said that they don't care. And that's not their orders to like ask about why. Speaker 0 00:38:39 Okay. So why is this in the pilot? Now you can tell this show is not made by the CW. Cause if this was even by the CW, then Sam was spying on Michael. Would've been stretched out for at least half of a CSUN. And then there would've been a big reveal and it would've been all dramatic and they would've argued about it. And one of 'em would've said, you lied to me. And the other one would've said, I lied to you in order to protect you, et cetera, et cetera. But here it's like right away. Speaker 2 00:39:06 Yes. And I, I can't tell if you like it or not. Speaker 0 00:39:10 No, I don't like it because it's interesting. And I would've liked it. If it had been spread out more like you could have the scene of Sam spying on him and inform him, the FBI just don't have him find out about it. Speaker 2 00:39:23 Now I was so tired of that plot. You said you didn't want five or six plots. That would be yet another plot that would've to deal with every episode. Speaker 0 00:39:31 Well then I would've had it cut all together or have it done later. But if you need to include it, Speaker 2 00:39:35 Set it up, you need to set up, okay. Why are they not trying to lean on Sam? Turns out they are, but is also gets rid of the FBI agents in the way after this episode, because they know that Sam is watching him. We know that Sam will give them just enough to keep him happy, but not enough that they'll get into Michael's business. Speaker 0 00:39:56 So then you could have had that without Michael finding out about Speaker 2 00:39:59 It, how you, Speaker 0 00:40:00 You could have had Sam say to them, I'm in with him. Now I will feed you what you need to know. But if you guys back off, Speaker 2 00:40:08 Yeah, except you're still gonna have, have Michael find out at some point, that he's be that he's being informed on by Sam. So I'd like it here. Just get, you know, I don't need that stupid manufacture drama there. That CW drama, I don't need it. Speaker 0 00:40:23 I'm just surprised because that's a classic TV show thing that they love to do. Speaker 2 00:40:27 They don't wanna do it here because it's so tired. Speaker 0 00:40:30 But the thing I was thinking about is that Speaker 2 00:40:31 10 seasons of Smallville secrets and lies. Oh, uh, you can't do this next. Oh no. Lana I'm done with it. Speaker 0 00:40:38 <laugh> so the thing is, because this was back when TV shows had to be very self-contained. I don't think they wanted too many dangling things that had to be crossed over between episodes. That's Speaker 2 00:40:49 My other experience. Speaker 0 00:40:50 Well, things like him not getting along with his dad is a little bit different from sudden the FBI agents are there and suddenly they're not Speaker 2 00:40:56 Where were we? Oh yeah. So he goes to Javier's house to prep the house. You know, this reminded me of this reminded me of Skyfall. Speaker 0 00:41:03 I thought you were gonna say home alone, which everyone was reminded of watching Skyfall. Speaker 2 00:41:08 Except apparently it's just the spy thing. Not just not specifically, like, I know people were complaining about that thing in Skyfall, but I was completely fine with it. And I'm maybe it's cuz I watched so much burn notice that I was, you know, not surprised to see James Bond. MacGyvering an old house. Speaker 0 00:41:25 Yeah. I was fine with it too. I think people just expected it to be a punch up. Uh, though, I did like when he was like, you gotta prep the ground bad guys. Think you're just gonna sit around, waiting for them to come and kill you. Like every video game, bad guy <laugh> that you literally do that. Speaker 2 00:41:41 So he like use trips the bed and then uses the mattress to block the window, sets up some mirrors. He gets pine and Vince tricked into thinking the Javier is there. Instead they just find Michael, he tricks Vince into thinking that his safety is on. So he like looks at the gun and then gets the gun away from hi Vince. Yeah. Pine hears a bunch of gunshots and is like ducking down and with the light and the mirror tricks pine into shooting Vince. Speaker 0 00:42:06 Yeah. This plane could have gone wrong in a couple of places, but I guess it all worked out. Speaker 2 00:42:10 Yeah. But then he puts Pines prints. Say that five times fat, uh, on the inside of the trigger assembly of the gun. So it's got Pines prints all over it. So he has leverage with that. But also the recording of pine telling Vince to go after the kid. Speaker 0 00:42:25 Yeah. So this is blackmail again. So the same pit bull analogy again where I was like, dude, you have him over a barrel for now, but he's not in prison. He's not going anywhere. He could easily come after you. Speaker 2 00:42:37 He has all of that, which would put him away. Speaker 0 00:42:40 Yeah. I mean it's risky, but I guess that's just the way it goes. Everything has to get wrapped up. Speaker 2 00:42:46 So he says that, alright, unless he wants all this to get out. Michael wants Vince to confess to the robbery. Javier will get five year severance pay and a college fund for David. Speaker 0 00:42:57 So really pressing his lock there. Speaker 2 00:42:59 Yeah. So Michael tells Javier the good news goes up to the FBI agents who are right there and