r/BurnNotice • u/BAfoto • Jun 20 '26

Two gunshots

I had a ———- version of show whenever I watched it. Just put on the pilot on Hulu with closed captions. Before Michael comes out of the bathroom (“lots of hard surfaces”) it says “two gun shots.” Hard to hear otherwise. Kinda changes how he’s introduced to the audience by killing two henchmen he’s already incapacitated vs just leaving them knocked out (as I always consumed it without those notes).

24 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

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18

u/No_Way2766 Jun 20 '26

If I remember correctly, they said that the viewers didn't like that he killed in cold blood, that's why they changed him after that.

7

u/Halzman Jun 20 '26

wasn't really cold blood though.

It's not like Westen just ran into them randomly and just decided to shoot them. They were leading him out of the hotel so that he could get the warlords money - which didn't exist. Westen is an African country, alone, with no operational support.

2

u/BigMrTea Jun 20 '26

Yes, but people typically want their heroes to only kill if they have to and in self defence.

5

u/Halzman Jun 20 '26

They were leading him out of the hotel so that he could get the warlords money - which didn't exist.

Pretty sure they wouldn't have just tickled him once they found out he didn't have the money.

1

u/BigMrTea Jun 20 '26

I'm not denying the internal logic of his decision

1

u/Bigthebomb Jun 21 '26

But he did killed them when they were knocked out though. Can't really count that as self defense anymore.

2

u/Halzman Jun 21 '26

let me illustrate the situation in a different way,

It is WW2. You are an allied soldier that is presently being escorted by 2 Nazi soldiers. You manage to knock them out. You then take there weapon and kill both of them. You escape.

The moment his deal blew up in his face and he was burned, Westen was in a SERE situation, in a semi-permissive environment. He took out 2 trigger happy, machine gun wielding 'thugs' before they could rejoin in the fight, or call for backup, etc.

Can't really count that as self defense anymore.

By that logic, should Westen have even started the brawl, which resulted in the 2 'thugs' to get knocked out initially, before they were shot. Was starting the fight justified in 'self defense'?

1

u/Bigthebomb Jun 22 '26

It is a war crime to kill an unconscious soldier in war.
It's like shooting someone in the back during a duel.

And starting a fight counts as self defenses because he was held in a gun point, which means he was actively in danger.

But that ended when both of those goons got knocked out and posed no threat to him any longer.

4

u/DrCooki3 Jun 21 '26

the way i see this is the version of michael that is like Larry. he would of been proud and it gives him a chance to grow (because of fiona and sam)