asks the, borrow their binoculars. As he watches David fight back against the bullies. Speaker 0 00:43:09 He really didn't need those binoculars. David was not that far away. I think it was just a power play. Yeah. It is funny how kids fighting as it like this wholesome, wonderful moment. <laugh> somehow I feel like if you were seeking your kid, which I don't know if we're gonna talk about that, but you're here to be having soon like fighting other kids. I don't think you'd be too happy about Speaker 2 00:43:28 It. It depends on if she's defending herself or she she's starting the fight. He goes back to his place, finds the door open and sees surveillance, cell photos of him. Like from the past few days, all over the floor, just like covering the floor and the middle of it all are welcome to Miami magazine and that part episode ends. Speaker 0 00:43:49 Yeah. So this is another dangling plot thread. That's all right. All right. So let's move on to some spy fact versus fiction. Speaker 2 00:43:55 All right. What do you have? Speaker 0 00:43:56 So according to spy, culture.com, they have an article that says FBI releases almost entirely redacted file on bird notice. Speaker 2 00:44:04 Oh Speaker 0 00:44:05 Apparently in late 2015, an internet user named Emma Best filed a request with the bureau for any documents that talk about burn notice or the book, the setup memoirs of an NSA security operation of which the series is based. I have not read the book. This is all from the article. Okay. Uh, they've received over a hundred pages of heavily redacted papers, which for those of you don't know what that means. It means a lot of heavy black lines were drawn through them. <laugh> so most of it was just apparently people talking about, I like this show bird notice <laugh> oh, have you seen this show? Bird notice? Speaker 2 00:44:37 That's funny, Speaker 0 00:44:38 But there's a few people commenting on the spy fact versus fiction part. They talk about how Michael has a network of contacts and the Miami underworld. You can really see the value of an operative of such a network and the skills needing to acquire it. Mm-hmm <affirmative> it shows the value of good information, Intel, any operation. It's not really so much in the pilot, but Michael compiles dossier on his targets, right. Gets information about them. They also say ber notice does a credible job of portraying the less glamorous aspects of espionage work. For example, Michael's family lives in Miami. They get involved in his life and he's torn between his desire to maintain a relationship with them and his need to protect them and to avoid opening up himself to them. So the show offers the glimpses of the isolation and operative can feel when they have few confidence that are used to working independently. So finally, what none of the comments and reviews mentioned according to spy culture, is that the main character in Buros Michael weson is based on real life spy Michael Wilson, who is friends with showrunner, Matt Nicks interest. Although they got a lot of story ideas from Wilson, they have never actually met in real life. Speaker 2 00:45:44 Huh. Fascinating. All right. So next I've got recommended places to stay in a hotel. I've actually got a few different sources for this one. So Speaker 0 00:45:53 Okay. Speaker 2 00:45:54 From <laugh> from the action hero's handbook by David Bonight and, uh, Joe Bonight, it says try to obtain rooms on the side of the hotel that stands higher than the other buildings avoid staying in a room that has other rooms overlooking it, which can make it easier for someone to gain entry through a window or balcony, keep tabs on you from across the way or give a sniper, a good angle and uh, reserve your room on at least a sixth or seventh floor of the, of the hotel. This will make it difficult for anything to be thrown into your room from the ground. Avoid Copana style hotels that are only on ground level. Ground floor entry is the easiest to gain the spies guide office espionage by, uh, uh, H Keith Melton and Craig pian avoid accepting a room on the ground floor, illegal entry through ground floor or a window is much easier. Avoid any room that opens directly a parking lot and any room that shares a common balcony with another room. Speaker 0 00:46:54 Makes sense. Speaker 2 00:46:55 And finally, from the CIA's ask Molly travel tips from May 27th, 2022 mm-hmm <affirmative> they say two, whereas, oh, look for a middle floor. Being on the ground floor can leave you more vulnerable to break-ins. But many countries emergency response personnel, aren't equipped to reach higher than a, more than a few floors off the ground consider requesting room somewhere in between. And it was interesting cuz like when I was waiting for like, he was listing off all the things he wanted, he didn't specify floor, which was like, the one thing I knew was like, you don't want ground floor, but you don't want too high. Speaker 0 00:47:28 Yeah. That whole bit did seem very real. Yeah. That was Speaker 2 00:47:31 Cool. All right. So lastly, how do avoid surveillance in a car? This is from the international spy museum's handbook of practical spying. Speaker 0 00:47:40 Oh, I didn't know they had one. Speaker 2 00:47:41 Yeah they do. And you should pick it up in their museum store <laugh> we are not sponsored by the spa museum. Speaker 0 00:47:47 Nope. Speaker 2 00:47:48 So how to confirm you are being tailed. Uh, it says take two. Right? Turns anyone still following you after two right turns is highly suspect yet you haven't done anything unusual enough to indicate that you're aware of surveillance. UTURN. This maneuver raises stakes. Anyone following and continue to follow is quite likely a tail signal for a right turn at an intersection and wait for your suspected tails. Right? Turn signal will come on, then go straight through the intersection and see what happens. Enter a left turn lane at a traffic light. Then change your mind after the light turns green and continue traveling on straight. So basically what Michael does is he, you know, makes all these bad driving turns. Uhhuh does things that he's, you know, not, not supposed to do. Speaker 0 00:48:29 <laugh> yep. We definitely saw that Speaker 2 00:48:31 I've got for spy fact versus spy fiction. Speaker 0 00:48:33 All right. So now it's time for our favorite quotes. Do you want, I have a plug. So would you like to go first? Speaker 2 00:48:38 Sure. I've got know. What's like being a spy like sitting in your dentist reception area, 24 hours a day. You read magazines, sip coffee, and ever every so often someone tries to kill you. The one that you said guns make you stupid bitter to fight your wars with duct tape. Duct tape makes you smart. Speaker 0 00:48:53 And then he shoots a guy anyway. Speaker 2 00:48:55 <laugh> and lastly I've got Ford outside has G series plates. You get, you got fast draw off, uh, holsters off the rack suits and cheap loafers. No, you guys are feds. They're feds. Speaker 0 00:49:07 It's like this guy's a fed this guy's a fed. See? No one cares like the Speaker 2 00:49:10 BEM <laugh> yeah. And that's it. Speaker 0 00:49:12 Okay. I have sometimes the truth hurts in these situations. I recommend lying where he is getting beat up the part where he is driving in Stewart's car and the shield or the, the sun flap he's falling down. He says, you need to fix this. This is really annoying. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. And then finally, when he is talking to Lucy in her one scene, she says, what am I your complaint department? Speaker 2 00:49:33 <laugh> Speaker 0 00:49:33 And she delivers it better. All right. So now it's time for our ratings on a scale of one to 10 martinis, one being Avengers, 1997 and 10 being even better than no time to die or taken. How would we rate the pilot of burn notice? Speaker 2 00:49:47 All right. Why don't you go first? I'm very curious. So Speaker 0 00:49:50 I thought in the beginning that this was great. It had good characters different from what we knew. Cool. Spy action, cool. Spy, gadgets, and, and so on. But then it became overstuffed with plot. As I said, six different stories plus dangling plot threads for more. I couldn't give it a nine out of 10, but it is really good. These are only pics. So I'm going to give it an eight out of 10 instead. Speaker 2 00:50:15 All right. Interesting. Interesting. All right. So liked all of this and because I understand how plots a pilot works. I am not bothered by any of those things that you just said. I really like this show. And even the pilot, like I it's been a long time since I've seen this. I actually remember seeing the last episode of it back in like 2013 or so. And, and I haven't seen any of the ones in between, so I haven't actually watched all of the show. Mm-hmm <affirmative> I always loved this show and I I'm gonna give it that nine outta 10 that you thought it couldn't deserve, but I think it does. Speaker 0 00:50:52 Dessert's got nothing to do with that. It's just my opinion. Mm-hmm <affirmative>, it's more like how much do these nitpicks bother you? Speaker 2 00:50:58 I would say. And they don't because it's a pilot that needs to set up a lot of things, but yeah, I really loved it and I thought it was really good. So yeah. Nine outta 10. Nice. Well, thank everyone for joining us here on the Spotify guys. You can find us on social media at the Spotify guys on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram until next time I'm Christian and Speaker 0 00:51:19 I'm Zach Speaker 2 00:51:21 And we are the Spotify guys signing off. Thank you for listening to the Spotify guys. If you enjoyed our podcast, please be sure to give us a five star rating on iTunes. The theme song from this podcast is mistake the getaway by Kevin MCLE from incompetent.com licensed under creative comments by attribution 3.0 films, books and television shows reviewed by our podcast are the intellectual property of their respective copyright holders. And no in refrigerant is intended. Speaker 3 00:51:54 This is a personal podcast. Any views, statements or opinions expressed in this podcast are personal and belong solely to the participants. They do not represent those. The people, institutions, or organizations that the participants may or may not be associated with in a professional or personal capacity, unless explicitly stated any views or opinions are not intended to mine. Any religion, ethnic group club, or organization, company, or individual, Speaker 2 00:52:19 You can find our podcast on social media at the Spotify guys on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.